Who is This?

Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, and film critic. He first achieved prominence in the 1970s writing for Rolling Stone magazine, where he tended to cover singer songwriter and traditional pop artists. He subsequently became a longstanding music and film critic for The New York Times.

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Music Review | 'Too Marvelous for Words': Those Amorous Lyrics, Borrowed From the Birds

The singer Ann Hampton Callaway wasn’t always the pop-blues wailer who brought the house to its feet on Friday evening at Carnegie Hall, where the New York Pops orchestra celebrated the centennial of the songwriter Johnny Mercer. Her rendition of ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  22 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Johnny Mercer,  Harold Wheeler,  Harold Arlen,  Hoagy Carmichael,  Erich Kunzel

Music Review | Melinda Doolittle: A Survivor of ‘Idol’ With Heart

The former “American Idol” contestant Melinda Doolittle, who finished third on Season 6, knows who she is and what she wants. “In my heart of hearts, I want to be Clair Huxtable” (on “The Cosby Show”) she declared on Thursday evening at Feinstein’s at ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  20 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Melinda Doolittle,  American Idol,  Loews,  Bill Cosby,  Gladys Knight

Movie Review | 'Planet 51': A Misunderstood Alien, but Not as Smart as E.T.

The agreeable but flagrantly unoriginal “Planet 51” belongs to the mix-and-match school of animated moviemaking that operates on the plaintive hope that familiarity is the surest path to the box office. Almost every element of the film, created by ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  19 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Jorge Blanco,  Dwayne Johnson,  Justin Long,  Jessica Biel,  Gary Oldman

Music Review | Lyrics & Lyricists: A Bit of Jive Stands Out at a Tribute to Mercer

Because it described Army life during World War II in bebop slang, Johnny Mercer’s “G.I. Jive,” one of the few songs for which he wrote both words and music, usually isn’t regarded as one of his great perennials, although it was a No. 1 hit for Louis ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  19 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Johnny Mercer,  Louis Jordan,  Sheldon Harnick,  Ira Gershwin,  Ogden Nash

Michael Feinstein to Lead Jazz at Lincoln Center Series

Jazz at Lincoln Center is bringing classic American popular song into its fold with the appointment of the singer and pianist Michael Feinstein as director of its new popular music series. Mr. Feinstein will create three programs as well as a family ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  15 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Jazz at Lincoln Center,  Michael Feinstein,  Wynton Marsalis,  Frank Sinatra,  Diahann Carroll

Music Review | Steve Tyrell: Bottomless Songbook With New Orleans Twist

Ten years ago, when the singer and producer Steve Tyrell released “A New Standard,” a modestly successful collection of pop chestnuts sung in a growly New Orleans style, who knew that it would be a cultural bellwether? The latest on the arts, coverage ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  12 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Steve Tyrell,  Rod Stewart,  David Mann,  Barbra Streisand,  Linda Ronstadt

Movie Review | 'Turning Green': Pretty Village, Gloomy Boy

“I wasn’t born here. I only live here. And I’m sure as hell not going to die here,” declares James Powers (Donal Gallery), the hormonally supercharged 16-year-old narrator of “Turning Green.” The setting for this whimsical dirty joke of a movie is a ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  12 Nov 2009

Related Topics: James Powers (politician),  Michael Aimette,  John G. Hofmann,  Timothy Hutton,  Colm Meaney

Movie Review | 'William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe': Radical Lawyer’s Appeal (and Rebuttal)

For William Kunstler, the wild-haired, radical civil rights lawyer with the raspy voice who became a left-wing political star in the late 1960s, Michelangelo’s statue of David symbolized how he saw himself. A photograph of the statue that morphs into a ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  12 Nov 2009

Related Topics: William Kunstler,  American Civil Liberties Union,  Bobby Seale,  Fred Hampton,  Larry Davis

Movie Review | 'Oh My God?': An Around-the-World Trip to Ask an Age-Old Question

Celebrities — Ringo Starr, Hugh Jackman, Bob Geldof and Seal, among others — get pride of place in the credits of “Oh My God?,” Peter Rodger’s picturesque but shallow inquiry into the meaning of God. The film, which Mr. Rodger directed, wrote, produced ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  12 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Ringo Starr,  Hugh Jackman,  Bob Geldof,  Bill Maher

Movie Review | 'Uncertainty': Lovers Cross a Bridge, in More Ways Than One

“Uncertainty” is a taut, skillful exercise in cinematic clockwork concocted by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the talented directors of “The Deep End” and “Bee Season.” Written by the two men, with dialogue largely improvised by the actors, the movie ...

From STEPHEN HOLDEN, The New York Times,  12 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Scott McGehee,  David Siegel,  Joseph Gordon-Levitt,  Lynn Collins,  Krzysztof Kieslowski

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