After dinner we drove the short distance from Urban Belly to the United Center for the Arcade Fire concert. First … More
Category: Music
Parallax Sounds Now Available to Stream
Parallax Sounds, a film I wrote about in this space in 2011, is now available for streaming. The film … More
Mr. Analog Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
In June 1970 Bob Dylan released Self-Portrait, a double album of original songs and covers. Dylan's mystique was then at … More
Politics and Art in the Digital Age, Part 2: Reproducing Andy Warhol
Continuing our discussion on aesthetics and politics from yesterday . . . Get ready for a Warhol wave in 2015, … More
My 2014
This isn’t a best of list so much as a list of texts and experiences that are still with me … More
The Symbol Machine: David Bowie Is
Last Friday night I visited the David Bowie Is exhibition at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. The first question … More
Seven Reasons Why Pete Seeger Matters
This is number one on Gawker’s list of 94 reasons why Pete Seeger matters. Because Taylor Swift isn’t going to … More
CIMMfest Chicago
The Chicago International Movies & Music Festival runs through Sunday, April 21 at theaters scattered throughout the north side. The … More
Country Music Without Country
One of the most enduring holdovers from an earlier stage in cultural history–the regional realism of late nineteenth-century American literature … More
Fun Friday: Fathead Edition
The world hasn’t ended with the winter solstice, although the rational foundations of American society crumbled a bit more this … More
One-Way Street 