Delgres Address the Refugee Crisis with “Assez Assez”
Paris-based trio Delgres' debut album melds rock, blues with elements of music from New Orleans and the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe and they tell us about it in this new interview.
George de Stefano
George De Stefano is a New York-based writer and editor specializing in culture and politics. He is the author of An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) and a contributor to numerous other books, including the Routledge History of Italian Americans, Our Naked Lives: Essays from Gay Italian American Men (Bordighera Press), Mafia Movies (University of Toronto) and The Essential Sopranos Reader (University of Kentucky Presses). He currently is working on a book about the Sicilians of New Orleans. His articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Nation, Newsday, Film Comment, The Advocate, The Italian American Review, Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, and the online publications PopMatters, Rootsworld, the New York Journal of Books, La Voce di New York and I-Italy. He also has appeared in the documentary films "Beyond Wiseguys," "The Godfather Legacy," and the four-part PBS series, "The Italian Americans."
Gary Lucas and Nona Hendryx on the World of Captain Beefheart
Guitarist and band leader Gary Lucas and veteran vocalist Nona Hendryx pay tribute to one of rock's originals, Captain Beefheart, in this interview with PopMatters.
Lita Sings a Tale of the Blonde from Trastevere on “Bionda” (premiere)
Roman singer Lita, now in Los Angeles, reconnects with her roots on her new single, "Bionda". Lita aims to take that Italian-American tradition into pop's present.
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COVID-19 Is but One Indication of the Return of the Pandemic Monster
Mike Davis' COVID-era update about emerging flu pandemics, The Monster Enters, is concise, disturbing, and valuable.
12 Essential Performances from New Orleans’ Piano “Professors”
New Orleans music is renowned for its piano players. Here's a dozen jams from great Crescent City keyboardists, past and present, and a little something extra.
‘Rejoice’ with Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela
This long-delayed collaboration by two African master musicians is an occasion for jubilation. Rejoice is a posthumous reminder of what Hugh Masekela at his best could deliver and of the now 80-year-old Tony Allen's amazing vitality.
Where Are the Good Souls, the Better Angels? Asks Lucinda Williams
On her new searing album, Good Souls Better Angels, Lucinda Williams rages against the darkness of our era and seeks the strength to get through it.
The Rolling Stones Go to College
The Cambridge Companion to the Rolling Stones, the first book of academic essays about the band, considers not only what the band accomplished, but why, 60 years since they formed, the Rolling Stones still matter.
The “Unrequited Love” of An Accidental (Gay) Activist
In the '70s Dennis Altman was a founding figure of gay liberation. Now more restrained than radical, the Australian author and activist recounts the past and present of sexual politics in his new book, Unrequited Love.
The Two Louis: “Pops” and “The Wildest”
New Orleans' two great Louis, Armstrong and Prima, were formed by their hometown and its culture; though both left the city, it never left them or their music. They were both artists and entertainers, gifted musicians, and unabashed crowd-pleasers.
Farewell to the “Father of Montalbano”, Sicilian Novelist Andrea Camilleri
The beloved character Salvo Montalbano, like its author, the late Sicilian novelist Andrea Camilleri ("il padre di Montalbano"), can be brusque and ornery, but he has a strong ethical code and passionate commitment to justice.