editor’s choice
Ah, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ – even if you don’t recognise the title, you’ll know the track. Or if you don’t know the track, you’ll recognise the slogan. Played on the radio, on film soundtracks, at clubs, festivals, on music compilations and even in Tahrir Square during an attempt to overthrow Egyptian … Continue readings
Tags : BAM, Black Arts Movement, Black Power Movement, Chuck D, Gil Scott-Heron, Langston Hughes, Public Enemy, spoken word poets, the Last Poets, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Author Jane Harper undoubtedly struck gold with The Dry, an outstanding piece of crime fiction that garnered well-deserved praise and also introduced the complex character of federal investigator Aaron Falk. In Force of Nature, Falk’s second outing, Harper delivers another finely crafted book, slower paced perhaps than its predecessor, but one in which the … Continue readings
Talented singer–songwriter, musician, composer and poet Polly Jean aka ‘PJ’ Harvey is all about experiencing new things and pushing existing boundaries. Currently recording her ninth album at London’s historic Somerset House, to timed audiences, Harvey comments: ‘When you’re making music with other people in a space, you connect on a very primal level in … Continue readings
Tags : Bloomsbury, Leonard Cohen, musician, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, poetry, Polly Jean Harvey, Somerset House, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Thom Yorke
EDITOR’S CHOICE The phenomenon that is Dolly Parton, playing Glastonbury 2014. A sight, I’m sure, many people never thought they would see. Amazing woman. You just have to grin. And sing. See also: Dolly Parton, ‘The Not-so-invisible Woman’ … 100 great women in words’
Tags : country divas, country music, Dolly, Dolly Parton, Glastonbury, Jolene, musician, the not-so-invisible woman
Captain Wentworth’s love letter to Anne Eliot, Persuasion – the most beautiful love letter in literature surely? Even better than Darcy’s to Elizabeth… I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, … Continue readings
Performed by Miles Davis (trumpet); Milt ‘Bags’ Jackson (vibraharp); Thelonius Monk (piano); Percy Heath (bass); Kenny ‘Klook’ Clarke (drums). From a session originally recorded on December 24, 1954 (the ‘Christmas Session’). It was released on the album Bags’ Groove (Prestige Records; 1957 – although the rest of the album is made up … Continue readings
American poet Sylvia Plath discusses her poetry in 1962.
EDITOR’S CHOICE Probably one of the most famous and celebrated speeches in certainly our recent history, ‘I have a dream…’ was the address made by the civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, at the March on Washington; Washington DC, 28 August 1963. In 2013, on the 50th anniversary of the March, … Continue readings