--includes my "Hey Jude" essay from Tell Me Why: A Beatles Commentary. … [Read more...]

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"To acquire the cleverly named Book of Secrets, Ben plots to kidnap the current president (Bruce Greenwood) and blah, blah, blah purple monkey dishwasher..." --MATT ZOLLER SEITZ on National Treasure: Book of Secrets, NYTimes, 12/21/07 … [Read more...]

"As a drummer, I'm a really proficient thirteen-year-old..." --Rufus Sewell, star of Tom Stoppard's ROCK'N'ROLL on Broadway, in the New Yorker. … [Read more...]

TR: It sounds like you studied with both Serkin and Horsz at the same time? Was that typical, or did you take master classes from one or how did that work? It seems curious to me that MH was such cool as a teacher, through his playing I naturally assumed that he was effusive and passionate, and very forthcoming. It's so interesting how those qualities break down in different people. I think of Serkin is RIGOROUS, even though the stuff I admire most about his playing can be his tenderness... but of course, that's in the contrast. With MH I … [Read more...]

For my money, the two heros of I'M NOT THERE are David Cross, in wickedly inspired casting as Allen Ginsberg, and Al Kooper, who oversaw the BLONDE ON BLONDE sessions to make the score a delight to hear on those large theatrical speakers. Otherwise, Haynes's movie is about as avant-garde as a game of checkers, too literal by half, and you feel embarrassed for Heath Ledger. If you don't know its sources, make an effort to see Pennebaker's DON'T LOOK BACK and Scorsese's NO DIRECTION HOME. … [Read more...]

I recently corresponded with an old piano teacher about a pianist who's an inside figure, although there are still plenty of his recordings in print. More to come... TR: You list Mieczyslaw Horszowski in your bio, wasn't he at Curtis? I've admired his warm tone for years and years, and wish there were more hours in the day to dig into his extensive recordings. I got to hear him live at Sanders Theatre, Harvard, long long time ago, probably early 1990s, and he was only 145 then, and he lived to be 189 right? So you worked with him when he was … [Read more...]

ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: fifty-two years ago, a Canadian nobody named Glenn Gould made his big splash with a Goldberg Variations, which was not only left-field repertoire but virile, robust Bach playing that turned a lot of ears and launched an eccentric career. It was the kind of record you knew growing up because your parents had it lying around, it was one of those cultural imperatives that epitomized an era when a pianist could actually make a splash (and didn't United Artists steal the cover design for Hard Day's Night?) This year, Simone … [Read more...]

Dear Tim My own next project is going to be a biography of Professor Longhair. Having spent fifteen years writing about four of the most famous people on earth, I long for a subject about which virtually every prospective reader doesn't already have a set of preconceptions and opinions. Here again I plan to situate the simple narrative of Longhair's life (as well as his rather spectacular posthumous career) in the social and cultural context of New Orleans and the U.S. in the decades after World War Two. On some level, this will be a book … [Read more...]