The Omni-American Blues

by David Bradley

One wishes that the name of Albert Murray needed no introduction. Such is not the case. . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Mar 2017

Carl’s Rock Songbook #69: THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, Pt. 2

by Carl Scott

. . . one can change human institutions, but not man; whatever the general effort of a society to render citizens equal and alike, the particular pride of individuals will always seek to escape the [common] level . . . In aristocracies, men are separated from one another by high, immovable . . . . Continue Reading »

9 Nov 2012

Literary Proclivities amid Obama’s Tangled Web

by Carl Scott

Oh, what a tangled web did Obama weave, When first he “composited” Genevieve. Vanity Fair has published extracts from a forthcoming biography of Barack Obama featuring letters he sent one of his college girlfriends, Alex McNear, and journal entries written by Genevieve Cook, a girlfriend . . . . Continue Reading »

5 May 2012

Carl’s Rock Songbook #39: What Martha Bayles Said

by Carl Scott

Martha Bayles is the author of the best book on pop music I know, Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music . For its final chapter, she borrows the title of a William Bell song, You Don’t Miss Your Water ‘til the Well Runs Dry , so as to refer to the . . . . Continue Reading »

14 Feb 2012

Carl’s Rock Songbook #7: Duke Ellington, “Come Sunday,” and The Velvet Underground, “Sunday Morning”

by Carl Scott

For the seventh Songbook entry, it’s time for sounds that remind us of, or at least make us long for, God’s goodness. Here are two pieces I can recommend unequivocally as fine music, one initially composed without words, from the jazz tradition but veering into the classical, and another . . . . Continue Reading »

18 Jun 2011