Open Book Coffeehouse

You heard him, but you’d never heard of him.
Rest in Power, James.

He seemed to touch every R&B hit: Music legend James Gadson dies (April 3, 2026) He was part of so many hits that each of us has lived our musical lives through the drumbeats of James Gadson. Few drummers in modern music have shaped the sound of soul, funk, and R&B as profoundly over the past five decades. We learned today the sad news that Gadson has […]

Rest in power, Country Joe McDonald.

Country Joe McDonald, Whose Antiwar Song Became an Anthem, Dies at 84 One of the starring acts at Woodstock, he and his band, the Fish, came out of the Bay Area’s psychedelic rock scene. He went on to a long career as a solo artist.