[contextly_auto_sidebar] FOR the last few months I've been doing a series on musicians and their interest in literature and writers for the Los Angeles Review of Books. So far, all of these have been strong interviews with artists I love about figures I share an ardor for. In some cases, the conversations have taken me down intellectual alleyways I did not expect to go, which is even better. … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2017
Tom Petty at the Hollywood Bowl
[contextly_auto_sidebar] LAST night, Tom Petty concluded a lengthy tour with the third of three shows at the Hollywood Bowl. The tour was designed to look back at 40 years with his band, The Heartbreakers, and is rumored to be the group's last go-round together. As a music fan who grew up in the '80s, who heard song after Petty song on both AOR and the local "modern rock" station, it was like a … [Read more...]
Guest Columnist: Ken Burns’ Vietnam
[contextly_auto_sidebar] MUCH of the nation has been debating the latest Ken Burns documentary, which I -- the son of a Marine officer nearly killed in 1967 -- have not yet had the stomach to watch. This essay on the war comes from regular CultureCrash guest columnist Lawrence Christon, born the same year as my late father, and a fellow Marine with all kinds of complex and conflicted feelings … [Read more...]
The Artistry of Siegfried Tieber, Magician
[contextly_auto_sidebar] THE other night I was invited to a private session at the Magic Castle in Hollywood with a young magician. Siegfried Tieber -- his real name, apparently, with no relation to the lion-baiting duo -- practices close-up magic, which typically involves cards, rings, dollar bills, and other things that can be observed in small rooms with no smoke and mirrors, no rabbits, … [Read more...]
Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile at the Ace Hotel/ LA
[contextly_auto_sidebar] IN some ways, this pairing makes absolutely no sense -- a jazz pianist and a bluegrass mandolinist, playing together? But in another, it's nearly inevitable. And, the other night, not just a natural union but often a spectacular one. Brad Mehldau and Chris Thile are not just universally well-regarded musicians but also virtually parallel figures. Both are (still) … [Read more...]