Unca Darrell

SEPTEMBER 2 / When the Obama administration quit preachin' . . .

. . . and started meddlin': The raid . . .  

JULY 21 / Charles Wesley Holley

I HAD $5 left, that summer day in 1962, and only a few minutes to decide how to spend it. My dad had given me a . . .

 

APRIL 22 / "Amadeus" at the Alley

TOO MANY . . . 

FEBRUARY 6 / You may have noticed . . .

. . . that Unca D has dialed back on his blogging. For those who care, Unc's most-read posting was not about politics or journalism. It was about a movie. 

OCTOBER 9 / Secretariat and God: "Oh Happy Day!"

HERE ARE the opening lines of Secretariat, the fine new Disney movie now at a mall near you:

"Do you give the horse his strength . . . 

APRIL 27 / Say what you will about Merle . . .

. . . Haggard. Just don't say that he misuses . . .

OCTOBER 18 / Basic Training: The Protestant Work Ethic

SNIPS FROM a brilliant essay: Steven Malanga, "Whatever Happened to the Work Ethic?" City Journal, Summer 2009 (emphasis added, reparagraphed):

The genius of America in the early nineteenth century, Tocqueville thought . . .

AUGUST 13 / Les Paul, rest in peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee . . .

. . . aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccccccccccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

JULY 27 / Stax/Volt Revue

  

IF YOU love late-60s rhythm and blues, rent "Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway 1967."

It's a badly made film -- really badly made -- of a concert by Stax/Volt stars of the time, headlined by Otis Redding. The black-and-white cinematography is awful and the sound recording worse. 

But, oh, the music! And the sight of these guys -- in 1964-style Beatle suits -- working a small stage. And the Norwegian kids: very white, very stoned, very not quite sure of the rules for cool head-bobbing.

JUNE 29 / Sounds right to me

CRITIC BENJAMIN IVRY has blistered the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.