If you saw a guy filming that set it was my brother! He said they were amazing.
Writer. "Homeplace," about Patsy Cline's hometown. "A Song for Everyone," about CCR. "BACKBEATS: A History of Rock and Roll in 15 Drummers" is out on 11/11/25. johnlingan.com
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If you saw a guy filming that set it was my brother! He said they were amazing.
I’m sure I’ll get around to it, this one’s very fun!
My first Le Guin, which despite being a book for teenagers about magic, has better prose than most realistic fiction for adults.
I’m enough fan and can’t account for how the silliest source material of PTA’s career led to his most visually dull film. Total misfire.
Nope! Just a bizarrely boring movie.
Coming to nyc in late September and think I’ll see John zorn.
That’s unspeakably pathetic.
Seated. Ready. I want this to work.
This a federally-monitored website. The regime is on highest alert. Anyone posting advocacy for violence right now is a fedposter or a fool. This has nothing to do with what is right or wrong or what you have a right to say. It's simply a fact.
I’ve tried watching “Inherent Vice” on tv multiple times and never finished. Will tonight’s 35mm screening do the trick?
Specifically requested no card but I want song recs. xoxo
Every picture of The National and especially this guy looks like they’re annoyed you haven’t given them back their copy of “Death of a Ladies Man.”
Silliest indie rock guy of the last 25 years, non-complimentary division.
Never complimented you on the amazing cover.
Fully agree and I'd go further that the "factual" side is genuine gibberish. Is 1990 part of "the 90s"? Is 12:15am actually part of the previous day?
I got yer "factually" right here, pal
Fact checking has forced me to ask a question I’d never thought about before: Given there’s no “year zero,” does “the 20th century” last from 1900-1999 or from 1901-2000? This is real, please answer.
youtu.be/TKu4cUnrvio?...
In honor of Buckley’s legacy, this stamp is so racist it won’t even stick to manila envelopes.
“Preorder BACKBEATS, rockin’ dudes.”
“Be gay, do crimes.”
Amazing! Happy for you, Jason.
The first in a series, The Ebert Cantos, found poems consisting solely of unbroken fragments from Roger Ebert’s movie reviews. No AI in sight.
Operatic grandiosity for this one rich guy’s revenge tale. Preposterous. But of course worth watching given everyone involved.
Used to be one of the rotten ones
Need a montage of Denzel in the most slack and slumped positions ever captured on film.
For the record I hope he does this every few years forever.
The Spike Lee version of Adam Sandler’s Netflix movies that he does to go on vacation with his friends.
Highest 2 Lowest is unbelievably silly.
White Lotus is merely Mike White’s reward for that show.
So happy you got to experience Camden yards with a game like that. 🦀🍻
A pristine used copy! Could’ve cried.
Fair to call this the most important record of my life and I finally have a vinyl copy. Best $20 I’ve spent this year.
FRIENDS > FASCISTS
No one has ever looked more like they just saw a GBV show.
I love Big Thief so much.
My biography of Justin Townes Earle will be released on January 13th, 2026, the week after what would’ve been his 44th birthday. It’s called ‘What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome’ If you’d like to support a debut author, you can pre-order here: www.hbglibrary.com/titles/jonat...
Recorded the intro for my audiobook today, for those who prefer their rock and roll history in dulcet tones. BACKBEATS is out in just over 2 months! www.simonandschuster.com/books/Backbe...
Make sure the hot water’s working, you’ll need a shower afterward.
I’d read Last Days before and thought it was interesting but kind of a curio. This was gut wrenching. Curious what you’d recommend next, he’s clearly some kind of talent.
Lord have mercy this was disturbing. That’s an endorsement.
If I had to choose the most undervalued artist in the US, I’d probably choose Ross McElwee. Thrilled he’s got a new one.
Corduroy Hail, Hail Nothingman Faithfull Rearviewmirror
It’s wild how few people have library cards. Get one and go browse! They usually have book clubs and county-wide reading campaigns, you can get audio ebooks for free too. Loaning gives you a deadline and eliminates the cost.
Greetings from one of the four unmarked, dipshit-filled black SUVs that just assembled in Columbia Heights, DC. Someone told them they’re not wanted in the neighborhood and one replied, “Well when we find another child molester we’ll bring them your house.”
Been hearing about Davenport’s brilliance for years and now that I’m finally digging into the rare, signed small-press version I have of his masterpiece, my neck hurts from nodding along. A truly commendable stylist and TV-hater.
Besides George Harrison and Adam Yauch, who are some other musicians from era-defining three-vocalist bands beginning with the letters "Bea" who went on to co-found boutique companies specializing in independent cinema?
Put poop in your brain. Become poop. Love the poop.
My story about the fight for the rubber bridge guitar is on the front page of the paper today, pretty damn cool www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
For the record the others in the convo imo are Earl Palmer, Jim Keltner, Buddy Harman, Pretty Purdie, Al Jackson Jr, Roger Hawkins, and Matt Chamberlain.
“Best” is always a tricky call but that’s tough to argue with. He played on 7 consecutive Record of the Year winners and for a period in 1968 he was on the #1 and #2 songs on the Billboard 200. And those aren’t even his best known credits.
My close personal friend Thomas Pynchon has asked me to pass along that he’s thrilled to see his new book listed alongside mine in this fall preview.
My close personal friend Thomas Pynchon has asked me to pass along that he’s thrilled to see his new book listed alongside mine in this fall preview.
Well said. It’s more intimate *and* heavier than anything they tried. What a track.
Such a tribute to Yo La Tengo that the joke still works perfectly.
Dragged my 4 and 14 yr olds guys to the IMAX “Sign ☮️ the Times” and realized that the stuff I push on them is older than “Remain in Light” was when this article was published.
I don’t know the specifics of his claim but my understanding (from a really good recent book called “Dancing to the Drum Machine”) is that Kraftwerk had electronic drums before anyone and that would’ve been years before Devo.
Tom Waits in Short Cuts Annie Ross in Short Cuts Lyle Lovett in Short Cuts Huey Lewis in Short Cuts
I asked my editor and got an interesting reply that you might enjoy:
Nearly certain Collins played it two handed though!
Have not, I like them but they’re not essential for me though I do have a fascination with Akron music.
Even pirates thought of it as leisure surely.
Prince extended mixes. Always life changers.
He’s the king of that
Wrote my undergrad thesis on it, GOATed book by any measure.
I feel like if you can get a normie interested in a pre-1980 movie you’re already halfway there. No one says “I’ll watch Kurosawa but only the color ones.” (So many amazing b&w Japanese movies.)
Let alone selling people on the *beauty* of b&w, the fact that in capable hands it’s often more visually exciting than many color movies.
Play hooky, read my book, be gay, do crime
A whole chapter! And strictly about his drumming, which I think is unique for most coverage.
That drum tone on “Mexican Radio”
“X, Lil Nas” In all honesty that’s a good question.
Tried to record an interview but he ate the mic.
Reviewing my new book’s index and feeling proud of the bedfellows in this project.
Love this one.
This music was bizarrely important to me when I was way too young to understand its density and influence. Silent Way is the best album, BB the most relistenable, Get Up With It the most influential, and LiveEvil/Agharta/Dark Magus tied for heaviest live records of the era.
This, not Nirvana, is how I open my new book’s Dave Grohl chapter. This track might be his greatest drumming performance!
23 years today ago “Songs for the Deaf” came out. This band was so tremendous, Grohl absolutely bonkers.
Twice(!) within like 60 pages, Fitzgerald describes a rippling body of water as “corrugated.” 🙄 He makes Cormac McCarthy feel like Jim Thompson.
On the other hand I have remembered the word “fruiterer” for almost 25 years despite never seeing it anywhere outside this book.
I think my issue is Nick. I can forgive flowery omniscient narration but from a crestfallen young bond salesman? Come on.
Rereading Gatsby for the first time since high school and frankly there are parts where the prose is so purple it’s exhausting. Here is a dude who can’t sleep:
My debut book is OUT TODAY! 'Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion' is about how indie rock changed the mainstream and the mainstream changed indie rock in the 21st century. Buy it and let me know what you think:
For anyone curious, I was asked a few questions about John Fogerty’s new “Legacy” album and the interviews he’s given about it. Here are my answers. For the record, the album stinks.
The way he repeats “the necessary means for a necessary means”
Charlie Watts died 4 years ago today. Here’s a little taste of the chapter about him in BACKBEATS. “When the tributes began after he died in 2021, it was as though a saint fell.” Preorder: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Backbe...
Not even usable liner notes.
Another important point: Swift re-recorded her songs as a stronger singer than she was a near-child. No knock on the guy because he’s goddamn 80 years old, but Fogerty’s vocals here sound like shit.
Man after my own heart, choosing “I Wanna Be With You” over “go All the Way”
For anyone curious, I was asked a few questions about John Fogerty’s new “Legacy” album and the interviews he’s given about it. Here are my answers. For the record, the album stinks.
When I interviewed Booker T, he talked about the crew of musclemen that Neil kept in his circle to carry all the heavy tube mixing boards for their recording sessions. I think about that a lot.
God as my witness, one day you’ll find yourself in an OK-but-could turn bad mood, you’ll go looking for a pick me up listen. You’ll put this on and it’ll hit so hard it hurts. The reissue also has an EP of them doing Everly covers.
Seconds of Pleasure isn’t my favorite record but it sure feels like it when it’s on.
Today we remember Buddy Harman who left us 17 years ago. He was widely regarded as the father of modern country drumming, integral to defining the rhythm and feel of the Nashville Sound in the 1950s and beyond. May he rest forever on 2 and 4 🥁 #BuddyHarman
We’re really proud of all he’s accomplished.
My son designed this album cover after I showed him how to use Canva for 5 minutes.
