Updated 12/13/2025

I was asked by my old Beatles buddy, Tim Riley, to contribute something about Motown to his guest-edited special issue of American Music Perspectives , a scholarly journal. What I produced, which is accessible here , isn't overly scholarly; in fact, it might even strike you as readable. Focusing on the 1971 box set The Motown Story: The First Decade , which I've always been drawn to as an artifact, I realized that the story the box tells is also and inseparably the story of D

Like a lot of people, I spent some time after David Lynch's death reviewing his work, but really trying to make contact with him. He made contact with me. Here's my report .

Fair Play , now on Netflix, had me hooked from the first scene. The hook was astonishment that it was this bad. But it only got worse .

Back in January, I was interviewed by a French director for a documentary on the Fonda family. Word came recently that Les Fonda – Une...

My review of the new version of The Boys in the Band, with notes on the 1970 film, is up at Critics at Large.

Late to the party as usual, I earlier watched an episode of the acclaimed, now-three-seasons-old IFC comedy series Documentary Now!, with...

On Halloween, one last recommendation for lovers of the ghost story.

For Halloween month, I'm writing a weekly series focusing on a few of my favorite supernatural works. First up: the iterations and...

Thoughts on the successive and singular permutations (novel, film, sitcom) of a familiar and beloved comedic property.

I'm delighted to once again be part of a Josh Glenn “Enthusiasm” series, a creative cattle call for the culturally cockeyed. TUBE YOUR...