TIME MACHINE GIG
The recently unearthed recording from the spring of 1963 captures the boys from Liverpool on the precipice of superstardom—and blew this Beatles superfan’s mind.
Colin Fleming's fiction, nonfiction, and op-eds appear in Harper's, Rolling Stone, Slate, Salon, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, ARTnews, The New Criterion, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic, JazzTimes, and The Washington Post, among other venues. He's the author of The Anglerfish Comedy Troupe: Stories from the Abyss (Dzanc), and is a regular guest on NPR and many additional radio programs and podcasts. Find him on the web at colinfleminglit.com, or his blog about the day in, day out life of an artist, https://www.colinfleminglit.com/blog, or on Twitter at #colinfleminglit.
and a hint of ‘psycho’
Or is it a song that happens to be a short story? Either way, there’s no room for improvement.
SILENCE IS GOLDEN
James Curtis’ biography gives Keaton the loving, intelligent treatment he deserves, and acknowledges that he was perhaps the funniest man who ever worked in Hollywood.
ICON
On what would have been the screen icon’s 100th birthday, Colin Fleming looks back on an artist that was so much more than Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’
ODD COUPLE
The writer and the president both suffered from depression. In this short story, the author imagines how their ghosts might get along, and how they cope.
A LOOK BACK
The Mitchell brothers’ porn masterpiece, featuring the first mainstream “interracial” sex scene in adult cinema, turns 50 this year. And it’s a fascinating cultural artifact.
ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END
Filmmaker Peter Jackson’s (“The Lord of the Rings”) nearly eight-hour Disney+ docuseries “The Beatles: Get Back” chronicles the final days of the greatest band ever.
PENNY LANE’S POET
In a new book showcasing his lyrics, McCartney provides a running commentary in conversation with the poet (and rocker) Paul Muldoon.
incendiary
In 1963, Sam Cooke recorded the smoking “Live at the Harlem Square Club” at a North Miami Beach nightclub. Its intensity remains unmatched, and “Chain Gang” is the cherry on top.