Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- June 28, 1914: “But if ever a man went anywhere of his own free will, Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo.”
- “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me…” — poet Paul Laurence Dunbar
- “[Poetry is] a way of trying to come to peace with the world.” — poet Lucille Clifton
- “The films that I love are very straightforward stories, like really old-fashioned stuff.” — Paul Thomas Anderson
- A Personal Memory: or: What Dog Day Afternoon Means to Me
- Happy Birthday, Hediyeh Tehrani
- “All I actually wanted was for my work to be useful.”–Claudius Afolabi Siffre
- “I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts.” — George Orwell
- “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
- Physical Media Booklet Essay: The Podcast
Recent Comments
- Kelly C Sedinger on June 28, 1914: “But if ever a man went anywhere of his own free will, Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo.”
- Clary on “All I actually wanted was for my work to be useful.”–Claudius Afolabi Siffre
- Dan on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- LongTimeReaderMargot on R.I.P. Eric Dane: Alex remembers him
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Bryan Summers on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Twelfth Night: or, What You Will
- Jincy Willett on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
- Dan on Physical Media Booklet Essay: Being scholarly about movies that don’t exist
-
Category Archives: On This Day
“Here I was, stuck in the middle of a dying nation with all these funny looking children who didn’t even realize the world was coming to an end, and now on top of everything else they expected me to turn my room into a hippie crash pad!” — Lester Bangs
It’s his birthday today. A lot of ink has been spilled on Lester Bangs, including on this site. My feelings for him are as chaotic as his writing style. There are times I read him and I think, almost wildly, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Music, On This Day, writers
Tagged David Bowie, essays, Lester Bangs, nonfiction, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones
6 Comments
“I have written myself into the house.” — Shirley Jackson, during her 1962 breakdown
“When I first used to write stories and hide them away in my desk, I used to think that no one had ever been so lonely as I was and I used to write about people all alone…I thought I … Continue reading
“I dont want to just do just country type stuff the rest of my life. I want to do some different things.” — Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich was only 62 years old when he died, but he managed to cram in so much music in that time. Massive fame came to him fairly late, with the “countrypolitan” phase of country music, where a more sophisticated … Continue reading
“When religion defines morality, the wall between church and state comes to be seen as immoral.” — Ellen Willis
Ellen Willis’ years as a rock critic were a blip, comparatively, to the rest of her work, deep and engaging pieces on feminism, economics, anti-Semitism, revolution, mass consumption, Marxism, and … believe it or not … pleasure. Pleasure was a … Continue reading
“I’ve never looked at myself as a woman in the business. I’ve just looked at myself as an editor.” — Anne V. Coates
It’s Anne V. Coates’ birthday today. One of the honors of my career thus far was being asked to write the narration (read by Diane Lane) for the tribute reel played at Anne Coates’ Lifetime Achievement Oscar ceremony in 2016. … Continue reading
“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.” — Frank Sinatra
“Frank [Sinatra] is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come along in my lifetime?” — Bing Crosby (This quote may be apocryphal. But I like it.) It’s his birthday today. 1. … Continue reading
“The music business can be very cold. And it doesn’t honor its elders.” — Brenda Lee
It’s her birthday today. Let’s start off by saying that Brenda Lee set chart records which weren’t broken for 20 years. Who broke Brenda Lee’s records? Madonna. She is mostly known “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, played on repeat every … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
8 Comments
“I can’t read music, but I know what I’m singing! I don’t sing like nobody but myself.” — Big Mama Thornton
Willie May Thornton, a.k.a. Big Mama Thornton, was “an Alabama kid”, as she said once in an interview, who ended up really getting her start in Houston, with the semi-disreputable Don Robey who ran a nightclub called the Bronze Peacock … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
Leave a comment
“The best actors in the world are those who feel the most and show the least.” — Jean-Louis Trintignant
It’s his birthday today. My first encounter with the intriguing, mysterious (and yet somehow still vulnerable) Jean-Louis Trintignant, was seeing The Conformist at The Music Box in Chicago, circa mid-90s. I was completely unfamiliar with him. Even just the look … Continue reading
“Every day life feels mightier, and what we have the power to be, more stupendous.” — Emily Dickinson
“If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know … Continue reading