Rock And Roll

In the past few years, Height, aka Dan Keech, has become the biggest white rapper in Baltimore — both musically and physically (he's a pretty large guy, hence the name). He has a plodding, deliberate cadence that begs a closer listen. You might call him the anti-Busta Rhymes. Height is the centerpiece of Height With Friends, a group that combines the sharp guitar hooks of rock 'n' roll with rap's heavy beats. The production on their new album, "Rock and Roll," released last month on the Baltimore label Friends Records, is remarkably crisp.

In the past few years, Height, aka Dan Keech, has become the biggest white rapper in Baltimore — both musically and physically (he's a pretty large guy, hence the name). He has a plodding, deliberate cadence that begs a closer listen. You might call him the anti-Busta Rhymes. Height is the centerpiece of Height With Friends, a group that combines the sharp guitar hooks of rock 'n' roll with rap's heavy beats. The production on their new album, "Rock and Roll," released last month on the Baltimore label Friends Records, is remarkably crisp.

Never mind the best and the worst -- it was easy enough to pick out the big stories for popular music in 1990. They were as obvious as the headlines:*Mandatory record labeling bills were introduced in nearly 20 states, including Maryland; on May 9, the recording industry headed off legislation with its own standardized Parental Advisory sticker.*"As Nasty As They Wanna Be," an album by the rap group 2 Live Crew, was declared obscene in June by a judge in Florida's Broward County. Arrests followed; though members of the group were acquitted on charges stemming from a nightclub performance, a local record store owner was convicted and fined for selling the album.

There are so many big-voiced female British singers, it's hard to keep track of them. There's Adele, out with new album "21," and there's Duffy, of the ubiquitous "Mercy. " Then there's Florence Welch and Elly Jackson, of La Roux, not to mention the ones who started it all, Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. Joining their ranks this year is Ellie Goulding, a 24-year-old singer from Hereford, England, whose new album, "Lights," has already climbed to the top of the British music charts.

Rock and roll rules. That's liturgy among millions. Fine. But in truth, its job is to smash rules. That's what it's for. Always has been. The genre is now a half-century old. Sure, some of that music has been musically innovative, interesting, even occasionally intricate. A rather larger portion of the best of the lyrics has had genuine -- certainly memorable -- poetic qualities. But neither of those is the real point or purpose.Rock and roll began, prospers and prevails as a ritual of defiance.

WITH-AM (1230), which attempted to carve itself a niche in Baltimore radio by harking back to the early days of rock and roll, has been sold to a California-based company that specializes in religious broadcasting.In an agreement signed last week, Salem Communications Corp., which owns some 40 radio stations nationwide, shelled out $3 million to purchase WITH and two other stations (in Cleveland and Cincinnati) from Cincinnati-based Guardian Communications.The sale, which almost certainly will result in a change in formats from music to religious talk, ends a decades-long run by WITH as one of Baltimore's premier music stations.

Psychedelic rock.It's a term even those who don't pay much attention to music immediately understand. Just say the words, and a host of images floods to mind: Tie-dyes. Love beads. Day-Glo colors. Posters with letters warped to illegibility. Peter Max illustrations. R. Crumb comics. Nehru jackets. Paisley prints. Granny glasses.Funny thing is, each of those associations is visual, not musical. Understanding psychedelia as a design concept is easy; defining it in musical terms is trickier.

The deal is that the Serbs concede part of Croatia where they always lived in return for most of Bosnia where they never did.If Agent Ron strikes out with Client Kurt, he at least went deep with Client Cal.Never mind Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bawlamer has the Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

What do U.S. fighter pilots listen to as they set out on bombing missions over Iraq?Heavy metal music -- Van Halen is a popular choice -- according to one Air Force pilot, who told a reporter Sunday that fliers slip earphones for portable cassette players under their official headsets, so they can hear rock and roll along with military radio communications.That piece of information disturbs military officials, delights the lead singer for Van Halen and makes a lot of sense to music therapist Louise Lynch.

I'm hoping we remember more than just the sex, drug and rock and roll party. That party caused a lot of pain, some very stressing social disorder. That wasn't our goal."

Every day for three years, when Darlene Love stepped onto a Broadway stage to sing, she was transported to Baltimore — to the city of big hair and 1960s dance music — playing a teenager who gives dance lessons to a girl longing to be on the Corny Collins Show. Tomorrow, her role in "Hairspray" long behind her, she comes to the city of Hon to host a live Maryland Public Television premiere of her new DVD, "Darlene Love: The Concert of Love. " For those who may not have grown up singing along on the radio to "He's sure the boy I am going to marry" or "Da Doo Ron Ron," Love was a voice behind many 1960s hits.

Baltimore used to be the kind of town where people thought an ethnic restaurant didn't have authentic food if it wasn't a hole in the wall. Nothing illustrates how times have changed better than Harbor East's new Ra Sushi Bar Restaurant (1390 Lancaster St., 410-522-3200, rasushi.com). This is the area's first foray into rock-and-roll sushi. The Arizona-based chain is known for its high energy, hip music, contemporary decor and, not least, its sushi - both traditional and progressive. The executive chef is a Japanese native, Tai Obata, whose menu includes Pacific Rim appetizers and entrees like Black Pepper Filet Medallions and Yuzu Halibut as well as sushi, sashimi and signature rolls.

IT MAY HAVE BEEN THE FIFTH ANNUAL fundraising party for Casey Cares Foundation, but the Rock and Roll Bash was far from your average gala. Folks who gathered at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel came prepared to party with some serious rockers -- musicians such as bassist / singer Jack Blades and drummer Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger, guitarist Jeff Carlisi of 38 Special, guitarist Andy York of John Mellencamp's band, Mark Rivera of Billy Joel and Ringo Starr's...

I'm hoping we remember more than just the sex, drug and rock and roll party. That party caused a lot of pain, some very stressing social disorder. That wasn't our goal."

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution By Thomas McNamee Penguin Press / 400 pages / $27.95 Irrepressible Alice Waters was 27 when she decided that what she wanted most was a place where she and her friends could gather around a few tables, eat good food, drink a little (or a lot of) wine, inspire one another, fall in love, talk and thereby divert the world from its terrible path toward destruction, hatred, war, commercialization and alienation.

Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz, which captures on film the final live performance of the legendary rock group known simply as The Band, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. It kicks off a seven-film retrospective of rock and roll films running through Saturday at the theater, which for years reigned as Baltimore's premiere movie palace. The remaining films in the series are 2006's Beastie Boys: Awesome, I F****in' Shot That! (7:30 p.m. Wednesday)

"I want everyone to see me but not know who I am."--"Fake Monk" by Cui JianCui Jian may be the only rock star in the world who wants to keep his concerts hush-hush -- and with good reason.This fall, just a few days before what would have been his first major public performance in months, China's foremost rock and roller sat amid the jumble of electronic guitars and audio gear littering his one-room apartment, explaining why the event was not being advertised."I have no interest in calling attention to myself," he said.

An announcement that bands of debatable genius Black Sabbath and Blondie are among the latest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave us reason to explore the wide world of rock-related Web sites. rockhall.com: Introduced with a Buddy Holly quote honoring the eternal supremacy of rock's king, Elvis, the Web site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a "Today in rock history" feature, an animated music time line, and a schedule of the museum's traveling exhibitions. When we checked in, the site was in search of people who attended an Elvis Presley performance at Cleveland's Brooklyn High School in October 1955.

An announcement that bands of debatable genius Black Sabbath and Blondie are among the latest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave us reason to explore the wide world of rock-related Web sites. rockhall.com: Introduced with a Buddy Holly quote honoring the eternal supremacy of rock's king, Elvis, the Web site of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a "Today in rock history" feature, an animated music time line, and a schedule of the museum's traveling exhibitions. When we checked in, the site was in search of people who attended an Elvis Presley performance at Cleveland's Brooklyn High School in October 1955.