Friday, December 3 2010
Bullshit Detectors! The Garage Is an Outside Place, and a Place for Outsiders
As the commune was to hippies, so the garage has been to garage bands and to their proto-punk, punk, and post-punk successors: an enclave where marginalized youth can fantasize or realize their visions of independent alternative art and lifestyles.
Friday, June 11 2010
The Screwball World of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney: A ‘Suspicious’ Literary Biography
Marion Meade's new book begs the question: Are literary biographies necessary? Somewhere in the afterlife, Nathanael West is having a good chuckle.
Friday, May 28 2010
Race in America, Race in Music: Different Trains, Same Two Tracks
It's an American pop music creation myth: that blues and folk music developed along two distinct tracks, with their own distinct traditions, divided along racial lines. The truth is, of course, far more slippery and complicated.
Friday, March 19 2010
Six Years in the Life of Post-Blackness (Or Not)
If the 'black' in 'post-black' means “the last 40 years or so”, black folks are clearly moving beyond that; but to the extent that 'black' means “having to deal with the same-old same-old when it comes to racial attitudes,” then we ain’t post-nuthin’.
Wednesday, January 13 2010
Portrait of the Artist…and Their Family
I’d rather hear superstars admit to egos gone wild than insist they uphold “family first” values if family first is not a reality for them.
Tuesday, January 5 2010
New Moon: Wherefor Art Thou Edward?
Bella and Edward's longing for each other is what makes the series so appealing. It fully encapsulates the bliss and agony of first love or any love that would make you lie down and die for the other person.
Friday, December 18 2009
The Big Nowhere: Rudy Wurlitzer’s Rediscovered Trilogy and Bob Dylan Revisited
The myths of unspoiled frontiers and the freedom of the open road, lives played out on the margins of society, attachment and detachment, wrestling matches with the ghosts of Samuel Beckett and Louis L’Amour…
Thursday, December 17 2009
The Best of Slugging Santas and Fightin’ Father Christmases
Sliding down chimneys in the middle of the night is not without its risks, which is why Santa needs to be one tough elf with survival tactics and fighting skills.
Monday, November 9 2009
Table Space: The Final Frontier
The impressive part of 2001: A Space Odyssey isn’t what they have in the future, it’s what they don’t have: clutter.
Friday, October 30 2009
Crime, Delirium, and Paris
In the second installment of his overseas correspondence, the Rockist gets robbed. And this time, not by an American corporation.
Monday, October 26 2009
Health Care in America has Gone to the Dogs
Compared to the modern-day American, their dogs have the best of everything: questionable intelligence (i.e., happiness), poor memories (i.e., forgiveness), and low expectations (i.e., contentment).
Friday, October 23 2009
The Name of This Land is Hell: Mexico in Literature
When the author of a sitcom-styled novel about Mexican heritage cannot resist mentioning the modern-day carnage, then it's fair to assume that the murders have become a significant part of the national identity.
The ‘Ol Crotchety One Kicks It Transatlantic Style
PopMatters sends its weekly culture columnist abroad, with hopefully a one-way ticket.
Friday, September 25 2009
Hal Ashby: Hollywood Rebel
Films and books strive toward a common goal: telling a story. And very few modern filmmakers are as good at spinning a yarn as the late Hal Ashby was.
Thursday, September 10 2009
Jewish is Coolish…At Last!
My people can finally emerge from behind their nebbishy personas to assume their proper place in the coolness pantheon.
Wednesday, September 9 2009
A Beatnik Tuna (Fish)
Charlie the Tuna fish is an homage to the Beat generation’s playfulness and experimentation with language.
Friday, September 4 2009
Ride This Time Machine Down a Road Less Traveled
Jump into that ’59 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz with the maxed-out tailfins, contemplate what an original Barbie doll could fetch on eBay, and enjoy this roll call of Reasons Why Everything Changed in 1959.
Drunk and Driven
Delilah's on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago is everything The Rockist wants in a bar. Loud. Comfortable. Cheap.
Friday, August 28 2009
Rabid and Rascally Creatures: Richard Brookhiser’s “Happy Darkies”
Familial or political, conservatives in America actually have no moral boundaries whatsoever.
Dear Mr. Denby: In Defense of Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino drives critics nuts because he loves movies. 'New Yorker' critic David Denby drives The Rockist nuts because he hates movies.
