Here's my story on Pollini's Nocturnes, aired last Wednesday. If you just wanna grab the RA file, go for it. He gave me a very chatty twenty minutes, even though everybody I asked beforehand reported him to be "monosyllabic." He was in Lucerne, Switzerland, doing press from his hotel room, and I Skyped him. … [Read more...]

When George Will can say something as racist as this on TV without a firestorm: "When you see Lamont standing there on victory night with Jesse Jackson looming over one shoulder, and Rev. Al Sharpton looming over the other, where does the Democratic death wish come from...? " [paraphrase] … [Read more...]

On last Friday's Front Porch with Eric Lott talking about the Dartmouth Dylan conference. … [Read more...]

"Does this Leonard Cohen trib pic have too many Canadians? Yes. Does he come from Montreal? Of course. Do they give Rufus two songs when Teddy T. has the better voice? Absolutely. Should they have interviewed some critics to provide a larger context? You bet. And where's Bruce Cockburn? Rebecca DeMornay? Judy Collins (who showed up at Sundance, not that her absence is a flaw, mind you, but she's the biggest star associated with a Cohen song: "Suzanne," which is sub-par for him). Where's the Jeff Buckley reference during "Hallelujah?" How does … [Read more...]

Joke of the week. (Audio) … [Read more...]

You don't see Wills genuflect all that often, except perhaps to St. Augustine or Abe. But I spent the vacation pouring through At Canaan's Edge by Taylor Branch, and it's to drool for. There's an intriguing unanswered question left dangling at the end: LBJ suddenly announces his withdrawal from the Democratic race, and two days later MLK is dead. What was King's response to this political powderkeg? RFK sat with his nemesis at the White House stuttering for words to convey his gratitude, the selflessness of the act... what kind of phone … [Read more...]

Weird watching Munich a couple weeks back; it's soundtracked the Hezbollah crisis for me. Easily swamps Schindler's List in how Spielberg handles prickly moral themes; Geoffrey Rush is quiet and astounding; the Tarantino homage where PLO confront the Israelis at their "safe house" is a hoot. That naked hitlady, though, that's problematic, like the shower scene in SL, it's a sop to Hollywood clichés. And that climactic orgasm intercut with the inciting atrocity, well that's just cheap. Here's Hoberman: As the German police bungled their rescue … [Read more...]

SOFT FEATURE, SOFT EDIT Inexplicably missing from Rob Walker's report on Brand Underground are sites like Threadless, where you get to make up your own slogans and vote for designs. Walker did include a link to Cool Hunting, however, which is a clickfest for anti-fashion. … [Read more...]