Articles by Randy Lewis

Few musicians embrace the yin-yang interplay of artist and performer as wholeheartedly as Dolly Parton did Sunday night at the Greek Theatre. Read more

RANDY NEWMAN strolled along the wooden planks of the Santa Monica Pier on a recent summer afternoon, a balmy ocean breeze rustling his short, curly hair that, at age 64, is mostly salt but retains a dash of pepper. Read more

Jersey boys are tops on the road for the first half of 2008, and we’re not talking the Broadway show about Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons. Read more

The national album chart this week tells a three-pronged tale: A hit single still packs a punch, hip-hop by anyone other than Lil Wayne continues to struggle and a sales drop isn’t necessarily bad for an artist – as long as everyone else slides more. Read more

Unlike most musicians, Ringo Starr looks forward to that feeling he sometimes gets of being on a treadmill. Read more

British documentary maker Tony Palmer called his 17-hour TV series exploring the origins of American popular music “All You Need Is Love,” because John Lennon told him it would make a great title. Read more

RADIO programs that survive in Los Angeles for a quarter-century come along about as frequently as a SigAlert-free day on the freeway. Read more

Coldplay has kept the record industry’s withering hopes for an upturn afloat for a second week by selling 721,000 copies of the group’s new “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends” album during its first week of release. Read more

OK, so cut Peter Gabriel some slack for taking too long to finish an album: “Big Blue Ball,” a long-simmering world music project he launched back in 1991, is finally surfacing today. Read more