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 …
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 …
Thank you, WZZM! This is the link > My West Michigan < is a fun, local, daytime TV show that found Disruptive Play a worthy enough hoot to recommend it to readers throughout Western Michigan. This COULD have an impact on our upcoming elections (cue Goudoud’s Funeral March of a Marionette, theme song from Alfred Hitchcock Presents). …
The rock impresario Bill Graham famously said of the Grateful Dead They’re not the best at what they do, they’re the only ones that do what they do. And There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert. True that, on both counts, and the many shows I went to, in particular between 1968 and 1973, …
Continue Reading . . . and Check it out here! Mantz & Mitchell offer great conversation, and I was so pleased to be their guest. They really dug into the book and dig together we did. Alternative talk radio, I did my best, friends! Your pal, Shepherd Siegel
You know, I never get asked, “Shepherd Siegel, the world knows you as an intergalactically recognized artist…but what are you REALLY like?” Nope, never been asked that. Well, I just live life by three simple rules. Yours may look a little different, but I think you’ll get the idea. In fact, I’d love to hear …
In 1895, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine captured the popular imagination and set the tone for our infinite fascination with time travel. Its attendant gadgetry kept the nerdier fans busy, while others were distracted by the possible and impossible science of it. But the idea of time travelers is more significant. The time traveler, like a …
In King Lear, theGodfather of its time, Shakespeare exposes the folly of power through his narrative of it slipping away. Lear’s Fool matches elusive power with a taunting dance of his own. He represents Lear’s conscience, but Lear ignores him. The Fool makes Lear’s madness worse, driving him crazy. He dances on the play’s mushrooming …
Take this example for contrast. A woman testifies: I am glad that I own a gun because when that man tried to break into my house, it was that gun that protected me and my baby. It’s hard to dispute this mother’s position and essential role. She is bound in time to this critical, difficult, …