The first interview about the next book

The first and hopefully not the last discussion of the forthcoming book, We're Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and the Real Culture War of 1980s America.  Appropriately on a podcast dealing with 1980s pop culture.  You can listen here (I come in after a beginning segment):

The 80its

Alaska finally...

Evidence: 

Punk Rock Research now takes fruit...

I've been in the archives a long time now.  What I link to here is an article that I wrote for The Sixties Journal.  It's about Detroit as the geographical root for punk during the long sixties (and it's a long piece).  Presently, I'm revising the book about 1980s punk...  For now check this out: Leather Jackets for Flowers...

a good read

Yours truly has a piece in this recent book (about Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama).  But I post this because it's also a really smart book of essays.  Who would have thought that a bunch of intellectual historians could produce such a fine collection?  Check it out:  American Labyrinth

a sweeping conversation about populism's fate in contemporary political culture

I post here a conversation with Burt Cohen about the fate of populism today (on the very important show "Keeping Democracy Alive").  It was a great conversation and hope you enjoy: Populism ain't what it used to be

latest on the "malaise speech": It's now a play!

Check out here an interview I did with two very interesting folks who have turned the "malaise speech" into a play.  Yes indeed: Confidence.

Summertime and the...

Been traveling during the summer and now am holed up writing the book about punk in the 1980s.  Travels were spectacular: With Vicky, we floated the Rio Chama (my fourth time for that) and the White River.  The White was especially delightful.  Vicky returned to the east for work, and I did a series of hiking and car camping trips throughout Utah -- sort of finishing stuff up.  This included the Black Hole of the White Canyon, some areas in Grand Gulch (Road Canyon and others), the Manti La Sal Mountains and the Henry Mountains, and numerous hikes from our very old Kelsey guide.  It culminated in a four day backpacking trip in the Sangre De Cristo mountains in Colorado and a day float down through Browns Canyon National Monument on the Arkansas River (I never packraft anything that's Class IV, so went "mersh" on this one). 

Being on public lands made me remember how much they matter.  Hence, the letter that I link to here: Remembering the Muddy River.  And here's a shot of the White River, with our dog Loki in a contemplative, existential state: