I am a pop culturalist. I write about the textures of life: movies, film, books, social commentary, poetry and whatever interests me. I focus on the 1970s, but anything is fair game.
Pete Townshend sounds angry. This Wembley show is really Pete’s show. Although Daltrey fronts the band onstage and admits he takes care of the business-side of their partnership, Townshend is the musical and spiritual leader of this band. Townshend says that Daltrey would prefer to die onstage, he sees retirement sometime in the near future, … More The Who with Orchestra Live at Wembley (review)
Fifty-three years, 100-plus concerts a year, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley are still going strong as the group, America. I saw them pre-pandemic at the same venue where I just attended their concert. America, yacht rock. The tendency is to dismiss these guys as just a soft-rock legacy act. America is best-known for their 1970s … More America (2023, concert review)
It’s been nearly 50 years since the last helicopters of Americans, and Vietnamese evacuees, left Vietnam and closed that chapter. Well, not exactly. Stories of that time and place continued to be told, and here is quite a riveting tale of compassion and heroism. Beginning of the end timeline: January 1968: The Tet Offensive. March … More Getting Out of Saigon by Ralph White (book review)
Zeus was a black lab, adopted as a pup as part of a litter left at the animal shelter. He was 11 years old when I met him; it was my first date with his mom. Zeus was a great chaperone on our picnic at the park. He didn’t really form his impression on me … More Life With Zeusy: The Dog That Taught Me About My Life
What happens a career hits a dead-end? I was thinking about Eric Clapton the other day. In the early 1973, Clapton was addicted to drugs and his career was in the dumps. Not very many people remember those times, in part because he rebuilt his career, and his guitar legacy only grew. In America, second … More Left for Dead: Amazing Career Resurrections
Talk about a difficult film to watch. In 1968, mass shootings were rare, although that was the year of two assassinations: Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy. Targets was conceptually influenced by the 1966 Texas University tower shooter Charles Wittman, who killed 15 people and injured 31, after first killing his wife and mother. … More Targets, a film by Peter Bogdanovich (film review)
Of the billions of objects Why did she pick me? This orb, bruised and silent A solitary body in the galaxy — Before we met, she knew me Curious with this mystery Patient, waiting for the bloom Every day another page to the story — She reaches for my hand A schoolboy, queasy The energy … More She Gets Me
I can’t believe that singer Lucinda Williams is 70 years old! Thankfully, she is showing no signs of slowing down, and she’s just released her memoirs. Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You (2023, Crown Publishing) has just been released and it’s as introspective and haunting as her music. “Too country for rock and … More Lucinda Williams’ Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You (book review)
Living (2022) snuck out into theaters with not much fanfare. That’s not unusual in the post-Covid film world. Nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Screenplay), it is one of lead actor Bill Nighy’s best roles. Living refers to the fact that Mr. Williams (Nighy), a county bureaucrat in 1950s London, has only six … More Living (film review) and my favorite Bill Nighy films
The challenge has been accepted, three consecutive studio albums released by artist or band. My top 20 list of consecutive releases. No live or greatest hits allowed. The list of course is very subjective and is absent some major artists, and some remarkable albums. No Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Beach Boys, Grateful Dead or Van … More Three Great Consecutive Musical Albums Released (my list of 20)
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