It's almost like there's too much noise around FAHRENHEIT 9/11 to watch it with a clear head, and I still wonder whether it will change minds. Bush is such an easy, wide-ass target by now that as his defenders grow more shrill, his critics seem to carp in vain. I wish Moore was more responsible with his data, had more insight, provided more context on the Iraqi footage, and in general was more of a journalist. But my wife [SKL] says that's wanting it to be something it's not. Goeffrey O'Brien is pretty persuasive on this. (See how generous … [Read more...]

Freddie Mercury Nesting Eggs … [Read more...]

Is it me? Feels like I've taken crazy pills: "...hedonism, as expressed by rock, is playing center stage in our culture. But being 'out front' doesn’t have to mean 'better than the rest.' More influential? Sure. More perfect? No.'" I tried very hard to make the case that rock figures symbolized something far more than hedonism, something richer, more poetic, far better. And there's more than a touch of cynicism to my approach. … [Read more...]

Mr. Riley, Fever limits its discussion of country music’s influence to Johnny Cash (starting on page 9). With that, you seem to suggest that rock, following Elvis, completely overshadowed any other manly ideal, especially the one you associate with John Wayne and Johnny Cash. Is that what you meant? By exclusion, you're suggesting that country music did not promote a stoic ideal of manhood, or that if it did, rock eroded its influence completely. That is, rock's open ideal claimed 100% of the cultural mind-share, and country music's … [Read more...]

Some very worthy-ass lists from McSweeney's. We gravitated towards Dick Cheney's iPod playlists, Wasploitation flicks, and Alcoholics Anonymous Slogans as Eleven Murder Mystery Titles and One Spy Thriller Title, but we didn't have all day. Irresistible. This alone is a site waiting to happen. And this, from Behind a Wall of Sleep, which gives you the feeling he doesn't know his blog is a Smithereens song. I'd like nothing better than for him to lob me some specific points to argue. … [Read more...]

Self-Righteous Brothers RUNNER-UP: Wack-Ass Egyptians … [Read more...]

...The film takes for granted that rock 'n' roll, while it remains the soundtrack of youthful disaffection, has long since become a respectable middle-aged profession. Both Mr. Ulrich and Mr. Hetfield, the band's founding members, who started playing music together in the early 1980's, are married men with young children. They also behave, with each other, like a long-married couple who find themselves bored, dissatisfied and on the rocks..." After A. O. Scott's inexplicable rave in the NYTIMES, I feel honor-bound to warn people off Metallica's … [Read more...]

...Mr. Ricks’ work is filled with offhand Empsonian brilliance, uncanny erudition and a belief in literary value that will, hopefully, finally shut up the poorly read types who waste time questioning whether Dylan’s works have earned the "right" to be called poetry. What a useless argument: Of course they have earned the right, but we have the right to think to them as songs as well... --Ron Rosenbaum in the Observer. ...Lars deserves bonus points for being shorter than his wife, and his remark that the band's "in a bit of a shit … [Read more...]

The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Rocket From the Tombs, Los Lobos, Wilco, the Beastie Boys, and Sam Phillips channels PJ, in what Republicans might call a "big tent"... on WBUR. … [Read more...]

Since it opened, "Fahrenheit 9/11" has been a hit in both blue and red America, even at theaters close to military bases. Last Saturday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took his Nascar crew to see it. The film's appeal to working-class Americans, who are the true victims of George Bush's policies, should give pause to its critics, especially the nervous liberals rushing to disassociate themselves from Michael Moore... Paul Krugman on Moore in today's Times ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...Regarding My Life itself, … [Read more...]