THE READING ROOM: Joe McEwen’s ‘Tastykakes, Soul Songs and Shining Stars: Affections and Reflections, 1973-2025’

Music journalist, DJ, and record executive Joe McEwen grew up in Philadelphia in the 1960s without the sound of music. Although his mother sometimes listened to Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, and Tony Bennett on the car radio, McEwen often tuned out as the music floated through the speakers. In 1966, though, McEwen experienced a musical epiphany while listening to Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Streets”: “the urgency of the voice, the descriptive words she s