May 2011
8 posts
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S.J. Perelman in Hollywood
Being away from the West Coast makes me think about the West Coast. And thinking about the West Coast reminds me of S.J. Perelman. Because no one was a worse audience for the polymer charms of Hollywood than the Brooklyn-born humorist.
Perelman arrived in Los Angeles, 1931, where he was hired to punch-up scripts for two Marx Brothers movies, Monkey Business and Horse Feathers. Thirty-two years...
Black Ice Cream
For The Village Voice’s Sound of the City blog, I spoke with Roberto Carlos Lange:
First there’s the owl; then there’s the enormous afro. The sight of the two in close proximity means you’ve likely entered Roberto Carlos Lange’s domain, whether it be through the front door of his Brooklyn home or by hearing one of the dozens of sound sculptures and animated films...
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Forty Years On
I have a good memory for dates. This isn’t something I often boast about, because it comes with a responsibility I’d rather not bear (namely, to act as the instigator and implicit master of all my social circle’s ceremonies). But there are times when being “temporally astute” adds a little charge to an otherwise idle moment.
Such as my walk home from coffee this...
Quiet Stars
For The Economist online, I wrote about Elenco Records, the quintessential bossa nova label:
One morning in 1961, Aloysio de Oliveira, an A&R representative at Philips Records, arrived at his office in Rio de Janeiro. As one of the prime movers behind bossa nova, his career had seen better days. Oliveira knew the sound he helped foster was fast losing momentum on the charts. For the...
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Vicky & Blue Boy
The first paycheck I received for something I’d written came from SF Weekly, a couple summers ago. Since then, I’ve benefitted enormously from the expert copyediting of Vicky Walker, who occasionally rewards me with an uproarious email, too.
You don’t know humility until you’ve spent an all-nighter slaving over 800 words, only to receive a dashed off thank you exuding more...
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"I always imagined Paul Simon was a gangly,... →
My BFF is very funny:
Growing up in a household that condemns television will do certain things to a person. For one, you end up reading. A lot. Two, the radio takes on superhero qualities. Three, you spend most of your childhood outdoors climbing through thick forests to make your way to the creek where you…
Read the entire post here.
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Original of the Species
I wrote about R. Stevie Moore for SF Weekly:
Leaning towers of discs seem to stalk R. Stevie Moore’s every move. At least, this is what we’ve gathered from the dozens of publicity shots that have promoted the homemade avant-pop albums he’s issued since the mid-1970s. Moore is the original of his own species: the bedroom rock star. The videophone we used to interview him gave us...
The Church of Julianna Barwick
For Interview magazine online, I spoke with Julianna Barwick. Tomorrow night, Julianna is home in Brooklyn, where she will play the Glasslands Gallery in celebration of Canta Luchuza, the extraordinary new album by Roberto Carlos Lange (otherwise know as Helado Negro):
Shortly after our early-morning talk with Julianna Barwick, she sent an album of photos our way. The pictures tell of a trip she...