Writers and the Los Angeles Fires
Even though the fires in Southern California continue to burn, some time has passed, so affected writers are gathering their thoughts and sharing their experiences. The wonderful Karl Taro Greenfeld recounts the previous days in this moving piece for The Wall Street Journal. “Mourning Our Dream Home in the Pacific Palisades” I discovered Greenfield’s work…
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Anyone Could Have Written Alex Van Halen’s Book
I recently reviewed Alex Van Halen’s memoir Brothers for PopMatters. Read the whole review here. In short, anyone with a decent amount of research could have written this book. Personal stories, insights, intimate memories ain’t present. The book quotes — over and over again — interviews with the late guitar legend Eddie Van Halen. If…
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Getting the Mix Just Right
I grew up with the name Tom Werman. I don’t recall if I saw it first on a Dokken cassette or maybe it was Motley Crue, but the prolific producer was as real to the ten-year-old me as any of the musicians on those tracks. So I was excited to read his new memoir Turn…
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The Big, Untameable Ideas of Bigfoot
I’ve lost track of the times people have made fun of me for believing in Bigfoot. It’s a bit of mystery, a bit of childhood, along with some danger tossed in, combined with vague memories of the drive-in, and a love of the theme song from the seventies television show In Search Of. I’m a…
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Why the Reacher show works
I’m a Reacher fan. It’s absolutely a guilty pleasure. Lee Child writes like Eric Clapton covering Robert Johnson – plugged into some kind of deep Americana that he doesn’t understand. He creates a world in which a huge dude with brains and brawn can outsmart the nastiest of the nasty, all while anchoring us in…
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