[contextly_auto_sidebar id="XmMqM0QnhXqGOSqUzhLut0F2n8ftDdRV"] OUR Department of Self-Promotion is happy to announce an event at McNally Jackson in SoHo on Weds. January 21. Sponsored by Salon, the evening will involve me discussing Culture Crash alongside author Elizabeth Wurtzel (pictured), whose upcoming book, Creatocracy: How the Constitution Invented Hollywood, shares some concerns with … [Read more...]
Will Nashville’s Gentrification Destroy Its Music Scene?
[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...]