ON Saturday night I was lucky enough to catch these two bands at the Bowl. Both exceeded my expectations.Grizzly Bear, a Brooklyn group with a bearded-hipster following and a knack for Pet Sounds derived vocal harmonies, has long been an enigma to me: I got their debut LP before it came out, and it literally destroyed my wife's car stereo even before we could hear it. But some of my most dedicated … [Read more...]
Greil Marcus and Five Centuries of the U.S. of A.
WHAT do thomas jefferson, linda lovelace, and pentecostalism all have in common? oh, probably a lot of things. but at the very least, they're all part of a huge new book called "a new literary history of america," which has just dropped on harvard university press. no anthology is perfect, but this one is full of fascinating stuff.HERE is my new LATimes piece.part of what makes the volume … [Read more...]