I recently corresponded with an old piano teacher about a pianist who's an inside figure, although there are still plenty of his recordings in print. More to come... TR: You list Mieczyslaw Horszowski in your bio, wasn't he at Curtis? I've admired his warm tone for years and years, and wish there … [Read more...]

ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: fifty-two years ago, a Canadian nobody named Glenn Gould made his big splash with a Goldberg Variations, which was not only left-field repertoire but virile, robust Bach playing that turned a lot of ears and launched an eccentric career. It was the kind of record you knew growing … [Read more...]

Dear Tim My own next project is going to be a biography of Professor Longhair. Having spent fifteen years writing about four of the most famous people on earth, I long for a subject about which virtually every prospective reader doesn't already have a set of preconceptions and opinions. Here again … [Read more...]

Bonus round: This juxtaposition is more insulting to a) classical audience b) comedy audience c) plumber's conventioneers … [Read more...]

This book finally compiles many of the images put out by Genesis in the 1990s, with candids from Harrison and Starr's apartment during the shooting of Hard Day's Night, the HDN set with Richard Lester and Pattie Boyd, and a fascinating trip to Liverpool where the Cavern is overrun by beat-bands such … [Read more...]

Dear Tim, I too have blown hot and cold with Max Weinberg - though mostly cold I'd have to say. And I would say the same about Springsteen himself. Come to think of it, this has been an ongoing thirty-year issue for me. When Springsteen first arrived on the scene in the 1970s as John Hammond's … [Read more...]

Dear Jonathan Gould, Yeah I was wondering if that was it: being a drummer you didn't want to come on TOO strong with Ringo... that's okay, it's subtextual, and I gushed a lot in my book. Every drummer I've ever talked to gushes about RIngo, at least the good ones do. I think he's a better drummer … [Read more...]

EDITORIAL TICS Why do we have editors? To save us all from those annoying TICS that infect language like ants on birthday cake. Couple years back there was an INFLUENZA of sentences that tried to sound, well, hip, by injecting "well"s into the most obvious places to INFORMALIZE the, well, "tone" of … [Read more...]

Dear Tim, ...Somewhat incredibly, I haven't read Magic Circles; it must have come out right around the time I finally stopped reading and researching and staying current on all things Beatle in order to focus all of my addled attention on finally finishing my book. But now, of course, I'm curious, … [Read more...]

Dear Jonathan Gould, Whew you got a great agent, serialized in USA TODAY, man that's EXPOSURE. Congratulations on all this, very handsomely produced and marketed product. But most of all pat yourself on the back... there is so much hard work reflected in these pages, so many long library hours … [Read more...]

A Paler Shade of White by Sasha Frere-Jones in the New Yorker The first and most obvious point is: here's an essay that's long overdue, of the stripe the New Yorker should have been running for at least the past twenty-thirty years, ever since Ellen Willis left. The color line is still the most … [Read more...]

"The only thing that I got's been botherin' me my whole life..." Is there a Springsteen line more suited to Win Butler? (via Zoilus) Setlist via Backstreets More at the Riley Rock Index.com page on YouTube … [Read more...]

Sign of the Times: Scott Peley's 60 Minutes interview with Bruce Springsteen approaches his anti-war stance so gingerly: "You know some people are going to say Bruce Springsteen is no patriot..." How different is that from O'Reilly saying "Why do you hate America?" It may be a tad more polite, but … [Read more...]

Notes on opening night of Bruce Springsteen's MAGIC TOUR with the E Street Band Hartford Civic Center, Connecticut October 2, 2007 (Listen today, Thursday 10/4, for the WBUR story, podcast archived this afternoon.) LEAD: Bruce Springsteen, a spry 58 years young, proved once again that rock'n'roll … [Read more...]

Last season was marked by two high-profile flameouts, one network, the other cable. Aaron Sorkin dumped West Wing, which although self-important (especially that 9/11 episode) and pompous and winded and haughty sported cracking dialogue, snappy performances, plot out the wazoo and a President on the … [Read more...]