[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Qwm7a4AXHZhLoHI5Q02SruYLg3cIgNWX"] ONE of the most pressing issues for culture-makers (and fellow travelers, like your humble blogger) is rapid gentrification. Often driven by the arrival or artists and musicians to a neighborhood or city, winner-take-all capitalism often means that investors and Trump-like developers arrive soon after and squeeze out the creative … [Read more...]
The New Republic is Not About Politics
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Gjg4drHdDm8TMo6CAVQekqDcci6u6t5u"] FOR a few days now, I've been discussing the ideology of one of the nation's most storied magazines, with friends on both left and right; for many, it's best known as a policy journal. But the reason I am most saddened by the destruction of a great publication by a Silicon Valley coup has nothing to to with politics, no matter how … [Read more...]
Is First-Person Narrative Killing Discourse?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="MSKRrA0yUeF2He6kLUhFxQKSROhnm7wv"] OVER the last two weeks I've been speaking about tradition with a number of accomplished women. My final installment includes a bit of a twist: The essayist Meghan Daum told me about a tradition she considers dangerous. Overuse of the "I" in storytelling is crowding out the larger world, she says. ...I feel like 70 percent of what … [Read more...]
CultureCrash at LA Central Library
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Se057gZ16VIuVDe1Pyi79u2wvvTjBc6g"] ON the night of my book's publication -- January 13 -- I will be part of the ALOUD series in downtown Los Angeles. This is one of the best literary series I know -- I've interviewed authors for it and watched from the audience -- so it's a real honor to launch my book there. With me will be the Silver Lake architect Barbara … [Read more...]
Gillian Welch on Tragic Old Folk Songs
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="S7btWx3iYCGnlaDRbt7l737P9YgYp8Kx"] WHY do people make art, write songs, tell stories? Partly, it's to deal with pain and suffering. This week I spoke to one of my musical heroes about the lineage of dark, gloomy folk songs from the American South -- many of them originating in the British Isles, from Child Ballads and the like. Here is what Welch had to say about … [Read more...]
Bettye LaVette on the Holidays
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="J8WVzCkdtyD5fR74qCUxJ2DbI1pZxyrk"] I CAUGHT the soul singer in a playful mood the other day when I called to talk to her about a tradition she took seriously. LaVette chose to talk about her zealotry for celebrating Christmas and other holidays. She went off on a number of tangents, and covered the whole emotional range we associate with the blues. Here's part of … [Read more...]
The War on Drugs and Mexico’s 43 Students
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Pln6fxEk2TX0tQNMAlUpd0JSCmyG43Dh"] WHEN I was in Puebla, Mexico, a few weeks back, the story of the 43 missing students -- thought to have been murdered by a collusion between a drug gang and government officials in Guerrero -- was heating up and protests were beginning. To some, they are the latest victims of the War on Drugs launched, and largely maintained, by the … [Read more...]
Anne Lamott on Forgiveness
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="k5HVmkoS99tcx2yoOLVKnammF7vwZIsw"] THE essayist, Christian, feminist and political progressive is the latest subject of the Trust Me On This series I'm handling for Salon. The Bay-Area-based Lamott, perhaps best known for the book Bird by Bird, spoke to me about a subject central to her new collection, Small Victories -- forgiveness. Here is the story. Turns out … [Read more...]
Artists and the Cost of Living
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="32NG0O50Xp95O5D44s23SJZqusoP0VKy"] WE see it again and again: A marginal -- rough, industrial or just boring -- neighborhood attracts artists and musicians and generates an "edgy" reputation. For a few years, good things happen. But after a while -- and, often, a benign explosion of coffee shops and bike paths and cheese stores -- the artists and musicians and fellow … [Read more...]
Don’t Forget Indies First and Small Business Saturday
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="7mL6F2lbAkJJdYtci9RNPwVHLSs7mqPA"] TODAY, of course, is the start of holiday-shopping season -- which sounds like a euphemism for something -- so I want to remind me readers how important it is to frequent independent, brick-and-mortar shops when you go looking for books and music especially. This year sees both the Indies First campaign -- which urges support of … [Read more...]