literature
Beat's music literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase musicians.
Against All Risk
The following is a preview of the beginning of my book, End of the Hall. Track 1: Forget Your Fear A distant roar is heard through the tunnel. Various crew members are running along the passage as the steel tips of stilettos confidently stride. With each step, a pulse of indigo shows through the eyes of a young woman when she looks to her heels. She arrives at the platform to hear the roars grow louder. A roadie runs over for her to retrieve her signature guitar, nicknamed “The Hammer.” She plucks each string with it unplugged to check the strength then joins her bandmates on the stage. “Jesus, Cyd, take long enough?” a woman asks as she shoulders a violet and silver striped bass.
By Harper Wade8 years ago in Beat
For the Love of Passion
The sound of their voices echoed off the red painted walls and golden carved ceiling of the theater. I watched Laurie and Jim finish their scene; I always loved watching the way her 1940s style red skirt would move as she floated across the stage. It was opening night of my first ever stage performance. I was ten years old playing Susan Waverly in Miracle on 34th Street, my stomach erupting in butterflies as I waited in the wings.
By Ophelia Hamilton8 years ago in Beat
A Waltz for the Final Fragmenting Symphony
Fading, I watch you skip to the dressing table. No longer having to stand on your toes, you turn on the radio. I’ve watched you every day, yet you seem so different. Yes, you’re taller and older; but you also seem to be someone I’ve never known before.
By Jamie Wills8 years ago in Beat
Akala, Illa State, Hip-Hop Shakespeare and the Rise of Conscious Grime
As a white, working class British man in his 20's from the rolling hills of Surrey, Grime Music is not something I claim to own any rights to. At an early age I became a huge fan of Eminem and always held him in such high esteem compared to other rappers just due to the fact he always seemed to challenge himself lyrically - This was really my only understanding of Rap Music until my teenage years where I started to branch out into other areas of the genre, particularly liking the sound of artists including Nas and Kid Cudi.
By Jordan Catto9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 7 of X
Been a bit since I posted a review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles, mostly because this is not a book to be rush-read or even normally read (whatever pace that might be), but savored, and also because I've been writing some science fiction, and there's also the lure of the cool water and soft beach of Cape Cod Bay. But I wanted to record a few words about Sheffield's chapter on "Ticket to Ride", about as rich and satisfying an extended analysis you can find of a Beatles or any worthy song.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Oh God Ma! I'm On the Cover of 'Rolling Stone?'
In the year 1967, during the height of the ‘Summer of Love,’ a young man living in San Francisco realized that Pop-Music was changing. Like many who attended the Monterey Festival in June of that year, he got the vibe that the whole movement had shifted. From a joyous escape from the mundane realities of life, the joys of a youthful had turned into a free love, alternative society with the music at its heart.
By Bob Robertson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 6 of X
Rob Sheffield makes the case for Ringo in the next chapter of his stellar Dreaming the Beatles, putting the question regarding Ringo as whether he was an all-time genius drummer who made the Beatles possible, or "a clod who got lucky, the biggest fool who ever hit the big time". Sheffield puts his chips on the genius.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 4 of X
I don't want to get too far into Rob Sheffield's addictive book without posting another review, so I thought I'd check in here after finishing a chapter on George, which comes after discussions of Ringo (which I talk about in my last review) and Paul and John, which are of course a part of every chapter.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 3 of X
In the next chapter of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles -- I just realized that the chapters are not numbered, which means that each chapter is a piece of a hologram, a snapshot of the whole, like a verse in many a song -- we get a deconstruction of "Dear Prudence," which Sheffield holds to be one of The Beatles' best, and I agree (though they have so many bests the term hasn't the usual meaning for me).
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 2 of X
Among Rob Sheffield's many talents as a Beatles journalist -- not historian, because, as Sheffield convincingly demonstrates, the Beatles are far more important today than when they were writing and recording as a band, which back then was extraordinarily important indeed -- but among the delightful ways Sheffield makes his case is by fashioning his arguments from the Beatles' lyrics, so deftly that you don't even want a quote. Talking about John Lennon's unquenchable need to make a girl care, to make her "feel something," Sheffield concludes "Because if he doesn't reach her, the song is worthless and so is he. It's a love that lasts forever, it's a love that has no past".
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 1 of X
I've always loved The Beatles. First as a fan, always as a fan. How much as a fan? Well, I was delighted to find a subscription to Sirius/XM Radio in my new car, early this month, and I promptly tuned it to MSNBC. Until The Beatles channel checked in on May 18, and that's what I listen to when I'm driving now. Even when I'm not driving -- I just came in from my driveway, because I wanted to hear the end of "Baby You Can Drive My Car". I'd probably still be there, if the urge to write this review had not been so strong.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
