Tag Archives: Dean Martin

“Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.” Happy Birthday, 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.) 1. For about 8 years, … Continue reading

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“Given as much to the gutter as to the gods” — Nick Tosches

“He was born alone. He would die alone. These truths, he, like every punk, took to heart. But in him they framed another truth, another solitary, stubborn stone in the eye of nothing. There was something, a knowing, in him … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Dean Martin

From Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, by Nick Tosches. Getting to the heart of it all. His schoolmates had never really known him. Even his loving family could not tell for sure what lay within this … Continue reading

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My New Life Music Shuffle

This has been going on for two months. It’s been a very busy and yet very strange time. Lots more driving than I normally did in my “old” life. Music has helped me stay grounded.

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Dog Days of Covid Summer Shuffle

Strange times all around. I’m quarantining in Rhode Island with Hope. I’ve been here for a couple of weeks now. Everything in limbo. Here’s the music that’s accompanied me over these weeks. Shuffled up. Appropriate to the chaos of the … Continue reading

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Dino and Ella = Heaven

There’s so much to be said about the two of them together, but mostly it’s how perfect they both are as performers. Look at how throughout the medley, Martin is turned slightly towards her. He’s not “in this” for himself, … Continue reading

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Recommended: Biographies

For starters: My recommended Fiction books My recommended Non-Fiction books BIOGRAPHIES: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis I’ve written a lot about Joseph Ellis’ work here. While I love David McCullough’s work so much, Ellis is … Continue reading

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Reading Tosches Reader

I’m reading The Nick Tosches Reader right now, a super dense collection of his writing – put together by Tosches himself, from book reviews in long-defunct ‘zines, to pieces he wrote for Creem and etc. Nobody. Like. Him. I can’t … Continue reading

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R.I.P. Nick Tosches

Rest in peace to sui generis writer, whose books blaze with such individualism, such unforgettable prose, such high-flung sweeping paragraphs – so hard to paraphrase – impossible to parse out – he’s almost intimidating. His style is so his own, … Continue reading

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Winter/Spring iPod shuffle: I find doing these relaxing

“Look What They’ve Done To My Song” – Miley Cyrus. Every song in “The Backyard Sessions” has a purity of emotion and expression that GETS to me. “Jordon River” – The Raunch Hands. In my parents’ record collection. We were … Continue reading

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