It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Music journalism. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2011.

See also Music journalism for reporting on classical and popular music in the media.

The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as 'the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres'. In this sense it is a branch of musical aesthetics. With the concurrent expansion of interest in music and information media over the past century, the term has come to acquire the conventional meaning of journalistic reporting on musical performances^[1] (see music journalism).

History[link]

Critical references to music, (often deprecating performers or styles) can be found in early literature, including, for example, in Plato's Laws and in the writings of medieval music theorists. The English composer Charles Avison (1709–1770) published the first work on musical criticism in the English language - an Essay on Musical Expression published in 1752.^[2] In it, Avison criticized the music of one of his contemporaries, George Frideric Handel.

See also[link]

• Music journalism

Sources[link]

• Bojan Bujic, Criticism of Music in The Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Music Online.

Notes[link]

This music-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)

Robert Hilburn (born September 25, 1939) is a pop music critic and author. As critic and music editor of the Los Angeles Times from 1970 to 2005, his reviews, essays and profiles have appeared in hundreds of publications around the world. Hilburn reflects on those years in a memoir, “Corn Flakes with John Lennon (And Other Tales from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Life),” which was published on Oct. 13, 2009 by Rodale. He is a member of the nominating committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and lives in Los Angeles.

Early life[link]

Born in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and lived until he was 5 mostly on his grandfather’s cotton plantation in nearby Campti. During those years and when visiting his grandparents in later summers, he was exposed to the blues and country music styles that eventually gave birth to rock ‘n’ roll. After a few years in Dallas, Texas, he moved with his family to Southern California, where he graduated from Reseda High School in 1957 and California State University, Northridge (journalism degree) in 1961. His first musical hero was Elvis Presley. He worked as a news reporter on a suburban Los Angeles newspaper (the Valley Times TODAY) for two years, but tired of journalism and became a public information officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District in the mid-1960s. While there he began missing writing around the same time he fell in love with the work of Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Eager to write about music, Hilburn did a series of freelance pieces on such figures as Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin for the Los Angeles Times before being hired full-time by the paper.

[edit] The Los Angeles Times

While at the Times, Hilburn was the only music writer to accompany Johnny Cash for his landmark Folsom Prison concert. He also went with Elton John when John became the first Western rock figure to play in Russia; with Paul Simon on the “Graceland” tour stop in Zimbabwe; with Bob Dylan on his first concert swing through Israel, and with Michael Jackson on much of his “Victory” tour. He also spent a week on the road with the Sex Pistols during their first and only U.S. tour. At the Times, Hilburn was an early defender of such new pop culture movements as punk, techno and, especially rap when it was under attack by law enforcement agencies and members of Congress.

[edit] “Corn Flakes with John Lennon”

The book is a highly opinioned and deeply personal look at rock ‘n’ roll, focusing on a group of artists who not only helped build rock as an art form but whose craft and commentary helped shape the social values of our times. They include John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Phil Spector, Michael Jackson, U2, Kurt Cobain and N.W.A. He also wrote a biography, “Bruce Springsteen,” in 1985 as one in a series of Rolling Stone Press books that also included biographies of Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Critical philosophy[link]

When he started writing about music, Hilburn writes on his website, RobertHilburnOnline.com, he thought of rock as an inevitable chain of events—much like thousands of dominoes in a line that neatly fell one after another once Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry helped kick things off. But he eventually realized that concept was naïve. If you took away as few as four dozen artists from that endless row of dominoes, rock would have collapsed as an art form. Imagine your record collection without Bob Dylan, the Beatles or U2. Because of that, he felt one of the main challenges of a critic was to focus on those musicians who contributed to expanding that art form. In search of those artists, he says he frequently ended up writing about false promises; artists who ran out of ideas, self-destructed or compromised their music in hopes of wider sales. But he was also fortunate enough to connect with the most important artists of the rock era.

Interacting with those figures, Hilburn came to appreciate the tremendous toll that rock can put on an artist’s personal life; how there is often far more drama off-stage than on. In the end, all it takes to be a star is luck and a commercial sound, which explains why we have so many mediocre hit-makers. To be a true artist, you need enormous talent, fierce ambition, an original vision and an unyielding toughness. He saw some artists triumph because they were tough and others die because they weren’t tough enough.

“What linked Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, the Beatles and Bob Dylan was the old fashioned American notion that each individual can make a difference, whether you are a truck driver from Memphis or a blind piano paper from southwest Georgia. Rock ‘n’ roll was the promise of a better day and the best artists spread that message with an almost missionary zeal,” he declares on his website. “I’ve always believed in that liberating message, which is probably why I responded most to artists who fought to keep the promise alive.”

Hilburn is married and lives in Los Angeles.

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2010)

• Hilburn’s Official website
• Hilburn’s biography, Los Angeles Times

External links[link]

• RoberHilburnOnline.com - official website
• CornFlakesWithJohnLennon.com

Alex Ross
Alex Ross, 2008
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Painter and illustrator
Notable works	JLA Liberty and Justice JLA Secret Origins Kingdom Come Marvels
Awards	Will Eisner Award (1997) National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Award (1998)
Influences George Pérez Berni Wrightson Andrew Loomis Norman Rockwell Salvador Dalí J. C. Leyendecker
Official website

Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book writer/artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers and design work. He first rose to fame with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics. He has since done a variety of projects for both Marvel and DC Comics, such as the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, which Ross also co-wrote. Since then he has also done covers and character designs for Kurt Busiek's series, Astro City, and various projects for Dynamite Entertainment. His feature film work includes concept and narrative art for Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, and DVD packaging art for the M. Night Shyamalan film, Unbreakable. He has also done covers for TV Guide, promotional artwork for the Academy Awards, packaging design for comic book tie-in video games, and his renditions of superheroes have been merchandised as action figures.

Ross' style has been said to exhibit "a Norman-Rockwell-meets-George-Pérez vibe",^[1] and has been praised for its realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters.^[2] His rendering style, his attention to detail, and the perceived tendency of his characters to be depicted staring off into the distance in cover images has been satirized in Mad magazine.^[3] Because of the time it takes Ross to produce his art, he primarily serves as a plotter and/or cover artist. Comics Buyer's Guide Senior Editor Maggie Thompson, commenting on that publication's retirement of the Favorite Painter award from their CBG Fan Awards due to Ross' domination of that category, stated in 2010, "Ross may simply be the field's Favorite Painter, period. That's despite the fact that many outstanding painters are at work in today's comic books."^[4]

Early life[link]

Alex Ross was born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Lubbock, Texas,^[5][6] by his minister father, Clark, and his mother, a commercial artist^[5] from whom he would learn many of the trademarks of his artistic style.^[1] Ross first began drawing at age three, and was first influenced by superheroes when he discovered Spider-Man on an episode of the children's TV series The Electric Company.^[5][7]

He would later be influenced by comics artists such as George Pérez and Berni Wrightson, and attempted to imitate Pérez's style when he did superhero work, and Wrightson's when he did what he calls "serious" work. By age 16, Ross discovered the realistic work of illustrators such as Andrew Loomis and Norman Rockwell, and envisioned one day seeing such styles applied to comic book art.^[5]

At age 17, Ross began studying painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago,^[5][8] where his mother had studied. During his years there, Ross discovered the work of other artists like J. C. Leyendecker and Salvador Dalí, whose "hyper-realistic quality", Ross saw, was not that far removed from that of comics. It was also during this time that he formed the idea to paint his own comic books. Ross graduated after three years.^[5]

Career[link]

After graduating, Ross took a job at an advertising agency^[5] as a storyboard artist.^[8]

Ross' first published comic book work was the 1990 five-issue miniseries, Terminator: The Burning Earth, written by Ron Fortier and published by NOW Comics. Ross created all of the art, from pencils through coloring for the series. He performed similar work on a variety of titles over the next few years. In 1993, he completed his first painted superhero assignment, the cover of a Superman novel, Superman: Doomsday & Beyond.

During this time, Ross met writer Kurt Busiek, and the two began submitting proposals for series that would feature paintings as their internal art. Marvel agreed to a project that would tell much of the history of the Marvel Universe from the perspective of an ordinary person. That limited series, Marvels, was released in 1994, and chronicled the life of a photojournalist, as he reacted to living in a world of superheroes and villains.

Busiek, Ross, and penciller Brent Anderson went on to create Astro City, first published by Image Comics in 1995 and later by Wildstorm Comics. The series features an original superhero world and continues the theme of Marvels, exploring how ordinary people, superheroes and villains react to a world where the fantastic is commonplace. Ross paints the covers and helps set the costumes and the general look and feel for the series, which has been published sporadically in recent years.

In 1996, Ross worked with writer Mark Waid on the DC Comics limited series Kingdom Come, which presents a possible future for the DC universe, in which Superman and several other classic superheroes return from retirement to tame a generation of brutal anti-heroes. The work featured Ross' redesigned versions of many DC characters, as well as a new generation of characters.

Ross followed Kingdom Come with Uncle Sam, a non-superhero work for DC's Vertigo line, an experimental work that examined the dark side of American history.

In the early 2000s, with writer Jim Krueger, Ross plotted and designed characters for a trilogy of Marvel limited series, Earth X, Universe X, and Paradise X, which combined dozens of Marvel characters from various time periods.

Between 1998 and 2003, writer Paul Dini and Ross produced annual tabloid-sized editions celebrating the 60th anniversaries of DC Comics' Superman (Peace on Earth), Batman (War on Crime), Shazam (Power of Hope), and Wonder Woman (Spirit of Truth), as well as two specials featuring the Justice League, Secret Origins and Liberty and Justice.

When M. Night Shyamalan's film, Unbreakable was released to video in 2001, the DVD included an insert with Ross' original art, as well as a commentary by Ross, regarding superheroes, in the movie's special features.

In 2001, Ross won acclaim for his work on special comic books benefiting the families of those killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, including his portraits of paramedics, police and firefighters. He has also designed DC merchandise, including posters, dinner plates, and statues. In late 2001, Ross painted four covers to the December 8, 2001 TV Guide, which depicted Tom Welling, Kristen Kreuk and Michael Rosenbaum of the TV series Smallville, and Superman.^[7]

In early 2002, Ross designed the promotional poster for the 2002 Academy Awards,^[8] which depicted Oscar perched atop the First National Building. The Academy loaned Ross an actual Oscar statuette for a week for him to use as reference for the painting. Ross stated that he photographed members of his family as if they were receiving it.^[2][7] That same year, he was one of four artists who depicted Spider-Man on one of the covers to the April 27, 2002, issue of TV Guide as a promotional tie-in to the feature film Spider-Man.^[7]

In 2004, DC compiled the coffee table book Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, written and designed by Chip Kidd, and featuring a foreword written by M. Night Shaymalan. In late 2005, a paperback version of the book was published to include new artwork by Ross, including sketches for his Justice mini-series.

Also in 2004, Ross designed 15 paintings for the opening credits of the film Spider-Man 2.^[8] The paintings presented key elements from the first film. Ross later donated the paintings to be auctioned off on eBay to benefit the United Cancer Front.^[9]

In August 2005, Ross worked again with writer Jim Krueger and penciller Doug Braithwaite on 12-issue, bi-monthly limited series Justice for DC Comics. The series focuses on the enemies of the Justice League of America banding together to in an effort to defeat them.

After Justice Ross embarked on projects focusing on Golden Age characters: Project Superpowers with Jim Krueger for Dynamite Entertainment.^[10] In 2008, Ross began work on Avengers/Invaders featuring Marvel characters but published by Dynamite Entertainment. The story pits World War II versions of Captain America, Namor, and other classic war characters against the modern Avengers groups.^[11][12][13]

Ross indicated at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con that he will illustrate covers for books featuring Fighting American,^[14] and was announced in 2010 as the creative director on The Phantom, both for Dynamite.^[15]

Ross teamed with Kurt Busiek on Dynamite Entertainment's Kirby: Genesis, an eight-issue miniseries debuted in the first quarter of 2011. The series is their first full collaboration since Marvels 17 years previous, features a large group of Jack Kirby's creator-owned characters, the rights to which were acquired by Dynamite, such as Silver Star, Captain Victory, Galaxy Green, Tiger 21 and the Ninth Men. Ross took over series' co-plot, handle designs, and covers, apart from overseen the book overall with Busiek, who is the writer.^[16][17]

Other work[link]

• Alex Ross drew the cover picture on the Anthrax albums We've Come for You All, Music of Mass Destruction and Worship Music.
• Ross designed a series of costumes for the 2002 film Spider-Man, but director Sam Raimi instead chose not to use them. In the film's video game tie-in, as an easter egg, it is possible to unlock a playable version of Ross' Spider-Man design. When using this, the Green Goblin will also feature one of Ross' unused character outfits. As such, Ross was commissioned to do a series of drawings for the opening credits of Spider-Man 2, which recapped the major events from the first film. Ross' suit was also featured as an unlockable costume and also available in a white version in the PlayStation game Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro.
• Ross painted the Kollectors Edition cover for the console game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. A smaller version of this painting is included on a separate textured card inside the case. He is also featured in his own segment on the Blu-ray/DVD included in the package.
• In 2008 Ross created a print of George W. Bush as a vampire sucking the blood from Lady Liberty entitled "Bush Sucking Democracy Dry" as well as a print of Barack Obama as Superman entitled "Time For A Change".^[18] The latter was made into a T-shirt, which Obama was seen posing in a photo on and Ross' website.^[19]

Bibliography[link]

Covers and interiors[link]

DC Comics[link]

• Batman Black and White #2 (2002)
• Batman: War on Crime (1999)
• JLA: Liberty and Justice (2003)
• JLA: Secret Origins (2002)
• Justice, limited series, #1-12 (painting over Doug Braithwaite pencils, 2005–07)
• Kingdom Come, miniseries, #1-4 (1996)
• JSA Kingdom Come Special: Superman (pencil art, colors by Alex Sinclair) (2009)
• Sandman Mystery Theatre Annual #1 (8 pages, among other artists) (1994)
• Shazam!: Power of Hope (2000)
• Superman: Peace On Earth (1999)
• Superman and Batman: World's Funnest (2 pages, among other artists) (2000)
• U.S. (aka Uncle Sam), miniseries, #1-2 (1997)
• Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth (2001)

Marvel Comics[link]

• Captain America #600 (2-pages only) (2009)
• Clive Barker's Hellraiser #17 (1992)
• Earth X #1-12 (backup text stories) (1999–2000)
• Marvels, miniseries, #0-4 (1994)

Other publishers[link]

• Battle of the Planets #0.5 (pencils only, among other artists) (Image, 2002)
• Kirby Genesis #0-3 (along with Jack Herbert) (Dynamite, 2011)
• Terminator: The Burning Earth, miniseries, #1-5 (Now, 1990)

Covers only[link]

DC Comics[link]

• Action Comics #871 (2009)
• America's Best Comics Special #1 (2001)
• Astro City:
  • Astra Special #1-2 (2009)
  • Arrowsmith (2004)
  • A Visitors Guide (2004)
  • Beauty (2008)
  • Dark Age, Book One #1-4 (2005)
  • Dark Age, Two #1-4 (2007)
  • Dark Age, Book Three #1-4 (2009)
  • Dark Age, Book Four #1-4 (2010)
  • Dark Age 1: Brothers and Other Strangers (2008)
  • Local Heroes #1-5 (2003–04)
  • Samaritan (2006)
  • Silver Agent (2010)
  • Special #1 (2004)
• Batman #676-686 (2008–09); Harley Quinn; No Man's Land (1999)
• Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #100 (1997)
• Black Adam: The Dark Age, miniseries, #1 (2007)
• Captain Atom: Armageddon (2005)
• Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1 (painting over Jim Lee pencils) (2005)
• Crisis on Multiple Earths #1, 3-4 (2002–06)
• DC Comics Presents (Julius Schwartz tribute):
  • Flash (2004)
• Detective Comics #860 (2010)
• Green Lantern, vol. 4 #1 (variant cover)
• The Greatest Stories Ever Told:
  • Batman #1-2 (2005–07)
  • Flash (2007)
  • Green Lantern (2006)
  • JLA (2006)
  • Joker (2008)
  • Shazam! (2008)
  • Superman #1-2 (2004–06)
  • Superman/Batman (2007)
  • Wonder Woman (2007)
• History of the DC Universe (2002)
• Justice League of America (vol. 4) #12; The Lightning Saga (2007–08)
• JSA (vol. 2) #68-69, 72-81; Annual #1 (2005–08)
• JSA Kingdom Come Special: Magog (2009)
• JSA Kingdom Come Special: The Kingdom (2009)
• Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #1-26, Annual #1 (2007–09)
• 9-11: The World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories to Remember #2 (2002)
• Space Ghost, miniseries, #1-6 (2005)
• Spectre (vol. 3) #22 (1994)
• Supergirl (vol. 4) #35
• Superman #675-683 (2008)
• Superman vs. Flash (2003)
• Superman: Strength, miniseries, #1-3 (2005)

Dynamite Entertainment[link]

• A Game of Thrones #1-2 (2011)
• Avengers/Invaders, limited series, #1-12; Giant-Size #1 (2008–09) (Marvel/Dyamite)
• Bionic Man #1-5 (2011)
• Black Terror #1-10 (2008–09)
• Buck Rogers #1 (2010)
• Captain Victory #1-4 (2011-12)
• Death-Defying' Devil #1-4 (2008–09)
• Dragonsbane #1 (2012)
• Green Hornet #1-12 (2010-11)
• Kirby Genesis #1-4 (2011)
• Lord of the Jungle #1 (2012)
• Lone Ranger, vol. 2, #1 (2012)
• Silver Star #1-3
• Last Phantom #1-10 (2010-12)
• Masquerade #2-4 (2009)
• Vampirella #1 (2010)
• Voltron #1-2 (2011-12)

Marvel Comics[link]

• The Amazing Spider-Man #568, 600 (2008–09)
• Captain America, vol. 5, #34 (2008)
• Earth X #0 (1999)
• Captain Marvel (vol. 3) #1, 3, 17 (2002–03)
• Daredevil #500 (2009)
• Daredevil/Spider-Man, miniseries, #1-4 (2001)
• 4 (Universe X Special) #1 (2000)
• Incredible Hulk #600 (2009)
• Invaders Now!, miniseries, #1-5 (2010–11)
• Spider-Woman, vol. 2, #1 (2009)
• The Torch, miniseries, #1-8 (2009–10)
• Uncanny X-Men #500 (2008)

Other publishers[link]

• Battle of the Planets #1-12 (2002–03) (Image)
• Battle of the Planets/Thundercats (2003) (DC/Image)
• Battle of the Planets/Witchblade (2003) (Image)

Toys[link]

DC Direct (the exclusive collectibles division of DC Comics) has produced 3 sets of action figures from the comic book Kingdom Come based on Alex Ross' artwork. The first set of figures included Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Hawkman. The second set included Batman, Red Robin, Captain Marvel, and Kid Flash. The last set included Magog, Flash, Armored Wonder Woman, and Deadman. An exclusive figure of Red Arrow was released through ToyFare magazine. DC Direct also released several other Ross-designed characters through their Elseworlds toylines. These figures included The Spectre, Norman McCay, Jade, Nightstar, Aquaman, and Blue Beetle. Ross designed the costume the current incarnation of Batwoman wears; this character has been released in action-figure form by DC Direct as part of its "52" line of toys.

DC Direct has released a line of action figures for the comic book Justice based on Alex Ross' artwork:

• Series 1: Bizarro, Sinestro, Cheetah, Flash, Superman, Superman (Variant)
• Series 2: Aquaman, Batman, Black Canary, Black Manta, Parasite
• Series 3: Green Lantern, Joker, Plastic Man, Poison Ivy, Wonder Woman
• Series 4: Black Adam, Hawkman, Shazam!, Solomon Grundy, Zatanna
• Series 5: Brainiac, Green Arrow, Lex Luthor, Martian Manhunter, Martian Manhunter (Translucent), Red Tornado.
• Series 6: Batman Armored, Green Lantern Armored, Hawkgirl, Scarecrow.
• Series 7: Aquaman Armored, Gorilla Grodd, Green Lantern John Stewart, Superman Armored
• Series 8: Batgirl, Captain Cold, Supergirl, Toyman

Awards[link]

Ross' awards include a 1997 Will Eisner Award for the limited series Kingdom Come (with Mark Waid) and a 1998 National Cartoonists Society Comic Book Award for Superman: Peace on Earth.

Ross won the Comics Buyer's Guide's CBG Fan Award for Favorite Painter seven years in a row, resulting in that publication's retirement of that category. Comics Buyer's Guide Senior Editor Maggie Thompson commented in regard to this in 2010, "Ross may simply be the field's Favorite Painter, period. That's despite the fact that many outstanding painters are at work in today's comic books."^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alex Ross

• Official website
• Alex Ross at the Comic Book DB
• Alex Ross at Marvel.com^{[dead link]}
• Alex Ross Covers and Toys Images
• Alex Ross (VII) at the Internet Movie Database
• getting started with Alex Ross books

Interviews[link]

• Interview at Alex Ross Art (1997)
• Interview at The Jack Kirby Collector (1999)
• Interview at FilmForce (2003)
• Around Comics Interview on Around Comics 01/01/08

John Sebastian
John Sebastian performing in 1974
Background information
Birth name	John Benson Sebastian
Born	(1944-03-17) March 17, 1944 (age 68) Greenwich Village, New York City, New York USA
Genres	Rock, pop, folk
Occupations	musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, autoharp
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Kama Sutra, Reprise
Associated acts	The Lovin' Spoonful, Even Dozen Jug Band, The Mugwumps
Website	www.johnbsebastian.com

John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944, in Greenwich Village, New York City) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and autoharpist. He is best known as a founder of The Lovin' Spoonful, a band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.^[1] His tie-dyed denim jacket is prominently displayed there.

Life and early career[link]

Sebastian's father, John Sebastian , was a noted classical harmonica player and his mother was a radio script writer. He is the godson of Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy). He grew up surrounded by music and musicians, including Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie and hearing such players as Leadbelly and Mississippi John Hurt in his own neighborhood.^[2][3]

One of his first recording gigs was playing guitar and harmonica for Billy Faier's 1964 album The Beast of Billy Faier.^[4] He also recorded with Fred Neil on the Bleecker & MacDougal album and Tom Rush's self-titled album in 1965. He came up through the Even Dozen Jug Band and The Mugwumps, which split to form the Lovin' Spoonful and The Mamas & the Papas. Sebastian was joined by Zal Yanovsky, Steve Boone and Joe Butler in the Spoonful, which was named after "The Coffee Blues," a Mississippi John Hurt song. Sebastian also played autoharp on occasion.

The Lovin' Spoonful became part of the American response to the British Invasion and was noted for such folk-flavored hits as "Jug Band Music," "Do You Believe in Magic," "Summer in the City," "Daydream," "Nashville Cats," "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind," "Six O'Clock," "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice," and "Younger Girl."^[1] The band, however, began to implode after a 1967 marijuana bust in San Francisco involving Yanovsky, a Canadian citizen. Facing deportation, he gave up the name of his dealer, which caused a fan backlash and internal strife. Neither John Sebastian nor Joe Butler was involved in the matter; neither was even in San Francisco at the time. Yanovsky subsequently left the band and was replaced by Jerry Yester.^[5]

Solo career[link]

Performing at the Woodstock Reunion 1979 at Parr Meadows in Ridge, NY.

Sebastian left the Lovin' Spoonful in 1968 although he and the original band reunited briefly to appear in the film One Trick Pony starring Paul Simon and Blair Brown.^[1] In December 1968, a musical he composed the music and lyrics for, Jimmy Shine, opened on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in the title role.^[6]

He embarked on a moderately successful solo career after leaving the Lovin' Spoonful in 1968. Sebastian was popular among the rock festival circuits. He had a memorable, albeit unscheduled appearance at Woodstock, appearing after Country Joe McDonald's set, playing songs such as "I Had A Dream," "Rainbows All Over Your Blues," "Darling Be Home Soon" and "Younger Generation," which he dedicated to a newborn baby at the festival. Documentary remarks by festival organizers revealed that Sebastian was under the influence of marijuana^[7] at the time, hence his spontaneity and casual, unplanned set. "By the time I got to Woodstock I remained a pot smoker, but there was a natural high there," says Sebastian.^[7] "In an interview it is the easy thing to say 'yeah, I was really high,' but it was actually a very small part of the event. In fact, I had a small part of some pill that someone gave me before I went onstage, but it wasn't a real acid feeling."^[7] Sebastian also returned for Woodstock '94, playing harmonica for Crosby, Stills and Nash. Sebastian released his eponymous LP John B. Sebastian in 1970, which featured him accompanied by various L.A. musicians.

Sebastian played harmonica with The Doors on the song Roadhouse Blues under the pseudonym G. Pugliese to avoid problems with his contract, which was featured on Morrison Hotel album.^[8] He also played on "Little Red Rooster" on the live album Alive, She Cried and on seven songs on Live In Detroit.^[9][10] He is also credited with playing harmonica on Crosby Stills Nash & Young's "Déjà Vu" from the album of the same name.

In 1976, Sebastian had a number one single with "Welcome Back," the theme song to the Welcome Back, Kotter television show.^[2] His only top 40 solo hit, it found new life decades later when a sample from it became the hook for rapper Mase's 2004 hit "Welcome Back." More recently, he played with John Sebastian and the J-Band, a jug band including Fritz Richmond from the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Yank Rachell, an original jug-band leader, and Geoff Muldaur.

Several modern musicians cite him as a large influence, including renowned blues harmonica player, Mike Tetrault. As a songwriter, Sebastian's songs have been covered by Elvis Costello ("The Room Nobody Lives In"), Dolly Parton, Del McCoury, Helen Reddy, Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Bobby Darin, Slade and Joe Cocker; The Everly Brothers, Tom Petty and Jimmy Buffett have all covered "Stories We Could Tell".

Later career[link]

With David Grisman on the left, 2009

Starting in 1978, John wrote the music for the animated special The Devil and Daniel Mouse, and even provided the singing voice for the character of Daniel Mouse. In the 1980s, Sebastian continued to write and perform music for several productions from Nelvana Limited Productions, a reputable Canada-based animation studio whose more recent output included the TV series Braceface, which starred—and was jointly produced by--Alicia Silverstone, and the same studio which produced The Devil and Daniel Mouse. John wrote and sang the theme song/narration for Nelvana's TV pilot The Get Along Gang. (None of it was kept, however, when DIC Entertainment took over the project thereafter.) Sebastian also composed and performed "Care Bear Countdown," the theme song for Nelvana's Care Bears TV series, along with numerous tunes for the The Care Bears Movie trilogy which preceded it; this consisted of Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland.

In later years, Sebastian hosted several television programs regarding '60s' music, including paid programs for compilations sets and a half-hour program called The Golden Age of Rock and Roll, which was usually composed of video footage of 1960s bands performing on variety shows. He also hosted a Spoonful retrospective broadcast over PBS in March 2007, talking about various Spoonful numbers in between vintage video clips of the band up to the time he left.

Sebastian performing at the Katharine Hepburn Theater in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, November 27, 2011.

In 1992 Sebastian made a cameo appearance on the sitcom Married...with Children, together with other famous rockstars. In 2005, he appeared on Eels' Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.^[11]

In 2007, Sebastian released a guitar instructional DVD for Homespun Video teaching solo guitar adaptations of eight of his Spoonful hits including "Daydream," "Nashville Cats," and his solo hit "Welcome Back." He has also released an instructional DVD teaching beginning level autoharp. (Sebastian played both harmonica and autoharp on Shanachie's 2002 compilation CD "Man of Constant Sorrow.")

Sebastian and the J Band appear in Chasin' Gus' Ghost, a documentary about the roots and influence of jug band music,^[12][13] which screened in August 2007 at the San Francisco Jug Band Festival and made its film festival debut in October 2007 at the Woodstock Film Festival. In the film, Sebastian humorously explains, with musical accompaniment, how his hit song "Younger Girl" was inspired by Gus Cannon's "Prison Wall Blues." He also performed at the festival with other musicians featured in the film, including Geoff Muldaur, Maria Muldaur, Jim Kweskin and David Grisman.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.^[2]

Stories We Could Tell, the title of a novel by British writer Tony Parsons, comes from the Sebastian song.^{[citation needed]}

Solo discography[link]

Original U.S. singles[link]

Original U.S. vinyl albums[link]

Miscellaneous albums[link]

• 1978 The Devil and Daniel Mouse: A Nelvana Story Album
• 1982 John Sebastian Teaches Blues Harmonica Homespun Tapes
• 1993 Tar Beach Shanachie
• 1995 John Sebastian Line
• 1996 I Want My Roots John Sebastian and the J-Band; Music Masters
• 1996 King Biscuit Flower Hour [live] King Biscuit Flower
• 1996 John Sebastian Teaches Beginning Blues Harmonica Homespun Tapes
• 1997 Do What Know? With Jimmy Vivino & The Rekooperators Music Masters
• 1999 Chasin' Gus' Ghost Hollywood
• 2001 One Guy, One Guitar [live] Hux; concert performances from 1981 and 1984, originally broadcast on the BBC
• 2001 Faithful Virtue: The Reprise Recordings Rhino Handmade
• 2002 Man of Constant Sorrow: Instrumental Impressions of the American Heartland Shanachie, as licensed to the St. Clair Entertainment Group.^[15]
• 2007 Satisfied John Sebastian And David Grisman Acoustic Disc

Samples[link]

	"Welcome Back" noicon by John Sebastian, Welcome Back, Reprise Records 1976. Sample from The Best of John Sebastian, Rhino Entertainment/WEA Corp., 1989, 1990 format=Ogg
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Illustrated Even Dozen Jug Band discography
• Peter Reilly's review of The Four of Us^{[dead link]}
• Chasin' Gus' Chost jug band documentary
• John Sebastian interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).

Alex Ross (born 1968) is an American music critic. He has been on the staff of The New Yorker magazine since 1996 and published a critically acclaimed book on 20th-century classical music in 2007, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century.

Biography[link]

Ross is a 1986 graduate of St. Albans School in Washington, D.C. and a 1990 graduate of Harvard University, where he studied under composer Peter Lieberson and was a DJ on the classical and underground rock departments of the college radio station, WHRB. He earned a Harvard A.B. in English summa cum laude for a thesis on James Joyce.

From 1992 to 1996 Ross was a music critic at the New York Times. He also wrote for The New Republic, Slate, the London Review of Books, Lingua Franca, Fanfare and Feed. He first contributed to The New Yorker in 1993 and became a staff writer in 1996.

His first book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, a cultural history of music since 1900, was released in the U.S. in 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and in the U.K. in 2008. The book received widespread critical praise in the U.S., garnering a National Book Critics Circle Award, a spot on the New York Times list of the ten best books of 2007, and a finalist citation for the Pulitzer Prize in general non-fiction. The book was also shortlisted for the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.^[1]

His second book, Listen to This, was released in the U.S. in September 2010 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and was published in the U.K. in November 2010.

He has received a MacArthur Fellowship,^[2] three ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for music writing, and a Holtzbrinck fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin. In 2011 he will receive the Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music at the pèlerinages Art Festival in Weimar.

Alex Ross married^[3] director Jonathan Lisecki in Canada in 2005.^[4]

Bibliography[link]

Incomplete - to be updated

Books[link]

• Ross, Alex (2007). The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-24939-7. 
• Ross, Alex (2010). Listen to This. Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-0-00-731906-0. 

References[link]

1. ^ "BBC Four - 2008 Shortlist for Samuel Johnson Prize". http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/books/features/samueljohnson/shortlist.shtml. 
2. ^ David Kelly (23 September 2008). "MacArthurs, Parked". Papercuts (New York Times blog). http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/macarthurs-parked/. Retrieved 24 March 2009. 
3. ^ The Canadian Civil Marriage Act 2005 permits same-sex marriage.
4. ^ Bonanos, Christopher (November 7, 2007). "You'll happily be taken along for the ride". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/07/usa.classicalmusic. Retrieved 2008-08-12 

External links[link]

• The Rest is Noise. Articles, a blog, and a book.
• "The Best Listener in America" - Alex Ross profile in The New York Observer, 9 October 2007
• The 'Mash of Myriad Sounds' Michael Kimmelman review of The Rest Is Noise from The New York Review of Books
• The Big Rewind: How The Rest Is Noise changes our understanding of 20th-century music, by Jan Swafford
• From classics to pop, The Economist, October 28th, 2010