Both from the indispensable Brad Hill.
Read More »Tag Archives: Entertainment
Jandek “Orgy”
Jandek is a mysterious Houston “recording artist” who has been self-releasing albums since 1978. Some call him a genius, many more call him a psychically dyslexic agoraphobic with no discernable musical talent beyond an uncanny ability to irritate. Demonstrating that not all radio is geared toward the masses, Harvard’s WHRB …
Read More »The Boulevard of Broken Dreams
The beaming cartoon cat on the front cover of Kim Deitch’s aptly titled The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Pantheon) looks innocent enough. But turn the volume over and the same ‘toon head leers at you salaciously: innocence & experience in one four-fingered figure. Largely set in the early days of …
Read More »Mama’s Girl
It’s lonely at the top: that’s the message of the new Britney Spears book and DVD, Stages, a behind-the-scenes view of life on the road: She eats alone. She paces her hotel suites alone at night. While other stars surround themselves with helpers, Spears packs her own suitcases and puts …
Read More »Bill Wyman Stones Book Out Today
PW Daily on the lavish new Stones memoir: Bill Wyman has been a great pack rat. In some 40 years touring with the Rolling Stones, he amassed a treasure trove of material, including rare photographs, tour posters and ticket stubs, letters and telegrams. These objects–combined with his surprisingly crystal-clear recollections …
Read More »No Real “Nirvana” for Cobain
The Observer has an ongoing series on Kurt Cobain’s diaries, including images of the actual journals, and Barney Hoskyns’ essay on his importance: “There’s something wrong with that boy…” noted William Burroughs when, in 1993, Kurt Cobain dropped in to pay his respects in Lawrence, Kansas. ‘He frowns for no …
Read More »Adolph Green Dies
Lyricist of classic Broadway and Hollywood musicals.
Read More »The Secret Parts of Fortune: Three Decades of Intense Investigations and Edgy Enthusiasms
What is the highest compliment payable to a stout, 800-page collocation of investigative articles, cultural and literary essays, think pieces, and random philosophical noodling? That I was sad when it was over – aggrieved that my boon companion of a full month would no longer startle, amaze, entertain or edify …
Read More »Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation
Every biographer of a musical figure, indeed every writer about music, must deal with the issue of conveying the essence of one medium through the use of another: the “writing about music is like dancing about architecture” conundrum. While we seem to have no trouble feeling the abstracted meaning of …
Read More »The Byrds and Their Hatchlings
John Mallon discusses the Byrds and their progeny in NRO: I am in the land of giants!” Chris Hillman exclaimed as he stepped onstage at the Double Stop Music Hall in Guthrie, Okla. Hillman should know something about giants – despite his unassuming presence, he is a giant in the …
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