Dave Alvin

Pop music and jazz figures Bob Popescu, 77; co-owner of Catalina Bar & Grill, turned the Los Angeles club into one of the top jazz venues in the country (Jan. 5) Ken Nelson, 84; longtime Capitol Records talent scout had an ear for country music (Jan. 6)...

The Watson Twins Fire Songs (Vanguard) * * * (three stars) Languor is a risky quality for musicians to cultivate: The Path of Slow has led countless down-tempo electronica acts into the dead-end of dinner music. But when slow works, it can be...

"Whatever you do, do not play 'the Beat!' " That was the first thing Bo Diddley said to us before we walked onto the stage of the Music Machine club in West L.A. for two sets in 1983. We were a mix of members of the Blasters and X who had agreed, with...

Ask Dave Alvin where he lives and you get a long answer. "I've lived in L.A. proper since 1980 or 1981 now, but I still feel like a stranger in a way. And you know, I don't consider myself an L.A. songwriter. I'm a Downey guy." So although Alvin's...

Roxy still the rule The Roxy continues its reign on the Strip for must-see clubbing. Liv Tyler, Kate Hudson and Mischa Barton rocked out to Birds of a Feather, an acoustic show by the Black Crowes' bros, Chris and Rich Robinson, who got twangy for...

Finding a space, and a sound For the Sound Team, it was all about creative space — specifically, 1,500 square feet of studio in Austin, Texas, where the sextet fidgeted, experimented and finally arrived at the wide-ranging songs on its debut album,...

A desert Plant for Pappy Hour A Zeppelin landed in the High Desert. The enclave of Pioneertown got a visit Saturday night from Robert Plant, who showed up at Pappy & Harriet's to hear rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson perform. The singer was so smitten with...

The most damning claim ever attached to the Rolling Stones was that the British band appropriated and sanitized the music of the great African-American bluesmen who preceded it. In the early '70s, the New York Dolls faced the same charge, but the proto-...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- Following is a list of winners from the 43rd annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center on Wednesday. Items with an asterisk were handed out during the televised portion of the ceremony. RECORD OF THE YEAR Beautiful Day --...

The original Blasters played every gig like it could be their last. Little wonder they were around for only six years. That intensity was back Wednesday in the first of two shows at FitzGerald's, a brief reunion tour that didn't back off an inch from...

FitzGerald's annual American Music Festival celebrated its 21st anniversary this past weekend, but this year, maybe more than any other, begged the question: Just what is "American Music"? After all, Woody Guthrie wrote the campfire standard "This Land is...

Not long ago, Dave Alvin was browsing in a store and came across a new history book called "American Roots Music." He flipped past Muddy Waters and Elvis and, under the standard "where's the music going?" section, the book jumped from the Grateful Dead in...