Adam Yauch, R.I.P. (One Year Later)
Sean MurphyThis hurts. Word is hitting the wires that Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA, has succumbed to cancer. This is awful news, obviously, but also surprising since it sounded like he had…
Props for Pops (71st Birthday Edition)
I have written more than once about my mother (here and here) but I haven't said a great deal (here) about my old man. That is, in part, because he…
Albert Hofmann, R.I.P.
Talk about better living through chemistry! Albert Hofmann, the chemist who invented/discovered LSD, has passed away at the dignified, enviable age of 102. On April 16, 1943, he made history. On…
Spring*
95 South: Eventually, the skyline turns from gray to green, with trees instead of telephone poles and hills instead of hotels on either side. On the tops of these hills,…
The Red Headed Stranger Turns 80
Willie Nelson is not America. Willie Nelson is America. I don't have much to say other than two simple observations: First, I hope he's around for many more years. Two,…
George Jones: R.I.P.
George Jones has left us for that great country song in the sky. To say he's another loss we can't adequately understand and that we'll never see anything like him…
How Caddyshack Explains Everything (Revisited)
7/22/2009: Listening to the disingenuous whining of the G.O.P. regarding the outrageous and irresponsible debt Obama is creating provokes various reactions. Here are ten of them. (But first, the image…
The Song Remains The Same or, The Agony of Influence (Revisited)
Two thoughts from T.S. Eliot: April is the cruelest month... Whatever. Good poets borrow; great poets steal. Now we're talking. And here is where it gets interesting: debate rages (well,…
Just Like a Big Daydream in the Middle of the Night: The Return of Shuggie Otis
True story: Already an industry veteran although barely legal drinking age, Shuggie Otis was asked to join the Rolling Stones. Famously, he declined the offer. Had he accepted that once-in-a-lifetime…
Happy Birthday Chazz: Mingus at 91
Today would have been (and, still is) Charles Mingus's 91st birthday. I've written about him often and I'll continue to write about him, not only because he is one of…