18 Monday Apr 2016
Posted in Madonna, Music, Periodicals
≈ Comments Off on Art Decades 7: Bowie, Madonna and More
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Art Decades, David Bowie, Madonna, Marcelline Block, Michael A. Gonzales, Peter Guralnick, Rebel Heart
Ever since the death of David Bowie in January, there has been an outpouring of public grief. Not corporate-led, but a genuine groundswell of feeling from generations of fans to whom Bowie was not just an idol, but an inspiration. Continue reading
16 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Books, Fiction, Film, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Music, Non-Fiction
≈ Comments Off on 2015: A Year in Books
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A Manual for Cleaning Women, A Year in Books, Alberto Moravia, Backlands, Before Marilyn, Bobbie Gentry, C. Joseph Greaves, Caryl Phillips, Cathi Unsworth, Clarice Lispector, David L. Jones, David Wills, Eileen, Elena Ferrante, Encyclopedia Madonnica 20, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fires in the Dark, Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee, Louise Doughty, Lucia Berlin, Madonna, Marilyn in the Flash, Marilyn Monroe, Matthew Rettenmund, Michelle Morgan, Ode to Billie Jo, Otessa Moshfegh, Rebecca Wait, Stewart O'Nan, Tara Murtha, The Followers, The Ipswich Witch, The Lost Child, The Story of the Lost Child, The Time of Indifference, Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo), Victoria Shorr, West of Sunset, Without the Moon, Wuthering Heights
Reading Clarice Lispector for the first time is like falling in love. Each of her stories is a rare jewel. Shocking, funny and wildly imaginative, this collection is a landmark, reclaiming her as one of the underrated voices of the twentieth century.
The final volume in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series rages like a cyclone. No happy endings here, only the transcendence of real art.
Lucia Berlin was a wonderful American writer, whose stories are warm, yet unflinching. She led an eventful life, and while there are strong autobiographical elements in her work, she was also richly imaginative. Continue reading
15 Tuesday Dec 2015
Posted in Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Music
≈ Comments Off on 2015: A Year in Music
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#billieat100, A Year in Music, Billie Holiday, Fantastic Voyage, Honeymoon, I'm a Ruin, Jamaica, Lana Del Rey, Madonna, Marina and the Diamonds, Natasha Khan, Rebel Heart, SEXWITCH
Madonna’s Rebel Heart arrived in March, though it leaked months before. Her 13th studio album is a hot mess, with some twenty-five tracks in all: some brilliant, others bizarre, but always fascinating. Continue reading
20 Saturday Dec 2014
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A Year in Music, Angel Olsen, First Aid Kit, Hurray for the Riff Raff, I Never Learn, Lana Del Rey, Living for Love, Lykke Li, Madonna, Rebel Heart, Samantha Crain, Ultraviolence, West Coast
My favourite album this year was Lana Del Rey’s dark, brooding Ultraviolence, and my song of the summer was ‘West Coast’.
A close second was Lykke Li’s epic tearjerker, I Never Learn. You can watch her incredible Glastonbury performance here.
I also enjoyed Samantha Crain’s Kid Face; Angel Olsen’s Burn Your Fire for No Witness; Small Town Heroes, by Hurray for the Riff Raff; and First Aid Kit’s Stay Gold.
Looking forward to 2015 – the reigning Queen of Pop, Madonna, will launch her new album, Rebel Heart, in March. A six-track EP, including lead single ‘Living for Love’, was released on i-Tunes this morning.
12 Wednesday Nov 2014
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Madonna’s career-defining second album, Like a Virgin, was released 30 years ago today, on November 12, 1984. From the archives, read my (now fully expanded) review – here…
Tara Hanks 
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