The cardinal rule for any serious appraisal of art involves a necessity to separate all discussion of the artist from the artifact. Mostly this is essential because so many unsavory…
This weekend PopMatters is revisiting an outstanding feature from a couple of years ago: The Best of TV on DVD. Definitely worth checking out. My entry, below, was on the gone…
This just in: Newt gingrich remains the most repugnant and despicable ass-clown in America! (Narrowly edging out the oleaginous Andrew Breitbart, who may finally have done civilization a favor by…
Big misconception about reggae music: it’s all happy, at the beach, drinking music. Biggest misconception about reggae music: it all sounds the same. Even Bob Marley (and it is both…
Kind of like two trees falling in the forest, right? Well, for anyone (and I mean "one") who may wonder what it sounds like when two jazz fans fight, here…
Memo to Sarah Palin: when Lady Macbeth cries "Out, damn'd spot!" she is not talking to her dalmation. I found Sarah Palin’s latest tearjerker invoking William Shakespeare particularly interesting on…
I needed this today: a little trip down memory lane is just what the doctor (or, chemist) ordered. A couple of old school lessons from last millennium (both taken from…
Okay, you have to give it up to Jewel and the (hysterical) site Funny Or Die. Jewel recently agreed to have make-up artists (from F.O.D.) put her in disguise so she…
An amazing tune by Billy Taylor, played three times (by him twice with different drummers three times). The first one is coupled with the incredible "Oscalypso" (which is also covered…
Man, what a rough week for Cleveland. It's never easy to watch a homegrown talent -- a native son who defied odds to become a national treasure -- abruptly depart. Even…
Sean Murphy