Pop Music, Not Confession
Weighing in at a hefty 670 pages, "Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink" is an impressively detailed, career-spanning narrative.
Music
"I don't care much about music. What I like is sounds." — Dizzy Gillespie
The Madness of Gangsta Rap
"Diary of a Madman" tries to simultaneously hold color and depression — life and death — in a single frame.
Carmen Lundy Talks About Mary Lou Williams, Music, and Life
Janice Littlejohn interviews Carmen Lundy about music, life, and the music life.
Shadows of Soul
Mark Ribowksy's new biography of Otis Redding aims to illuminate Redding's previously untraced steps, undissected songs, and unexplained tortured soul.
Et Tu, Too?: Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” and the Revival of Black Postmodernism
Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" marks the triumphant revival of the black postmodern epic tradition.
Uptown/Downtown
I started the sensationally titled "Words Without Music" with trepidation.
Crying with the Cosmic Cowboy
On Doug Sahm's 'Mendocino'
Taylor & Karlie & Lena: The Romance of Celebrity Female Friendship in the Feminist Selfie Generation
Romantic female friendship has made a comeback in pop culture with the television show Girls.
Movie, Concert, or Act of Vandalism?
Nafis Shafizadeh explores the authenticity and worth of The Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra's rendition of “City Lights” starring Charlie Chaplin.
Scenes of Love and Theft: Bob Dylan, Piracy, and Cultures of Transgression
From Bob Dylan's "Great White Wonder," the first rock 'n' roll bootleg, to "Dell" Glover, patient zero of music piracy.
Nina Simone in the New Millennium
Janice Littlejohn interviews Liz Garbus about her new Nina Simone documentary.
Live Through This: A Pioneering Rock Critic Looks Back with Love and Sorrow on the 1960s
Rock critic Richard Goldstein on embracing pop culture, opening music writing to women, and the complicated legacy of the '60s.
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