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Book Review: War Dances by Sherman Alexie

What is a short story? Technically it's a story that's not more than a certain number of words or pages in length, usually a great deal shorter than even the shortest of novels. Yet there's more to a short story than just the number of words it ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  21 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Sherman Alexie

Music Review: Stace England And The Salt Kings - The Amazing Oscar Micheaux

While it's well known how popular music has changed throughout the years, it's not often that popular music is used to document the changing of the years or figures in history. Popular music is usually considered far too frivolous a thing to deal with ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  18 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Joe Hill,  Howard Zinn,  D. W. Griffith

Music DVD Review: Fred Anderson - Fred Anderson 21st Century Chase: 80th Birthday Bash, Live At The Velvet Lounge

There's an old saying, "Seeing is believing", and on occasions there's truth to those old sayings. Now I know quite a number of people who don't find seeing music on video very satisfying, and if it were the days before stereo sound and digital imaging ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  15 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Fred Anderson

Willy DeVille and How to Write a Biography

There are two ways of looking at a blank page if you're a writer; either as an opportunity or as an indication of how bereft you are of ideas. Sometimes you can stare at the blankness, and even though you know what you want to write, the challenge its ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  14 Nov 2009

Book Review: "Self-Surrender," "Peace," "Compassion," & "The Mission Of The Goose": Poems And Prayers From South India by Appayya & Nila-kantha Dikshita And Vedanta Deshika

I can't think of a more difficult job for a translator than translating poetry. Unlike prose it's not just a simple matter of turning one language into another; you also have to worry about conveying whatever ideas are suggested but not spelt out in ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  9 Nov 2009

Related Topics: New York University,  David Shulman

Music Review: Tjhe Silk Road Ensemble - Off The Map

The Silk Road criss-crossed through Asia and the East from Europe to China carrying merchandise, particularly silk, between the two continents. In the days before shipping was a reliable form of travel, without the Suez Canal the only way from Europe ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  9 Nov 2009

Music Review: David Murray & The Gwo Ka Masters (Featuring Taj Mahal) - The Devil Tried To Kill Me

If there is one genre of popular music that has managed to to both refrain from being co-opted by commercial and corporate interests yet still remain culturally significant, it would have to be jazz. Of course there have been moments when one performer ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  4 Nov 2009

Related Topics: David Murray

Book Review: The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling by Peter Ackroyd

I've always believed that if you want to truly understand a people and their culture you need to read the stories they've written, or told, about themselves. It's from these works that we can get an accurate depiction of what a people believe in, what ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  2 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Peter Ackroyd,  Geoffrey Chaucer

Music Review: Kitka - Cradle Songs

When the Iron Curtain came down at the end of WWII effectively splitting Europe into East and West, in some ways it only emphasized a division that had existed long before the rise of Communism. Ever since the Roman Empire split in two with the East ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  1 Nov 2009

Music Review: Hank Williams - Hank Williams Revealed: The Unreleased Recordings

Once upon a time there was no such thing as cable, satellites, or the Internet - not even dial up let alone DSL. In those days televisions and radio stations relied on individuals owning antennas on their houses that would reach up into the sky and ...

From RICHARD MARCUS, Blogcritics.org,  1 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Hank Williams

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