Posts tagged Rolling Stone

Posted 1 year ago

Short URL

2 Notes

It was sickening enough when British oil giant BP set new standards for corporate scumbaggery in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, turning the Gulf of Mexico into its own personal toilet and imperiling entire species of wildlife in an attempt to save a few nickels. But with the Gulf geyser finally capped, there’s still a way for BP to cause an even more unthinkable disaster: an AIG-style, derivative-fueled financial shitstorm.

Matt Taibbi, “BP’s Shockwaves,” Rolling Stone issue 1114.

There’s nothing quite like a good story lead, and Matt Taibbi is a craftsman when it comes to wit, sarcasm and the catchy phrase. He works vulgar and sarcasm the way other artists shape clay.

Do you have news media story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

Tags

Posted 1 year ago

Short URL

Notes

The most civilized place I’d ever been. Everybody would get a little bottle of milk on their doorstep, and no one would steal each other’s milk. It was very good milk. Rupert Murdoch hadn’t bought the Times yet, so it still published with the beautiful old typeface.

Anorexia was in. We lived in a nice little neighborhood, with the Forum ABC movie theater on the corner and a little Turkish restaurant called the Baghdad, where they’d play Neil Young music and sell you a joint. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven.

Iggy Pop in Rolling Stone issue 1101. In response to question: “Almost 40 years ago, you recorded ‘Rave Power’ in England with David Bowie. What was London like?”

Storytelling is an artform—and one not often requiring lots of words. Iggy’s response is 93 words, which would fill about four 140-character tweets. He paints a poignant and vivid image of 1960s London. The vividness comes from familiarity about community. The milk bottles, the fine old newspaper, the theatre and restaurant evoke emotions of a simpler, better, familial time.

The time probably wasn’t that much better than today. The 1960s swept great change and conflict across the planet. The past is only simpler and better in the imagination. But the glorified past has its place, of seeking a better future in the idealized things we remember—as individuals and societies.

Do you have a music or music icon story that you’d like told? Please email Joe Wilcox: oddlytogether at gmail dot com.

Tags

Posted 1 year ago

Short URL

1 Notes

Masters of the Econolypse

Rolling Stone issue 1099 arrived while I was flu-snookered last week. It’s the third issue received since my resubscribing after more than 25 years. Amazon made an offer I couldn’t refuse: Half-year subscription for a buck. The writing is better than ever, although a contributing editor wrote the best story—”Wall Street’s Bailout Hustle”. (If you see an illustration—meaning the link to it is still live—credit: Victor Juhasz.)

Continue reading…

Tags

Following