2019: A Year In Music

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This year brought defiant statements from masters old and new: the iconoclastic Madame X, reuniting Madonna with ‘disco god’ Mirwais; and the epochal Norman Fucking Rockwell from Lana Del Rey. Continue reading

Two-Faced Woman: Joan Crawford and ‘Rain’

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While it is generally agreed that no actress surpassed Jeanne Eagels’ performance as Sadie Thompson in Rain, many have tried. Among them was none other than Joan Crawford, in a 1932 talkie which was widely panned on release (and later, by Crawford herself.) While at first her Sadie may seem close to parody, a more striking portrayal soon emerges, as Imogen Sara Smith writes in ‘Two-Faced Woman’, an article for The Chiseler. Continue reading

Marilyn: A Life in Biographics

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“When we can recognise an actor by a set of icons, we can also recognise how completely that actor and their work have entered our culture and our consciousness.” A snapper board, a ukulele, and a birthday cake; the imprint of red lipstick, a bottle of Chanel No. 5, and a white halter dress blowing in the wind above a subway grate. These are all visual signifiers of the ultimate Hollywood bombshell, Marilyn Monroe. Continue reading

Soledad 3: Twin Peaks, Blondie and More

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The third issue of SOLEDAD Arts Journal is now available to order via Amazon, for £5.18 in the UK or a devilish $6.66 Stateside. The cover photo shows Carol Lynley, who sadly passed away recently, with Gig Young in The Shuttered Room (1967), to which editor Jeremy Richey pays tribute inside. This issue’s muse is Debbie Harry, with Blondie lyrics peppered throughout, and a profile by superfan Dave Stewart (no, not that one.) Debbie was my first pop idol, and her recent memoir, Face It, has brought me back into the fold.

Still on the music front, Jeremy has also interviewed Texan duo Teenage Cavegirl, and Steven Darrow from Sonic Medusa and Sister Midnight. There are short stories by Les Bohem and Robert Monell, poems by Emily Clare Bryant, and photography by Amy Pangburn. John Greco talks about his Noir fiction, and Marcelline Block writes about reading in the digital age. As always, the film world is well-represented, with a review of a new Scorpio Films anthology – including Obsessions (Hole in the Wall), co-scripted by a young Martin Scorsese – and an insightful essay by Laura Kupp Beerman, ‘Seen/Unseen: Halloween, Peeping Tom and Empire of Signs.’

And finally, the concluding part of my Twin Peaks trilogy is also published in this issue, which I’ll dedicate to Robert Forster, who played Sheriff Frank Truman in the revival. He had a long and varied career, from his debut in Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), through to his comeback in Jackie Brown (1999) and Mulholland Drive (2001.) His surprise appearance in El Camino, the Breaking Bad sequel which aired last month, will now be remembered as his swansong.

The ‘Rain Girl’ in November

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As noted in the Playbill Vault, Jeanne Eagels began her legendary Broadway run as Sadie Thompson, “a prostitute at odds with a jungle missionary in Rain, primarily based on a W. Somerset Maugham quick story,” on this day, November 7, in 1922. We’re now just three years away from its centenary. Continue reading