Brennan writes this kind of emotional turmoil with lightness and depth, evoking the wrenching fear and panic that true loneliness induces. Neither excusing nor explaining Anastasia’s heightened sense of self-preservation, Brennan’s is a powerful and compassionate voice, one that haunts…
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The Lasting Icon: Elvis Presley and his 30 #1 Hits
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Hearing Elvis Presley’s songs again, I become aware that a song can break your heart—and it’s not always the song you think it is going to be or for the reason you expect. A song can remind you, as it has me, of a time when you were younger, when you took much for granted, and you can weep at that kind of innocence, even though innocence—or ignorance—came to cause you so much pain.
Howlin’ Wolf and the Blues, Then and Now
Most of the songs on Howlin’ Wolf’s self-titled collection released in 1984—and which apparently corresponds to Wolf’s second album for Chess Records—were written by songwriter-musician Willie Dixon. A favorite song of mine, “Who’s Been Talkin’,” was written by Howlin’ Wolf,…
1987/2007: the 20th anniversary of Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby
Terence Trent D’Arby’s intelligence is transparent. Was he too intelligent for American audiences? Was it his lack of humility that alienated, or his intelligence? (Many people prefer artists to pretend as if their mastery is accidental, rather than a focus of ambition, consciousness, and will.) Was D’Arby’s elastic sense of identity alienating?
Edward Norton in The Illusionist
In The Illusionist he has a glamour I do not recall him having before, and he seems supported in the film The Illusionist in novel ways (that may be because of the kind of initiative and independence his character has, and that most of the other characters are compelled to respond to him). Edward Norton does not present the same personality from film to film; he is an actor who creates characters and yet he has become a leading man—and, in The Illusionist, he manages something that seems a little bit subversive.
A review of Why Lasker Matters by Andrew Soltis
Yet surely the chief reason, the darkest cloud obscuring Lasker’s greatness, is to be found in the myths concerning his play. It has been said that he would deliberately play “bad” moves to unbalance the position in a game, that…
Interview with Tracy Repchuk
The author of The Poetry of Business talks about her book, the power of poetry, the corporate crisis of meaning, her intended audience, Poetry Canada, and lots more.
A review of The Well-Fed Self-Publisher by Peter Bowerman
Bowerman has a particular strength in persuasion, and if you haven’t bought this book because you’ve already decided to self-publish, the first chapter will convince you why you need to. There are a number of other books on self-publishing, some…
Essential: The Art, Emotion, and Limitations of Luther Vandross
Vandross’s background singers—some of the industry’s best—are his true human witnesses, his most impressive collaborators. (I imagine some of his background singers may think they are responsible for Luther Vandross’s success.) Vandross’s sensibility and voice—a sensibility and voice created out of choices, influences, and ambitions—are so unique that the otherworldly music that accompanies him may be absolutely necessary.
The Force Behind The Power: Jazz, Joy, and Social Vision in the Work of Diana Ross
My reconsideration of Ross and Stolen Moments has been not only aesthetic and intellectual. In a time of personal trouble, I found she was one of the few singers I could listen to, and that the joy in her work gave me comfort. Pleasure is usually circumstantial and momentary, but joy is usually rooted in something deeper—a sense of self, great belief, a tested system of thought, love, and even trusted and proven community. Is there anything wiser than joy?