“The rest of my life will always be entwined with rheumatoid arthritis. But it’s my choice to also be something more, to not feel sick, to still find those shadows of a dancer, which is to say tiny flecks of magic, within me.”
Arts & Culture
Judge a Book Not By its Gender
Lisa Whittington-Hill suggests there’s a distinct gender bias in celebrity memoirs. Where female celebrities are expected to expose all, male writers get to write about whatever they want.
Queens of Infamy: Boudicca
If you underestimate a woman determined to avenge violence against her daughters, prepare yourself to get sacked. On repeat.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Lost Album, Human Highway
How CSNY fumbled a chance to record their best album.
Shelved: Dr. Dre’s Detox
Killer beats, huge hype, and failure to follow through.
Pop Culture Portrays OCD as a Blessing. It’s Not.
“The Wall Street Journal recently used the headline ‘We All Need OCD Now’ for an article on COVID-19 … Finally, my debilitating mental illness has a timely hook!”
Why Mother Maybelle Carter’s Work Was Never Done
“In a few years’ time, however, she became a different kind of working woman: a musician by trade and one of the hardest working women in country music.”
“The Internet Is Inside Us”: Patricia Lockwood on the Portal, Twitter, and Her New Novel
In an interview at GQ, Patricia Lockwood talks about the perils of being extremely online.
Justin Townes Earl: The Saint of Lost Causes
Fellow singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield, who frequently toured with Earle, described his gift more simply: “He was able to explain trouble better than most.”
Earl King Deserves His Due
Earl King’s “discs were among the rare ones where the words were as important as the music, where blues guitar was balanced with second-line piano, and where the B-sides were as strong as the A-sides.”