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- Miscast? Mayyyybe.
- “I don’t care how afraid I may be inside — I do what I think I should.” — Katharine Hepburn
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- “My dear child, I’m sure we shall be allowed to laugh in Heaven!” — Edward Lear
- “I know that for myself, what is deeper than I understand is often the most pertinent to me and the most lasting.” — Lorine Niedecker
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- sheila on “You are not acting so much as being. The result is realism.” — Gary Cooper
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- sheila on Miscast? Mayyyybe.
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- Maddy on “Maybe it’s a generational thing but I never wanted to be the best black dancer in the world. I wanted to be the best.” — Judith Jamison
- Maddy on “You are not acting so much as being. The result is realism.” — Gary Cooper
- Maddy on “As long as politics is this confused and evil, turning away from it would be cowardly.” — 20th century hero Sophie Scholl
- sheila on “A lot of people try to equate me with guys like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, but in the old days I sold a lot of records over a period of time, and you can’t sustain that by being just another pretty face.” — Ricky Nelson
- mutecypher on “A lot of people try to equate me with guys like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, but in the old days I sold a lot of records over a period of time, and you can’t sustain that by being just another pretty face.” — Ricky Nelson
- sheila on “A lot of people try to equate me with guys like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, but in the old days I sold a lot of records over a period of time, and you can’t sustain that by being just another pretty face.” — Ricky Nelson
- sheila on “You are not acting so much as being. The result is realism.” — Gary Cooper
- mutecypher on “A lot of people try to equate me with guys like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, but in the old days I sold a lot of records over a period of time, and you can’t sustain that by being just another pretty face.” — Ricky Nelson
- Maddy on “You are not acting so much as being. The result is realism.” — Gary Cooper
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: As You Like It
- mutecypher on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: As You Like It
- sheila on “A woman came up to me after one of the screenings with tears pouring down her face and sobbed, You’ve defined my entire life for me on the screen.” –Jill Clayburgh
- Brett Hetherington on The Books: A Collection of Essays, ‘Charles Dickens’, by George Orwell
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Tag Archives: Lester Bangs
“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
R.I.P. Village Voice
It’s a sad sad day. Not just for my friends who just got laid off, but for New York, for all of us. We are ALL the poorer when something like this happens. But to New Yorkers … to writers … Continue reading
Dynamic Duo #15
Debbie Harry and Lester Bangs, Coney Island, 1976
Bookshelf Tour #10
An extremely dog-eared section of my library. These books are rarely on the shelf since I dip into them so often. — The mighty Joan Acocella, dance critic for The New Yorker, but also so much more. Her dance writing … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged bookshelves, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, H.L. Mencken, Joan Acocella, Lester Bangs, William Hazlitt
4 Comments
Saying Good-Bye to Elvis
Graceland at sunset, 2013, on Elvis’ birthday. Taken by yours truly. Where Were You When Elvis Died? by Lester Bangs The Village Voice, 29 August 1977 Where were you when Elvis died? What were you doing and what did it … Continue reading
Two Obsessives: Pat McCurdy and I Discuss Elvis
Pat McCurdy and I go way WAY back. He’s a brilliant songwriter and performer in the Milwaukee/Chicago area. I first saw him play in Chicago. (Well, actually, this isn’t true. I first saw him when I was 12 or 13 … Continue reading
Posted in Music
Tagged Chuck Berry, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Elvis Presley, friends, Lester Bangs, Little Richard, Sam Phillips, The Beatles
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Lester Bangs on Fear, Ghosts, and Nico
There are times when his writing absolutely floors me. Here is an excerpt from his essay “Your Shadow Is Scared of You: An Attempt Not to Be Frightened by Nico” (my essay ABOUT that essay here), included in the collection … Continue reading
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2014
I may write some magnum opus in the next two days, you never know, but here are links to some of the things I’ve written in 2014, here and elsewhere. I have worked hard to keep my site an eclectic … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Personal
Tagged Alfred Wertheimer, Anna Magnani, Austria, Carroll Baker, Christopher Hitchens, Claude Rains, Eli Wallach, Elvis Presley, Eminem, France, friends, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Harry Potter, Howard Hawks, Inherent Vice, Iran, Iranian film, Israel, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Japan, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Crawford, John Cassavetes, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Wiig, Kwik Stop, Lars von Trier, Lauren Bacall, Lester Bangs, Liv Ullmann, Lon Chaney, Love Streams, Mark Twain, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Orpheus Descending, Palestine, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Poland, Richard Linklater, Romania, Russia, Seth Rogen, Seymour Cassel, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sweden, Tennessee Williams, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, Tommy Lee Jones, Trotsky, war, year in writing, Zac Efron
14 Comments
The Books: Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader; “Bring Your Mother to the Gas Chamber!”, by Lester Bangs
Next up on the essays shelf: Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, by Lester Bangs In 1972, Lester Bangs went to a Black Sabbath show in Detroit, to soak up the vibe, observe the fans, … Continue reading
The Books: Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader; “Your Shadow Is Scared of You: An Attempt Not to Be Frightened by Nico”, by Lester Bangs
Next up on the essays shelf: Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, by Lester Bangs A gorgeous and crazy piece about Nico’s album The Marble Index. I am a huge Nico fan, and so is … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Music
Tagged essays, Germany, Lester Bangs, Mainlines Blood Feasts and Bad Taste
8 Comments