Posts From Jeff Tamarkin

Idol Chatter: An Interview with the Late Bobby Rydell

“They wouldn’t pull the hair so much, but they would go for a tie or a cufflink.”–The 50s/’60s teen idol on his over-enthusiastic fans.

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Bobby Rydell, ’50s/’60s Singer, Actor and Teen Idol, Dead at 79

Part of a wave of young, Philadelphia based teen idols, his hits included “Wild One” and “Volare,” and he starred in ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ with Ann-Margret.

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New Riders of the Purple Sage’s Debut LP: Country + Rock + Jerry Garcia = ?

They began as a country-influenced offshoot of the Grateful Dead, but, by the time they recorded this debut, they’d morphed into something else altogether.

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Feb 14, 2022: Sandy Nelson, Influential Early Rock Drummer, Dies

With hit records like “Teen Beat” and “Let There Be Drums,” the L.A. musician boosted the role of his instrument in rock and roll music.

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Jeff Lynne’s ELO at Radio City Music Hall: 2016 Review

Lynne’s gift is his ability to build complex arrangements into the simplest, most hummable of tunes. The concert was a taste of classic rock at its finest

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Marianne Faithfull Interview: As Years Go By

We first heard her as one of the women of the British Invasion. When she came back to our attention more than a decade later, she’d changed entirely.

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The Grass Roots: A Name in Search of a Band

Rarely absent from the charts for several years, they created songs that were unlike one another, even while sounding undeniably like the Grass Roots

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Arlo Guthrie, Friends & Family at Carnegie Hall: 2018

He first played his annual Thanksgiving concert in 1967, a month after his father, one of America’s most important singer/songwriters, died

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Charles Manson: The Rock Connection

From “Helter Skelter” to his ties with the Beach Boys, rock music was always a big part of the story of the now-deceased murderer’s life.

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Gary ‘Chicken’ Hirsh, Country Joe & the Fish Drummer, Dead at 81

The drummer, who played with the Bay Area band from 1967-69, is said to have coined the “obscene” version of the famous “Fish Cheer.”

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