Whatever USA–or–Is It Time for a New Federal Writers’ Project?
State by State (2008) is rife with jaunty attacks, superficial panegyrics, random reportage, and puberty memoirs. Isn’t it time for a comparable update?
Features
How Pop Music Mainstreams Religious Weirdness
With its devils and aliens, pop music can be a “window on the weird”, sweeping odd material lodged in subcultural pockets into the broader currents of culture.
Night Writer: An Interview with Grammy-winning Funk Rocker Van Hunt
In this exclusive interview with PopMatters, Van Hunt discusses his new collaboration with Nate Smith, the influence of Sly & the Family Stone, and a career-spanning compilation that defines independence.
The Way They Kiss in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’
Julie Andrews’ 1960s musical Thoroughly Modern Millie does its anti-authoritarian, anarchic-chaotic thing in a different key.
The Long Hard Way through ‘Mississippi Prison Writing’
The harrowing quality of incarcerated existence is compounded by the persistent and heartbreaking presence of injustice in Mississippi Prison Writing.
Hymns to Uncool or Reconsidering Lisa Germano’s ‘Geek the Girl’
A bold investigation of a woman’s journey through self-acceptance, Lisa Germano’s unsettling opus Geek the Girl fell through the cracks of the alternative mainstream in 1994.
Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny on Guitar Solos and Cosmic Journeys
Ben Chasny’s latest Six Organs of Admittance release is the project’s most cosmic (and guitar-shredding) journey yet.
Seaton’s What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? Thumbs Its Tucan-Size Nose at the Establishment
An airborne virus infects the cogs in the capitalist machine in George Seaton’s What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? and makes people subversively happy.
Chris Turpin and Stephanie Jean Band Together to Make Ida Mae ‘Click’ in Nashville
Summer might be the perfect time to celebrate Ida Mae Day with a refreshing married duo from England whose new album Click Click Domino should heat up lukewarm Americana traditions.
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.
‘Judy at Carnegie Hall’ Celebrated the Greatest Night in Show Business 60 Years Ago
Judy Garland’s Judy at Carnegie Hall possesses an emotional range and heft that remains potent over half a century after its release.