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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
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
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
I recently had my first byline in The Wall Street Journal: a review of Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ’70s by Alan Paul. Which I enjoyed, even though I don’t think the album lives up to the subtitle. If you want to read […]
posted 2 October 2023 in Articles. no comments yet
In the spirit of being thorough if somewhat tardy: a few months back, the legendary guitarist (and songwriter and singer and poet and producer) Tom Verlaine died, and I wrote (with Peter Keepnews) an obituary of the Television leader for The New York Times. Various peers and collaborators, including Lenny Kaye, Richard Lloyd, and Richard […]
posted 16 April 2023 in Articles, Outside. 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
