Big stars have big hits, but sometimes they have big misses . . . Here at Balcony Radio we understand that not every effort is your best. Sometimes you just do ai'ight. What we also understand is that some people's ai'ight is still pretty fucking brillian

OK. We're not going to BS around here - Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are GREAT! And they made some amazing albums that kick major ASS. So, for Lesson 78 of the 101 Series we devote two full shows to them. First in the studio and next week "live" and in

What does John Hiatt have beneath that gruff exterior? We don't know . . . a gigantic foldy brain, a house big heart, guts the size of boulders . . . the usual stuff unsung geniuses have. In Lesson 77 of the 101 Series we pull out some tunes by one of the

Jimi Hendrix wrote "Purple Haze". Was it always the great song it is now? um..Well..uh..maybe. Bob Dylan wrote "Ballad of a Thin Man". Was it a stunning masterpiece from the first day? Uh..um, well,..it could've been. Be that as it may, lots of songs star

The Music Machine is always at work . . . some cogs wind up not being necessary. The Machine spits them out. Carelessly. We at The Balcony believe those who got the shaft based on demographic research groups should sometimes get the spotlight, so we put t

Willie Nelson is an American legend and icon. He saw there was a need to help some people known as "farmers." So, after a comment by Bob Dylan at Live Aid,  Willie called a few friends on the phone (John Mellencamp, Neil Young) and said "Hey, kids! Let

There's Phil Spector. There's Brian Wilson. There's Berry Gordy. There's George Martin. There's Steve Lillywhite. There's Daniel Lanois. There's T-Bone Burnett. You know what else, motherfucker, there's Dr. Dre. The premier hip hop producer of our time ha

The name of this band? Talking Heads! In Lesson 75 of the 101 Series, the weird art kids are taking over. And we let them. We at The Balcony hate to admit it, but yeah, we stole all our dance moves from David Byrne. And our fashion sense. Join us as we pl

There are few traditions left in radio these days. Some that began in the "early days" of radio remain intact - bad advertising, A Prairie Home Companion, and Saturday nights at The Grand Ole Opry. For Episode 6 of our country and folk music show Blue Hig

Andy Warhol gave us some important things: soup cans as art, 15 hour movies of a guy snoring and . . . the Velvet Underground. Two out of three of these things we at The Balcony are big fans of. In Lesson 74 of the 101 Series we take a look at the band th