Guitar Masters: Lorne Lofsky & Reg Schwager @ Hirut Café, Wednesday

Toronto jazz guitar aces Lorne Lofsky and Reg Schwager trade licks at Hirut Café tonight at 8 pm. $20 cash cover.  

New documentary on ska/rocksteady guitar great Lynn Taitt in the works

A feature-length documentary on pioneering ska/rocksteady guitar great Lynn Taitt is way overdue. Watch for a trailer coming soon.

Writes Moss Raxlen...

Happy to announce preproduction has now started on the Lynn Taitt documentary & release of his final LP (and most likely a couple of 45s). Over the next couple months I will be visiting Toronto, Ottawa & more to do research & networking followed by a teaser/trailer for around September. Big thanks to all those that have helped in the past to bring it this far & to all those now stepping in to help - Stay tuned for more info!!

Watch an unrelated mini-doc on Lyn Taitt from the Reggae Appreciation Society below.

Happy Birthday Ned Sublette!

Celebrating the birthday of singer/songwriter & music historian Ned Sublette with a discussion of Cuban music and more.

Get a copy of Ned Sublette's book Cuba and It's Music via Chicago Review Press right here.

Midweek Mixdown: G.S. in Psychedelic Paradise – 60s Japanese garage psych

Back in 2001, Tokyo's Teichiku label released G.S. in Psychedelic Paradise – a swingin' collection of Japanese 60s garage gems.  

G.S. in Psychedelic Paradise

1 The Dynamites – Tunnel To Heaven (Album Version)  00:00

2 ザ・ヤンガーズ– Hanashitakunai  02:52

3 The Beavers – Why, Baby, Why  05:29

4 The Golden Cups– This Bad Girl  07:41

5 Gary Walker & The Carnabeats– Cutie Morning Moon  09:59

6 The Mops– Atsuku Narenai  12:48

7 The Fingers – I'm In Love   16:12

8 The Tempters– All Day I Call Your Name  18:53

9 The Tigers – Jinjin Banban  21:50

10 ザ・リンド & リンダース– Koi Ni Shibirete  25:28

11 The Wild Ones – All Of My Life  28:31

12 The Spiders – Up-Side Down  30:55

13 The Phoenix – Good-Bye, Baby  33:27

14 The Edwards – Cry Cry Cry   36:23

15 The Carnabeats– Chu! Chu! Chu!  39:08

16 The Mops– Je T'aime, Bella  41:57

17 The Beavers – Kiminaki Sekai  44:24

18 The Tempters– Tell Me More  46:58

19 The Dynamites – Otono No Senso  50:43

20 The Tigers – The Broken Earth  53:39

21 The Mikes – Ramblin' Man  57:13

22 Blue Comets– Love-Light Show  59:58

23 The Spiders – Mr. Tax   01:05:59

The Limit feat. Sonny Vincent and Pentagram's Bobby Liebling preview "Another Drop"

Check out "Another Drop of Blood" by The Limit with Pentagram's Bobby Liebling & Sonny Vincent. The new LP is out July 31st – read all about it!

Here's the scoop...

The song "Another Drop of Blood" is a collaboration between Sonny Vincent (Testors) and Bobby Liebling (Pentagram) on a track that offers a powerful glimpse into an album driven by danger, honesty, and genuine rock ‘n’ roll impact. It’s the sound of artists abandoning overthought and expectation and simply following the moment wherever it leads. 

The Limit's new album Another drop is out July 31st via Silver Lining Music but you can pre-order it now right here: https://lnk.to/TheLimitAnotherDrop

“I wrote the music; Bobby delivered one of his most emotionally exposed lyrical performances —raw, direct, and completely unfiltered” comments founder, guitarist and primary songwriter Sonny Vincent. “The track captures the chemistry of The Limit… we are a band operating purely on instinct. No formulas. No calculated game plan. We are just musicians pushing toward intensity, atmosphere and emotional truth in real time.”

Prepare for 'Another Drop' from The Limit

In your face, vital and visceral, The Limit are a super-charged collision of punk, hard rock and metal—an unfiltered, analog force cutting through a landscape too often dulled by polish and predictability. What they create isn’t retro, and it isn’t revivalist—it’s something far more rare: rock ‘n’ roll with genuine urgency, played like it still matters.

The street-rat roar of their new album Another Drop is feral, carefree and defiantly alive—a 15-track blast of raw, instinctive energy that feels less constructed than unleashed. There’s no chasing trends here, no studio trickery masking the message—just the unmistakable sound of musicians with nothing to prove and everything to say, delivering something immediate, unvarnished and real.

Led by Sonny Vincent (Testors) and Bobby Liebling (Pentagram), Another Drop bristles with the kind of kinetic charge that can only come from lifers. Vincent’s songwriting carries the DNA of rock’s most dangerous corners, while Liebling delivers a performance steeped in character and conviction—part snarl, part storyteller, always unmistakably his own. Together, they tap into something deeper than genre, fusing punk’s bite with hard rock’s weight in a way that feels both timeless and strikingly singular.

The result is a record that doesn’t sit comfortably alongside anything else—it stands apart. Songs like “Part Two, Screw You” swagger with stripped-back attitude, while “Another Drop of Blood” pushes forward with a confrontational intensity that refuses to let go. There’s sweat, smoke, and grime running through raucous cuts like “Tryptophan”, the low-slung drive of “Sidetracked”, and the defiant surge of “Unchained”—each track delivered with a clarity of purpose and a refusal to overcomplicate what should hit hard and fast.

Another Drop doesn’t just celebrate rock ‘n’ roll—it reasserts its core values. This is music made with intent, with integrity, and with a deep-rooted understanding of what gives it life in the first place. In an age of overproduction and imitation, The Limit strip everything back to the essentials and remind you what it feels like when it’s done right. 

Watch the video for The Limit's "Another Drop Of Blood" following the tracklisting below. 

The Limit – Another Drop

Side A:

1. Another Drop of Blood

2. Don't Say Try

3. Reverb in My Soul

4. Know Your Indecision

5. (Just A) Calling Card

6. Social Eyes

7. Stalemate

8. Sidetracked

Side B:

1. Part Two, Screw You

2. Over a Cliff

3. Cause of Mystery

4. Fall Down, Get Up

5. Panzer

6. Tryptophan

7. Unchained 

Remembering Charlie Louvin on his birthday

Remembering Charlie Louvin with a Louvin Brothers documentary along with a few amazing performances and interview clips.  

LINKS

Fretboard Journal Q&A interview with Charlie Louvin, December 2005

Gary Louris just got his 'Safety Last' Gretsch out of storage for Jayhawks tour

Years before hitting on his trusty Gibson SG with the Jayhawks, Gary Louris was rarely seen without his Gretsch back in the 80s.

Here's the scoop from Jayhawks HQ...

The Gretsch is back! Since it's The Jayhawks 40th anniversary year, it was only fitting that Gary dug out a guitar that actually dates back farther than that - back to the early 80s when Gary was in Safety Last.

UPCOMING JAYHAWKS SHOWS

July 17 Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua - Bayfield, WI 

July 18 Nature Rocks 2026 - Aitkin, MN. Get tickets here (only Minnesota appearance this summer).

Oct 16 Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON. Get tickets here. 

Full tour schedule: bit.ly/JayhawksShows