All About Bukowski
Sean Murphyi. I welcome any chance, at any time, to talk about The Buk. For a few reasons: his work seems to become more relevant and prescient the further we descend…
On the Critic in a Changing Literary Landscape
It was, I can assure you, both an honor and delight to moderate this discussion on (obligatory quotation marks) “the role of the critic” but, of course, this also involved…
Jazz Won’t Save Your Life
Some Thoughts on International Jazz Day i. A drowning man can be pulled from the water, and who wouldn’t celebrate that act of compassion, that gesture, that gift of life?…
On Poetry & Myth
(Author’s note: Huge appreciation to Holly Smith and the team at WIRB, where I last appeared to discuss This Kind of Man, for providing this forum to explore American myth via red, white, and blues.) In…
Introducing ‘red, white, and blues’
red, white, and blues is the fourth installment of a large, ongoing project acclaimed artist Matthew Shipp describes as “a kaleidoscopic, deep, and opulent journey.” Once more, I’m exploring America and its mythology through a…
‘They Live’: The Most Blunt Critique of Unfettered Capitalism Ever Committed to Celluloid
*shirt fully endorsed (and worn) by author of this article. (Author’s note: Most self-respecting writers do anything to avoid using words like “timeless” and “more true today than ever!” but…
Deliver Me From Nowhere: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’
(Damn right I came up with the title of the movie first. Actually, Bruce did—and it’s one of his best lines, from one of his best songs from an album…
The Big Saudi Sellout
i. Look, this doesn’t warrant or require a great deal of description or detail. A bunch of hacks sold out. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support…
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here at 50
It isn’t that Pink Floyd made some of the best albums of the ‘70s (they did), or that Pink Floyd moved the art form forward (they did); it’s that Pink…
Academia Is Engagement, Not Indoctrination
I remember first learning I wasn't white my second year of college. Well, not really white. By that I mean that I encountered other white people—men from small towns south of northern…