WATCHING THE NEW Robert Redford movie, The Old Man & the Gun, a song popped up onscreen that sounded familiar. It recalled Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’” from Midnight Cowboy: solo acoustic guitar, 2-finger picking, restless male vocal, spare arrangement. Eric … Continue reading
October 5, 2018 Senator Jeff Flake: I am sorely disappointed by today’s news that you will vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, proving that your request for a further FBI investigation was merely a show, winning you … Continue reading
ONE OF THE MOST jarring pieces of cultural news in Dallas this fall concerns something that is not going to happen. Ben Fountain, the distinguished local author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, will not be speaking at the … Continue reading
The Story of How Midcentury Modern Came to Farmers Branch
Robin Leach, the British-born TV celebrity and host of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” died Friday at the age of 76 in Las Vegas. Here is my encounter with him in Los Angeles in 1985, when he was shrewdly … Continue reading
WATCHING THE OSCARS, I was reminded that Harry Dean Stanton died last year, followed by David Ogden Stiers just other day. What the two actors have in common is that both were members of the estimable cast of NBC-TV’s production … Continue reading
AFTER SPENDING 27 years in Los Angeles, I was rooting, along with my son and daughter, for the Dodgers in the World Series, but seeing the Astros win brought back memories of when they started, in 1962, as the expansion … Continue reading
I had a chance to meet Dick Gregory once, in college, and I’ve always remembered something he said to me. It was 1968, and I was a sophomore at Brown, serving on the class council that was bringing him to … Continue reading
SUNDAY MORNING I opened the Morning News and, after Doonesbury, looked in Metro for the obituaries, something I do more often than I used to. I scanned the gallery of faces — some in black and white, others in color, strangers … Continue reading
MICHELLE SHOCKED’S SHOW at the Kessler Sunday night was mostly a re-creation, note for sweet rocking note, of her impressive 1988 debut album Short Sharp Shocked. Anyone remember it? I do, but I had only heard the record and was … Continue reading