It's that time again when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame releases its nominees for induction ... and we get to offer our thoughts on the nominees. There are 15 nominees this year, and usually five to seven acts are inducted, so we're basically cutting this list in half.   Read More >>

We're almost at the point on the calendar where you can't turn on the radio without hearing the iconic Arlo Guthrie song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree." The song -- and, yes, that's the real title -- has become a timeless classic (well, it does run almost 19 minutes long) since its 1967 release.   Read More >>

COURTESY PHOTO

Joe Cocker sadly left us four years ago, but his legacy and music catalog are enormous. One of his most enduring songs is his 1968 cover of The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends," and in the spirit of that song, a group of local musicians is coming together next month to raise money for a pair of good causes.   Read More >>

When word got out earlier this year that Sting and Shaggy were collaborating, not only on an album but also a full-scale tour that comes to House of Blues in Boston next week, there was a massive reaction of "Huh?   Read More >>

If you tuned into the USA Network's weekly boxing series in April 1988 to watch then-former (and -future) middleweight world champion Roberto Duran fight up-and-comer Paul Thorn, little did you know you would have the chance to see Thorn in Greater Lowell three decades later.   Read More >>

Three bands that dominated radio airwaves in the 1990s and 2000s have joined forces for the promising Rock and Roll Express Tour. The bands -- headliner 3 Doors Down, Collective Soul and opener Soul Asylum -- will come to the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion at Meadowbrook on Lake Winnipesaukee tonight for a triple bill of hits, hits and more hits.   Read More >>

Albert Mazibuko lived through the start and end of apartheid in South Africa, watched his cousin Joseph Shabalala form Ladysmith Black Mambazo in 1960, and has been part of the group since 1969. Mazibuko has never been to Lowell.   Read More >>

The swish of the net. The crack of the bat. The sound of the cannons firing. Those have been the traditional sounds you used to hear at TD Garden, Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium when the Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and Patriots were in town.   Read More >>

Ever walk into a coffee shop early and hear a song that sounds good, only to be disappointed that you can't figure out who it is before you leave? Or maybe you're waiting for your favorite act to come onstage and they play some music to warm the crowd up, but again, there's no announcement as to who it is, so you can't figure out who is performing.   Read More >>

People originally thought of Lawrence Gowan as "the guy who replaced Dennis DeYoung," so to hear the Styx keyboardist say 2018 is his "20th year with the band" is a bit jarring. The passage of time is not lost on Styx, a group of relentless road warriors who come to Boston next week as part of a co-headlining summer tour with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.   Read More >>