Happy New Year, 2008
No news is good news, that's what they say anyway.
The only difference between this news and last year's news is that there is a bit of news on the news front: The entirety
of this year will be devoted to the completion of my book, tentatively titled though not necessarily finally titled, Fight
the Power: The Soundtrack to Revolution. So that's the news; until there is more news, there will be no more news.
Summer 2007
In May, the first ever rock magazine,
Crawdaddy!, launched in its new online format and I'm happy to say that I am frequent contributor. http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/ is
where you can read my latest writing on rock, week in and week out. New issues post on Wednesdays and every week features
a grab bag of rock'n'roll news and views penned by a crew of particularly fresh and intelligent new voices. I can't tell you
what a pleasure it is for me to be working for a real rock publication on a regular basis. Crawdaddy! founder Paul Williams
and I have been acquainted through the years, but it was by a happy accident that I came to work for our hardworking editor,
Jocelyn Hoppa, at the new online version of the mag. I hope you will make it a point to have a look at the site and tell
your friends about it. Peace.
March 2007
The news from here:
March 17-18 are anti-war
global days of action in SF, LA, DC, Seattle, Chicago and your town
Listening to:
new
discs by Pearlene, Ron Franklin and the Good, the Bad and the Queen
plus Sly and the Family Stone
reissues and Eugene McDaniels
Reading:
Lonely Avenue, The Unlikely Live and
Times of Doc Pomus by Alex Halberstadt--
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Radio
Free Dixie by Timothy B. Tyson
Writing:
a new book
thanks
for checkin in with me...more soon.
Happy New Year/ January 2007
Life during
wartime isn’t entirely without hope and
enjoyment. The followings things from 2006 touched my heart, made me laugh, exercised my
brain or shook me in a way that made me grateful and plain glad to be here. I’m
talking about:
The new music of the Black Keys (Chulahoma ep, the Songs of
Junior Kimbrough), Neil Young
(Living with War) and selected 2006 recordings by Alexei Murdoch, Robyn
Hitchcock, TV on the Radio, Fiery Furnaces, Belle and Sebastian, Yusuf and Magic
Christian. Old standbys that were reissued or enjoyed a rekindling by me:
Stax-Volt catalog, Jerry Garcia and the Beatles (always).
The films Volver, Lassie, the Departed,
the Queen, An Inconvenient
Truth, Half Nelson, A Prairie Home Companion, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, the
Devil and Daniel Johnston, 49 Up and When the Levees Broke
The books The Emperor’s Children,
a novel by Claire Messud; The Inheritance of Loss, a novel by Kieran Desai; Made in Detroit, a memoir by Paul Clemens; Black
Panthers, a collection of photos by Steven Shames
A poem: The Book of Longing, by Leonard Cohen
A performance: by: Ravi and Anoushka Shankar
Columnist of the Year: Bob Herbert,
New York Times
Feminist of the Year: Ariel Levy, author, Female
Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
RIP: Ed Bradley, James Brown, Dirk Dirksen,
Ahmet Ertegun, Betty
Friedan, Arthur Lee, Billy Preston, Ali Farka Toure, Ellen Willis
October
2006
Greetings--we have news this month:
I will be reading in San Francisco on October 14 at the annual Litquake Festival during Litcrawl, the closing Saturday
night event featuring hundreds of authors in the bookstores and bars on Valencia Street. We
(Blair Jackson, Peter Ellenby, Tamara Palmer, Richie Unterberger and I) will be reading at Amnesia (which used to be the
Chatterbox and before that Graffiti) at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday night.
I am sad to report that my column appearing in the Contra Costa Times on October 12 will be my last for the paper. It
was a good run--somewhere between 12-14 years. Thanks to Doug Kim who intially hired me to contribute concert reviews and
profiles, I reviewed an incredible roster of Bay Area shows in the '90s and interviewed a tremendous roll call of rock legends
and obscure figures, from a charming John Entwistle before he passed away to to the not so charming Odetta (she told me she'd
rather be listening to Car Talk). Randy McMullen was Doug's successor and oversaw my column The Show Goes On for what we think
was 12 years of hassle-free editor/writer relations. I will miss writing it and I will miss my readers. Thank you to those
who hung in there through the changes.
I have completed a book of fiction: Starry Eyes, a Novel for Young Rockers and I hope to find it a home before the end
of the year.
The reason you see the R.E.M. book on the home page is that I want people to buy it. It remains the only oral history
on the band. Makes a nice Harvest gift, don't you think?
That's the news for the month, now here are the lists:
FILM
The US Government vs. John Lennon
Michael Apted's 49 UP, seventh in a continuing series
and The Last King of Scotland (Forest Whitaker IS Idi Amim)
MUSIC
Robyn Hitchcock, Ole Tarantula
Bob Dylan, Modern Times
The Black Keys, Magic Potion
TV on the Radio (my new discovery--missed them before) and their
Return to Cookie Mountain (wow).
BOOKS
Midnight Lightening: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience by Greg Tate
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
ARCHIVE:
Updated September 2006
This just in: Denise will be reading new work on October 14, 2006 at San Francisco's legendary Litquake Festival during
the Litcrawl on Saturday night. Stay tuned for details.
When was the last time you ate pizza? The Wednesday night Writers' Garage event in Long Beach was a pleasure to participate
in last month. Any authors looking for a pit stop during their LA book tour stay, please see me for details. The Writers'
Garage is a breath of fresh air from the usual lit scene and offers a nice mid-week recharge--a little pizza and pizazz. I
recommend their Greek pizza. Go to myspace/writersgarage for further details.
As for what's on in my world...
I went through a Nick Drake phase again after reading a not-so-great new book on him. Right now I'm reading a book
on Jimi Hendrix by Greg Tate--one of the wildest things I've ever read on anything by anyone ever--and that's a good thing.
I can't wait for author Zadie Smith's local appearance this month nor for the opening of Michael Apted's 49 UP. Some of
us have been wating seven years for this film!!
I still love the Bell Rays record,
Have a LIttle Faith
One of the best I've heard so far this year is by songbirds Linda Ronstadt
and Ann Savoy: Adieu False Heart.
And the soundtrack to Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is far better than I remember the movie being.
At the cinema, Lassie is by far my favorite film of the summer.
I love those pug watermelons--what an invention! And have recently discovered grilled pineapple. So long summer...and
I didn't even get my website fixed. Can anyone help me?
Lord have mercy.
Updated July 2006:
Denise will be reading new work on
August 16, 2006 at
Dipiazza's Lava Lounge
Long Beach, CA
Sponsored by the Writers' Garage
Really trying to make the necessary changes to the site...the good news is that I'm making progress.
Listening to new CDS: Alexi Murdoch and Wolfmother (still!)
Grooving on old CDS:
Comes a Time by Neil Young and
Venus and Mars by Wings
Reading: Passages by Gail Sheehy and a new book on Nick Drake called Darker Than the Deepest Sea
Viewing on DVD: A Passage to India, the Clash's Rude Boy and the Wu-Tang Video Collection
Viewing at the Cinema: The Leonard Cohen movie and Wordplay.
Summer documentary season is here at last!
Billy Preston, R.I.P
September 9, 1946-June 6, 2006
Updated June 2006:
Still working on loading content so please keep posted to this space and check throughout the site for subtle (but oh-so-important)
changes, updates, improvements, enhancements and the like. "We" are currently in the middle of an upgrade but as I said,
there is movement on the site so do not be afraid...go forth...
Please note my blogspot for all the latest news...
Favorite Rock Book, 2005:
Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross
Favorite Book, 2005: On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Most recently read: The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Currently re-reading: The Rice Room by Ben Fong-Torres
Favorite film in theaters now: Art School Confidential
Listening to...
LIVING WITH WAR BY NEIL YOUNG
(yes, I'm shouting)
Reissues: The Worst of Jefferson Airplane, The Very Best of Hot Tuna and
Back For a Taste: The Syl Johnson Story (1971-78)
New: WOLFMOTHER! plus Bitter Tea by the Fiery Furnaces and Have a Little Faith by the Bell Rays plus sometimes, when
I can stand it, Broken Boy Soldiers by The Raconteurs
ARCHIVE (or reasonable facsimile of one)
most frequently asked question I get regarding my research into the White Stripes is "So what's with the red, white and
black?" For further information on the mysteries of the colors, please consult the chapter titled "Style and Substance" in
chapter two of The White Stripes: Sweethearts of the Blues (the section subheaded Black Math: Color, Numbers and Alchemy
should do the job).
I would like to thank everyone who ever wrote to me or said anything nice about Sweethearts of the Blues since its publication
in April of 2004, especially the reader who wrote in the spring of '05 to tell me that I should write another rock book (I
had been considering changing professions and the letter arrived at the right time). Since then, I have started writing
and the book is tentatively titled Time Has Come Today: The African-American Rock Experience.
Any other questions? Please write denise@denisesullivan.com and fill in the subject line with something that
I'll recognize so I don't delete it with spam (it's a problem, you know...).
