Not funny. Yet in the late 1970s, a trickster comedian, Richard Pryor (the Trickster Force was strong with him) made us laugh while describing this very crime against humanity, against unarmed Black Americans. Pryor’s seemingly amoral humor made an impact on the American psyche, such that forty years later, our perspective and our behavior, our…
Commercial and artistic triumph Workingman’s Dead established Garcia as the defining voice of the Dead. Don’t take that for granted, as Pigpen’s rave-ups and the more ambiguously authored jams make leadership and the Dead a slippery proposition. But Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter songs WERE Workingman’s Dead, save for Easy Wind. He continued the proliferation of mournful…
No matter the Election Day results, the broader cultural malaise, a divided America, will persist. Elections have consequences. But resolving the culture wars is what will bring about a rebirth of American ideals and unity. Let’s play the long game, if just for a moment. One way to grasp our cultural zeitgeist is to look…
Short version: You want this recently-released three-disc set if you like this album. Version version: They did a great job. The songs sparkle and crackle, they weep, they moan, they get naked, they twist, and shout. On the CD, I don’t like the way the bass is managed for Uncle John’s Band. Other versions that are less…
The Beatles were such incredible tunesmiths that it would be specious to assert that they ever put out a bad album, British or US versions notwithstanding. But Magical Mystery Tour in fact has more of what was great about the Beatles in its grooves than any of their other releases. It is the only album…
As was said during the day’s One World: Together at Home program, the world must act as one now. May the abdication of national leadership in the United States mark the ascendancy of a truly great international power that compels intelligent governance, something we’ve never had worldwide. The One World: Together at Home program inspired…