With Your Ears and Your Heart : Ted Gioia – “How to Listen to Jazz”

Although, in times primordial, it was Buddy Bolden who invented jazz by “bending” the blues (that's the legend that Ted Gioia’s How To Listen to Jazz suggests), the earliest recording we have is from 1916, with the Original Dixieland Jass (sic) Band’s recording of “Livery Stable Blues.” This disreputable cornball recording sounds like an early …

Why We Do What We Do: Charles Duhigg – “The Power of Habit”

By most accounts, nothing sells as much as a self-help book, or helps so little. (If a first self-help book accomplished much, no one would buy a second one.) The genre’s success is in the mix of anecdotal trivia with digested science. Take a book like Charles Duhigg’s “The Power of Habit,” which boasts about …

The Pageaholic Exclusive! Additional Excerpts from Bob Dylan’s New Book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song”

Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has released a volume called "The Philosophy of Modern Music," a collection of musings on some beloved songs from all time. Granted, very few of those songs are from the 2000s... or go after 1965... but worry not, Hansel Castro's "The Pageaholic" has the exclusive hook-up! Here are some never-before-seen excerpts …

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps : Angus Fletcher – “Wonderworks”

Over 4500 years ago, the daughter of King Sargon of Akkadia did something astonishing: she gave HERSELF a name, Enheduanna, and used it liberally in her prayers to Inanna, the god of the Moon.  “I, Enheduanna, will recite a prayer to you… I shall give free vent to my tears like sweet beer!” In doing …

Foodie Goodie: Michael Pollan – “In Defense of Food”

Michael Pollan is the wisest omnivore around. "The Omnivore's Dilemma" was an eye-opener of a book for me upon release. There, he asked fundamental questions about eating that somehow I had failed to ask myself. I just read "In Defense of Food," a passionate manifesto that boils down to the most obvious, healthiest dietary advice …