About P.J. Podesta

The notion of the Great American Novel died the moment Hollywood was invented and though the idea was briefly resurrected in the mid-20th century, it died again with the birth of rock and roll. Bruce Springsteen has always gone for the grand gesture and his 9/11 album The Rising was an honorable attempt at a … Read more

Fate’s a bitch ain’t it? I mean here we are. Celebrating what the magic realist, essayist, poet – and literary seer of sorts – Ben Okri regards as “probably the first great historic moment with a positive charge in the 21st Century.” The man you are bound to hear about and from, possibly for the … Read more

Charles O’Brien’s “At Ease in Azania” was originally printed 20 years ago in an obscure (and now defunct) journal. It will be reprinted this fall in the next volume of “First of the Year”. O’Brien’s piece begins with Paul Simon’s “Graceland” but it rock and rolls back to the 60s before returning to the Motherland … Read more

Twenty-First Century Renaissance By Armond White Michael Jackson’s renaissance (occasioned by his death past June at age 50) is the most encouraging event to happen in pop culture over the last quarter century. All summer long now, every where you go, Jackson’s music rises from car speakers, p.a. systems, spills out of strangers’ headphones. It’s … Read more

Birdland, NYC Jan 19-23, 2010 When last (& first) they met, it was billed “The Grand Collaboration.” The production was the brainchild of the great Max Roach, one of the most formidable musicians to emerge in the 40’s with music media named “Bebop.” He is one of the original Boperators of that innovative upsurge of … Read more

Willie Mitchell: 1928-2010 Willie Mitchell slipped away this January 5 just past. Trumpet player, bandleader, songwriter, he was foremost a producer. Not a celebrity producer, he was better than that. Throughout the 60s, he made records under his own name. they were mostly instrumentals, in a Junior Walker-ish style. The title of one collection, That … Read more

When there’s madness in the air, only the mad survive, oh boy -“Up and Away,” St. Trinian’s 2 soundtrack If you’re a pop listener, you may have wondered: What accounts for the undeniable popularity (among both consumers and critics) of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”? Arguably the most hyped personality in the Western world, Lady Gaga … Read more