Self-Deprecating Nonchalence: ‘Prine on Prine’
The “interviews and encounters” in Prine on Prine reveal John Prine’s care for others, and his self-deprecation and nonchalance about his accomplished career.
Books
Two Men in a Tub: A Sudsy Interview with Humorist Robert Wringham
Robert Wringham’s Rub-A-Dub-Dub slips neck-deep into the wet hot mess of middle-age angst. From the comfort of his bath, so to speak, he talks about it.
Telling His Story: An Interview with Bernie Taupin
Bernie Taupin, legendary songwriting partner of Elton John, reveals all in a new book detailing his creative partnership, hatred of touring, and love of cowboys.
Fragments of a (Diabolical) Dream: Vojtěch Mašek’s ‘The Sisters Dietl’
Reading Vojtěch Mašek’s The Sisters Dietl is like consuming a many-layered pastry laced with something hallucinogenic.
Lenny Bruce vs. Lenny Bruce: The Real and the Imagined
There are two Lenny Bruces: 1. the real-life subject of thoughtful documentaries and biographies, and 2. the TV/movie hip mentor and accidental deity.
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NYC’s Underground Scene: ‘This Must Be the Place’
Music may be the glue of every NYC underground scene This Must Be the Place covers, but Jesse Rifkin’s primary interest is in the community held together by that glue.
Albert Camus’ Struggles with Earthly Existence in ‘Travels in the Americas’
The Albert Camus of Travels in the Americas diaries is a passionate, despairing reckoner with the struggles of earthly existence, both personal and societal.
‘The Gospel of the Hold Steady’ Captures Their Unhinged Magic
Michael Hann’s oral history The Gospel of the Hold Steady traces the band’s image, music, and challenges in a brilliant chronicle of the promise of rock ‘n’ roll.
‘Dreams in Double Time’: When Bebop Counter-Punched Racist Violence
In this excerpt from Jonathan Leal’s study of Black American jazz, Dreams in Double Time, bebop gives the music a “new accent” and the outsider citizenry a “new language” for counter-punching rebellion.
‘The Media Swirl’ and the Glitter in Your Eyes
In this excerpt from The Media Swirl, Carol Vernallis peers through the glitter of the stunning party scene in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and exams its sparkling layers of meaning.
‘Operation Mindfuck’ Wades into the QAnon Muck
Despite claiming that QAnon believers will never see reason, Operation Mindfuck tries, in Hunter S. Thompson fashion, to explain why they’re wrong.