Southern Bookman

Legendary Texas Observers battles to survive

The venerated Texas Observer is desperately trying to stay alive.

After the small, feisty magazine's board decided Sunday to close the publication this week, 17 staffers targeted for layoffs began a fund-raising campaign led by editor Gabriel Arana. Nearly $200,000 had been raised as of Tuesday afternoon,  impressive but not enough to keep the Observer alive.

Began by Ronnie Dugger in 1954, the Observer gained a reputation for independent investigative reporting and brilliant writing. Legendary journalists Willie Morris and Molly Ivins edited the Observer before moving on to national fame. Novelist Larry McMurtry was one of the Texas writers who examined the Lone Star State's peculiar culture for the Observer.

Longtime editor Dugger is the father of noted New York Times journalist Celia Dugger, named for Morris' first wife. She worked as a young reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Observer is a vestige of Texas' once vibrant progressive Democratic politics, exemplified by late Gov. Ann Richards and former Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower. Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke and other Democratic leaders have failed to restore the state's progressive tradition.

With a circulation of 4,000, the Observer has fallen upon rough times in the digital age. Kept afloat by haphazard donations and paid subscriptions to the print edition, the Observer gives free email newsletters and hasn't set up a pay wall for its digital edition. Nor does it accept advertising.

The magazine that annoyed Lyndon Johnson, John Connally. George Bush and a motley group of rapacious Texas legislators also faced competition from the well-funded online news operation Texas Tribune, which broke the news of the Observer's closing. Texas Monthly magazine. edited by several Observer alums, covers much of the same territory.

Dugger's Observer was a model for alternative newspapers around the nation, such as the Village Voice and the Los Angeles Free Press.

When I was a young would-be Gonzo journalist, I saw the Observer as a bright shining light. I associated the publication with the progressive spirit then flowering in Texas, personified by hippie country artists Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wyle Hubbard, Gary P. Nunn and Townes Van Zandt.

If the Observer dies, part of Texas' soul will go with it.

 

Rediscovering Gay Talese's New Journalism classic, "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold"

Gay Talese's "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" remains as vital today as when it was published in 1966 in Harold Hayes' Esquire magazine.

I recently reread Talese's classic, collected in "The Gay Talese Reader," which I found again on my bookshelf.

Sinatra lives again in the long and detailed portrait, even more remarkable in that Talese never talked to the famed singer and actor. Talese's efforts over many weeks to connect with Sinatra raises the narrative excitement.

Despite the limited access to Sinatra, Talese fully describes him interacting with fans and cronies in favorite hangouts and taping his "A Man and His Music" TV special. 

The article shines a bright light on the triumphs and defeats of Sinatra's career, from his adolescence in New Jersey through his early popularity, downfall and comeback.

Sinatra's cold turns into a metaphor for the vulnerability that underlay his macho persona, which Talese compares to that of a Mafia chieftain.

Along with extravagant acts of kindness, Sinatra was vindictive and domineering. In an amusing/alarming anecdote, Sinatra berates the writer Harlan Ellison at a nightclub for wearing casual clothes instead of a suit and tie.

The portrait of the self-proclaimed "chairman of the board" resonates today. Threatened by rock in the 1960s, Sinatra's music is now acclaimed by new generations and his style of American masculinity endures as a flashpoint in politics and culture.

Fellow Esquire writer Tom Wolfe considered "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" the foundation of the "New Journalism," of which Wolfe was a leading figure.

Talese's profile pioneered the use of a novelist's techniques of characterization and scene-setting in non-fiction. His 1966 Esquire profile of Joe DiMaggio also displayed a novel's narrative power.

The writer, now 91, gained fame for his books like "Thy Neghbor's s Wife," an examination of American sexuality, and "The Kingdom and the Power," a ground-breaking study of The New York Times, where he began his career.

"Frank Sinatra Had a Cold" and other magazine pieces show Talese at the height of his talent.

 

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Vanity Fair shows old excellence with 29th Hollywood issue

Vanity Fair's excellent Hollywood issue proclaims that film glamour lives on in a new generation.

The 29th annual celebration of the movies sizzles with the magazine's old flair, a triumph for Editor Radhika Jones, beset by seismic cultural shifts and falling circulation, news-stand sales and advertising since she took charge in late 2017.

Jones' compelling mix of Hollywood features and in-depth journalism recalls the great issues of  predecessors Graydon Carter and Tina Brown.

Disputing a prevailing belief that the film star is dead, a photographic gallery of Hollywood's rising generation glows with film magic.

Photographer Steven Klein and stylist Patti Wilson capture the charisma of Selena Gomez, Jonathan Majors, Austin Butler, Ana De Armas, Florence Pugh, Keke Palmer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Julia Garner and Rege-Jean Page.

Hollywood's glorious past is honored with Mark Seal's history of the 100-year-old Hollywood sign and Wayne Lawson's reminisces of co-writing Gloria Swanson's autobiography.

Magazine staff writer Joe Pompeo examines a new media update of the film gossip publications of the past with a feature on Ankler, a movie industry news site.

Writer Richard Rushfield, a fedora-wearing throwback to newspaper entertainment columnists of the past, started the popular news source, and now seeks to expand it on Substack in partnership with media entrepreneur Janice Min.

Washington politics receives attention with Abigail Tracy's profile of Maxwell Frost, the first Gen Z congressman.

Writer James Pogue in a disturbing article investigates the "New Right's" desire to withdraw from American society and live in isolated communities, hoping to survive the collapse of civilization they foresee.

Pogue gives a soberting portrait of wealthy American "preppers" who have colonized rural areas of Montana, driving up property values and forcing longtime residents to  flee. The revealing article is one of the most important the magazine has published in several years.

Like Hollywood, Vanity Fair shines on.

Tom Hanks' sparkling story "Lingua Franca" raises excitement for his first novel

Tom Hanks really can write a good story.

I was skeptical about the 66-year-old actor's writing ability, even though he published a best-selling short story collection, "Uncommon Type," several years ago.

But Hanks' story "Lingua Franca" in the current Harper's magazine restored my long-lost enjoyment of the genre. With its crisp dialogue, fast-paced plot and engaging characters, the story appropriately takes place in the 1940s, the gold era of popular short stories in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post and Esquire.

Reminiscent of traditional masculine-flavored stories by Ernest Hemingway, Tom McGuane and Raymond Carver, "Lingua Franca" turns upon the difficulties of World War II veterans in returning to normal life back home in America.

Rich in the slang of the era, the story builds to a mesmerizing dramatic climax in which two former Marines share a moment of awkward sympathy and healing in a deftly imagined roadhouse in the American West.

The story is an excerpt of Hanks' first novel, "The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece," to be published in May by Knoph.

Drawing upon Hanks' acting career, the book will range across several decades, registering the changes in American society from World War II to the present, according to a plot summary.

In the book, a veteran's experiences inspire a comic book written by his nephew, in which the former soldier appears as a character. Later, a movie is made from the comic, with a series of plot complications.

Hanks' story has me looking forward to reading "The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece," an anticipation for a spring book I haven't felt in years.

 

 

Harper's columnist Rachel Kushner finds movie arrogance outside her front door

Rachel Kushner, who first gained fame as a novelist, is one of America's best essayists.

Kushner has given Harper's magazine's esteemed Easy Chair column a fresh jolt of urbane commentary.

In the tradition of lauded Easy Chair columnist Bernard DeVoto in the mid-20th century, Kushner writes with grace and precise observation. While participating in the action, she displays an amused detachment and satiric sympathy for human failings.

Kushner in her column in the magazine's current issue gives a slice of life look at Los Angeles, where she lives in a historic neighborhood east of Echo Park Lake.

With its renovated 19th century homes and view of downtown Los Angeles, the neighborhood is a favorite of film-makers seeking to show the city's past. Kushner says Jack Nicholson portraying the sardonic detective Jake Geddes in the 1930s-era film "Chinatown" parked his roadster in front of her neighbor's house.

Producers of the "Fast and Furious" series also film in the neighborhood, causing major disruptions. Kushner gives a vivid account of how the "Fast and Furious" crews invade the streets of her community like a conquering army.

Kushner points out that most people in Los Angeles work outside of the film industry. Yet, the business overshadows life in the sprawling metropolis.

The column indicts the film industry's arrogance, while recognizing its seductive glamour and entertainment power.

While supporting a neighborhood protest against the "Fast and Furious" production, she gave the filmmakers permission to shoot scenes of downtown L.A. from her back yard.

She's an observer and part of the story. As with the late Joan Didion, that brings a camera-like objectivity.

Farewell David Harris, 1960s counterculture hero

Each week brings the death of a 1960s icon.

David Harris, leader of the Vietnam-era draft resistance movement and former husband of folksinger Joan Baez, is the latest to go. Harris, 76, died Monday of lung cancer at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., according to a New York Times obituary.

Reading about Harris' death rang a distant bell for me. Serving a jail sentence for refusing the draft, he was one of the heroes of the anti-war movement.

I vividly recall being inspired by his resistance, and the counterculture glamour of his relationship with Baez, who remained a musical icon even after rock gained prominence over folk songs.

After his release from prison and divorcing Baez in 1973, Harris embarked upon a journalistic career, writing for Rolling Stone and the New York Times magazine. He left magazine journalism to write books.

Harris in his brief moment of fame was one of those who defined the era. In going to jail for his beliefs, he was an American hero. Like other 1960s protesters, he went on to a long, productive career, finding success in the country's mainstream.

 

Atlanta's red-hot political dramas examined in Sunday New York Times

Atlanta stands in the glare of the national media spotlight with two connected stories - the battle over the $90 million police training center and Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis' likely indictment of former President Donald Trump.

The dual dramas of political conflict and racial dynamics received their latest national examinations in the Sunday New York Times.

Noted environmental novelist Richard Powers in an article in the newspaper's Sunday Opinion section called for a city referendum on the massive police training center, to be built in a wooded area in South DeKalb County.

The nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation's plan has resulted in violent confrontations between environmental protesters and law enforcement officers at the site, including the killing of an activist by police.

Powers, noting the similarities between his 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Overstory" and the confrontations between environmental protesters and police, pointed out that the construction would disrupt plans for the South Forest Greenbelt.

Citing the potential importance of the greenbelt to Atlanta's environmental future and the conflict over the training center site, Powers said the issue should be decided by city voters. The Atlanta City Council approved a $30 million appropriation for the training center, mainly funded by the Atlanta Police Foundation.

In the Sunday New York Times magazine, writer Mark Binelli in an in-depth profile of Willis portrayed her as an aggressive prosecutor who will likely use the same forceful tactics against Trump if she charges him as she has against rap stars, gang members and schoolteachers convicted in the Atlanta cheating scandal.

Binelli's profile revisited recent Atlanta flashpoints such as the downtown protests over the George Floyd killing and the killing by police of Rayshard Brooks at a South Atlanta Wendy's, the scene of violent protests in which the restaurant was burned down and a young child murdered.

The article also claims that Buckhead political powerbroker Mary Norwood's support carried Willis to her decisive 2020 victory over former District Attorney Paul Howard, for whom Willis was chief prosecutor. Now an influential member of the Atlanta City Council, the reputed Republican Norwood has twice run for mayor, receiving narrow defeats to black candidates.

The two Times articles taken together give a searching examination of Atlanta's racial and political undercurrents, involving police brutality and training, shifting Republican and Democratic allegiances and the city's economic divisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remembering James Dickey on 100th anniversary of his birth

James Dickey rose to prominence when poets could still gain national attention.

Dickey, who served as the nation's poet laureate from 1966-1968 and won the National Book Award for his 1965 collection "Buckdancer's Choice," is best remembered today for writing the best-selling novel "Deliverance."

The Atlanta native also wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award-nominated film based on the novel, in which four Atlanta businessmen have a horrifying encounter with primitive mountain residents on a hunting trip to North Georgia.

Christopher Buckley, marking the 100th anniversary Thursday of Dickey's birth in Atlanta, wrote a fond remembrance of Dickey for the Atlantic, recalling meeting the famous poet as a teenager when accompanying his father, William F. Buckley, to the launch of Apollo 7 in 1968 at Cape Kennedy in Florida. Buckley recalls Dickey as a warm, generous man who cheerfully responded to the young Buckley's requests for help with school projects.

Reading Buckley's piece continued my recently revived interest in Dickey's work, awakened by Gordon Van Ness's excellent biography "James Dickey, A Literary Life," published by Mercer University Press.

Dickey, who gained fame as a poet after a career as an Atlanta advertising executive, was a leading member of the Southern macho school of American literature.

A World War II veteran of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Dickey flew 38 missions in the Pacific Theater as a P-61 Black Widow radio operator and was awarded five Bronze Stars. He later served in the Korean War.

Known for his prodigious drinking, beginning in the early morning, Dickey delighted in bow hunting, weight-lifting and playing the guitar. He also created outlandish myths about himself.

At the end of his career, he was a well-regarded teacher at the University of South Carolina, where he mentored another famous Atlanta writer, Pat Conroy.

His Atlanta upbringing was immortalized in his poem "Looking for the Buckhead Boys," still a talisman for an aging group of Atlanta men who grew up in the northside Atlanta neighborhood. Each year, the group known for its charity work gathers to read Dickey's poem and remember old times.

Dickey is one of the poets whose work I re-read through the years. Many of his poems I find bombastic and overwritten, but his best work achieves a rare beauty, like that of an Atlanta morning in early spring.

 

CEO James Daunt's revival of Barnes & Noble draws praise

Barnes & Noble is receiving media accolades for its book-centered revival under CEO James Daunt.

Columnists Ezra Klein of The New York Times and Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times recently praised Daunt for saving the book chain, which had been rushing toward bankruptcy.

Daunt, who took over Barnes & Noble in 2019, reversed the corporation's previous disastrous strategy of broadening its product line beyond books. He also gave local stores autonomy to meet their communities' book interests and resisted publishers' onerous return policies and efforts to control which books receive prominent display.

Before Elliott Advisors installed Daunt after acquiring Barnes & Noble, he was known for reviving Great Britain's Waterstones book chain, also owned by Elliott. He still runs Waterstones for the company.

As a longtime lover of bookstores, I'm heartened by Barnes & Noble's revival. The B&N at Union Square is one of my favorite haunts in New York City, and I also enjoy the Fifth Avenue store.

Here in Atlanta, I often go to the Barnes and Noble at Peach Shopping Center. Once I saw Elton John in the store, looking at records. Sir Elton in those days lived a few blocks away in a high rise across Peachtree Road from Christ the King Cathedral. Braves slugger Andruw Jones also had a condo in the tower.

When I was editor of Buckhead Patch, I interviewed Georgia environmentalist and Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell at the B&N Starbucks.

The Peach Center Barnes and Noble is the last bookstore in Buckhead, following the demise of locally owned Oxford Books and the once dazzling Borders.

Once I feared Barnes and Noble would also pass away. Thanks to Daunt, B&N will keep the flame lit for book lovers.

 

 

 

 

Star power burns bright in Rolling Stone founder Jann S. Wenner's memoir "Like a Rolling Stone"

Rolling Stone magazine founder and influential editor Jann S. Wenner's memoir exudes Baby Boomer aspirations, arrogance and delusions.

"Like a Rolling Stone" gives a blow-by-blow account of Wenner's career in the rock and roll fast lane, from the founding of Rolling Stone on a shoestring in 1967 to his giving up control of his Internet-challenged media empire after Donald Trump's election shocked Wenner's cohort of celebrity progressives.

Like images flashing past in a video game, Wenner beams out a dizzying array of famous names, dinner parties, cruises, ski trips. concerts, power lunches and drug-drenched bacchanalias.

While Wenner gives an impressive roll call of of Rolling Stone's scoops and journalistic innovations, his hedonism, egoism and thirsting for celebrity validation exhibit the worst excesses of his generation.

He breathlessly chronicles what he characterizes as close friendships with superstars John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Pete Townshend, closely linking his magazine to promoting their careers. He also boasts of friendships with recording industry executives, a bit close for a music journalist.

Never resting from the social swirl, he also recalls close relationships with Jackie Onassis, John F. Kennedy Jr., Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Tom Wolfe, Bette Midler and Michael Douglas.

The rapid-fire collision of names, gossip and events makes for an exciting narrative, much more captivating than Joe Hagan's lackluster biography "Sticky Fingers."

As the magazine rises in power and influence, and he launches new magazines like "Us Weekly," Wenner veers further and further away from the modest communal values of co-founder Ralph J. Gleason.

Rolling Stone star writer Hunter S. Thompson's rise and sad decline is the book's tragic centerpiece. Fans of Rolling Stone's classic days will again thrill to Thompson's emergence in the magazine with "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and his coverage of presidential campaigns. Wenner poignantly expresses the despair and heartbreak of Thompson's mental and physical downfall, culminating in his suicide.

Wenner nearly met a similar fate. He recounts his recovery from a terrifying health crisis that almost caused his death. But he came back to write his memoirs.

On his last issue of Rolling Stone, he placed young environmental activist Greta Thunberg on the cover.

At 75, he's forever young.