Tim Riley's Blog, page 9

Talking Sun City with Steven Van Zandt

Sun City (song) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Always good to see Paul Simon’s political laundry hung out to dry:

Dave Marsh: You’re the only person who’s ever met Paul twice who thinks that’s surprising. [laughter]

Steven van Zandt: I mean, at this point, you still think you were right?! Meanwhile, that big “communist,, as soon as he got out of jail, I see who took the first picture with him. There’s Paul Simon and Mandela, good buddies. I’m watchin’ CNN the other day. Mandela dies, on comes a statement by Bono and the second statement’s by Paul Simon. I’m like oh, just make me throw up. You know, I like the guy in a lot of ways, I do; and I respect his work, of course. He’s a wonderful, wonderful artist, but when it comes to this subject, he just will not admit he was wrong. Y’know, just mea culpa. Come on, you won! He made twenty, thirty million dollars at least, okay? Take the money and apologize, okay? I mean, say “Listen, maybe I was wrong about this a little bit.” No.

via Talking Sun City with Steven Van Zandt

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Published on January 28, 2014 06:19

Explosion at the Wiig Factory

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What the Beatles Meant

English: The Beatles wave to fans after arriving at Kennedy Airport. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“There’s so much there in that ‘Ed Sullivan’ appearance it’s almost overwhelming to me,” says Lennon and Beatles biographer and NPR critic Tim Riley. “But there is this thought that they articulated later: ‘We are a rock ‘n’ roll band, we know where we’re situated in rock ‘n’ roll history and we do not want to make the mistake that Elvis made.’ It’s almost articulated in that Sullivan appearance. They’re very defiant. They have a very strong, secure, cocky sense of who they are and where they might be going, of their own potential.”

“At the same time, it’s like, ‘We’re not going to bend to please the forces that be,’” Riley says. “They watched Elvis go off to the Army and go into Hollywood and it was a tremendous, tragic story. They always felt they were determined to do it differently and that’s almost conscious in the Sullivan thing.”

via What the Beatles Meant to America: 50 Years Later – US News and World Report

WHY CATHOLICS NEED GARRY WILLS

Joe Scarborough – Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

On similarly fake grounds, Republicans use the Catholic bishops’ opposition to contraception as an excuse based on “religious freedom” to oppose the Affordable Care Act. The bishops’ case is phony—no one is forced to use or not use contraception by the act. But bishops say that countenancing the act offends the bishops who follow Rome in condemning it (not actual Catholics who overwhelmingly exercise their right of conscience in using contraceptives).

The defense of victimized Catholic bishops reached a comic peak when Jeb Bush (one of Scarborough’s moderate Republicans) speculated that Obama closed our Vatican embassy (he didn’t) as “retribution for Catholic organizations opposing Obamacare.” The religious right is alive and well in all kinds of Republicans—in global warming deniers, whose attitude toward climate science resembles their denial of evolution; in voter restrictions to exclude “un-Americans”; in those who oppose gay marriage, the rights of Muslims and atheists, or the need for sex education in the schools.–from “Can He [Joe Scarborough] Save the GOP From Itself,” NYRB

SELECTED 2013 LISTS

Time Zone Map — Friday, December 21 2012 …item 1.. Fired Mayport warship XO named ‘worst boss’ (December 21, 2011) …item 4.. 2012-predictions-review — The Sun is passing through the House of Ophiuchus … (Photo credit: marsmet511)

Under the weather, behind on my spotify list, but watch this space… # #

“We construct the experience of time in our minds, so it follows that we are able to change the elements we find troubling — whether it’s trying to stop the years racing past, or speeding up time when we’re stuck in a queue, trying to live more in the present, or working out how long ago we last saw our old friends. Time can be a friend, but it can also be an enemy. The trick is to harness it, whether at home, at work, or even in social policy, and to work in line with our conception of time. Time perception matters because it is the experience of time that roots us in our mental reality. Time is not only at the heart of the way we organize life, but the way we experience it…” from Claudia Hammond’s Time Warped, listed on The 13 Best Books of 2013 — The Definitive Annual Reading List #

Laurie Penny- The 20 best online pieces of 2013 #

The Year’s Best Books on Writing and Creativity | Brain Pickings #

And for your giant time-suck: Largehearted Boy- 2013 Year-End Online Music Lists #

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Published on January 01, 2014 09:01

New York Times Book Review: Lewisohn’s TUNE IN

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Before the British invasion: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison in 1962. #

By TIM RILEY
Published: December 6, 2013
Approaches to retelling the Beatles’ story slice in two distinct directions: narrow or wide. Some authors choose a single figure and bore down deep, which has brought the count of Paul McCartney life stories to at least 10, with more in the pipeline. Others frame the narrative from more expansive angles, weaving in the era’s social texture, politics and cultural context (see Devin McKinney’s shrewd “Magic Circles” from 2003 or Jonathan Gould’s peerless “Can’t Buy Me Love” of 2007)… [continued] #

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Published on December 06, 2013 16:19

FRIDAY SHINDIG: LENNON

Friday, December 6, at 4pm EST #

Every year at this time, Beatles fans gather to celebrate the music of John Lennon. In this author appearance, Lennon biographer and NPR critic Tim Riley answers questions about his life, his musical legacy, and the myths that swirl around his legacy. Join Riley as he talks about the season’s most current books, recent reissues, news concerning Apple’s vault, and projects in the pipeline. #

http://shindig.com/event/lennon #

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Published on November 29, 2013 18:35

100 Times Over

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Listening to the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ 100 Times, All at Once – NYTimes.com #

And Kozinn issues another Beatles book: #

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Published on November 24, 2013 14:23

Homeland Season Three: Thomson v Riley

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“Javadi, coming after Nazir, ends any hopes that Homeland is prepared to find depth in Islamic characters; he is one more razor-lipped, saturnine terrorist, whispering Arabic threats (the kind of guy Hope and Crosby met on the road to everywhere). Magically brought to America to meet Carrie, the all-wise Jivadi finds time to slaughter his ex-wife (who happens to be nearby!) and his daughter-in-law. Just keep a low profile, Jivadi. This raises more problems because surveillance footage catches Quinn coming in on the murders (but not Carrie—are pregnant women blurred in surveillance?). Quinn then has to lie to the local cops about the “security-cleared killings” (one of which is the nastiest use of a broken bottle since Marty Augustine in The Long Goodbye, 1973). Which prompts Quinn (Rupert Friend) to wonder what the hell he is doing in this awful, ill-written CIA, and how does any secret operation think it’s doing anything but damage?” — David Thomson, Homeland Season Three Review: Showtime Series Is Falling Apart | New Republic. #

My brother-in-law sent me this, so I responded: #

I’m sure I’ve mentioned Thomson remains one of my favorite critics an any genre. Think I disagree with him here: although Majid Javadi (Shaun Toub) spews villainy, the show does feature a very sympathetic Iranian Fara Sherazi (Nazanin Boniadi) who works under Saul, and her research leads directly to the flipping of Javadi. Lots of serendipity in that episode where Quinn gets caught on surveillance camera but not Carrie, sure. But I’m drawn into the longer game Saul plays, and adore that self-righteous Senator (Tracy Letts) who aims to succeed him. He’s got that smug Cheney petulance just curdling away at his ambition.

Even more, though I disagree that Brody’s daughter, Dana (Morgan Saylor) falls anywhere close to “deeply uninteresting.” One of the pluses of Homeland lies in the way it deals with the life of Brody’s children, the direct effects of his attempts at terror. Saylor has Big Career written all over her. And Martin Donovan wreaks of sleaze in the most casual gestures.

While I think that first season may stand as a remarkable achievement, for me every episode successive episode atones for what I initially think of as oversights or errors in the previous. Carrie’s pregnancy seems ominous, ironic and at risk now that Quinn has shot her, the question of who its father turns secondary. And how does Saul find Brody? We haven’t seen Carrie reveal this to him. I’m still curious why Carrie still wants to exonerate Brody… after all that’s happened, wouldn’t she simply want to know the truth about who killed hundreds of her colleagues? She has to have considered by now that Brody has been playing her all along. The reveal with Saul’s wife’s lover sent me into chill zone, but then I saw another comment about how could Saul’s own home security system fail so spectacularly… and wouldn’t he suspect his wife’s lover of being a spy too?
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Published on November 21, 2013 17:23

RADIO FREE LIVERPOOL: BBC MEETS THE BEATLES

Too little too late but nothing to snort at, Live at the BBC captures the Beatles in the act of defining themselves. The group’s live appearances on British radio between 1962 and 1966 have been on collectors’ short lists of unpublished Beatle wonders since they were first resurrected over ten years ago. Beginning back when manager Brian Epstein began pounding London pavement in search of a recording deal, these tracks stake a claim in rock mythology equal that of Bob Dy1an’s Basement Tapes (recorded in 1967, released in 1975) er Elvis Presley’s comeback television special in 1968 (available as One Night With You on video, or Tiger Man). All these projects tell secrets about these performers that are Central to their greatness — Dylan’s cockeyed take on the early American west; or Presley’s inspired notion of how to rock into middle age… [continued, pdf] #

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You still want the Great Dane box set, or Purple Chick‘s upgrade. Here’s the official (iTunes) On Air, BBC Volume 2. Drip drip drip. #

You also want: Kevin Howlett’s BBC ARCHIVES, just out. #

And then there’s this: #

Retronaut – Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles. #

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