Bob Dylan: Spinnin’ Those Cool Records
The voice seems familiar, but the venue’s different. I’m driving down the highway, and there’s a guy on the radio talking about a record he’s...
The Fabulous Iggy Pop
Watching Anthony Kiedis sleepwalk through the motions while the rest of the Red Hot Chili Peppers delivered a technically brilliant and emotionally spirited set last...
Jim Webb & Graham Greene: With a Vietnamese Baby on Your Mind
Senator James Webb invoked Andrew Jackson in his response to President Bush on Tuesday, he used a classic bit of the novelist’s art put the...
Swedish Cop, Timeless Murder
There’s a distinct darkness on the edge of the old towns along the coast of southern Sweden in the dangerous world created by Henning Mankell...
Executioner’s Songs
Televised executions are all the rage these days, but the long drops in Iraq brought to mind two made-for-television movies that I saw decades ago,...
Portraying Dr. King
Much critical ink has been spilled, and deservedly so, on the merits of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a writer. King was a master...
Richard Ford’s Jesus of Suburbia
A fortnight after I finished it, Richard Ford’s trilogy-ending novel The Lay of the Land was still with me. And yet, I cannot tell you...
Eminence Front
Elderly rock stars have this gift for introspection and analysis; they look back with a clarity not present during the drug binges, and there’s a...
Overlooked Calvin Baker
A great post from the always inventive, eminently book-worthy Maud Newton, the famed literary blogger – read it all but here’s a taste: Calvin Baker...
London Calling
I’m not a film completist; with three children and a limited window of screening opportunities outside of video-on-demand, my year’s best, non-kiddie category, is scant...
