Queen Bitch—Angie Bowie Strikes Again!
Queen Bitch—Angie Bowie Strikes Again! David Bowie—a man who, as they say, needs no introduction—has made a triumphant return to public life recently with the release of his 24th album, The Next Day. The man really is a legend in his own time; and for people like me growing up in the seventies his music was absolutely essential listening. Push the boundaries? For Bowie there weren’t any boundaries. He was a guy who not only...
Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story: Smoke
“What’s the matter? He run out of ideas or something?” “He ran out of luck.” —Smoke A couple of weeks ago a package arrived containing an early Christmas gift. When I opened it I was truly taken aback. It was a beautiful, slim little volume from Faber and Faber, written by Paul Auster and delicately illustrated by someone called Isol. It is a thing that is both lovely to look at and to leaf through, sent by a good friend...
Nick Drake
I must confess to having been unfamiliar with the folk music of Nick Drake before seeing him mentioned in Phil Rickman’s novel The Wine of Angels. (Reviewed in the Print section of this blog.) Indeed, just to show you my complete ignorance I wasn’t sure whether or not he was one of the writer’s fictional characters. Although in fairness that’s a tribute to how deftly Rickman weaves the fictional and the actual together in his books....
Lorene Scafaria
I knew nothing about Lorene Scafaria before I fell in love with her directorial debut Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. (See review – here) She does seem to have it all, though. She has written nine screenplays, although not all have worked out for her. She can also act, she can sing and now she has directed a movie. Wouldn’t you think that Nature would spread the talent around a little? Anyway, here is one of her...
Philip Glass
I know Philip Glass mainly through his film work, having been introduced to his marvellously unique and hypnotic style by way of Paul Schrader’s Mishima: a Life in Four Chapters. Indeed, this was his first real foray into cinema, although he had been very successful with the mating of music and image in the earlier documentary film Koyaanisquatsi. He is instantly recognisable, even if you didn’t realise at first that he was...
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