Country Music Reclamation Project: She Once Lived Here

I love Gram Parsons. A privileged rich kid from Florida who became an outcast from his family to become a musician. A musician during the long-haired ’60s who had such a passion for country music that he transformed one of the best bands in rock music into a country-rock band for a while, creating Sweethearts of the Rodeo as a testament. He even steered the Rolling Stones toward country music and, I think, given time, would have taken over that group the way he took control of the Byrds. Most of all, I think Gram saw the beauty and honesty …

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Movie Review: No Way Out

1950. Starring Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark. Directed by Joseph Mankiewicz. Let me be the one-millionth blogger to note that the past week was a transformative week for America. But I think the wisest thing said this week (and said by a wiseass as a wisecrack) was Stephen Colbert’s question to a guest on the Comedy Central election night special: “So, does this mean that racism is over?” Clearly, when No Way Out was made, racism was not a thing of the past. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie that so bluntly portrays racism, and explains it as a …

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Elsewhere Online: How He Did It

Political campaigns can be exhausting — and the campaign season behind us was especially tough — but at the heart of politics is a mix of people, strategy, emotion and changing circumstances. Newsweek has an amazingly interesting 7-chapter behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential race, including insiders’ views of the Obama and McCain campaign staffs. Some of the insights have already become post-election arguments (the animosity within the McCain-Palin campaign, the battle over that campaign’s message, and the ever-growing clothing tab), but tells of challenges within the Obama campaign as well. How our President-Elect handled himself — with disciplined restraint …

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Passings: Yma Sumac

A staple of every record collector’s “bachelor pad” section, the works of Yma Sumac were weirdly calming, even when they were at their cacophonic, screeching-infused best. She passed away in Los Angeles on November 1. Sumac was born as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo in Peru in 1922, and released her first American album, Voice of the Xtabay, on Capitol in 1950. She claimed to have descended from Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor, and Capitol made every attempt to play up the exotic nature of her voice, her music and her appearance. She famously had a five-octave voice, capable …

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