Alligator Lizards in the Air: In Search of the Sublimely Awful Lyric (9/09)
Sean MurphyI can think of a lot of rock bands who have written some laughably awful lyrics. So can you. Part of rock and roll's infectious (and mostly innocuous) appeal is…
Obsession, Hope and Glory, Part One: Percy Fawcett’s Excellent Adventure (9/09)
Look at that guy. They don't make them like that anymore. The thing is, they didn't make them like that then, either. Col. Percy Fawcett was sui generis, supersized. And…
The Insider: Ten Years Later (3/09)
Toward the end of Sydney Lumet's '70s classic Serpico there is an unnerving scene that encapsulates the conundrum faced by the eponymous cop: already persona non grata within the law…
Some day a real rain will come: One Year Later
Voices In Our Heads You talking to me? It is the pivotal scene in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and it remains one of the seminal moments in movie history. Not so…
“In my stories is where I live.” (2/09)
Of few writers can it more accurately be said that it is the work, not the life, that matters...That O'Connor was one of the great writers of the 20th century…
It’s All Part of Der Process (12/08)*
From Andrew Sullivan's invaluable blog (TheDailyDish), comes the following (quoted from Roger Cohen's typically sane and salient perspective--this one, here is must reading--via The New York Times): Of the 770…
Prog Rock is Never Dead; It’s Just Resting Until the Next Round of Reissues, or, Two from Gentle Giant
Reissues From An Era When Giants Roamed the Earth For all the critical savaging Yes, ELP and Rush took in the early-to-mid ‘70s, they at least had the devotion of…
Deus ex machina*
Was that as bad for you as it was for me? That's the question I did not ask when Father _____ left our house. On to his next appointment; all in a…
Kicking off the New Year with Rashanim
2011 is so last year. What, you might ask, can we look forward to in 2012? Three of my favorite things, all at once: Rashanim, Tzadik and Fela Kuti. Here…
2011: Time To Die (Part Two: July-December)
2011: In pace requiescat! 7/26/11: Whenever an artist dies too young, particularly when it is a self-inflicted surrender, there is an inevitable (irresistible?) tendency to romanticize or lionize. That Winehouse…