http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca RSS Feed for Inq Col Dan DeLuca en-us Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:59:49 GMT http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091117_Jones_dips_a_toe_in_reinvention__50_stands_pat.html Back when people still sold CDs, Norah Jones and 50 Cent sold a lot of them. The diametrically opposed artists - she's the preternaturally pleasant soy-latte queen, he's the pathologically belligerent VitaminWater gangsta - each have a new album out today. And it's a safe bet that neither Jones' The Fall (Blue Note ** 1/2) nor 50's Before I Self Destruct (Aftermath ** 1/2) will reach the heights they achieved with their debuts, back before the music business went into free fall. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091113__In_the_Mix_.html Inquirer critic Dan DeLuca writes about pop music and culture at http://go.philly.com/inthemix. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091111_A_spirited_Dylan_on_N__Broad.html When Bruce, Bono, and Billy were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York a couple of weeks back, there was another big-name B who couldn't be bothered to take part in celebrating either his or anybody else's illustrious past. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091105_A_friendship__fantasy_.html Touring with Jim James, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis in the indie super group Monsters of Folk has been like "a fantasy, an erotic dream" for Conor Oberst. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091105_Very_Best__briefly_ebullient.html Call them The Very Brief. There was some question as to whether the Tuesday night performance at Johnny Brenda's by The Very Best, the winning African electro-pop collaboration between Malawi-born singer Esau Mwamwaya and Euro DJ duo Radioclit, was ever going to take place. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091030__In_the_Mix_.html Inquirer critic Dan DeLuca writes about pop music and culture at http://go.philly.com/inthemix. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091022_Philly_s_Own_Dynamic_Duo.html NEW YORK - The booklet that accompanies Do What You Want, Be Who You Are, the new four-CD boxed set devoted to the music of Daryl Hall and John Oates, is full of testimonials to the Philadelphia-bred soul-pop tandem, who headline a sold-out triple bill at the Spectrum tomorrow with Todd Rundgren and the Hooters. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091015_Springsteen_brings_a_grand__electric__Born_to_Run__to_the_Spectrum.html 'Man, I ain't gettin' nowhere," Bruce Springsteen sang in "Dancing in the Dark" on Tuesday night, near the end of a marathon South Philadelphia show that was equal parts exhausting and exhilarating, even by his standards. "I'm just living in a dump like this." http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091011_Anticipating_the_Boss___Darkness_.html On each of the four nights that Bruce Springsteen plays the Spectrum over the next two weeks, he and the E Street Band will uncork one of his landmark albums from start to finish. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/dan_deluca/20091004_Going_Soon___.html So what's so special about the Spectrum, anyway? To Bruce Springsteen, it has to do with the musical history of the place where rock and roll came of age in Philadelphia - the first arena he ever played, anywhere, opening for Chicago in 1973.