https://youtu.be/XHsnZT7Z2yQ Three days before Aretha Franklin died, I got a call from an editor at the New York Times, asking if I could put together an oral history of the Queen of Soul’s amazing 2015 performance of “Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center (honoring Carole King). The catch was that since she didn’t have very […]
posted 10 September 2018 in Articles, Outside. no comments yet
The Beautiful Book of Exquisite Corpses: A Creative Game of Limitless Possibilities is out now. I’m so proud of this book, I can’t even begin to tell you, but I guess I should try. Let’s start with a quick explanation: it’s an creativity book, designed to send blue sparks through your brain and to enable […]
posted 30 August 2018 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
Sometimes the pleasure of journalism is that you learn everything you can about a topic and then share that information with the world. A few weeks ago, I knew a lot about the music-video business in the 1980s–that’s what happens when you cowrite a book with the original MTV VJs–but I wasn’t too savvy about […]
posted 15 August 2018 in Articles. no comments yet
I drove down to Monroe, North Carolina, and spent a bittersweet day at Holloway’s Music Center–a musical-instrument store that, after 106 years of ownership by the same family, is turning off the lights. (They hope that if they liquidate enough stock, they’ll find somebody who wants to buy the business.) The air conditioning was busted, […]
posted 12 June 2018 in Articles, Outside. no comments yet
(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) Time to visit the Duke. Let’s dispatch this commercial break quickly so we can get back to the videos sooner rather than later. We kick off with the eighth appearance of the frequently played promo for “Big Bang ’89”: live performances from Robert Plant, Poison, Winger, Cameo, Hall […]
posted 5 June 2018 in 1988. 2 comments
Coming in October from Grand Central Publishing! With illustrations by the brilliant R. Sikoryak! Scientifically engineered to make your world a better place! Stay tuned for more information!
posted 29 May 2018 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
Hello citizens of Chapel Hill! I will be in your fair city on this Tuesday, May 22nd, as part of the “Voice Rising” series at Flyleaf Books. There’ll be a small bevy of authors reading brand-new work: me, Rowan Chand, Jane Falkner, and Sara Oechsle. And we’ll be answering questions afterwards. (Flyleaf will also have […]
posted 20 May 2018 in News. no comments yet
Coming in August from Penguin! Edited by yours truly! With over a hundred brilliant contributors! Start lining up at your local bookstore now! More information soon!
posted 11 May 2018 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
In early March, I wrote an article for The New York Times about the American debut of The Most Incredible Thing, a ballet based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, with choreography by Javier de Frutos and a score by the Pet Shop Boys. It was a pleasure to report for many reasons–not least getting […]
posted 27 April 2018 in Articles. no comments yet
Hello! In case you missed them, I wanted to call your attention to two pieces I wrote for The New York Times in recent months. The first one was on the 50th anniversary of Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.” I spoke with an extraordinarily cool range of people for the article: […]
posted 4 April 2018 in Outside. no comments yet
