Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown… (One Year Later)
Sean MurphyHow do you know you've made an indelible impact on culture? Here's how. Listen: this story has been told so many times it is inextricable from the history of…
Dog Is My Co-Pilot
Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows I am a big fan of all dogs (even the occasional poodle). Major hat tip to Andrew Sullivan for putting this…
Being the Ball: What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Caddyshack’
Well…we’re waiting! Actually, you already read this review. You already wrote this review. You can easily recall, now, when it occurred to you, sometime between the fifth or fifteenth (or…
Two Poems for Father’s Day
Those Winter Sundays Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday…
Shipping Up To Boston
1984 was the last time it happened: Game 7 for all the marbles. Back then I was deeply invested; now, not so much. To put it mildly, my passion for…
The Howling or, 100 Years of the Big Bad Wolf
Who's afraid of the big, bad Wolf? Plenty of people, and for good reason. Fortunately for us, we are not sketchy record company executives or anyone else who may have…
What’s It All About, Then? Part Two: Jazz, Featuring Wayne Shorter
There are not many people who have any idea what it's like to be this cool. Even Wayne Shorter does not know, because he is too cool to stop and…
‘Walkabout’ Is the Rarest of Films That Will Change Your Life Again Every Time You Return to It
There are those special movies that change your life after you’ve seen them. Then there are the almost miraculous movies that stay inside you and then change your life again…
Five Guys or, The Greatest Band of All Time (No, Really)
Miles Davis. Herbie Hancock. Wayne Shorter. Tony Williams. Ron Carter. Those men, individually, are some of the most important and brilliant musicians of the last century. Together? Forget about it.…
Dennis Hopper: He Made Our World More Weird And Wonderful
So cancer finally succeeded in cutting short the odd and inimitable life of Dennis Hopper. That is a shame, of course, although we would probably be wise to give thanks…