The latest issue of Rolling Stone, still on newsstands, has an article by me about Aziz Ansari, who you might know from Parks and Recreation, Funny People, Human Giant, or his recent gig hosting the MTV Movie Awards. Since my profile didn’t get Ansari summoned to the White House and then fired, I have to […]
posted 7 July 2010 in Articles, Links. no comments yet
Taken two weeks ago, on a walk around the Silver Lake reservoir. As far as I can tell, that’s an annex to the reservoir–currently empty except for what appears to be a whole lot of black foam rubber.
posted 2 July 2010 in Photos. no comments yet
I wouldn’t have guessed that a Chicago video would prompt one of the liveliest discussions we’ve had about any aspect of the 1988 countdown, but there you have it–if you haven’t read the comments on “Look Away,” go join the party. The debate over songwriter Diane Warren inspired me to dig up one of my […]
posted 1 July 2010 in Articles. 3 comments
As you may have noticed, there’s a World Cup going on. Google seems to have changed their search algorithm since the last time we had one of these hootenannies, so searching for “World Cup songs” no longer takes you to my essay about that very phenomenon (in my collection of 1998 letters home from England). […]
posted 28 June 2010 in Archives. no comments yet
Michael Jackson died one year ago today. These are a few more of my photographs from last April’s auction-house exhibition of the contents of his Neverland compound; previous installments can be seen here and here and here. Rest in peace.
posted 25 June 2010 in Photos. no comments yet
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) We hear a horribly dated plinkety synth sound; it sounds like somebody got a new keyboard for Christmas 1987 and left it on the preset. On our video screen: a New York City street scene, specifically a Hot Video Babe walking down the sidewalk. She is walking two […]
posted 24 June 2010 in 1988. 17 comments
As recently noted by Chris in the comments to a different Jack-oriented article, I have a Q&A with Jack White in the new issue of Maxim (July 2010, with Nicole Scherzinger on the cover), another in the “Icon” series of interviews I’ve been doing for them. We had a short but fascinating conversation about drumming, […]
posted 21 June 2010 in Articles, Outside. no comments yet
Found recently on the beach:
posted 18 June 2010 in Photos. no comments yet
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Kevin Seal promotes the “Big Bang ’89” celebration with as little sincerity as he can muster: “Oooh, whee, let’s get some excitement.” He then continues with the countdown: “In at a pretty solid 54 is Whitesnake.” He notes that “Give Me All Your Love” was the fourth video […]
posted 17 June 2010 in 1988. 4 comments
Byline alert: I have a one-page article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone (#1107, Jay-Z cover) about Jack Johnson and the free show he played on the Santa Monica Pier. (There was “valet parking” for bicycles and the light show came courtesy of the Ferris wheel.) As usual, it’s not up on the Rolling […]
posted 14 June 2010 in Articles, Outside. 2 comments
