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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
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- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
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- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
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Tag Archives: Elvis Presley
“Who do you sound like?” — Marion Keisker to 18-year-old Elvis Presley, July 18, 1953
It’s her birthday. I finally wrote about her – and my theory about her “role” in “discovering” Elvis – for my column at Liberties! That was a long time coming! In the piece I mentioned her reunion with Elvis in … Continue reading
“Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you.” — B.B. King
I love Langston Hughes’ description of the blues: “The mood of the Blues is almost always despondency, but when they are sung people laugh.” WHAT a performance. And WHAT an audience. The mood – the back and forth – the … Continue reading
Posted in Music, On This Day
Tagged B.B. King, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, Howlin' Wolf, Little Richard, Merle Haggard, Robert Johnson, Sam Phillips, Sun Records, The Beatles, Willie Nelson
6 Comments
“Sometimes, the most powerful lyrics are the ones left unsaid.” — Otis Redding
Seen on Beale Street: Watch Otis Redding’s live 1967 performance of “Try a Little Tenderness.” In this performance, what always strikes me is where it starts … and then where it GOES. And the journey he takes in between. That … Continue reading
August 2025 Snapshots
What a month. Old and new friends and also new televisions. New York. Birthday parties and grown-up parties. Authoritarianism. I have so much more free time since my “obligations” to the Frankenstein book ended in July. Work on the book … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged Elvis Presley, essays, family, fiction, friends, Lord Byron, snapshots
2 Comments
“In the 20s, you were a face. And that was enough. In the 30s, you also had to be a voice. And your voice had to match your face, if you can imagine that.” — Joan Blondell
It’s Joan Blondell’s birthday today. I am sure I saw Joan Blondell in her 1930s movies when I was a kid, although maybe not the Pre-Codes. That would come later. My real introduction to her, though, came through her performance … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Busby Berkeley, Elvis Presley, Gold Diggers of 1933, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Mervyn LeRoy, WWI
15 Comments
“I just sat at the drums and said, ‘Can I have a go?’ I just took to it.” — Honey Lantree
It’s her birthday. Even now, a “girl drummer” in an all-boy band is a rare thing. Back in the 1960s, it was unheard of. Which is why Honey Lantree, drummer for the Joe Meek-produced The Honeycombs, stands out. Still. When … Continue reading
“I do not ever want to be a huge star.” — Tuesday Weld
It’s her birthday today. From the great “Pretty Poison” (1968) with Anthony Perkins. And below you can see her as the creepily blank and heart-achingly gorgeous teenage majorette in the fantastic opening sequence of the film. See Pretty Poison if … Continue reading
“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