Rocker John Doe Reaches Way Back
If you didn’t know he was a central figure of the L.A. punk scene, you’d think John Doe might have leapfrogged straight from the dusty circuit of 1940s country-western. In…
Laurie Anderson Flies Lou Reed Drones
More than a half century ago Lou Reed would end the sparsely attended shows by the Velvet Underground by leaning their buzzing guitars against the amps, allowing the pulsing waves…
Film: Baseball’s Intimidating Strike King
If anybody in the last half century of baseball deserves a bio film, it’s Nolan Ryan, the hard throwing Texan pitcher, who racked up dozens of records in a 27…
Santana, Making That Note Sing at 74
There is something about the serenity and tone of Carlos Santana that keeps him soaring, more than a half century after the world ignited from the Latin fire he brought…
Film Review: ‘Beneath the Banyan Tree’
It’s a heady time for Asian filmmaking, from the Oscar for Japan's “Drive My Car” to the recent premiere of the Korean-American streaming series "Pachinko." Fitting well among them is…
Mike Campbell’s The Dirty Knobs Arrive
With Tom Petty gone since 2017, fans have flocked to the shows of his longtime guitarist, producer, and collaborator Mike Campbell. With the same kind of Florida panhandle twang, rock…
Poguetry in Motion Back at the Black Cat
The Pogues and St. Patrick’s Day were always a natural combination to be celebrated by the Irish from any background. Many are the fans who clamored to see the Irish…
St. Paul & The Broken Bones Among Us
“It’s been two and a half years since I’ve been able to be with an audience,” Paul Janeway, the venerable saint of the soul band St. Paul and the Broken…
Four-Part ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’
The rise and fall of Bill Cosby in American culture is a considerable tale of race and talent and decades of denial for behavior that led to his conviction of…
Film: Blissfully Lolling in ‘Lotawana’
When it came to making “Lotawana,” his first feature film, Trevor Hawkins had a lot of experience on which to draw. He had been an Emmy-award winning nature photography whose…