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Edward Said died yesterday after a long battle with leukemia. From the Columbia University site: Edward W. Said, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, a member of the Columbia faculty since 1963 and University Professor since 1992, died on Thursday, September 25, at 6:45 a.m. One of the most influential …

In an effort to combat the ongoing and largely partisan efforts to paint the status of the War on Terror in the bleakest possible light, coupled with the media’s tendency to focus on the the abrupt and the horrible vs. the procedural and the positive, I offer up these words …

The original Allman Brothers Band is back in the spotlight, and rightly so.

Our “boots on the ground” correspondent Stephen, traveling the Middle East on a musical performance tour, reports from Kuwait. His first two reports are here and here. Thanks again for getting the view out there– I feel so frustrated watching this going on and then seeing the way it is …

Interesting examination of the resurgence of Sartre in France by Jim Holt (I much prefer Camus), looking at the liberationist philosopher and the communist/totalitarian – are they reconcilable? Maybe if you squint real hard. Here is my favorite part: By dint of sheer intellectual authority, Sartre could engage his bitter …

As we here at Blogcritics.org know, how one responds to popular culture – or even IF one responds to popular culture at all – can say volumes about a person. How we entertain ourselves and sensitivity to art can reveal much about our inner workings. Stephen Snowder calls the media …

Okay, I made up the last part, but the librarians aren’t responding terribly well to Ashcroft’s peace offering from last week. PW NewsLine writes: “The FBI has a history, which Attorney General Ashcroft is ignoring, of violating civil liberties,” says Chris Finan, president of American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. …

The legendary soul singer returns to secular soul this fall – he is recording an album in Memphis with Willie Mitchell: “I Can’t Stop” finds Al Green repeating history. He has again teamed with legendary production mate Willie Mitchell, and the album is being recorded at the pair’s old stomping …

Voting is a form of investing in the system – the more people invest in the system the more their needs will be attended to. If more poor and young people voted, the political landscape would look a lot different. Also, by investing in the system, one feels a sense …

Another spectacular, amazing, eye-opening career retrospective from James Brown, the man with a shitload of nicknames: “Soul Brother Number One,” “the Godfather of Soul,” “the Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” “Mr. Dynamite,” and every one of them earned in 50, yes I said 50 years in showbiz. All the …