Love ‘Pet Sounds,’ But Don’t Forget Brian Wilson’s Simple Early StuffIn the spring of 1990, several years into the AIDS epidemic, the marvelous Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau broke comic-strip ground by…Jun 12A response icon6Jun 12A response icon6
The Most Famous Scroll This Side of the Dead Sea: Jack Kerouac Typed It, Jim Irsay Bought ItThe high-end New York auction house Christie’s ran seven sales on May 22, 2001, one of which was “Corkscrews,” the rarest of which fetched…Jun 1A response icon2Jun 1A response icon2
Chubby Checker’s Latest Twist: He’s in the Rock And Roll Hall of FameTalk show host Bill Maher likes to veer into pop culture, among other things, and a couple of shows ago he laid off Donald Trump long…May 23A response icon2May 23A response icon2
Will Hutchins: The Long and Winding and Happy Road of a SugarfootSomewhere in the part of our brains that stores pop culture factoids, whether we want it to or not, we all know performers who were stars…May 14A response icon4May 14A response icon4
Nino Tempo, Lenny Welch and Why We Ended Up Listening to Our Parents’ Music AnywayThe first time I heard “Deep Purple” — the song, not the hard rock band — I had no idea it was a revered classic from the golden age of…Apr 27A response icon2Apr 27A response icon2
Johnny Mathis Has Been Maybe More Important Than We’ve ThoughtFrank Sinatra couldn’t stand Mitch Miller and this is why.Apr 1A response icon5Apr 1A response icon5
We Need Songs Like ‘Get Together’ Even When We Ignore ThemThe death of Jesse Colin Young got me thinking about the complicated relationship between humankind and a song like Young’s “Get Together.”Mar 25A response icon6Mar 25A response icon6
DEI Has Been an American Problem For Longer Than We May RealizeTo its credit, the Pentagon quickly corrected its embarrassing screwup of removing Jackie Robinson’s World War II military service webpage.Mar 22A response icon3Mar 22A response icon3
The Dwarf Car Museum Salutes the Era When American Cars Stood TallIf your idea of a museum is the Met or the Louvre, or any collection of artifacts presented in a reverent manner inside a stately building…Mar 19A response icon2Mar 19A response icon2