Jimmy Webb Jimmy Webb’s New Memoir The Cake and the Rain Is a Rollicking, Musical Romp by Mark Mussari “There were two of me,” Jimmy Webb states at one point in his highly engaging new memoir The Cake and the Rain (St. Martin’s Press). Truer words could not be spoken by the composer of some of contemporary music’s most elegant and intelligent pop songs. From “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” to “Up, Up and Away,” from “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress” to “The Highwayman,” from “Wich

Mary Wilson Mary Wilson Supreme Talent By Mark Mussari Mary Wilson is standing on stage in the amber glow of a spotlight and singing “Here’s to Life,” a jazzy autumnal number about embracing the passage of time.  Could any voice be better suited to this wistful tune?  Wilson reaches deep into her warm alto for the bluer notes and then opens into full throttle for the song’s more expansive moments.  With its emotional twists and turns, the performance is a tour de force, a mov

Ed Sullivan – Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (Volume 1) The Ed Sullivan Show Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (Rhino-2002) Your tolerance of the variety show format is equally proportional to the amount of hours you’ve viewed MTV since 1981. More than two decades have passed since the rest of television adapted to the now-taken-for-granted style of the quick-edited, odd-camera-angled, sound-bit, irony-heavy entertainment presentation. You are no longer dazzled by it. In fact, you expect it. Th