I recall the gut-punch impact Studs Terkel’s book Working had on me when I read it as a teenager: I had never realized so many people actually worked in “menial” jobs, nor that there is dignity and self-respect in dong ANY job well. It meshed neatly with my understanding of …

How strange and cool is this? One of this year’s MacArthur Foundation Fellows is ragtime pianist and composer Reginald R. Robinson. Robinson will receive $500K in support over the next five years. The “genius grant” underscores the importance of the creative individual in society. Based on originality, creativity, and the …

The shoe has finally fallen in the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime exposure affair, with the FCC fining CBS $550K for “allowing” the indiscretion (I’m not sure how they could have prevented it short of divine intervention). Does anyone remember what happened? It seems years ago, the halftime show at …

Our Robert Nagle has written a fine piece decrying the squandering of precious resources and viewer-time on filmic bloodbaths. In general I agree with him, and for me, screen violence – and certainly gore – have no inherent appeal unto themselves. But I disagree with him about the merits of …

As we just reported, an army of hempy jam banders are registering voters with an intensity usually reserved for hacky sack. Springsteen and some other A and B-listers are railing against the Bush administration in an ambitious concert series that starts Friday. But I like the charm and modest scale …

Jam band-based voter registration org HeadCount making strides

Only 20 cabins left for Jam Cruise 3, which sets sail in 100 days. I wonder if the Dead had any idea what they were starting when they created an alternative world that professionals, politicians and other generally upright types could escape to periodically without much fear of recrimination. The …

All of the delays and maneuvering could only prolong the inevitable: in an indictment unsealed today, Phil Spector was charged with murder in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his home last year: Spector, 64, leaned on the arm of his attorney as the indictment in the slaying …

I am relieved that after becoming socially conscious and shit – what with freeing the Tibetans, birding the Bush, and pacifying Iraq – the Beastie Boys aren’t taking themselves overly seriously on their current tour. I just don’t think I could handle yet more sanctimonious political speechifying from the stage, …

A keystone of the new Prestige and Riverside “Best Of” series (Best of Wes Montgomery reviewed here, Best of Milt Jackson here), The Best of Sonny Rollins covers ’51-’56, years the young tenor saxman was coming into his own as a leader while still working as a sideman for mentors …