O Captain! My Captain!: The Unique Magic of Don Van Vliet
Sean MurphyAs Ian Anderson said, “We’re getting a bit short on heroes lately.” And Ian, while he wasn’t speaking of Don Van Vliet, nevertheless would --and has— endorsed the man better known…
“Only Let Be No War”: The Films of Nikita Mikhalkov, Volume 1
The release of this box set is a welcome development. This is not necessarily to suggest anyone is likely to shell out $80 for five films, but the fact that they…
The Problem With The Homeless Problem
Who was he? I think the same question each time I see him (every day: the same man in the same spot, holding the same sign that tells everyone who…
Honing In On Hendrix
If you had told me one year ago that I'd have not only one, but two opportunities to write feature-length pieces on Jimi Hendrix I would have been excited, inspired…
Rubber Soulive: Put This One On Your Wish-List
I can't go on, I'll go on... When it comes to The Beatles, I feel obliged to invoke Samuel Beckett. Everything has been said; enough can never be said. So…
Life in the Key of Song: Strawberry Fields Forever
Living 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…