2024 was an endurance test. Sometimes I passed, sometimes I failed. Time sped up. But also it slowed down. January 2024 feels like it was a decade ago. Along with the political stupidity poisoning the air, there is the incomprehension poor CEOs feel at the level of hatred coming at them. I’m staggering into 2025 with ripped hosiery, like Phyllis Brooks above, in Josef von Sternberg’s Shanghai Gesture.
I joined Blue Sky, with millions of other refugees from what we now call “the other place”. A sense of community is, ironically, what the “social media” overlords want to deny us. They want us atomized. It benefits them if we stay on our phones all day arguing with each other. They want us to be forced to “debate” our core values and, in some cases, our humanity. I am not going to “debate” things like why we shouldn’t dehumanize other people. We don’t have to “opt in” to their rules of play.
Concentrating on work is a challenge when the world is “too much with us”. My family is going through a lot. We are doing our best.
I’ve been feeling stagnant in my writing. All that changed in 2024.
Liberties
Early in 2024, Celeste Marcus, the managing editor of Liberties Journey, reached out and asked if I would be interested in doing a monthly column. I started in April.
I launched the column with a piece on my Actors Studio background and how that informed my work as a film critic. I also wrote a piece on Carole Lombard, I interviewed Sean Abley, co-editor of Queer Horror: A Film Guide, I wrote a piece decades in the making about my simultaneous discovery of John Cassavetes’ Opening Night and Tennessee Williams’ Two-Character Play, I wrote another piece decades in the making about Marion Keisker’s crucial role in “discovering” Elvis, I also interviewed filmmaker Sinéad O’Shea about her documentary Blue Road — The Edna O’Brien Story, and, finally, my 2024 round-up of films I loved, an unranked top 20.
Ebert
A selection of reviews I wrote this year:
Review of The Settlers
Review of The Promised Land
Review of Here
Review of Wicked Little Letters
Review of Just the Two of Us
Review of Daddio
Review of Goldilocks and the Two Bears
Review of Oddity
Review of Kneecap (included in my Top 20)
Review of Good One
Review of Sweetheart Deal
Review of No Other Land (included in my Top 20)
Review of Small Things Like These (included in my Top 20)
Review of All We Imagine As Light (included in my Top 20)
Review of The Last Showgirl (in which Pamela Anderson gives one of my favorite performances of the year)
The Sheila Variations
I decided to write about music pioneers on my site, timed for their birthdays.
Sam Phillips
“I was looking for what was coming from a man’s soul and a man’s conviction. I didn’t care about his past. If it was innate and natural and felt good to him and it communicated.”
— Sam Phillips
This essay on Sam Phillips and Sun Records was a companion piece to the Liberties essay I wrote on Marion Keisker.
Ruth Brown
“I was one of the few female artists that made appearances in the deep South. Every place that there was a stage, no matter what the economic situation was, even in the midst of the worst period of segregation–I was always there.”
—Ruth Brown
I wrote about this Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer (and founder of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation).
Etta James
“You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that’s got nothing to do with it. It’s how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.”
— Etta James
Etta James connected to songs like no other. Here’s a long overdue tribute to one of my faves.
Josh White
“He had a profound influence on my style. At the time I came along, he was the only popular black folk singer, and through his artistry exposed America to a wealth of material about the life and conditions of black people that had not been sung by any other artist.”
—Harry Belafonte on the news of Josh White’s death
I wrote about this radical influential folk singer , inspired by a conversation I had with my mother. She loved him and went to go see him back in the day.
Gene Vincent
“Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.”
—Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent influenced a generation (see above picture).
Fats Domino
“This here’s the real King of Rock ‘n Roll.”
— Elvis Presley, introducing Fats Domino at a press conference in 1969
Fats Domino was a first, in so many ways. He made millions. Wrote about him.
Rufus Thomas
“Memphis amateurs are the world’s professionals.”
— Rufus Thomas
I wrote about the emcee of Beale Street.
Carl Perkins
“Sometimes I can sing it when I can’t say it.”
— Carl Perkins
I’ve already written quite a bit about him, but figured I’d put it all together .
Ricky Nelson
“A lot of people try to equate me with guys like Frankie Avalon and Fabian, but in the old days I sold a lot of records over a period of time, and you can’t sustain that by being just another pretty face.”
— Ricky Nelson
He struggled with the teen idol pretty face thing his whole life. His voice is perfect, though, so I wrote about that.
Steve Albini
“I can’t have any respect for somebody …who’s not involved in the creative process but then decides that they wanna snipe at it from the outside and manipulate people into doing things to suit them. Fuck every one of those people.”
— Steve Albini
R.I.P. to the man responsible for the soundtrack of my youth.
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was arriving in England in 1965 for a tour. He didn’t have a work permit and the immigration officer said, “You’ve got a nerve.” Turner replied, “That’s what it takes these days, daddy.” Wrote about him.
Howlin’ Wolf
Wrote about this “early influencer”, a man with a transcendent power.
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
“I can scream soprano.”
— Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
How to even explain him? I can’t! But he’s fun to write about.
James Burton
“I never bought a Ricky Nelson record. I bought a James Burton record.”
— Keith Richards
James Burton is one of the greatest sidemen of all time. I saw him in concert back in 2013.
Dale Hawkins
“The thing I really wanna say is—and really, really mean is that real things last. Any way you look at it. Real things last.”
— Dale Hawkins
Speaking of James Burton, who did the guitar lick. Dale Hawkins may be the most influential “one hit wonder” of all time.
Wynonie Harris
Wrote about this hugely influential blues shouter.
Billy Lee Riley
“[Billy Lee Riley] was a true original. He did it all.”
— Bob Dylan
What a fascinating life.
Chuck Berry
“Respect isn’t enough. You’ve got to have a proprietary interest.”
— Chuck Berry
He can’t be summed up. I didn’t even try.
LaVern Baker
“As we say in church, I look back on a job well done.”
— LaVern Baker
Tribute to this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
Brenda Lee
“The music business can be very cold. And it doesn’t honor its elders.”
— Brenda Lee
I try to honor the elders, like this record-smashing artist.
Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich has one of my favorite voices in all of music.
Bo Diddley
“Everything I know I taught myself.”
— Bo Diddley
You can pick his guitar playing out of a blind sample. Wrote about him.
So. THAT ^^ is how I made it through 2024. I barely remember writing all of it but I somehow got it done.
I’ve been looking for solace wherever I can find it, mini escape hatches so I can take a mental break. I’ve found solace in Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date, Anthony Jeselnik’s stand-up (finding solace in his dark prickish persona is so funny to me), Eminem’s new album (particularly the song with Jelly Roll), and then tripping over haunting moments like this one. I’ve watched it about 20 times.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting my work.