newcritics

Little, Brown missed the mark in subtitling Joe Nick Patoski’s absorbing new biography of Willie Nelson ‘An Epic Life’.
Willie’s story is more of a tall tale. Like Daniel Boone, Willie belongs both to American history and American myth. Huckster. Trickster. Philanthropist. Pothead. Road dog. Genius. His nicknames read like godly epithets of a peculiarly American [...]

Live blogging tonight!
“God, I miss the fifties.” Roger Sterling
“I miss the blacklist.” Harry Crane
“I missed not live blogging with you all last week. Thank God my Norwegian ancestors kept me from being sad about it.” M.A.Peel
Okay, so I have now seen “The Benefactor,” where Roger and Harry had throw away lines waxing nostalgic for [...]

Some quick thoughts about new releases in heavy rotation around here….
 Say what you want about The Hold Steady–its songs adhere to formula;  the band’s a bunch of 30something,  retro classic rockers–the group’s appeal ain’t nostalgic and the new album Stay Positive is just plain excellent. Full of hooky, guitar driven rock songs with the kind [...]