WE NEVER LEARN: GUNK PUNK IN THE 1990S
Eric Davidson, front man of the Ohio-based New Bomb Turks, is equally adept at rocking, rolling and writing....
Alan Bisbort
WALT WHITMAN: THE FIRST AMERICAN PUNK POET?
The enduring image of Walt Whitman is as a bearded old sage living out his years in...
JACK KEROUAC AT 100: HIS MAGICAL JUKEBOX
Music was the food that fueled Jack Kerouac’s soul, drove his writing and brought him his rare moments...
TOWNES VAN ZANDT: FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG
Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997) was a singer-songwriter whose work was popularized by Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard...
KENNETH FEARING: NYC’S ORIGINAL ‘DRUNKEN POET’
Kenneth Fearing, “the drunken poet,” was a rising star among the Greenwich Village bohos in the 1920s, his...
TED JOANS: GOING FAR BEYOND ‘RENT-A-BEATNIK”
Poet, musician, artist and avowed “surrealist” Ted Joans was, along with LeRoi Jones (later Amiri Baraka), one of...
ANGUS MACLISE: THE PETE BEST OF THE PUNK GODFATHERS
Angus MacLise (1938-1979) was, as the Velvet Underground’s original drummer, an essential element of their early free-form sound,...
ALI: JUST SAYING THE NAME LIGHTS UP A ROOM
It’s fitting that today is not only Martin Luther King Jr. Day but also the 80th anniversary of...
TOMORROW WITH TOM SNYDER: A RECONSIDERATION
During the punk era, Tom Snyder carved out a post-midnight corner of the TV landscape with his show,...
THE NEXT ‘NEW DYLAN’
After Bob Dylan went into hiding in upstate New York in 1966, the search was on for the...
THE LAVENDER SCARE: WHEN GAY WAS NOT
Spreading fear is one of the hallmarks of the far right in the U.S., a way to divide...
TAKE MY MOTHER IN LAW…PLEASE: CAROL O’SHAUGHNESSY
Thanksgiving is the best holiday on the calendar. It’s a non-denominational, non-political, non-threatening time when we ponder things...
DENIS KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL: UNDERGROUND COMIX PIONEER KEEPS ON TRUCKIN’
By Alan Bisbort Denis Kitchen is, in my view, the Stan Lee of underground comix. While Lee’s Marvel...
UTOPIA PARKWAY: THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF JOSEPH CORNELL
Artist, filmmaker and writer Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) was a mystery when he was alive and continues to mystify...