Joan Osborne

EVERLAST Love, War, and the Ghost of Whitey Ford Martyr/Sony Everlast's first album in four years begins with a pair of tracks that carry the whiff of strong ideas past their sell-by date. Opening with a brassy flourish, the rapped "Kill the Emperor"...

September Sept. 5 Arbouretum, Psychic Paramount, Pontiak, Talking Head Sept. 5 Coal, Black Day 7, RHL Sept. 5 Gaelic Storm, Recher Sept. 5 Honor by August, Kill the Alarm, Dreamsacapes Project, 9:30 Club Sept. 5 Pure Prairie League, Firefall, Birchmere...

It's not the actual content of "My December," Kelly Clarkson's just-released third album, that currently makes it unlistenable. I'm not saying that it's a bad album -- it's a solid, heartfelt, occasionally beautiful exercise in mainstream modern rock, and...

Why would a highly paid music executive quit his job to gamble on the far more uncertain career of professional songwriter? "I love writing songs," says Jeff Cohen, 38, of Manhattan. In 1999, Cohen, a 1984 Oceanside High School graduate who earned a...

September 1, 2004 Sometimes, the popular culture tells the truth about us.  And sometimes, even, that culture tells the truth about itself. That came clear to me at the benefit show for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Monday night.   The...

There are delectable edibles inside the Runcible Spoon café, but visitors must be lured by aroma alone. The display cases are hidden by the picture window. Yes, hidden, because it's covered with handbills. There are various offers for massage therapy,...

Where did the love go? According to the eager-to-please documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," when Berry Gordy moved his company to Los Angeles the love remained in Detroit. Three decades after the music entrepreneur split Motortown, the love...

Alexi Murdoch, a long-haired, bearded singer-songwriter, stands on the Troubadour stage, picking a moody scale on his guitar and singing an expressive, introspective lyric. The crowd, which includes press, record label reps and movie soundtrack...

"Standing in the Shadows of Motown" is an attempt to set the record straight - or, rather, a whole lot of No. 1 records. Singers such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops and the...

In an era when renewable resources are increasingly important, it's nice to know that pop music seems endlessly recyclable. That's apparent in today's hippest new sound, Electroclash. Less a revolution than a reupholstering, Electroclash merges the chilly...

If such a thing as a road to heaven exists, chances are it runs straight through the heart of Holmes Brothers' country. The Holmes Brothers -- sixtyish siblings Sherman and Wendell Holmes, and longtime pal Willie "Popsy" Dixon -- have been playing...

With its combination of radio-friendly pop craftsmanship and bluesy emotion, "Relish," Joan Osborne's 1995 debut, turned the New York City barroom belter into a multimillion-selling rock star. Five years later, it's evident that while the singer may...