Some Sketches of America From a Moving Train (Revisited)
Sean MurphyWhen I first read John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America I was a freshman in high school and not yet old enough to drive. Still, I…
One Nation Under A Groove or, Burn, Baby! BURN!
Another great moment in American douchebaggery! Despite the fact that we're on somewhat of a losing streak in recent years (thanks, Wall Street!), one of the reasons America remains a place…
The Shock Heard ‘Round the World: ‘Bitches Brew’ Turns 40
Shortly before his death in 1991, Miles Davis remarked “You don’t change music, music changes you.” While that statement is unassailable regarding the vast majority of artists, no matter how…
Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’: A Love Letter to the Process of Making Art
In Dostoeyevsky’s Notes From Underground the self-loathing narrator proposes that every man has secrets he will only reveal to friends and secrets he must keep to himself. And then there…
The Real Life Fable of Charles Mingus and Orval Faubus
On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Charles Mingus had many things…
The Shape of Jazz That Came…
1959 was a watershed year for jazz music (arguably the greatest single year for jazz in all history–which is saying a lot). Here’s a taste: Miles Davis Kind of Blue,…