The Fold Rocks

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

The Fold will play at The Bottom Lounge in Chicago tomorrow (Friday, February 12) night.  They will be also at the Apple Store in Michigan Avenue  on March 21, 2010.  Bring your iPhone and be part of their new video!  Hear more about that during my conversation with Dan Castady, lead singer of The Fold in Cara’s Basement.

Listen here:

The video they made for “Every Band In The U.S.A.” is amazing and is burning up on youtube:
Get more from The Fold here:

• www.TheFoldRock.com
• www.youtube.com/TheFoldMusic
• www.myspace.com/TheFold
• twitter.com/TheFoldRock
• www.facebook.com/TheFold

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Dare 2 Dream with Gavin Rossdale

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

Who knew just $35 could do so much?  That’s the incredibly affordable price of a ticket to Dare 2 Dream this Thursday at the House Of Blues.  The most important aspect of this event is that a portion of the proceeds benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Illinois.  But it’s going to be a great show, too – you’ll see Gavin Rossdale (formerly of Bush) with Lovehammers and Relief opening.

Dare 2 Dream starts early, 5pm…so skip out of work and help out a much-deserving cause while rocking on a Thursday evening in Chicago!  Get ticket information HERE and listen to details about the concert here:

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Move your body with Fitness Expert….Amy Leffel-TEAMiFIT.

Eric Smith, NBC5Chicago Street Team

On location at TEAMiFIT Lifestyle Center-676 N. LaSalle Street-with Founder, President and Wellness Coach-Amy Leffel.

Speak a little bit about your background-life before TEAMiFIT and how all this happened?

I received my undergraduate degree at Indiana University in Exercise Physiology and Public Health.  I worked as a personal trainer and exercise specialist-teaching fitness classes at gyms across the city.  Then I went back to school to get my masters degree in Education, where I worked with kids from 1st grade all the way up to 8th.  While as a school teacher, I was also teaching fitness classes and working as a personal trainer on the side.  So I have about seven years working in fitness.  This has been my passion, so doing this doesn’t feel like work.

Amy Got Soul

The initial concept was exercise on location at different outdoor venues across the city.  What gave you the idea to get started that way?

I’ve had this vision a long time.  April through September every year we hold outside classes.  So you’ll have classes happening all around the city…Lincoln Park, West Loop, West Town, River North, Gold Coast, Lake View and South Loop.  We also take these classes to the beach.  And as the weather cools we bring this more of this action to our space here.

So what makes TEAMiFIT different?

TurboKick

TEAMiFit is a one-stop shop promoting health and wellness!  You can come here and get fitness classes for adults and kids.  We have Strictly CORE, TurboKick, Zumba, Strength Boxing classes and more…we’ve got all kinds of flava flava-including Power Yoga and Power Pilates.  We’ve got specialized workshops like plyometric training focusing on high-intensity movements for high impact.  We also have small group personal training called ‘Armed and Dangerous’ for only six people, to work with a personal trainer at a discounted price.  And beginning in November we are going to have educational classes ‘Doing Life Together’, where our lifestyle coaches will educate based on personal experience using their expertise to focus on what our members want.  Topics will include like how to eat right when working out, how to balance life, how to spend smart over the holidays, educational self-massage, couples massage, etc.  The lifestyle coaches will be here to educate and build relationships with our clientele.  We’re basically doing life together.

TEAMiFIT

Amy is definitely on the move in Chicago and wants to get your body moving.  For additional information and register for classes visit TEAMiFIT online and Facebook.  To hear the entire interview, download the audio casts below.

Part 1  Interview w/Amy ‘Body’

Part 2 Interview w/Amy ‘What You Waiting For?’

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Rock With Rik Emmett Oct 24

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

If you’re a fan of rock music then you must be very familiar with the legendary guitar riff’s of Rik Emmett.  He was part of the amazing power trio Triumph, providing killer licks in great songs like “Fight The Good Fight”, “Lay It On The Line”, etc.  Here’s an opportunity to catch him in an intimate environment and also help out a great cause, Pizza’s 4 Patriots:

Wow, what killer line-up.  As it turns out, several of those artists have appeared in my podcast Cara’s Basement:

Rik Emmett-

Ronnie Platt-

Kevin Chalfant-

See you at Durty Nellies on Saturday, October 24!

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Serenaded by Michael Buble

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

Michael Buble has sold 22,000,000 albums (so far) worldwide. His singing voice is impeccable.  His songs capture romance, heartache, love and every other emotion that goes along with any relationship you’ve ever been in. His song “Everything” is a very popular first-dance song at weddings. And his live performances are unreal. No wonder he’s got millions of fans worldwide chomping at the bit, anticipating the release of his third album “Crazy Love”. The album was initially supposed to be released on October 13, but due to fan demand the album will now be released 4 days prior (October 9). You can pre-order it now.

I had the priveledge of being the very first radio personality in the USA to speak to Michael Buble as he begins his mass promo for his new album.  An even bigger honor was having him serenade me…I still have the goosebumps!

Listen to our conversation in Cara’s Connection at the WTMX website:

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Pizzas 4 Patriots Celebration Concert

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

“Pizza’s 4 Patriots” is such a cool concept.  Literally, giving those who serve our country a slice of home.  Go here to find out more about what they do – and go to Durty Nellie’s on October 24th to see a great show while supporting the cause.  Details below:

Here’s a blast-from-the-past interview with Rik Emmett:

Here’s a blast-from-the-past interview with Kevin Chalfant:

Here’s a blast-from-the-past interview with Ronnie Platt:

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Plain White T’s TONITE

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

Wow, this is a way cool bang-for-the-buck concert experience. Don’t miss your chance to see The Plain White T’s in a very intimate setting tonite (8/28/09). Only 1500 tickets are being sold for Lake Effect, a charity show they are headlining tonight at The Palmer House.

$75 includes three bands performing (Plain White T’s, Chicago blues artist Melvin Taylor plus the Gentlemen Of Leisure Band which happens to be one of President Obama’s favorite Chicago bands)…it also includes an open premium bar, an amazing array of food stations created by the Palmer House’s Executive Chef Stephen Henry and Pastry Chef Fabrice Bouet…and, as an added bonus, a limited number of behind-the-scenes tours of Palmer House will be conducted by docents from the Chicago Architecture Foundation.  Most importantly…100% of the proceeds benefit the Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care’s Good Mourning Program (providing support for families and children of all ages in overcoming the loss of a loved one).

Don’t pass up this opportunity to help out a wonderful organization while enjoying a phenomenal experience.  Got o www.LakeEffectParty.com or call 847-692-8897 to purchase tickets.

Tom Higgins from The Plain White T’s just spoke to me about this show – listen here:

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Jordin Sparks

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

My jaw hit the floor when I heard that Jordin Sparks was touring with Britney Spears on the second leg of her “Circus” tour (coming to the Allstate Arena September 9).  C’mon…Jordan is a sweet innocent 19 year old that proudly wears a purity ring and just spent the summer on the road with super-sweet-goodie-guys The Jonas Brothers (also known for their purity rings)…if I was Jordin‘s mother I’d be very nervous knowing she’ll be on the same bill as Britney.  They’ll be spending a lot of time together on the road.  Do I really need to list the reasons why it’s worrisome?  OMG.  Heck, maybe Jordin‘s behavior (ie, morals) will rub off on Britney…wouldn’t that be special!

I just spoke to Jordin Sparks for WTMX and she is thrilled about all of the things going on in her career.  She’ll be part of “VH1 Diva’s” airing live on September 17 hosted by Paula Abdul, and Jordin is very blatant about her opinion regarding Paula no longer being a judge on American Idol.  Listen here:

Catch Jordin Sparks at “Skate For The Heart” September 19 at the Sears Centre Arena.

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The Steepwater Band = True Rock and Roll

 Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

If you dig what I call straight ahead real rock with a tinge of blues…like The Black Crowes, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Allman Brothers, etc…you absolutely will love The Steepwater Band.  The hail from Chicago and frankly I’m surprised they aren’t more of a national presence yet.  But they are certainly on their way.  Check out their new video for their song Lord Knows.  I’m sure you’ll sense a bit of a Black Crowes influence – that’s probably because Marc Ford (ex-Black Crowes guitarist and currently playing with Booker T) produced their Grace And Melody album.

More on The Steepwater Band in Cara’s Basement:

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Lollapalooza Artist Interviews

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

Three long days of great music and fun at Lollapalooza along with 2 nights of latenight Lollapalooza parties absolutely wore me out.  It literally took me three days to recover.

WTMX's Cara Carriveau & The Local Tourist's Theresa Carter

The latenight parties were insane.  And I do mean that in a good way.  My party buddy all day and night all weekend was Theresa Carter from The Local Tourist.  On Friday night we hit the exclusive Rock the Vote Late Night after-party in the Music Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago.  In fact, Lindsay Lohan was spotted there with her sister Ali so you know it was a major blow-out.  The Virgins among other artists performed and I don’t think we ever stopped dancing until at least 3am.

We went back to the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago the next night for an even more exclusive party and an even crazier, later nite.  Thank goodness for the unlimited supply of redbull.

Oh yeah, we also caught some great acts at Lollapalooza last weekend.  Even chatted with some artists.  Here’s a few conversations you can check out…I’ll have more soon:

The Airborne Toxic Event: 

Brandon Flowers of The Killers:

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Sean Paul’s “Imperial Blaze” is Hot like Fire!

Eric Smith, NBC Chicago Street Team

On location at the Millennium Hotel, Thursday August 6.

So what brings you to the Windy City?
What brings me to the city is that I’m promoting my new album called “Imperial Blaze”…comes out August 18th.

I see you’ve sold over 10 millions records. Let’s talk about that journey and how you got started from there to Imperial Blaze.

In Stores August 18th.

For sure…my career started with me just lovin’ music. A friend of mine got into music at the end of high school and it came to pass that I got introduced to studios and people started to like the voice and like the flow. Like the first thing was being on a big stage in Jamaica called “Sting” back in 1998, it featured people like Busta Rhymes from the hip hop world. After that I was able to do a song with DMX who was one of the biggest artists in Jamaica at that time. Then there was a song called “Here Comes The Boom” from the movie “Belly” that Hype Williams produced and what not. And then the song “Deport Dem” really got big in New York City and got a lot of play.

And then about a year after that in 2001 my second album was coming out “Dutty Rock” was comin’ out. The song called “Gimme the Light” got a very big spread. Since I’ve had a couple of songs rank as high as #1 on the Billboard Charts such as “Get Busy”, “Temperature”, a song featuring myself and Beyonce which is a song called “Baby Boy”. A song with Keyshia Cole went to #3 on the BillBoard charts, a song called “Like Glue” went to #7…”I’m still in Love” featuring Sasha went to number 12. So we have a lot of repertoire coming up to this day, man. And those are all different steps, help me to pave the way to be sittin’ here in front of you, ya know what I mean…tellin’ my story of what’s up next in Imperial Blaze.

Now I got started producing festivals with Super Cat. The first time I heard you I was like, “That’s Super Cat!” And they were like…no, no that’s Sean Paul.
The Superdor, Superdor he’s still the Super. Cause you know, he’s my pops in the business! He helped pave the way…I got to give respect to him.

Let’s talk about “So Fine” which is the rockin’ new single out now. Talk about that single and when you know a song is hot and going to blow up.

Well I mean…I try and put feeling into my songs, to my artwork. Feeling is what artwork is about…I think it is about that feeling deep down in your and soul channeling it and bringing it to the rest of world. In “So Fine”, I loved the melody, I loved the chords that was being played in the riddim, so it just took off from there… it’s a club banger cause da riddim is so hot.

So you got any upcoming shows in Chicago?
I’m gonna be here tonight and tomorrow night, so I’m probably just going to go into to clubs and sing and DJ a couple verses, couple line to let people know what’s up. However you can stay in touch with me on allseanpaul.com. It got blogs about reggae and dancehall. It’s got what I been doing lately on it, shows. It’s got a tour schedule dat should be printed up, probably by November this year. People can order my album out August 18th or pre-order it to. Also, like every now and then there’s competitions that run on the site. Like I had an “Ultimate Fan” competition running for about 3 to 4 weeks now, which just ended like this week. So I designed two chains…white gold and diamonds then I gave it to two of my favorite fans who won. Things like that gone happening every now and then on the site.

And one last thing…Sean Paul is it Henriques…? You have a Latin back ground…?
So I got a lot of different blood in me from Black, Portuguese, White from England and Chinese. My father’s family has Portuguese and Black blood. My Chinese and England bloodline comes from my mother’s family.

Well you know, me and my peeps are considering putting together another festival “Metropolatino” and you know we are interested in having you headline to get that moving.

For sure I got that blood there so let’s do it…you can’t keep me out!

Download the audio to hear the entire the Sean Paul “Imperial Blaze” interview!

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Lovehammers Are Back Rocking!

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

If I could have bottled up all of the sheer happiness at Chicago’s House Of Blues last Friday night and sold it, I’d be a millionaire. Many happy Hammerheads were immensely enjoying a moment they feared would never come.

Lovehammers at House Of Blues, photo courtesy of Christie LaMountain

Marty Casey shocked Lovehammers fans (and, in fact, the rest of the Lovehammers) about a year ago when seemingly out of blue he announced that he was leaving the band he had been the lead singer of for over a decade (more about that here) to front L.A. Guns. Thankfully, that lasted exactly a year and he has now returned to his fellow Lovehammers. A packed house at the House Of Blues got to experience one of Chicago’s premier rock bands put on one of their greatest shows ever. They performed songs off of every single one of their albums, including the soon-t0-be-released Heavy Crown.

I spoke to the band hours before they hit the stage Friday night. Heavy Crown won’t be out until July 21 but you can hear most of the songs from it and the truth about Marty leaving and then coming back to Lovehammers HERE:

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Dave Matthews Talks Music, Poop

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

DMB just released a brand new album this week, “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King”.  Critics and fans are saying this could very well be their best album to date.  Their summer tour will bring them to Alpine Valley on July 18 & 19, and to First Midwest Bank Amplitheatre on September 26.

I spoke to Dave Matthews about how difficult it must have been to finish recording the album after the tragic death (due to complications from a nasty ATV accident) of band member LaRoi Moore.  And of course I couldn’t avoid the poop topic – years ago a bus in his tour dumped 800 pounds of human waste on the heads of unfortunate boaters in Chicago under the Kinzie bridge.  It was a horrific situation and Dave continues to be very apologetic about it, and he offers a very detailed account of exactly what happened. 

You’ll find our conversation in “Cara’s Connection” at www.WTMX.com, or just listen here:

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Creed is reuniting!

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team
Okay so they claim it’s more of a “re-birth”. Whatever. Creed was one of the hugest bands of the late 1990’s, so news of the original line-up of Scott Stapp, Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall getting back together is huge.

Listen to Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti chat in Cara’s Basement about their new album, summer tour and how having kids made them fiinally able to get the band back on track.

Funniest part is when Scott Stapp refers to the infamous Chicago Creed concert where he was so waisted that he forgot the words to all the songs and laid down on stage aparrently napping as a “not-so-great-show”. Gee…ya think???  But he does have a point…he’s had far more good shows (where he didn’t nap and/or forget the lyrics) than bad ones.   Let’s hope their August 30 gig at The First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre isn’t a “not-so-great” show.

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It’s the song stuck in your head…

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

“Nothing matters but the weekend.  From a Tuesday point of view.”

If you found yourself humming the tune as you read the words, then you’re familiar with “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ To Glide” by The Kings.  Possibly, you have heard that song every Friday for the past two decades – many radio stations STILL play it religiously to kick off the weekend.  And rightly so.  It may have been a one-hit wonder, but it’s one of the most sustainable one-hit wonders ever.  It totally encapsulates the feeling of…well, the weekend!

Check out the backstory of what lead up to that hit song from Mister Zero, songwriter/guitarist for The Kings, in Cara’s Basement.

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Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with U2 (almost)

Cara Carriveau, NBC5 Street Team

Here’s one more chance to almost rock with U2.  No better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day then with the rockers from Ireland…or, in this case, St. Louis…Elevation is at Durty Nellies Palatine tonight.

Check out my chat with Elevation‘s Bono“:

Check out more of my celebrity interviews in Cara’s Basement and in Cara’s Connection.

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Kelly Clarkson’s Life Does Not Suck

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

American Idol’s very first winner Kelly Clarkson is proving once again that she is the most worthy of winning in the entire span of the series.  No other AI winner had even come close to her level of success.  Her new single “My Life Would Suck Without You” has even set a record as the quickest jump to number one on the Billboard charts, going all the way from number 97 to number 1 in just one week!

What’s even more amazing than her success is the fact that she somehow has remained genuine and sweet.  The music industry can be anything but genuine and sweet, so Kelly Clarkson sure is a rarity.

I talked to her about her career and also delved into personal stuff.  I’ve always wondered if she is really different than the image we have of her…for instance, does she really go home and crank out Megadeth and rock out???  You may be surprised at her answer.  I also got her to declare her love for me.  Twice.  So not only is she genuine and sweet, she also has marvelous taste.

This conversation with Kelly Clarkson is currently the featured interview in Cara’s Basement.  Give it a listen!

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Interview: Peter Facinelli from TWILIGHT

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

Twilight is such a highly anticipated movie that literally mobs of excited fans are attending all the promotional stops prior to the movie (especially when the incredibly handsome Robert Pattinson is involved). I’m halfway through the book by Stephenie Meyer right now and definitely understand what draws the fans. Her story is very intriguing. I am absolutely glued to the book. And from what I’m hearing from those who attended the preview earlier this week, the movie is very true to the book. And the ladies all agree that Robert Pattinson is yummy.  The movie officially opens here this weekend.

I spoke to actor Peter Facinelli this week. He plays the very handsome Dr. Carlisle Cullen, one of the vampires in Twilight. He was incredibly modest not only about his good looks (c’mon!) but also about assuming that the movie would be hugely successful garnering a guaranteed sequel. He spilled to me that he was a vegetarian until he filmed this movie. Apparently, playing a vampire made him crave red meat!

You can listen to our conversation by clicking HERE.

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Interview: Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

I’ve been recording my podcast Cara’s Basement from my house for almost two years.  It’s very convenient – I do interviews over the phone with artists who are all over the world, so sometimes I’m talking to them at strange times.  In this case, it was 7am.  I had just gotten out of the shower.  Wearing nothing but a towel, I chatted with former Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor.  Maybe that’s “TMI” but I can’t tell you how wierd it was to be talking to him while I was practically naked.  I kept thinking how envious many other women would be.  Let’s face it, Duran Duran played a pretty significant role in the popularity of MTV and was a majorly H U G E group in the 1980’s.  They still are – I have plenty of friends who still totally dig Duran Duran and their recent material has been great.

Andy Taylor wrote a juicy tell-all book, “Wild Boy” .  If ever there was someone who lived the life of a rock star, it was him.  It’s a really fun book to read and it was remarkable talking to him about what it was like to play at Live Aid  when the much-anticipated Led Zeppelin took place (they were onstage right after Zep!), performing for Princess Diana and almost getting assassinated, filming video’s with real elephants and almost drowning, and much more.   You can listen to our conversation now at www.CarasBasement.com.

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PMS Buddy Saves Relationships One Month at a Time

Marcus Riley, NBC Chicago Street Team

It’s a situation that a lot of guys can relate to. For seemingly no reason at all, with absolutely no warning, his significant other tears him a new one. After the shock and awe moment is gone, he realizes he should have seen it coming, because it’s her “time of the month.”

Denver’s Jordan Eisenberg can relate, but instead of chalking it up as one of life’s moments that you have to put up with, he and his buddies devised a warning system of sorts. It’s called PMSbuddy.com.

Click here to read the entire article on nbcchicago.com.

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Interview: Adele

Cara Carriveau, NBC Chicago Street Team

Did you happen to watch the Saturday Night Live episode a few weeks ago featuring Sarah Palin?  Chances are you did – after all, with over 14 million people tuning in it was the most watched SNL episode ever.

Benefitting majorly from that large audience was that night’s musical guest, Adele.  She’s quite popular in the UK but her soulful song “Chasing Pavements” was released in the U.S. a few months ago with only moderate success.  Since that SNL performance her song has skyrocketed up the charts and she’s now looking for a place in New York to call home, at least for a while.

I spoke to Adele this week about her SNL experience, what it’s like to be so successful at a young 19 years old, and other stuff – check out our conversation by clicking HERE.

Adele will be at The Park West on January 19, 2009.  Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning (Saturday, November 1) at 10a – but you can get your tickets with a special internet presale today (Friday, October 31) until 10pm if you go to www.WTMX.com and sign up to be a “Mix Insider”.

FYI: You can hear more of my artist interiews at:

• Cara’s Basement
• WTMX
• Chicago Music Guide

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Interview: Josh Kelley

Cara Carriveau, NBC5 Street Team

True story: I ran into Josh Kelley in the hallway of his hotel and found myself in his hotel room within minutes. Granted, I was at the hotel to emcee a private show with him later — but we had never met and I had no idea I would see him randomly before the show. Since I had my portable recorder with me I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask him for an interview. Next think I knew, I was inside his hotel room chatting away. Yep, it was that easy.

Check out my conversation with Josh Kelley and many of my other interviews at www.CarasBasement.com – like with The Plain White T’s, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Nils Lofgren and more!

By the way, he put on a great show. Catch him perform live if you get the chance!

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Interview with Nils Lofgren

Cara Carriveau, NBC5 Street Team

There’s no way you haven’t heard the genius licks of guitarist Nils Lofgren. Besides releasing many solo albums in the past few decades, he’s also been a longtime member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and at one time was a member of Crazy Horse. He has enjoyed a very lenghthy musical collaboration & friendship with Neil Young since the late ’60’s – so Nils just released a tribute to his good pal “The Loner: Nils Sings Neil”.

Check out a sample of this spectacular album and hear my exclusive interview with Nils Lofgren in Cara’s Basement:http://class=yshortcuts

If the player above doesn’t work properly please visit the newly redesigned Cara’s Basement website to hear it (and more conversations with all sorts of interesting entertainers).

Click HERE to read more about CARA’S BASEMENT – if you’d like to keep up to date on who is in CARA’S BASEMENT, sign up to subscribe to this newsletter!

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