Life in the Key of Song: Strawberry Fields Forever
Sean MurphyLiving is easy with eyes closed/Misunderstanding all you see, It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out/It doesn't matter much to me. Those aren't just defining lines…
The Day The Music Died, Redux (Revisited)
It was thirty years ago today... Where were you? I was in my mother's bedroom, kissing her goodbye before I caught the school bus, and I heard the horrible news…
Just Say No or, What We Talk About When We Talk About Sex (In Fiction)
Lying in bed, thinking about geometry. Like: how my arm next to her ass makes a right angle, or how her legs in either direction form an isosceles triangle (or…
Five From Frank Zappa
December 4, 1993: impossible as it is (at least for me) to believe, Frank Zappa passed away (yet another casualty of the Big C.) seventeen years ago, today. Zappa, to…
Jethro Tull: Stand Up (Expanded Collector’s Edition)
The first bit of good news regarding this “collector’s edition” of Stand Up is that you don’t need it. The second bit of good news is that for the most…
Appreciating Leslie Nielsen: He Could Hold His Breath For A Long Time
Real Leslie Nielsen fans will immediately understand the title of this tribute. It is as good as any of his iconic quotes, but it resonates for the way it applied…
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead: The Play’s The Thing
Spoiler alert: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die. They are, in fact, already dead. And they always have been. But you knew that already, right? Another spoiler: You, too, shall die one…
Thanksgiving 2010: Some Things I’m Grateful For
Give it up for old school (and the Oskar Blues brew pub's vintage arcade room): John Davis for helping make people aware of obscure American treasure, Blind Tom Wiggins…
Richard Cohen, Charles Krauthammer, Salon.com and Me
Props to Salon.com for doing some heavy lifting in the service of exposing hackery this week, courtesy of their amusing --and recommended-- "Hack Thirty" feature. In a mild upset, they…
November 24, 1963: Take Two, Times Two
ON THIS DAY: On Nov. 24, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy. You think that is irreverent? Here's Hicks: