Carl Scott

But really, when you consider how much praise and attention is heaped on lyric writers, its astonishing how rare it is for any of its great exponents to try to dig a little deeper (or at least ramble on a little longer) than a three minute pop song allows. I have a theory about this. It’s a . . . . Continue Reading »

What to make of the #occupy “movement?” Well, come to think of it, I unknowingly did say something about it a few weeks back when I wrote a far too long post on Joe Pug’s contemporary folk song I Do my Father’s Drugs. So my contribution to the punditry’s occupation with . . . . Continue Reading »

Before beginning, I’ll note that Joe Carter is soliciting donations to the FT website —please consider giving to what I obviously think is a fine internet crossroads of content. Tocqueville’s concept of individualism is one of his most helpful, but often gets misunderstood due to our . . . . Continue Reading »

I could try to be big in the eyes of the world, what matters to me is what I could be to just one girl . . . Ah . . . the calming beauty of Pet Sounds , where to my ears, the undercurrent of melancholy is more than compensated for by the main pull of gentle encouragement, even if it does end on the . . . . Continue Reading »

No, I do not take Zombies with my Jane Austen, so you know I’m talking about the musical group of the 60s! Well, they’ve reunified for some new songs and gigs, and the fab Dawn Eden reports on their recent DC-area concert over at the Weekly Standard. For those who didn’t see the . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m sure a few of you have read this Dennis Prager piece, Why Young Americans Can’t Think Morally on NRO, or have otherwise read about the study of Millenials’ moral thinking he’s referring to. Bottom line for Prager: no belief in God, no morality beyond emotivism, and so the . . . . Continue Reading »

Songbook #20 tried to talk about the 9-11 interregnum and how it dealt a blow to rock’s radicalism, but in retrospect, it was really more about the nineties revival-of and eventual disenchantment-with such radicalism, with 9-11 seeming to serve as the final nail in the coffin. And Songbook #21 . . . . Continue Reading »

. . . social democracy has been unable to fill the vacuum left by the failure of the great communist hope. Does this mean, as many predict, that the hour of the churches has come? If this should turn out to be the case, I hope that there will be left on the earth at least a small handful of human . . . . Continue Reading »

Below, I complained that a) The White House, and b) the media have failed to make even minimal efforts to explain to U.S. citizens what our war-making policy now is in Libya, given Qaddafi’s fall. But now, c) NATO, has comprehensively explained everything. . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at Ricochet.   The Great Lie is the new book of essays on totalitarianism edited by my friend Flagg Taylor. UPDATE: Professor Taylor’s own words on the book, with some excellent material in the comments. . . . . Continue Reading »