Music

Listening to R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe discuss the comedian Andy Kaufman, one can’t help imagining that the singer is, at least in part, also describing himself. “I copped a lot of his moves,” Stipe concedes. Coming from a man who has been saddled since early in his career with the quasi-complimentary “eccentric” tag, that’s no…

If someone yells out “Free Bird” at a computer screen, does it still make a sound? In the Internet era, rock tours are coming to homes (and offices) near you; this summer’s websites range from glorified souvenir programs to on air concerts. The latter concept remains in the developmental stage, but certain traditions remain: Even…

The last time 25-year-old guitarist, singer/songwriter Benjamin Wagner played at Caffe Lena he says, “people felt I was too ernest.” On Sunday, he will appear with A Pop Band to emphasize that his heart is musically in the groove. The former city resident, Uncommon Grounds employee and Saratogian freelance writer returns to promote his new…

They Might Be Giants ushered in the frenetic descent towards a new millennium New Year’s Eve at New York City’s Tramps, stampeding with reckless wit and scathing intelligence through nearly thirty of their eccentric pop gems in just over two hours. Charging through a raucous set that borrowed equally from TMBG’s seven hit-strewn LPs, frontman…

Though their whistful acoustic hit “Name” has catapulted Goo Goo Dolls from obscurity to ubiquity, the Buffalo-based band is better known for the seering, Replacement-inspired clamor evidenced on their post-punk LPs Jed and Hold Me Up. Tuesday’s racous audience at New York’s Academy, however, were not soley MTV converts and had obviously hung with the…

It’s still morning when Rolling Stone Online correspondent Benjamin Wagner puts a call in to folk-punkster Ani DiFranco. The 25-year-old singer/songwriter — asleep somewhere in Connecticut — is touring in support of her seventh independent release in five years, Not A Pretty Girl. While DiFranco’s confrontational songs have drawn criticism for their incisive edge, she…