Opinion
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Insert Foot: What celebrity would you isolate yourself with during COVID-19?
From Candy Loving to the Queen, these are all the people Tony Hicks has wanted to be isolated with over the years. I once swiped one of my stepdad’s Playboy magazines. It probably happened (a lot) more than once … when I was a kid … not lately. I’m…
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Obituary: Bill Withers had rare gifts for a regular guy
I didn’t know Bill Withers was black until I’d already come to know his music. As a kid, I constantly confused him with Van Morrison all the time. And I’d seen Morrison on television, so … That’s a huge compliment. To both of them. It was music sounding straight…
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Opinion: How to get your air travel refund in the time of COVID-19
Frontier Airlines jet. Courtesy: Tomas Del Coro. I was going to miss SXSW by a week anyway, but then SXSW was canceled, sports were canceled and concerts were canceled, and it was best to cancel my family’s April vacation to Austin. I had a reservation with Frontier Airlines, and…
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Insert Foot: Stop talking (and breathing on me) and listen up
Insert Foot practices COVID-19 social distancing. During these strange COVID-19 times of lining up with hundreds of other breathing consumers so you and their germs can avoid grocery stores for a week, it’s fantastic to have an Internet for distraction and insight. For example, I discovered Pornhub is one…
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Insert Foot: Whitney Houston is back! And not earning a penny for herself
Whitney Houston’s hologram has performed so flawlessly on its (her?) European tour that it’s getting its own Las Vegas residency. No, no … I’m very serious, and it’s no laughing matter. There hasn’t been anything remotely funny about Whitney Houston since she said Bobby Brown was the king of…
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Professor Music: This column is getting nostalgic
The Technicolor Dream Coat. Photo by Quinn Gill. David Gill. Original art: Julia Kovaleva. “It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling) When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling) I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)” – “More Than a Feeling”…
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Life goes on: a look at the first day of the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place
The Chapel, closed, on the afternoon of March 17, 2020, the first day of a shelter-in-place to combat coronavirus. Photos: Roman Gokhman. SAN FRANCISCO and OAKLAND — Six of nine Bay Area counties on Tuesday began an official shelter-in-place to try and prevent the spread of coronavirus.. What this…
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Insert Foot: Coronavirus slamming musicians where it hurts
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is shuttered on March 12, 2020. Photo: Another Planet Entertainment/Instagram. The life of a traveling musician sounds very romantic. Except when they’re stuck in Europe after the President launches a travel ban over a deadly virus spreading like a forest fire. That’s what coronavirus has…
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Pop singer-songwriter Cailin Russo on seeking the transformational and the earthly in her music
Cailin Russo holding her cherished Baccarat butterfly. Editor’s note: The Drama is Cailin Russo’s second EP, which she describes as a blow-by-blow recounting of a crumbling relationship at which she hit rock bottom. The record follows a full-band effort, House With A Pool, in 2018. Russo, the daughter of Unwritten…
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Insert Foot: Tony Hicks has conditions for joining, and RIFF is the lucky recipient
“This column writes itself, right?” Insert Foot. Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. I’m not a joiner. Mostly. For example, I didn’t join a fraternity in college for various reasons. Probably because they didn’t stock enough alcohol. That’s a column for another time. I haven’t joined the PTA, never sought admission to…
