Today on CBS Sunday Morning, in a segment devoted to interviews with five prominent octogenarians (including entertainer Elaine Stritch, White House correspondent and resident thorn-in-the-side Helen Thomas, Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post/Watergate/Woodward and Bernstein fame, and Playboy incarnate Hugh Hefner), TV producer Norman Lear was ( Read more... )

First things first, I hereby swear not to do any more YouTube-related posts for at least thirty days. I've whiled away much too much time over at that copyright-infringing, time-sucking, Stuckey's-on-the-Web (though, I must admit, I did enjoy seeing again, for the first time in years, "The Contest Nobody Could Win" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati ( Read more... )

When I interviewed Bruce Springsteen a few weeks back for my book, among the many fond memories he shared of his friendship with Paul Nelson was how, in Paul's review of The River, he had correctly identified the influence that London Calling had had on that album. Springsteen told me about the great affinity he'd always had for not just the Clash ( Read more... )

I don't think it's funny no more.

-NICK LOWE,
"Crackin' Up"

In his latest blog post, director Tom DiCillo reports this disheartening news about his new film, which opened last week: " Delirious has just been pulled from its two original screens in NY and and moved to a different single theater. The same thing has ( Read more... )

Yesterday, Tom DiCillo kindly reviewed my review of his terrific new film Delirious. Check out "gracias" in the Comments section.

In doing so, he inadvertently addressed a question I raise again and again in my book: beyond providing a guide for the consumer, does criticism in any way serve the artist?

DiCillo's response echoes what Jackson ( Read more... )

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There is a problem with writers. If what a writer wrote was published and sold many, many copies, the writer thought he was great. If what a writer wrote was published and sold a medium number of copies, the writer thought he was great. If what a writer wrote was published and sold very few copies, the writer thought he was great. If what the ( Read more... )

Wondering what to do in the city on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? How about doing as we did yesterday and partaking in the Algonquin Round Table Walking Tour.

Presented by the Dorothy Parker Society of New York in the person of society president Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, the two-hour tour covers a 30-block vicious circle that includes visits to more ( Read more... )

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There have been several things I've wanted to blog about these last few weeks, but, because I've been happily occupied with this and that, the opportunity just hasn't presented itself. So tonight, in one fell swoop, here's what's been on my mind:


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