Image via WikipediaAs a critic, I spend a lot of energy resisting both cliches and superlatives. Hyperbole be the enemy of specificity, and so on. In this instance I have no hesitation: I heard George Shearing at the Aspen Music Festival in 1979. He played a long, adventurous set with a bassist, Brian Torff, that I have never forgotten. Torff was easily THE BEST BASSIST I HAVE EVER HEARD BEFORE OR SINCE. And Shearing had an immaculate charm: only after his thrillingly crystalline glissandos did his invisibly awesome technique sink in. Treat to … [Read more...]

Image via Wikipedia"Hercules" (Honky Château, 1972) Elton has fun pretending to be a grits-kicking Southern boogie man, boasting "I like women and I like wine" over roadhouse piano, guitar twang, and a "doo-wop shoo-bop" chorus. It sounds like he's tipping his hat to Lynyrd Skynyrd -- except their debut album was still a year away. -- Sheffield in Rolling StoneAnd the title character doubles as a feline. Once he got all the faux western crap out of his system we totally fell for his impish asexual Pillsbury doughboy cartoon. Related … [Read more...]

Image via WikipediaDoes Julian Assange have an agenda? We've heard the question so many times, usually asked by American media, whose agendas we are intimately familiar with. My answer, on reflection, is yes, I think he has one, and he has said what it is. And it's not what the big media people insinuate that it is, although that's not usually made very clear. If they think he has an inappropriate agenda, perhaps they should say specifically what they think it is, and back it up.   In this [last] Sunday's interview on 60 Minutes, … [Read more...]

Cover via AmazonWith the $13-Plus trillion we are estimated to ultimately spend on the bailouts, we could not only have bought and paid off every single subprime mortgage in the country (that would only have cost $1.4 trillion), we could have paid off every remaining mortgage of any kind in this country--and still have had enough money left over to buy a new house for every American who does not already have one... (p. 123) Matt Taibbi in Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America … [Read more...]

"The story of Guadalupe Victoria Yoli Raymond, known as La Lupe, is a poignant tale of a performer ruled by instinct and ecstasy. First, she was the right talent at the right place at the right time -- and then, all too soon, she wasn't. Before long, the one-time sensation was cast aside by the music industry, and is now all but forgotten..." Milo Miles on Fresh Air, 1/31/11Related articlesVelez set for the big screen as La Lupe? (hollywood.com) … [Read more...]