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Posted in Literature on May 12th, 2010
I have stories to kill for
Here’s an excerpt from an unpublished novel, Amazon Fever:
Olivia sat up in the water. “In apartheid South Africa, I would have been consigned to Soweto. In pre-Civil War America, I would have been a slave – a house slave, but a slave nonetheless. So I am black.”
Elizabet rolled her eyes. [...]
Posted in Literature, Music, Politics, Science, Words on Mar 7th, 2010
I read The Sunday Times, so you don’t have to
This morning, whole-grain bread dough is rising in the kitchen, and the music is a collection of Jelly Roll Morton. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” the jazz pianist intones, “if the women don’t get you, the liquor must.”
1, Far from suffering the consequences of their [...]
Posted in Cuisine, Life During Wartime, Literature, Music, Politics, Sports on Feb 28th, 2010
I read The Sunday Times, so you don’t have to: Feb. 28
Good morning. I made Grandma Spevak’s sausage yesterday, grinding the meat and stuffing the hog casings myself. Now the house still smells like garlic and pork fat. Let’s get to The Times:
1, Media reports immediately following Barack Obama’s Thursday health care summit left [...]
Posted in Books, Cultural events, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Politics, Sports on Feb 14th, 2010
I read The Sunday New York Times, so you don’t have to: Feb. 14
This morning’s first music: the indie psychedelic-folk rock band Vetiver’s haunting Tight Knit. It is Valentine’s Day, I must remember to call my parents….
1, As is too often the case in tragedies, the death of a Georgian luger during a practice run [...]
Posted in Cuisine, Literature, Music, Politics, Sports, Travel on Jan 17th, 2010
I read the Sunday Times, so you don’t have to: Jan. 17
I’ve brewed the coffee (from Papua New Guinea) and sat down with The New York Times this morning after making a profoundly puzzling music choice for the stereo: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.
1, Today, this is all that matters: “As Aid Pours In, Haiti Struggles [...]
Posted in Books, Cultural events, Literature, Music, Politics, Sports on Jan 10th, 2010
I read the Sunday New York Times, so you don’t have to: Jan. 10
1, A front-page profile of Roger Ailes, the head of the right-handed propaganda machine Fox News, concludes with this quote from former Clinton aid James Carville: “If he were a Democrat, I think there would be 67 Democratic senators right now.” Dwell [...]
Posted in Books, Life During Wartime, Literature, Politics on Jan 3rd, 2010
I read The Sunday New York Times, so you don’t have to: Jan. 3, 2010
1, As always, the news is not good. Authorities are still trying to put together the whole story on the Nigerian terrorist who loaded his underwear with explosives and tried to bring down an airliner on Christmas Day, and his connection [...]
Posted in Books, Literature, Politics, Visual arts on Dec 21st, 2009
I read the Sunday New York Times, So You Don’t Have To: Dec. 20
1, Senate Democrats announced they have the 60 votes to move past the Republican health-reform blockade. It’s not what we needed – some of those senators exacted their pints of blood before they gave their vote – but the forces aligned against [...]
Posted in Literature on Nov 18th, 2009
In Rochester, did Burl Ives, a stately pleasure-dome decree…
A man with an astonishing voice – a polished, easy, Burl Ives kind of voice – was speaking my words. My words! The greatest words I had ever written, a spoken-word poem. I watched and listened from a corner of the room, stunned and grateful. My words [...]
Posted in Literature, Music on Nov 2nd, 2009
Opening-Day Blog
Thank You for joining me on the Internet. I’d rather we could do this face-to-face, sitting in a bar. Nonetheless, I shall have a dirty martini, thank you. And The Essential George Jones.
Culture’s informed tastemakers have surrendered their leadership positions to focus groups and housewives voting for their favorite American Idol. Order a book [...]