The Long Goodbye: Altman and Gould’s Marlowe, the Scuzzy ‘70s, and an Imagined Soundtrack

Director Robert Altman called his 1973 adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled crime novel The Long Goodbye “a satire in melancholy.” The film stars goofily sincere Elliott Gould as detective Philp Marlowe alongside the beautiful Nina van Pallandt, baseball pitcher turned controversial memoirist Jim Bouton, film director Mark Rydell, the stormy Sterling Hayden, and Altman regularContinue reading “The Long Goodbye: Altman and Gould’s Marlowe, the Scuzzy ‘70s, and an Imagined Soundtrack”

2025 Big Ears Festival, March 27-30, 2025

At one point while waiting for a venue to open during the 2025 Big Ears Festival, a man approached the line with a sign indicating that he was selling two tickets for the rock band Heart, who would be playing in Boston next month. Everyone who saw the sign laughed since he was trying toContinue reading “2025 Big Ears Festival, March 27-30, 2025”

Roadhouse

A few months ago, I took to social media to officially pronounce my separation from the word “choogle.” For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a musical description — some even may refer to it as a genre — that originated with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 song “Keep on Chooglin’.” During the song, John FogertyContinue reading “Roadhouse”

Drover

In 2011, Bill Callahan released his most critically-acclaimed album, Apocalypse. Recorded in the border town of Tornillo, Texas, the tone of the album is informed by Callahan’s relocation to Texas a few years before as he recalled in a 2022 interview with Uproxx: “When I first moved to Texas, I always felt like I wasContinue reading “Drover”