Backstage Pass
Music, concerts, musicians and more.
Glenn Gamboa
Glenn Gamboa is Newsday's chief pop music critic and has been writing about music for more than 20 years.
A winner of several national awards, he headed the paper's team chronicling the impact of hip-hop in America, a project that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005.
He has appeared as a music industry expert on the BBC, NPR, MSG Network and several other radio and TV stations, as well as numerous newspapers and magazines.
A native of Cleveland, Gamboa currently lives in Brooklyn.
Backstreet Boys set for Jones Beach
Photo credit: AP video
Backstreet’s back, all right.
The Backstreet Boys – featuring all five original members, including Kevin Richardson who officially returned to the fold last month – have finished a new album “In a World Like This,” due out July 30, and will start a tour Aug. 2 to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The tour, featuring Jesse McCartney and DJ Pauly D as openers, will stop at Nikon at Jones Beach...
Read more »Frank Ocean, Beck lead O Music Awards nominations
Photo credit: Getty Images
Beck and Frank Ocean lead the pack with two nominations in the O Music Awards, which award the best in the intersection between music and technology.
Beck got nominations for best interactive music video and analog genius, while Ocean was nominated as “Must Follow Artist on Twitter” and in the “Too Much Ass for TV” category, which celebrates NSFW music videos. (Does anyone really stand a chance...
Read more »'American Idol' finale: Candice Glover should win, but...
Photo credit: Fox
Hey, “American Idol” had a good finale!
Both Candice Glover and Kree Harrison performed well and the choice is in the “Idol” voters’ hands now. (And the judges didn’t get to talk much, so it was even more enjoyable than usual.)
Who will win? Well, if this was purely a singing competition, it would be Candice, who was both bolder with her vocal choices and a stronger singer overall. But...
Read more »'The Voice' recap: Judith Hill leads Top 12 power rankings
Photo credit: Tyler Golden / NBC
This is probably the toughest of “The Voice” performance shows because there is so little time for all 12 contestants to perform. It’s the one show of the season where “The Voice” becomes very much like “American Idol” — without, you know, all the dysfunction.
The show is also the first one where mentors can no longer save their teams — only votes determine who moves forward. It’s also the...
Read more »Intro 5.13.13: Videos from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Phoenix, Killers and more
Photo credit: Dan Martensen / Interscope
Yeah Yeah Yeahs kick off a big Great GoogaMooga weekend at Prospect Park Friday.
Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.
THE LIST YEAH YEAH YEAHS, “Mosquito.” At Great GoogaMooga at Prospect...
Read more »Space Oddity: Chris Hadfield sings David Bowie in space
Photo credit: AP
Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut and commander of the International Space Station celebrated the end of his five-month mission by unveiling the first music video filmed in space – for David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” of course.
Hadfield, who has been using social media to generate interest in space travel, tweeted the video out Sunday night, saying, “With deference to the genius of David...
Read more »
