I’m wondering if you’ve been following the evolution of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez towards realism and the growing feelings of betrayal among her original followers. Specifically, have you been noticing how similar it is to Bob Dylan going electric? I have little doubt that we’ll soon be hearing people yelling “JUDAS!” at her public appearances.
As an aside, the "baby!" before the last verse on the Ullman version was provided by Kirsty - so in a small way she's been there all along. After belatedly discovering her glorious original on the Stiff Records box set I couldn't help but imagine an alternate history where it'd been part of the small inroads that label made into the U.S. circa '79. My teenage self would've been enraptured.
I’m surprised and intrigued you weren’t left cold by The Dain Curse Mr. Marcus. You’re one of the first I’ve encountered to have a less negative opinion on Hammett’s second novel than many of his fans (including myself). Do you care to elaborate?
Nolan's interview with Taj in RS where Taj worries about the closet white fascist voters is a message from the dim past that illuminates today's bitter imbroglio.
Great, forgotten bio of Macdonald -- RM's The Chill worth a reread.
I love and treasure Sinéad O’Connor’s version of “I Believe in You.” My departed friend Brian Keizer (a friend and collaborator to Dave Marsh) once wrote this about it: “She whispers the song like a love letter and an oath seemingly unselfconscious that she has, through her faith in it--the song--made off with it to another space, time, has tapped into the medium it emerged from and it's now hers. You hear her the 15 year old girl, a renegade away from home in Dublin, surviving as a kiss-o-gram girl and a singer in coffeehouses, belicosely delivering Dylan as she discovers the strength and range and urgency of her own voice. Here she enfolds it into a whisper, a twilight vespers, unfolding it mysteriously like a sudden candle in an unmade church.”
Thank you for mentioning The Dain Curse.
As an aside, the "baby!" before the last verse on the Ullman version was provided by Kirsty - so in a small way she's been there all along. After belatedly discovering her glorious original on the Stiff Records box set I couldn't help but imagine an alternate history where it'd been part of the small inroads that label made into the U.S. circa '79. My teenage self would've been enraptured.
Thank you for everything here, but I'm particularly caught up by the Perry descriptions. Beautiful.
I’m surprised and intrigued you weren’t left cold by The Dain Curse Mr. Marcus. You’re one of the first I’ve encountered to have a less negative opinion on Hammett’s second novel than many of his fans (including myself). Do you care to elaborate?
Nolan's interview with Taj in RS where Taj worries about the closet white fascist voters is a message from the dim past that illuminates today's bitter imbroglio.
Great, forgotten bio of Macdonald -- RM's The Chill worth a reread.
I love and treasure Sinéad O’Connor’s version of “I Believe in You.” My departed friend Brian Keizer (a friend and collaborator to Dave Marsh) once wrote this about it: “She whispers the song like a love letter and an oath seemingly unselfconscious that she has, through her faith in it--the song--made off with it to another space, time, has tapped into the medium it emerged from and it's now hers. You hear her the 15 year old girl, a renegade away from home in Dublin, surviving as a kiss-o-gram girl and a singer in coffeehouses, belicosely delivering Dylan as she discovers the strength and range and urgency of her own voice. Here she enfolds it into a whisper, a twilight vespers, unfolding it mysteriously like a sudden candle in an unmade church.”
Jerry Wexler did not want "Slow Train" on the album according to Regina McCrary. I suspect it was the "foreign oil" verse.