When iconic Atlanta rockers The Swimming Pool Q’s reconvene for a gig at Smith’s Olde Bar this Saturday night, they’ll not only be celebrating their 35th anniversary as a band but also the long-awaited release of their two major label A&M Records releases on CD for the first time. The albums, 1984’s The Swimming Pool Q’s and its more sonically sophisticated follow-up, 1986’s Blue Tomorrow, advanced the band’s musical mission to a national audience after dazzling locals with its 1981 DB Records debut, The Deep End. The two A&M releases slicked up the band’s sound and pushed singer Anne Richmond Boston further into the forefront as Q’s founder Jeff Calder flexed his writing skills, creating complex women for Boston to inhabit. Calder’s equally colorful Southern politicians and deranged religious crackpots also populated the new releases, often enhanced with expert melodic guitars helmed by Bob Elsey and J.E. Garnett’s slinky bass lines. The Q's drummer Billy Burton, meanwhile, often multi-tasked behind the scenes, putting his filmmaking skills to work, shooting short films of the band set to music (some of these shorts were unearthed for Auto Zoom, a companion DVD included in the A&M reissues deluxe set). Read More

On a drab Saturday evening inside the 1,500-seat auditorium of Victory World Church in Gwinnett County, a boom-mounted camera sweeps the crowd. Six screens glow blue above the stage, each ticking with a countdown clock. Finally the lights dim, the crowd rises and sways, and a towering figure in a checkered cardigan and baggy leather pants takes center stage, flanked by four singers, four guitarists, a drummer, and a keyboardist. Behind him is a massive white cross, built of wavy tiles. Read More

Considered lost for more than 50 years, this week Columbia Records finally releases 'Tony Bennett/Dave Brubeck, The White House Sessions, Live 1962.' Read More

In the Jazz Times review of his debut album, bassist Will Goble’s original ballad, “Blessed Unrest” is compared to classic collaborations by Stan Getz, Chet Baker and Bill Evans. Late Thursday night, Goble, 29, was attempting to articulate the compliment over the phone when his voice suddenly trails off. Read More

Even the most jaded media folks couldn’t resist snapping a few selfies in front of the iconic rock outfits unveiled Monday night during a press preview party for the Treasures of the Hard Rock exhibition at the downtown restaurant and rock club’s Velvet Underground space. There were moments during the three-hour cocktail party when you couldn’t even get near TLC singer/rapper/lyricist Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’ white CrazySexyCool tour outfit for all the pop up amateur photography occurring. Read More