[contextly_auto_sidebar] LAST week I took a wild guess and approached singer/songwriter Aimee Mann for my musicians-on-writing column, All the Poets. As a longtime fan I had a vague sense that she was literary -- whatever that means -- but could not recall a specific reference to a novel or poem in any of her songs. Nor had we talked about books of any kind across the several interviews we'd … [Read more...]
The Literary Roots of Lou Reed
[contextly_auto_sidebar] Back in the spring, when I pitched the Los Angeles Review of Books on a regular column on musicians and their literary interests, my editor immediately came up with the title All the Poets. The phrase, of course, comes from the Velvet Underground song "Sweet Jane." So it seems somehow symmetrical that the latest installment of this feature is a conversation about Lou … [Read more...]
Lloyd Cole and All the Poets
[contextly_auto_sidebar] YOUR humble blogger has been a fan of Lloyd Cole since songs like Lost Weekend and Why I Love Country Music showed up on "alternative" radio in the mid-'80s. I've seen him perform and interviewed him numerous times since then, and have been struck by what a fine storyteller as well as what an intellectually curious and overall literary (whatever that means) cat he … [Read more...]