Covering Music, Film and Pop Culture
This summer, I’ve seen the pirate flag, the jolly roger, more often than I’ve seen the Stars and Stripes. The distinctive black flag usually includes a white skull with swords, or bones, crossed underneath....
Like numerous other women across the globe, I spent July preparing for the “Miss Universe” pageant. As the contestants were practicing keeping a straight face while wearing one of those overspangled, Vegas-inspired “national costumes,”...
The Fourth of July is our most patriotic holiday. It’s a time of nationwide flag flying, backyard barbecuing and fireworks. June’s pallid Flag Day hardly makes a dent in comparison. On this 230th anniversary...
If America is a classless society, why has the Geico gecko on the telly suddenly developed a working-class British accent? Although geckos are the only lizards with a voice, this accent seems odd to...
Like many people who move to Austin to attend the University of Texas, I didn’t know a soul when I arrived. It was the fall of 1988, and I didn’t have a single friend...
Radio waves are all around us. They penetrate into buildings and travel through car windshields. Unfortunately, if you turn on the radio, those radio waves often magically transform into yelling. Much of the time,...
Everyone needs a deep, dark secret. For years, mine was NBC’s supernatural soap “Passions.” In the early part of the decade, I was faithful to it, never missing lunch with its characters, closely following...
In America, love is a many-fendered thing. Like no other people on earth, Americans adore their autos, embrace them and identify with them. This love affair started with Ford’s first Model Ts and progressed...
Last Monday, Sandip Gupta, 19, was having a rough evening. Days away from the national championship tournament, his training session was not going well. His broad face was sweating, his arm hurt, and he...
Like thousands of others, 22-year-old Latvian singer-songwriter Goran Gora packed his bags, his guitar and his dreams of musical success, and brought them all to the 20th South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in...
