Randall Roberts

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Former Kraftwerk and Neu! percussionist Klaus Dinger dies

You've heard the Motorik beat, one of the seminal rhythms of the late 20ths century. Created in the early 1970s by Dusseldorf, Germany percussionist Klaus Dinger, the Motorik beat over the past thirty years has become of the essential rhythms of our time. Dinger died last week, though his thoroughly......
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The staggering idiocy of Bob Lefsetz boiled to its essence

As long as we're on the subject of Bob Lefsetz, let's talk Bob Lefsetz. I've stayed away from mentioning Santa Monica-based music biz prognosticator Bob Lefsetz because, well, he hangs himself from the endless rope on a daily -- nay, hourly -- basis every time he opens his blathering Bachman-Turner-Overdrive......
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The Hidden Pleasures of Coachella, Part I: Linton Kwesi Johnson

One of the pleasant little surprises of this year's festival is the arrival of Jamaican born, British-bred poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. He made his mark beginning in London in the 1970s, teaming with totally underrated British producer Dennis Bovell on some classic records for Chris Blackwell's budding Island Records imprint......
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Who Shot Tupac At The Quad: The LA Times teaser press release

On the afternoon of Friday, March 14, the LA Times' Stephan Pechdimaldji, senior manager of media relations, tossed out an email to his media list announcing the impending publication of Chuck Philips' now-debunked Who Shot Tupac story. There were a couple of red flags right off the bat. First, I'd......
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Skullphone hacks Clear Channel electronic billboards

UPDATE: Curbed.la is claiming that Skullphone didn't hack Clear channels billboards, but actually bought time on them. And while that's kind of sad, it's also kind of funny: The guy got his money's worth. Also, the idea is now floating out there. Someone is going to try to hack into......