DJ Tom LG combines the past and the present
The annual Burning Man festival is a unique fusion of the ancient and futuristic, the human and the digital. The very nature of its Nevada desert location, which puts its participants face-to-face with many of the same basic survival issues with which our primitive ancestors grappled, ensures a somewhat archaic feel, yet the tribal festivities are enlivened by electronic music and state-of-the-art technology.

In short, it’s probably the only place in the world where you might see a robot cruising past a cluster of naked people dancing around a fire.

One would be hard-pressed to find a better DJ for a Burning Man after-party than Tom LG, whose musical tastes epitomize this synthesis of the archaic and modern. “Part of the electronic music scene is to be continually moving forward: Don’t look back; that record was played yesterday, therefore, it’s obsolete,” offers LG, who will be spinning records at this Wednesday’s post-Burning Man party at Moe’s Alley along with DJ Seek, Little John and Rob Monroy. In contrast to that, he notes, “I think the essence of what I’m about is this old and this new, this past and present. I ride this line back and forth, and when the two come together is when I think I’ve created the best experience for people.”

New West Guitar Trio proves that less is more.

Everybody’s familiar with that common affliction that plagues many bands. You know, the inherent case of the LGES, otherwise known as Lead Guitarist Ego Syndrome, which can breed head-to-head vying for the spotlight between singer and ripping soloist; that Catch-22 that can ultimately make and then break a band.

A lot of people talk about the power of music. Not many can say that they helped uproot an entire system of government and an oppressive social paradigm with their vocal harmonies.

Taking lessons from Esperanza Spalding

Everyone knows that old saying “Those who can’t do, teach.” Well, in response to it, meet Esperanza Spalding. The standup bassist, composer, bandleader and multilingual vocalist is annihilating such skepticism left and right. At the age when most people begin their college pursuits, Spalding accomplished a jaw-dropping feat by becoming Berklee College of Music’s youngest professor ever—when she was merely 20 years old. For jazz’s sparkling up-and-coming gem it wasn’t a whirlwind, it was natural.

The Avett Brothers answer the varied calls of the wild

When it comes to North Carolina’s thunderous country rockers the Avett Brothers, younger brother Seth Avett confirms that what you see onstage is what you get in private: “Since Scott [Avett] was a little boy, he’s had the highest level of energy that you could imagine, it’s unbelievable,” the