Opinion
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Insert Foot: Rx side effects, Bernie Sanders, songs about pickup trucks
INSERT FOOT and Bernie Sanders vs. Jon Bon Jovi and pickup trucks. January and February aren’t usually the best months for the entertainment industry. Even when we’re not dodging explosive murder germs. Spring will be here before we know it. Let’s try to keep things … nice, until then.…
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OPINION: The ramifications of American fascism, which is still here
A gallows erected by pro-Trump rioters outside the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. Courtesy: Tyler Merbler. All of this was entirely avoidable. Those words have rung in my ears well beyond the last four years, but they have become deafening as a result of…
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Jason Hill on producing and recording with Sylvain Sylvain and New York Dolls
Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls (right) with Jason Hill. Courtesy: Hill. Editor’s note: Guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, a founding member of seminal punk band New York Dolls, died Jan. 13 after a battle with cancer. Born in Egypt, the 69-year-old co-started the hugely influential group in 1971. Musician-producer-composer…
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Obituary: Fairness demands remembering Phil Spector for who he was
Phil Spector photographed in the 1970s, and a recent booking photo. I heard Phil Spector died and immediately thought of the end of “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” That’s happened every time I’ve heard Phil Spector’s name since 2003, when he killed Lana Clarkson, the actress who played the…
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Insert Foot: Yes, kids need sports, so let them play—the right way
Insert Foot vs. “Let Them Play.” I involuntarily cringe every time I see something on social media about the “Let Them Play” movement. It seems we’ve become big-picture immune. Perhaps not enough people know someone dead from COVID. Suffering is somehow still an abstract notion that’s someone’s else’s problem.…
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Insert Foot: On Donald Trump’s ‘rebels’ in the U.S. Capitol
Insert Foot Vs. the mob in the U.S. Capitol. Original photo: Supporters of President Donald Trump roam under the Capitol Rotunda after invading the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Saul LOEB / AFP via Getty Images. Anyone else wonder why so many of the…
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REWIND: Six open letters to the newsmakers of the week
The road to sedition: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), autocrat Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. In my defense, last week when I wrote about having a glimmer of optimism about 2021 I did specifically…
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PROFESSOR MUSIC: This column is going into the mystic
Van Morrison performs in 2018; courtesy. I’ve invented a moment in musical history that I like to envision over and over again: It’s New York, late summer, 1969 in the penthouse of A & R Recording studios. Producer Lewis Merenstein is at the board with a couple of engineers.…
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Everyone involved in the assault on the Capitol and sedition must face charges
“Trump Inciter in Chief 2021: What the hell do you have to lose?” Illustration courtesy of Chuck Todd; www.chucktodd.net. As you’re all probably aware, on Wednesday a large group of pro-fascist insurgents breached, occupied and ransacked the United States Capitol while both the House and Senate were in session.…
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Insert Foot: Is 2021 worth your resolutions? We’re not on fire … yet
Insert Foot and his new, imaginary “dog” vs. 2021 resolutions. They were totally right: Everything immediately changed in 2021! I woke up New Year’s Day four inches taller, with body fat down to three percent, next to an intelligently hilarious and gorgeous woman/scholar who loved my scent. Two snuggly…
