Recently, while writing a newspaper article, I learned that (a) I needed to know the middle name of the singer Al Green (b) there is some disagreement on how he spells it. He was born Albert Greene on April 13, 1946 (he dropped the final E from his last name shortly after he began his […]
posted 8 January 2023 in Outside. no comments yet
Happy new year! In case you missed it in 2022: I had two articles in the “Overlooked” section of The New York Times (aka “Overlooked No More”), which profiles remarkable people who never got proper obituaries in the Times, due to the cultural biases of past decades. The first article was on Vera Menchik, the […]
posted 5 January 2023 in Archives. no comments yet
Some months back, my pal Greg LaCour, who edits Charlotte magazine, sent me an email that included the photo you see above, and asked if I’d be interested in writing about the crazy two-week period in April 1972 when the Charlotte Coliseum hosted Billy Graham, pro wrestling, Elvis, and a minor-league ice-hockey championship series. My […]
posted 4 October 2022 in Articles. no comments yet
Coolio died this weekâjust 59, way too young. Back in 1996, I spent a week traveling around the world with him for a magazine cover story: a live show in DC, multiple appearances on MTV in New York City, and memorably, a visit to a bookstore in London. The opening paragraph of the article: Coolio […]
posted 1 October 2022 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet
Well, as you may have heard, there’s a pandemic going on. One sad side effect of that is that it didn’t seem like a good idea to do in-person bookstore readings in recent months: I love meeting readers and signing books, but I’m not such a big fan of hosting superspreader events. The unexpected silver […]
posted 20 January 2022 in Buy My Stuff, Outside. no comments yet
Three decades ago, my first job in publishing was as a proofreader at the (big, glossy, squarebound, massively profitable) PC Magazine. I shared a cubicle with Eric Berlin, a young playwright and theater critic, and we killed time when we were waiting for page proofs (exciting stuff like laboratory tests of hundreds of almost-identical printers) […]
posted 18 January 2022 in Outside. no comments yet
Falling behind on your holiday shopping? There is a one-stop solution: copies of Bad Motherfucker for every man, woman, and child you know. My biography of Samuel L. Jackson is available everywhere books are sold, including your local bookstore. Or if you’d like to buy it from my local bookstore, Park Road Books in Charlotte, […]
posted 9 December 2021 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
I am motherfucking delighted to let you know that my book about Samuel L. Jackson, Bad Motherfucker, is on sale now. It’s a deep dive into his fascinating life, into his filmography of 140-plus movies, and into the meaning of cool in the 21st century. (It also has dozens of amazing artists reimagining the posters […]
posted 27 October 2021 in Buy My Stuff, Links. 1 comment
Gladys Knight & the Pips, “Midnight Train to Georgia” Albert Hammond, “It Never Rains in Southern California” Bob Seger, “Hollywood Nights” Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle” Dionne Warwick, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” By my count, that’s two songs where the singer got chewed up by L.A., one where it […]
posted 16 September 2021 in Tasty Bits. no comments yet
The first obituary I ever wrote for The New York Times was back in 2017: the subject was Charlie Watts, the quietly indispensable drummer for the Rolling Stones. (To the best of my knowledge, he never missed a gig in over 50 years, although there are [bizarrely] a few Stones tracks he doesn’t drum on, […]
posted 13 September 2021 in Articles. no comments yet
