He has never been afraid to speak his truth, especially in songs. Yet Rodney Crowell, the man who purloined romantic devastation with "Ashes By Now," salvaged a shred of dignity with "I Don't Have To Crawl," celebrated unbridled female spirit in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and maintained in...

It's not much of a stage, no production, basic lights. As stripped down as a hockey rink stage can be. Lean, stark, unadorned. When you are Bruce Springsteen, though, what do you really need? Armed with the mighty, mighty E Street Band and a catalogue of songs that sweep the...

I don't do it very often. I don't see the point. I'm not even sure why I did it sitting here right now, but I did. Plopped down on the couch, curious about Keith Olbermann - and like any true black hole, I was sucked into a bottomless vortex of...

Somewhere In The Night, the American Dreamer Stands Tattered, But Tall
Michael Stanley
April 3, 2008
Tangiers Nightclub

Akron, Ohio. The American Dream hasn't completely rusted out and corroded; the ones who've been left shipwrecked and shattered by the shards of the promises made do their...

They're readying her obituary. The Associated Press and appropriate daily newspapers. It is macabre, knowing that a 25 year-old's imperviousness to convention is reckless enough to make the final recounting of the facts of her life anything but a failsafe against the random, say a plane crash or a...