Posts by author
Max Gray
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, Brandon Hicks’s illustrated meta-story of advertising woe, “Your Face Here: A Biography.” Then, Jonathan Harper recounts the challenges he faced growing up as a queer gamer in the Saturday Essay. From Dungeons & Dragons to video games like Dragon…
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Song of the Day: “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over”
Lenny Kravitz has had his share of the limelight, ever since Duke Ellington allegedly played “Happy Birthday” for him on his 5th birthday. While he might be in the news lately for oversharing, audiences have been in love with his…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, in the Saturday Essay, Kathryn Buckley reminisces over the 1988 Bette Midler film Beaches, which portrays a friendship between two women whose friendship deepens over the years as they grow older. The similarities between Buckley and her on-screen doppleganger lead her…
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Song of the Day: “All Apologies”
The new documentary about Kurt Cobain, Montage of Heck, contains up-until-now unreleased home videos and animated footage of the Nirvana frontman’s tortured diary entries. It reveals a deeply troubled psyche, inextricable from the genius associated with it. On the hypnotic Unplugged version of “All…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, Brandon Hicks compares a nostalgic past with a scary future in “When I Was A Kid… A Personal Essay.” Then, in the Saturday Essay, Josie Pickens tries to reconcile the real Bill Cosby with the one we’ve come to admire…
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Song of the Day: “Don’t Tell Our Friends About Me”
Blake Mills is an accomplished studio guitarist who’s worked with a wide variety of impressive names including Lucinda Williams, Conor Oberst, Fiona Apple, Lana Del Ray, Norah Jones, Billy Gibbons, Band of Horses, and others. But Mills’s previous credits were…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
In the Saturday Essay, Gila Lyons laments Asif Kapadia’s portrayal of Amy Winehouse in the documentary, Amy, and contrasts the film with the recent biopic of Kurt Cobain. The gender-based double standard is alive and well here. Women are still…
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Song of the Day: “Fountain Stairs”
The influential indie group Deerhunter have allegedly described their unique music as “ambient punk.” Founding member Bradford Cox—known also for his side project, Atlas Sound—provides eerily beautiful vocals to accompany compositions boasting everything from pop-friendly melodies to reverb-laden psychedelia. All this…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, Brandon Hicks contemplates the strange game of pricing art in “The Forgetful Painter.” And in the Saturday Interview, Arielle Bernstein talks to illustrator Ijeoma Oluo about her new publication, Badass Feminist Coloring Book, and the surprises she encountered while creating it.…
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Sound Takes: Live at the London Palladium
Love it or hate it, if you listen to Live at the London Palladium, you’re going to get intimate with Marvin Gaye.
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Song of the Day: “Jackie Wilson Said”
Van Morrison—aka George Ivan Morrison of Belfast, Northern Ireland—has had a long and varied career that began in the mid 60s. After recording a string of massive hit singles like “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Moondance,” and “Caravan,” he released “Jackie Wilson…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, in the Saturday Essay, Sandie Friedman uses classic works of Holocaust literature to put her everyday stresses into perspective. Friedman’s early studies of feminism and time abroad in Dresden get her thinking about identity politics, particularly her own Jewish…