I remember something Dylan wrote about most popular music artists in his book Chronicles: Volume One, and that is that making music “isn’t their destiny.” Van Morrison has an album called Born to Sing: No Plan B. Other than making music, there wasn’t anything else these guys could have done. When I think of the artists whose work has meant a lot to me, I’m not recalling anyone who seems to have gone into the music industry to make money by churning out songs that sound like everyone else’s songs. In fact, for most of the people I’m thinking of, that wasn’t even an option at the time they started. If you could make enough money to support yourself with music, you were doing well. Now you can make money putting out songs that sound like every other song, which is good in a way, because you can be a… Read more →
Author Archive: Paul Epps
This Is What Propaganda Looks Like
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Gene Hackman, 1930-2025
Gene Hackman died in his New Mexico home, which is not shocking in itself, given that he was 95 years old. The shocking part is that his much-younger wife died and one of his dogs died at the same time. Well, that may not be quite right . . . they were all found at the same time, but had apparently been dead for a while. As I write this, the reasons for the more-or-less simultaneous deaths remain a mystery. Maybe it’s just a really, really amazing coincidence, three living beings all dying at the same time. I’ve seen Hackman in a lot of movies. I liked his work. The French Connection and Unforgiven are two of my favorite movies. French Connection was the first R-rated movie I ever saw. My dad took me when I was 14. RIP Gene Hackman Read more →
Goodbye Joy Reid, et al
How naive of me to think Joy Reid was fired over ratings: https://t.co/ToLxT96iNN pic.twitter.com/MoJh3WsPwm — Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 25, 2025 Joy Reid is one of many media personalities being shuffled about recently. Joy Reid oozes racial hatred from every pore. She used to laugh at “white tears.” Who’s crying now? After being fired, Reid will have more time to grope around for some kind of an explanation for how little influence she and people like her have over increasingly large numbers of the American public. Imagine that you’re an MSNBC host and every day you show up and say the same things. Trump is a fascist. Trump is a racist. Trump is the new Hitler. Trump’s going to destroy our country. Trump is a rapist. He’s a white supremacist, white nationalist. Then you see a huge portion of the country vote for the person that you’ve been obsessively condemning… Read more →
Garth Hudson, 1937-2025
With the recent death of Garth Hudson, there are no more surviving members of The Band. They’re all gone, or maybe they’re all back together. Every member of KISS is still alive. And yet there are people who can’t understand why I don’t believe in God. RIP Garth Hudson View this post on Instagram A post shared by Robbie Robertson (@robbierobertsonofficial) Read more →
Maybe You’re Dumb and He’s Smart
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It Worked Until It Didn’t
God, You’ve Done Enough
I found the one prayer that seemed to serve the winter mood: O God, You’ve done enough, You’ve robbed me of enough, I’m too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever. — Graham Greene, The End of the Affair Read more →
Prevent trouble before it arises.
Put things in order before they exist.
Adam Carolla: White Privilege
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Melancholy hypochondria. It is a terrible disease: it makes you see things as they are. — Gérard de Nerval
Traveling Alone
Oh, If I had a son I would make him laugh, I would teach him something I’d say, “Son, you gotta hold your own And it’s good to have a taste for traveling alone” — Tift Merritt, “Traveling Alone” Read more →
Thomas Jefferson on Preemptive Pardons
My fellow Americans – In his final hours as president, Joe Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the lawmakers and staff who served on the January 6 committee. He also issued pardons to a number of his own family members, in addition to the previous pardon of his son Hunter. These are all preemptive pardons, for unspecified crimes that those receiving the pardons have not actually been convicted of or even charged with. This is a cowardly act. After years of lawfare against President Trump, and after expressing his displeasure over his attorney general’s failure to put Trump in prison before the 2024 election, Biden explained the pardons by saying this: “Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.” Even making allowances for the man’s senility, that is one of the most brainless statements I’ve… Read more →
Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it. — Schopenhauer
All the High School Sweethearts
All the high school sweethearts from this year and last year and every other year are gathered in the gym. You remember her. You remember him. The band plays every couple’s honor song but nobody takes the floor except the King and Queen of Memory. Maybe a few sweethearts are still in love with each other but everybody else is just sipping nostalgia from a plastic cup. Funny how beautiful our scars become. After the band plays one last ballad, a few stragglers linger at the door, wanting more, please, a little more, but everybody else will say goodbye to their favorite ghost and travel home, fast or slow, to whom they treasure most. — Sherman Alexie, “All the High School Sweethearts” Read more →
2024: The Year in Books
These are the books I read in 2024, roughly in the order listed. The ratings are mine. They don’t represent a consensus of opinion. It wasn’t a great year. I didn’t read enough and what I did read wasn’t as good as I would have liked. That said, Bluets, by Maggie Nelson, is one of the most exceptional books I’ve read. My Library at LibraryThing Read more →
Half a Life
Do not live half a life and do not die a half death If you choose silence, then be silent When you speak, do so until you are finished If you accept, then express it bluntly Do not mask it If you refuse then be clear about it for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance Do not accept half a solution Do not believe half truths Do not dream half a dream Do not fantasize about half hopes Half the way will get you no where You are a whole that exists to live a life not half a life. — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet Read more →
Budget Cuts Are a Diversion from the Real LA Fire Incompetence
The budget cuts are a total diversion from policies that emphasize everything except competence and results. The cuts were $17.6 million. I've seen countless news stories on this, some of which describe the cuts as "slashing" the budget, but none of them mention what the annual… — Paul Epps (@paulepps) January 11, 2025 Read more →
Political Fallout from LA Fires?
Adam Carolla predicts the political fallout from the LA fires: You guys all voted for Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles. You all voted for Gavin Newsom, and now you fucking get what you get, now that your house is on fire. So here’s what’s going to happen. All these people who are deep blue Democrats are now going to have to pull a permit to rebuild, and they’re going to get the 28-year-old bitch from the Coastal Commission telling them to go fuck off, and then they’re going to vote for Trump or whoever’s Trumpian next. Read more →