[contextly_auto_sidebar id="dpPxWyWkL9K8V1VG4SfF8hwPukC2yYjM"] THE other night I was invited to the Silver Lake home of producer Daniel Lanois, who (best known for his work with Dylan, U2 and Emmylou Harris) has a new record of his own coming. I went partly because of the involvement of Brian Blade, mostly known as a jazz drummer. Blade played with Wayne Shorter's group at Disney Hall … [Read more...]
Archives for October 2014
What Do Brunch and Jeff Koons Have in Common?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="R4kldjR8qVAyVN11JBzIOTVFaYGRTE3D"] THE current backlash against mimosa-drenched Sunday meals is not a central concern of this blog. But I cannot resist posting part of a New York Times story (already denounced by some in my circle) which connects the rise of brunch with skyrocketing rents and the rise of the 1 percent. (Both, incidentally, major concerns … [Read more...]
Greil Marcus and the History of Rock N Roll
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="1o2sCoXE2Fn6bznjQ3wr9tT1LIaHHcnX"] MANY of us interested in music, American history and culture in general discovered this scholar and scribe with one of his great early books like Mystery Train or Lipstick Traces. Marcus popularized the idea of using music as a "secret history" for other cultural forms, his book connecting Dylan's Basement Tapes to Harry Smith's … [Read more...]
More Musicians Against Spotify
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xGXLuZLba3ZaZcAz5ytDQ3Clj72bbrjB"] MOST of the coverage of musicians opposing streaming services -- especially on this site -- has concentrated on indie and alternative figures like David Lowery or Thom Yorke. But the suburban center has staked its claim now that Jimmy Buffett has come out against Spotify. From a Business Insider story: At the Vanity Fair Summit … [Read more...]
The Winner-Take-All Culture: Beyonce’ Edition
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="s7QjDjoKc7tKlcAxYUDRApP9riUN4cz9"] NO, you're not reading an article from the Onion, but rather a news report of an an extreme and literal instance of the winner-take all culture. This brief story from Poynter, "News station lays off journalists, will play Beyoncé songs instead," quotes Houston Chronicle reporter David Barron: Radio One owns the station, known as … [Read more...]
The Commodification of Cool
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="cA06WrBWrX1QdeSrOH4sa9wEJQ8lEH07"] READERS of this blog know that one of my primary concerns is the way economic shifts -- especially as they affect rents and the costs of living -- have direct and profound meaning for the creative class. So I want to go back to The New Republic story on Berlin and other "cool" cities But the greatest risks posed to the “next … [Read more...]
Belle & Sebastian at the Ace Hotel
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="xC6gkwoxkwKwvRaOHnXwiWWd8B0gSpwd"] FOR a band known early on for playing downbeat folk songs and spending a lot of time onstage tuning their instruments, Glasgow's Belle & Sebastian have become one of the most reliably engaging, even restorative, live bands on the planet. Last night's show at the theater at LA's newish Ace Hotel was so full of joy and great music … [Read more...]
The Origins of the Creative Impulse
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CjGJi1ElzHO4Eiypu9nm3yJ0WNWxidhx"] WITH the release of my book getting close, I'm going to start salvaging some of the great epigraphs that helped me tell the story -- in some cases, the history or even prehistory -- of the creative class. These, then, are other people's words which helped me to explain things, but which I lost in the edit. Here is the first, from … [Read more...]
David Mitchell’s “The Bone Clocks”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="KUST1tJRtgkRnoQOLlZRPbrZOASSJtA8"] I'M not sure there's a novelist alive whose work I look forward to more than David Mitchell's. I say this even while sharing some mixed feelings about his new novel. The parts of this that work -- four and a half of its six parts -- are simply spectacular. In fact, I can't think of two many writers of any kind whose storytelling is … [Read more...]
Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="GoFGOT4Q6EPfBqiYMIbBn4gpMbiXLSMV"] IT would give me a contrarian thrill if I could come out against what may be the best-reviewed movie of the year. But Boyhood, which I finally caught up with, struck me as the most profound film I've seen in years. The New York Times review, by my friend Manohla Dargis, caught a hint of the movie's poetry. The realism is … [Read more...]