‘Not Fade Away’: a film review by Gary Chew Coming-of-age films are as common a genre as a staged car chase on a hilly street in San Francisco or anywhere else in United States. This latest one, “Not Fade Away,” occurs on the other end of the continent near the Jersey Shore. David Chase (there's that word again) is at it again … not with a successful long-running series about wiseguys in Jersey, but a two-hour feature about British-Invasion-obsessed teenage Jersey guys smitten with Mick, Dylan, the blues, long hair and amplified guitars. Our story begins on the day a president is assassinated in Texas. A New Jersey family sits at the kitchen table, listening to and watching the aftermat

As promised, Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker magazine, connected a pre-1500s New-World dance form to Bob Dylan – and a whole lot more. Ross certainly has the credentials to discuss classical music. He started listening to classical music as a child and started his music collection at age 10, buying his first classical LP: Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. He has been the classical music critic for The New Yorker since 1996. His first book, “The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century,” was a national bestseller and The New York Times chose it as one of the 10 best books of 2007. Ross did not discover pop music until he was 20. Still, he has become quite versed in pop

Can a New Yorker magazine music critic connect a pre-1500s New-World dance form to Bob Dylan? Alex Ross, The New Yorker magazine classical music critic since 1996, does so in his latest book, “Listen to This,” which follows his critically acclaimed “The Rest is Noise.” Alex Ross will be appearing at the next California Lectures Monday evening at the Crest Theatre presenting “Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues: Bass Lines of Music History.” “Things really opened up for me when I went to The New Yorker,” Ross said. At his previous job as classical music critic at the New York Times, he was “closely read” by those very seriously into classical music in New York City. He talked of having a mu

'I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.'                                                                                                                                                                                                         Muhammad Ali ______________ This country was built on handshakes and agreements between people. One person promises another that they are dependable and a venture is initiated. “I give you my word,” and the river of credibility flows. News journalists, those who carry the responsibility of accurately and honestly documenting momentous occasions in our country’s history, ar

Despite what the name implies, the Hot Club of Cowtown is not Sacramento's hottest music venue. In fact, it's a jazz-influenced, Western Swing trio that formed in New York City's East Village. Thursday night, the band will be performing for the first time in Sacramento at the 24th Street Theatre. The Poplollys, a local hillbilly country band, and Hard Clumpin' Litter, a local blues band, will open the show. The Hot Club of Cowtown formed in 1998 when fiddle player Elana James responded to a Village Voice newspaper ad placed by guitarist Whit Smith. Upright bass player Bill Horton rounded out the trio, but was subsequently replaced by Jake Erwin. James was born to a violinist mother and