"Missing the Point" No. 3 on Austin's Book People New and Noteworthy page. Keep track. ART OF COVERS Ever since David Byrne's BELEZA TROPICALE (1989) compilation, I've followed Bahia's Caetano Veloso, even wrote up his Knopf autobiography for Boston Review, a piece that never ran. One of the … [Read more...]
TIE ME UP: That’s What Blogs Are For
Like everybody else, I'm fascinated by Tony Hendra's conversion buzz, but suspicious of Andrew Sullivan. While gay, and a semi-reformed neo-con (the gay marriage thing had him recanting Bush fever), Sullivan remains, after all, a Catholic. (One wonders what it might take for him to recant THAT … [Read more...]
DORFMAN’S CAUTIONARY: Mea Krappa Culpa
From: Jonathan Dorfman Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 12:02 PM To: 'triley@artsjournal.com' Subject: A few words Tim: Hope you/kids/Sara are well. Love to get together soon. Congratulations on the book: I’m sure that future comments will differ from those Grace Slick! Screw Publisher’s Weekly! … [Read more...]
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY: Subtext Withheld
Fever: How Rock & Roll Transformed Gender in America Riley, Tim ISBN: 0-31-228611-2 St. Martin's Press Hardcover $24.95 2004/06 When Elvis walked onstage and sang "Love Me Tender" or "Hound Dog," he changed and challenged more than just popular music. According to Riley, his gyrating hips and his … [Read more...]
ANOTHER VORTEX: For the Long Wkd
Byliner helps you track your favorite writers from wherever they may contribute, easy interface, totally addictive, even has a chart for most accessed stories. Includes RSS feed for Bloglines, which is now a daily fix. Also, this guy gave up his anonymity for NY Times, wouldn't you? I'll bet his … [Read more...]
EUSTACE TILLEY’S EARWAX BUILD-UP
Gary Giddins looks pretty sharp leaving the Voice with this piece, don't he? Alongside Sasha Frere-Jones and Alex Ross, music suddenly becomes the boldest section in the back of book. Could be a golden era until someone forgets. (Does anyone else find Nancy Franklin overrated?) Now if the profiles … [Read more...]
FOR A ROTFL NOVELIST: He’s Sure No Critic
"His aesthetic is its own punishment," Keith Harris on Nick Hornby's NY Times Op-Ed piece today. Sasha Frere-Jones calls him Nick "Mojo-Magazine-Invented-Me-In-A-Diabolical-Laboratory-And-Now-They-Can't-Kill-Me" Hornby. … [Read more...]
CATCH-UP
Here's my NPR story on Loretta Lynn and Melissa Auf der Maur from last week, buried at the bottom of the page (direct RM link here). Guess which title is wearing much better than the other one? … [Read more...]
WEEK FROM HELL: PB G4 in Shop
Soda tragedy befalls key work station -- anxious fingers twitch daily -- email on other machines feels foreign, off-putting -- reading to fill my head with ideas, develop articles -- mental nail-biting lies down on already stressed workload, finance dilemma -- film at 11. PS: SCTV DVDs came in the … [Read more...]
WEEK FROM HELL: PB G4 in Shop
So I'm doing tons of reading. And planning for future posts. And taking notes on everything I need to be doing once I get my unit ramped back up. We went to see SHREK 2 today. Man that franchise has some bad tunes -- almost redeemed by use of Tom Waits in the bar. AND double-check that list below, … [Read more...]
HYBRIDS RULE: Format Wars (cont.)
What with the mess surrounding the Pioneer 563a's ability to play certain DVD-A titles (and KEY titles at that: GAUCHO, PET SOUNDS), I've been gravitating towards the SACD/CD format for both sound and convenience. The backwards compatibility factor weighs heavily, as many of the CD mixes surpass … [Read more...]
MAGICAL REVIEW: Unlikely Source
Our man Devin McKinney gets high praise for MAGIC CIRCLES from novelist Andrew O'Hagan in the NYRB: The Beatles are the super-boomers' house band. Even people who don't care about popular music—especially those, one might argue—are conscious of how these English songwriters may have harnessed the … [Read more...]
FRIENDS FINALE: No Comment
Bill Murray's induced a couple double-takes since his Oscar nod and one of the funniest Golden Globe acceptance speeches in its history ("Often we forget about our brothers on the other side of the aisle -- the DRAMATIC actors..."). He referred to the director who baked his souffle (LOST IN … [Read more...]
BRITISH PROCEDURALS: w/Ironic Ads
STATE OF PLAY (BBC America). You may watch this for Kelly McDonald (from Gosford Park), your brother may watch it for Polly Walker (of Enchanted April), either way it's instructive how the Brits use beauty not merely to sell a story but advance a plot. It is unimaginable the MP Stephen Collins would … [Read more...]
HAWKS BOOTLEG? Best Guess So Far
What album is John Lennon carrying into Abbey Road studios for PEPPER sessions, 1967? (From I Love Music.)Jane Dark has good stuff on Critical Karaoke, the latest teeny-bopper craze out of the EMP, including Greil Marcus doing Roxy Music's "More Than This" by way of Bill Murray. And this is a … [Read more...]