My First Time (Revisited)
Sean MurphyIt was my great pleasure to guest-post at The Quivering Pen, a fantastic site for writers (and readers) curated by David Abrams (himself an excellent reader and writer: check him…
Shine On You Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett, 10 Years Later
When he died in 2006, after decades of cult-figure status and willful anonymity, Syd Barrett was arguably better known as the person who inspired one of Pink Floyd’s best albums,…
The Doors: Our Star-Spangled American Band (Revisited)
If the discussion is going to turn to American rock bands, it would be impossible to avoid R.E.M. Fortunately, I already dealt with their legacy and am on record declaring…
Four Albums and a Film: The Best Summer Entertainment
The Congos - Heart of the Congos (1977) Great art knows no seasons. Nevertheless, some music is made for—or at least can be fully appreciated during—specific times of the year.…
Celebrating Chinatown: The Ultimate Summer Movie (and the Perfect American Movie)
Chinatown does not usually make the short list of best American films. In fairness, it probably shouldn’t. It will have to settle for merely being the only perfect American film…
God Is Not Dead: The Jimi Hendrix Re-Issues (Revisited)
Get excited. There is a new Jimi Hendrix album fully comprised of previously unreleased material. I know I was excited when I first heard the news of Valleys of Neptune,…
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown: Remembering Michael Jackson (Revisited)
How 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 America.…
Some Day A Real Rain Will Come: What Travis Bickle Can –And Cannot– Tell Us About Tucson (Revisited)
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…
50 BULLET POINTS CONCERNING AMERICA’S GUN PSYCHOSIS
Let’s politicize these acts, if for no other reason because, in America, we politicize everything else. Of course it’s a mental health issue. For starters, the mental handicap of…
“20 MINUTES OF ACTION” WARRANTS MORE THAN 15 MINUTES OF OUTRAGE
CAMPUS RAPE IS AN epidemic seemingly without comparison in terms of its frequency and how often it goes unreported—not to mention unprosecuted. We have, arguably, become uncomfortably numb to the archetypal…