Beauty is a Rare Thing: Celebrating International Jazz Day (Revisited)
Sean MurphyAll hope is not lost. At least enough people are still making --and listening to-- jazz that we can even attempt to initiate what hopefully becomes an ongoing occasion. In…
Compassion*
License registration, no I ain’t got none, But I got a clear conscience ‘bout the things that I done… When you find yourself singing Bruce Springsteen lyrics in New Jersey…
Whitney Houston and the Wages of Fame (Revisited)
Sadly, only the most optimistic or naive observers did not see this coming. Indeed, it is fair, if harsh, to wonder how it took so long. I make it a…
Human Connections, Missed Connections, Chance Connections: ‘Three Colors: Blue, White, Red’ (Revisited)*
Words need not be minced here: the Criterion Collection treatment of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy is an essential, if overdue cultural event. The high-definition digital restorations are reason enough to rejoice;…
Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength: Rush’s ‘Permanent Waves’
How unbelievably appropriate that Permanent Waves was released on January 1, 1980? In virtually every regard, this album ended the '70s (literally) and foreshadowed the fertile grounds (reggae, pop elements, concise…
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before*
Let me tell you a story. It involves a white male born in a steadily prospering town to a slowly prospering family. His father, the first in his Irish family…
My Annual New Year’s Eve Message
As always, it’s a hell of a lot easier to keep these things in perspective by considering the (increasing) number of our brothers and sisters who are struggling just to…
2012: Time To Die (Part Two)
2012: In pace requiescat! Theme video for this annual series (especially instructive for those not familiar with the title or the photo, above): 5/8/12: This is a tough one for…
2012: Time To Die (Part One)
2012: In pace requiescat! Theme video for this annual series (especially instructive for those not familiar with the title or the photo, above): 2/2/12: This hurts. A genuine American icon…
Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine: Part Two
Picking up where we left off yesterday (which, in case you missed it, is HERE) and continuing the celebration (of the lizard), let's pick five more vintage vinyls. If your…