This article first appeared in the Daily Beast today, April 21, 2013. “I don’t want a biography,’’ Levon Helm told Jacob Hatley in 2007 when the young director came to Helm’s Woodstock home and broached the idea of making a film about the venerable singer and drummer’s life. Helm had no interest in exploring the …
This piece was originally written for The Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog on April 20, 2013: This is a true story. Thirty years ago, my wife and I visited her family at their home in Sundance, Wyoming. Ginny’s brother Rick and his wife Sue took us out for a drink at what passed for the …
This piece was originally written for The Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog on April 20, 2013: Well, not really revise, but let me go on for a minute about the pro-minority biases that affect our democracy. We were all schooled about the genius our Founding Fathers exhibited when they loaded up the Constitution with checks …
PLEASE ALLOW ME TO REVISE AND EXTEND MY REMARKS. . . Read More »
This piece was originally written for The Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog on April 20, 2013: In the aftermath of the gun control vote, Joe Scarborough and others who favored the measure could be heard maintaining with steely resolve, “This issue is going to backfire on the opponents in the 2014 election.” Well, maybe. I …
This piece was originally written for The Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog on April 20, 2013: Good morning, ardent Washington Monthly fans. I am pleased to be among you. A bit daunted, too; compared to the news-gorging, policy-devouring flamethrowers who usually occupy this spot, I’m a old spitballer trying to get by on craft and …
My friend Ken Smith and I were invited to the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn attend a screening of Jacob Hatley’s documentary about Levon Helm called Ain’t In It for My Health, a lovely, interesting portrait of a gregarious, cranky, still-workin’ rock icon in winter. The film, shot in 2008 amd 2009, captures the man in …
Originally published in The Huffington Post on April 9, 2013: Anyone who spends any time watching cable television is bound to develop a fairly depressed view of the American character. Vain housewives, self-absorbed designers, responsibility-denying restauranteurs, narcissistic chefs, fascistic dance teachers, scheming survivors, snide judges–altogether we see a whining, insecure, blame-shifting, easily-insulted mass of humanity …
ROGER EBERT, LEVON HELM, RODRIGUEZ: RETURN OF THE STOIC HERO? Read More »
Written by Juli Weiner, encouraged by Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair plugged my book this week with an article called “The Book of Levon Celebrates the Man in the Band.” Very nice indeed. Thanks to one and all. Here’s how it reads: “Nearly a year after the death of Levon Helm, the Band’s twangy and tender-hearted …
Shane Smith is the 42 year-old (b. 1970) co-founder and CEO of Vice, the international media company. In March, he also began serving as one of the three lead correspondents of Vice, the new HBO news magazine series, a show that aims, as he says, “to be more provocative, more aggrressive and more daring than …
My cousin Walt King, gifted artist and member of the faculty of the Columbus College of Art and Design, has turned me into art. I’m thrilled. Thanks, Walt!