On a cold November Sunday night in Philadelphia not too many people were out and about. But at the World Café Live, near the Ivy League campus of the University of Pennsylvania, there was beautiful music happening with or without the crowds. Even the upstairs of venue has a special feel when it's not overly packed. It felt like a jazz night.

Branches on the tree of music will never stop growing. As soon as someone pioneers a new sound, five others have radiated from it, creating what they see as their own unique niche, slightly different form their predecessors. Unfortunately, such constant divergence creates an intricate web of music where nothing is original and no two sounds can be grouped exclusively under one heading. This has lead to bands describing themselves with more stylistic differences than those listed at a record store. "Rock infused funk with folk and indie influences." What the hell is that?

Known for his hip-hop and reggae style, Jewish musician Matisyahu's sold out show Sunday night at Boulder's Fox Theatre proved to have attracted far beyond the religious folk of his faith. While a considerable amount of Jewish families with women in their head dresses and men in their customary yarmulke could be spotted from among the crowd, the greater majority of the audience showed to be just as diverse as the musical genres in performance.

Usually, I'm a rock and roll fan.  Usually.  But I like to mix it up now and then, see something I don't usually get the opportunity to see, hear something I haven't heard before.  The club scene is rarely my scene, but last Wednesday night, I find myself in the middle of a DJ show at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, CO.  To me, this is like being on another planet.  It's not the music really, although there is something futuristic and otherworldly about electronica that I find appealing, it's the people who make m

I hope the folks in Greensboro, NC and Florida got the same treatment we got from RatDog here in Philadelphia before ending their Fall Tour.  Two weeks after our country rejoiced and welcomed a new sign of hope in the free world with the election of Barack Obama, Ratdog brought the house down. The stage was full of election remnants.