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- From the archives (September 12, 2006): Under the Ghostbuster Sky
- From the archives (October 18, 2002): the first post on my blog
- Today, the Sheila Variations turns 24
- Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- From the archives (2011): Wisconsin Idyll in Funny Hats with Rocket Launchers
- From the archives (2004): I Was Told I Would Get Wings
- Off Campus, episode 3: Two truths. Hence, ergo, therefore.
- From the archives (2006): My Situational Crush
- Off Campus, episode 2: Commence the one-sided yearning
- From the archives (2004): Chicago: The Cold Extreme
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- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- ReadingandWatching on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
- sheila on Off Campus, episode 4: Moonlight in a chamber
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Tag Archives: Elvis Presley
Today, the Sheila Variations turns 24
The above pic of me – taken by Michael in a field somewhere in Ithaca – graced the top of my original blog, when I set it up 24 years ago today. I never should have put my picture up … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day, Personal
Tagged Block Island, Cary Grant, Croatia, Dean Stockwell, Elvis Presley, family, friends, Hope, Humphrey Bogart, Iran, Ireland, Jafar Panahi, Joanna Hogg, July and Half of August, Martin Scorsese, Memphis, politics, Raging Bull, September 11, Supernatural, Tilda Swinton, war
149 Comments
Seasonal change shuffle
It’s been a while. I used to find putting together these shuffle posts soothing. I’m “writing”, kind of, but I’m not trying to sound a certain way, and the pressure’s off, because the subject matter isn’t up to me. The … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Bleu, Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Eminem, Eric Church, Etta James, Foo Fighters, Indigo Girls, James Taylor, Jerry Lee Lewis, Liz Phair, Merle Haggard, Ok Go, Pat McCurdy, Queen, shuffle, Sinéad O'Connor, The Beatles, The Raunch Hands, The Rolling Stones, Wanda Jackson, Waylon Jennings
4 Comments
“I like to sing to women with meat on their bones and that long green stuff in their pocketbook.” — Wynonie Harris
It’s the birthday today of the influential blues shouter Wynonie Harris. I’ll hand the microphone over to Nick Tosches, because why would I bother to try to add to it? Tosches devoted a chapter in his book Unsung Heroes of … Continue reading
“The thing I really wanna say is—and really, really mean is that real things last. Any way you look at it. Real things last.” — Dale Hawkins
Dale Hawkins, 1957, playing on the Louisiana Hayride radio show (just a year after Elvis completed his world-shaking run on the program) It’s his birthday today. Time moved really fast in the mid-50s rock-rockabilly world. Elvis exploded and made everyone … Continue reading
“I never bought a Ricky Nelson record. I bought a James Burton record.” — Keith Richards
James Burton (born on this day) is still alive. He turns 85 today. He’s in every music Hall of Fame there is (just a couple months ago he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame). His style is … Continue reading
The last photo and the Stutz
Celebrating Elvis Week is not my thing, although of course I always mark it here, because what the hell else would I do with my time. Other anniversaries matter more to me. But I figured I’d share here the last … Continue reading
“I had never seen anything like him . . . I vowed nothing would stop me from signing this boy for films.” – producer Hal Wallis on Elvis Presley
Published during Elvis Week in 2017, here’s my piece for Film Comment on Elvis as an actor. And here’s the talk I gave at The Memphian in Memphis, on Elvis’ acting career. And finally: the piece I just wrote for … Continue reading
“People are always asking me if I thought Elvis was a handsome man and my answer is ‘I am not blind you know’!” — Millie Kirkham
Millie Kirkham had an unearthly high soprano voice, and recorded with some of the biggest stars of her era (and other eras and ours). Perhaps most famously, she provided the swoopy woozy soprano part on Elvis’ original recording of “Blue … Continue reading
For Father’s Day:
Photo by Alfred Wertheimer, 1956 Because when you become a father, you never know how it’ll all turn out. Vernon looks like an anvil dropped on him from the sky, an anvil in the shape of his famous son. Lisa … Continue reading

