It’s been a while since I contributed something new to the pages (or the webpages) of Rolling Stone, but I had an absolute blast compiling and writing a list of the fifty worst album covers of all time (which served as a counterpoint to their recent list of the hundred best). I wanted this list […]
The theater scene in Charlotte used to be better than it is today. (I wasn’t here, but as I understand it, the turning point was a 1996 production of Angels in America that led to court cases and funding withdrawals and the end of some local companies.) But there’s one company in town whose work […]
posted 8 May 2024 in Articles. no comments yet
I went to see Bob Dylan play last week, at the Belk Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have, at various points in my life, been an avid Dylan fan, but the two times I saw him in concert (once in 1986 at Madison Square Garden with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, once in 2009 […]
posted 29 March 2024 in News, Reviews. no comments yet
Perhaps you recently watched the Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, about “We Are the World,” and it only whetted your appetite for information about the U.S.A. for Africa recording session in 1985, or it left you with unanswered questions, like how did Dan Aykroyd get there anyway? You are in luck, because back […]
posted 20 February 2024 in Articles. no comments yet
I discovered the Shangri-Las in the summer of 1988, when my friend Rob and I had our minds blown by their greatest-hits album—late to the party by any objective measure, since their hitmaking days were twenty-plus years earlier, but nevertheless a long time ago now. Enduring favorite across the decades: the intense spoken-word song “Past, […]
posted 25 January 2024 in Articles. no comments yet
I have some happy professional news: for the last few months, I’ve been working at Charlotte magazine, the top-notch glossy monthly covering the Queen City. I’m a contributing editor, which in practice means that I write an article roughly every other month, mostly about the arts scene here in Charlotte. I wish there was even […]
posted 4 January 2024 in Articles. no comments yet
Shane MacGowan died last week. He was the main singer, songwriter, and creative force behind the Pogues, and given his reckless abandon towards his own health, it’s a miracle he made it to the age of 65. I put together a playlist for The New York Times compiling ten of his greatest tracks, with and […]
posted 4 December 2023 in Articles. no comments yet
Face front, true believers! It’s December, which means it’s time to gear up for gifts for your loved ones! And what better way to let them know that you care about them in a profound way that can’t be expressed by socks or a fruit basket than to get them a book? Maybe a book […]
posted 2 December 2023 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
It’s been almost a month since the publication of MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios—by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and me—and we’ve been lucky enough to have many people write thoughtful reviews of the book. If you haven’t already picked up a copy from your local bookstore, there are links to many retailers assembled here. […]
posted 5 November 2023 in Reviews. no comments yet
River Phoenix died thirty years ago today, on a Hollywood sidewalk outside the Viper Room, in the early hours of Halloween. Costumed partygoers stepped around his body as he thrashed on the concrete and his younger siblings tried to keep him alive. If River were alive today, he would be 53 years old. I still […]
posted 31 October 2023 in Articles. no comments yet
