HANDS I'VE SHAKEN (no particular order): Oscar Peterson, Eddie Albert, Andras Schiff, Stephen Bishop Kovacevich, Phyllis Diller, Marian McPartland, David Lindley, Rosanne Cash, Richard Thompson Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein, Peter Guralnick, Greil Marcus, Vince Aletti, Joel Krosnick, Jan DeGaetani, … [Read more...]

Can classical music ever reclaim the populist influence of Leonard Bernstein? Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts (Kultur Video, 9 DVDs)The Joy of Music (Amadeus Press) Leonard Bernstein: An American Life (WFMT Radio Network, produced by Steve Rowlands for CultureWorks Ltd.) Leonard … [Read more...]

Why are Slate's "Today's Papers" heads so consistently awful? Do they simply let Umansky have his head since he probably turns copy in around 5 am? Just this past week we've had: Bishop Taken (for some Muslim cleric story) Rice-a-Crony (for Rice's testimony) Goodnight, Johnny (for Johnny Carson's … [Read more...]

I've been tough on Nancy Franklin, so to be fair here's a lead that made me chortle: "America is having a torrid love affair with “Desperate Housewives,” and I feel so left out..." [Greg's archives RULE.] GOOFY GOOBERS -- NOT: "...It is not the first time that children's TV favorites have come … [Read more...]

While waiting in the car yesterday, we came across "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen (actually a mashup of two songs by the Rivingtons. Adam (4) insisted on listening to it maybe 100 times in a row, laughing until he cried. The joy that bubbled out of him was delirious. None of the repetitions got … [Read more...]

Bow-tied neocon scuzzball Tucker Carlson, the guy Jon Stewart confronted on the sinking ship Crossfire? Turns out to be a major source for Sister Helen Prejean's death penalty piece (from NY Review of Books): ...In his autobiography, Bush claimed that the pending execution of Karla Faye Tucker … [Read more...]

Vexing how persistent these misperceptions are, long after the battle was waged, won, and consumerized. Talking about the pre-Beatle years in the early 1960s, Bruce Bawer writes: "Those years were America’s liberal moment, and a pivotal point in American history." But his lengthy article in the … [Read more...]

Would you take a $3.99 chance on this pay-per-view? "Evie, a wallflower in a dead-end job, is obsessed with a struggling musician. Through a fanatic event, Evie comes into focus and Casey capitalizes on the attention." -- listing for the film A Slipping-Down Life, starring Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce … [Read more...]

from WBUR's Arts page: The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood, by David Thomson (Knopf) The title of David Thomson's new history of film employs a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald's THE LAST TYCOON: "You can take Hollywood for granted..., or you can dismiss it with the contempt we reserve for what … [Read more...]

From WBUR's Here and Now homepage: It was quite a year for pop culture and the pop culture wars. Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction launched a year long values debate that culminated in the presidential election. Gay marriage was in the headlines, but abysmal marriages were at the core of the … [Read more...]