“He sold 60 million books and 100 million records. Why was he forgotten?”
1970s
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Essays & Criticism, History, Nonfiction, Story
Nashville contra Jaws, 1975
In their time, “Jaws” and “Nashville” were regarded as Watergate films, and both were in production as the Watergate disaster played its final act.
Posted inEssays & Criticism, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
Can the Political Override the Personal?
“Harmful to Minors” author Judith Levine mines her past contradictions to sketch out the challenge of a being a young woman simultaneously burgeoning into her feminist and her sexual selves.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
New York in the 1970s Gave Us Hip Hop, Madonna, and the Chip on Trump’s Shoulder
“You bang your head against the wall to try to get some nice buildings up, and what happens? Everybody comes after you.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Gotham Gave Us Trump
New York’s tumultuous `70s and `80s taught Donald Trump about the power of the politics of fear — and very little about what makes cities work.
Posted inFeatured, Nonfiction, Quotes
Before Becoming an Art Critic, Jerry Saltz Wanted to Draw 10,000 Dante-Inspired Altarpieces
On the project that almost drove Jerry Saltz into despair.
Posted inEditor's Pick
My Life As a Failed Artist
Jerry Saltz, New York‘s senior art critic, revisits his own short career as a Dante-obsessed artist in late-seventies Chicago.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Bruce Springsteen’s Asbury Park
After an unremarkable stint at Ocean County Community College, [Bruce Springsteen] relocated to Asbury Park, a gritty coastal community that scarcely resembled the glitzy seaside resort of its earlier days. By that time, jet travel and air conditioning had made distant locations like California, Florida, and the Caribbean more attractive to local vacationers. Deeply segregated and […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘I Knew They Loved Spending Time With Us…But I Also Knew We Were Good Cover.’
When Weathermen did get around to bombing things, the preparation and execution remained fraught with risk. Long-haired young people lingering outside courthouses and police stations late at night tended to draw attention in the early 1970s. It occurred to Dohrn, and to others in the leadership, that disguises alone wouldn’t ensure their safety. Thus the […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How the Hand Painted Rock ‘n’ Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip Came to Be
Collectors Weekly: Who started the music industry’s billboard trend?
Landau: As far as I can tell, it was the Doors in 1967 for their debut album. I talked with Jac Holzman—the head of Elektra Records who signed the Doors—while writing my book. In 1967, he had just come out here from the East Coast and opened an office on La Cienega Boulevard, not far from Sunset Boulevard, and it occurred to him that billboards were being used for everything except promoting records and music. A lot of radio stations where popular disc jockeys worked were farther east on Sunset, and he knew they drove on the Strip, and that the entertainment industry in general was based there.