1985: I Turn Down My Chance to Become a (temporary) Beastie Boy
In the middle of 1985, the Beastie Boys were on the precipice of breaking big. The “Rock Hard” single…
November 3, 2014-
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Brooklyn Bugle Book Club: “Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East” by Scott Anderson
Notice the title of this book: it’s not “Lawrence of Arabia” (that’s a movie) or “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”…
October 31, 2014 -
New York City and Taylor Swift (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Change)
I do not blame Taylor Swift for embracing her role as the new face of New York City. I…
October 30, 2014 -
Paul O. Zelinsky to appear at Greenlight Books on Saturday (11/1)
On Saturday, November 1, at 11 AM, Paul O. Zelinsky, the beloved children’s book author and illustrator and Brooklyn…
October 29, 2014 -
Scott Walker and Sunn O))): The Future of Rock’n’Roll
Yesterday, we were talking about how we may be entering the Sunset Years of conventional Western Pop. I posited…
October 28, 2014 -
The Myth of Western Pop Supremacy: Prologue to a Scott Walker/Sunn O))) Review
There is a gorgeous arrogance to the idea of Western Pop Music, a truly child-like presumption that our kind…
October 27, 2014 -
Brooklyn Bugle Book Club: “The Assault” by Harry Mulisch
In January 1945, Haarlem in the Netherlands still awaits liberation from the Nazis. Anton Steenwijk, 12 years old, lives…
October 24, 2014 -
Tim’s Favorite Bassists (A GROHL-FREE COLUMN)
Inevitably, after you compose a Best-Of list you remember the one or three or eight names/albums/bands you’ve omitted. But…
October 22, 2014 -
Footnotes to the Prologue of a Manifesto
I have nothing against Dave Grohl. I’m serious. The Foo Fighters are an incendiary live band, Grohl has a…
October 21, 2014 -
Dave Grohl is Killing Rock ‘n’ Roll, Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll: Prologue to a Manifesto
We need a true form of musical activism. We need artists willing to risk everything to expose the cultural atrocities and mammon-driven careerist lies spread by the wheezing rock’n’roll machine.
October 20, 2014