Winchester Star: Music

Southbridge hip-hop artist Lo Gun of Main Aim — probably better known to most readers as chef Michael Arrastia of the Hangover Pub in Worcester — might have a higher local profile for his cooking than he does his music, but that doesn't mean it's a sideline.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

One thing has always taken me a bit by surprise at Munich’s Oktoberfest celebration — and no, I’m not talking about the humongous size of the beer steins. (Although, granted, they are something to behold.)I’m referring to the soundtrack I hear as I make my way through the Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, Hacker-Pschorr and Paulaner brewery tents.One might expect they’d be filled solely with traditional Bavarian music, but that’s far from [...]

For any bewildered music fans who have Googled the Belfast Cowboys, and come up seeing double, relax. There are indeed two bands going under that moniker. One is a 9-piece Minnesota outfit that focuses on songs by Van Morrison, the Irish singer-songwriter-guitarist-saxophonist-rocker, whose nickname is the Belfast Cowboy.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Write a novel. Get into shape. Spruce up that vintage machine in the garage. Make the glorious garden you always wanted. Organize the closets.Everyone created pandemic goals. Faced with societal shutdown, it was a way to cope.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

Cellist Mike Block plays so many different kinds of music, and the contents of his albums are so dissimilar from each other, it’s no easy task to recommend where – if you’re not familiar with him – to start.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

LISTENBoss around: Recorded at his home studio in New Jersey, rock legend Bruce Springsteen releasde his 20th album, “Letter to You.” It reunites Springsteen with the E Street Band and includes 12 tracks, including three The Boss, 71, wrote in his early twenties: “Janey Needs a Shooter,” “If I Was the Priest” and “Song for Orphans.” The album was recorded in just five days and that portion was [...]

It turns out that Thomas Wolfe was wrong. You can, indeed, go home again. At least metaphorically, especially if going home means you’re a musician who’s getting back together with old friends to make music again.Almost five decades ago, there was a band called Edge, a quartet of teens in Larchmont, New York, who formed in 1973, initially covering songs by the likes of the Allman Brothers and Jeff Beck, then moved on to more challenging material by Return to Forever and [...]

Entire orchestras have been laid off, museums are calculating the losses in millions, and whether you're David Crosby or a backstage tech, the moment has become a battle for survival.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

With the experience of attending live music shows currently out of the picture, many artists are heading to their basements or practice rooms, and streaming impromptu concerts. I recently caught wonderful offerings from Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, and Richard Thompson.But I also enjoy living in the past, and YouTube has proven to have a bounty of older live performances, going back decades and featuring people and material from all over the musical spectrum.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

In response to the public health crisis over COVID-19, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has recently made a series of announcements about the cancellation of more than 130 events between March 12 and mid-June, including the last seven weeks of its 2019-20 BSO season and, most recently, the cancellation of the 2020 Boston Pops season.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share