Alfio Antico’s ‘Trema La Terra’ Will Carry You Off to Mount Etna
On his latest album, Trema La Terra, Sicilian percussionist Alfio Antico makes the earth tremble with deep, visceral pulsations.
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."
Lecklider’s Historical Work Love’s Next Meeting Examines Homosexuals and Communism in the US
In the virulently anti-Communist and homophobic climate of the postwar era many feared any association between the emerging lesbian and gay cause and Communism.
Italy’s Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino Discuss Their Thrilling New LP ‘Meridiana’
Mauro Durante and Justin Adams discuss making the new Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino LP, Meridiana, under Covid-19’s challenging conditions and suspended time.
Delgres and the 4:00 AM Immigrant Blues
The sophomore LP from Paris-based blues-rock trio Delgres, 4:00 AM, is a cohesive and moving response to the forced migration of people of the Global South.
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.
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.