I have been writing for a long time. I started out as a staff reporter for my college newspaper, and have since worked as a free-lance writer, columnist, (West Art and Art/Talk), book reviewer (San Francisco Chronicle), contributing editor (Red Cedar Review and San Francisco Review of Books), and art critic (for Bay City News, a regional wire service). With the advent of the web, I moved into online journalism, and have contributed hundreds of articles to various websites, notably the Huffington Post, and SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle).
My 1250+ published articles include news stories, reviews, interviews, features, and profiles related to film, books, music, the visual arts, and pop culture, most all of which have appeared either in newspapers or magazines scattered across California or Michigan, or on the world wide web; a handful of my pieces have also appeared in literary journals, trade journals, festival programs, ‘zines, and the alternative press. Additionally, I’ve blogged for various sites. All-in-all, I’ve written a fair amount.
Unfortunately, the internet is proving to be an ephemeral archive – and some of my online work has vanished. For example, pieces written for Open Salon (a few of which were named editor’s picks by Salon), as well as those written for the now defunct examiner.com and Fandor (film) website, disappeared when those sites shutdown. A few dozen pieces written for SFGate, for example, have also disappeared.
I’ve created this chronological bibliography as a record of my work. If you’re interested in checking out my online or offline journalism, please visit one or more of the following pages.
1984 – 1999 // 2000 – 2009 // 2010 – 2014 // 2015 – today
To date, I’ve also authored / edited four books, and have had the honor of having my work included in a few others. To find out more about that aspect of my work, please visit my BOOKS page. With a fair amount of work behind me, I’ve selected a few of my “greatest hits,” including a few recent articles and personal favorites, and listed them here.
“Wings – About the Film:. RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, May 4, 2024.
— program essay
“The Phantom Carriage.” San Francisco Silent Film Festival, April, 2024.
— program essay
“Florid in a Good Way: Herbert Brenon’s The Spanish Dancer (1923).” Film International, December 16, 2023.
— DVD review
“The Street of Forgotten Men (1925): From Story to Screen and Beyond.” Film International, September 20, 2023.
— profile of my book
“The Unexpected Raymond Griffith.” Film International, September 20, 2023.
— DVD review
“All Quiet on the Western Front.” Cleveland Silent Film Festival and Colloquium, September 2023.
— program essay
“Lulu in America” : ‘Sin Lust Evil!’ and the Lost History of Louise Brooks and Pandora’s Box.” Film International, April 23, 2023 .
“Those Were the Days . . . One bookseller’s memoir told through trading cards (part 1).” Medium, April 13, 2023
— part one of a six part series
“Louise Brooks: Silent Muse.” Fiction magazine, September 4, 2022.
— a tie-in with Jerome Charyn’s novel Lulu in Love
“Marion Davies’ Slow-Burn Revival: Zander the Great (1925) and Beverly of Graustark (1926).” Film International, May 28, 2022.
“The Street of Forgotten Men.” San Francisco Silent Film Festival, May, 2022.
— program essay
“Ukrainian Film and Restorations at Silent Film Festival.” Film International, April 5, 2022.
“Restored Silent Film The Street of Forgotten Men Debuts Louise Brooks.” Pop Matters, March 31, 2022.
2021
“Rock Stars and Author Trading Cards: Tales from a Decade of Bookstore Events,” LitHub, September 24, 2021.
2020
“Mank and Lulu, and contact tracing the origins of Rosebud. ” Louise Brooks Society blog, December 11, 2020.
— did Herman Mankiewicz learn of William Randolph Hearst’s special pet name for Marion Davies clit from Louise Brooks?
“Lulu Forever: the 2020 Louise Brooks FilmPodium Retrospective (Zurich).” Film International, November 9, 2020.
“Buster Keaton’s Genius, Derailed: The Cameraman (Criterion Collection).” Film International, July 6, 2020.
— review of a Buster Keaton DVD release
“(Re) Considering Rudolph Valentino.” Film International, March 4, 2020.
— review of three new DVD releases
2019
“Marion Davies: Gifted Actress and Impossible Boy.” Film International, December 23, 2019.
— article on the early film actress
“The Chaperone marks a return to Berkeley for Louise Brooks.” Berkeleyside, April 30, 2019.
— local interest article
“Mendocino Made Film to show at San Francisco Silent Film Festival.” Ukiah Daily Journal, April 30, 2019.
— article in local newspaper
“Louise Brooks Returns to Ann Arbor.” Ann Arbor Observer, April 22, 2019.
— article on the film from PBS Masterpiece
“Never the Victim: Louise Brooks and The Chaperone.” Film International, April 16th, 2019.
— review of the film from PBS Masterpiece
2018
“The Real Stan and Ollie.” San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Winter, 2018.
— program essay
2017
“The BFI Re-Opens Silent Film Pandora’s Box.” PopMatters, December 7, 2017.
“Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies.” Huffington Post, November 21, 2016.
— sometimes I have the most unlikely readers
“It’s All True: Bruce Conner at SFMOMA.” Huffington Post, November 18, 2016.
— a review of the work of the seminal San Francisco artist and filmmaker
Best Films Books of 2015.” Huffington Post, November 23, 2015.
— this article, like each of my annual Best Books of the Year pieces, had many readers and received a considerable amount of attention
“William Gillette and the Making of SHERLOCK HOLMES.” EatDrinkFilms, May 22, 2015.
— who doesn’t like Sherlock Holmes
“Boogie Stomp to Rock Sonoma International Film Festival.” Sonoma Valley Patch, April 11, 2013.
— one of a few dozen pieces I’ve written for patch.com
Silent film star recalls 1924 Democratic Convention.” Open Salon, September 5, 2012.
— a Salon editor’s pick, and one of the most viewed pieces on Salon that day
“Actor Paul McGann Talks about Silent Film.” SFGate, July 11, 2012.
— my interview with the eighth Doctor Who
“Beggars of Life with Louise Brooks Screens in New York.” Huffington Post, February 17, 2012.
— published on HuffPo’s NYC section, and tweeted about by film critic Roger Ebert.
“Once banned film resurfaces 90 years after scandal.” Open Salon, August 25, 2011.
— my second piece on Open Salon, and my first Salon editor’s pick
“He Who Gets Slapped.” San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Summer 2011.
— my essay in the festival program was praised from the stage of the Castro Theater by the Academy Award winning director Alexander Payne; it was later reprinted by EbertFest and the Telluride film festival
“Louise Brooks’ private journals to be revealed.” examiner.com, October 2, 2010.
— this piece was tweeted about by Pulitzer Prize winner Roger Ebert and bestselling writer Neil Gaiman
“The Secret Historian and the Silent Film Star: One Was Gay.”Huffington Post, August 31, 2010.
— commented on by New York Times critic Dave Kehr, also referenced on the Smithsonian magazine blog; my piece led the publisher to revise the book when later published in softcover
“‘I Am the Victim of Such a Lascivious Beauty’ Rufus Wainwright on Louise Brooks.”Huffington Post, August 5, 2010.
— interview with the pop star
“Jim Carroll: Verbal Entries.” X-Ray, Winter, 1995.
— interview with rock musician, poet and author of The Basketball Diaries, later reprinted in a reference work, Contemporary Literary Criticism
“The Flowering of San Francisco’s Critical and Literary Renaissance.” San Francisco Review of Books, Fall 1991.
— book review
“Interview with Allen Ginsberg.” Photo Metro, August 1991.
— my second interview with famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg made the cover of this photography journal; the piece was later praised by the subject, and was reprinted numerous times, including in two significant Ginsberg books
“Man Ray.” Photo Metro, October, 1990.
— article with q&a with the artist’s widow, Juliet Man Ray
“Diane Wakoski’s Textured Words.” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1990.
— book review
“Midwestern Stories of Yearning and Loss.” San Francisco Chronicle, May 20, 1990.
— book review of Stuart Dybek’s The Coast of Chicago; later quoted on the paperback release and in advertisements which ran in the Chicago Tribune
“Robinson Jeffers: A Continuing Presence.” San Francisco Review of Books, January 1988.
— article and Q & A with Pulitzer Prize winners William Stafford and Robert Hass
“Georgia Stone displays talents of Margaret Jenkins, Yoko Ono.” Contra Costa Times, September 24, 1987.
— review of dance piece with soundscape by Yoko Ono
“Cabaret.” Contra Costa Times, May 20, 1987.
— theater review; widely quoted in the ad campaign
“Violent Femmes’ show may be one of the best.” Lansing State Journal, May 30, 1985.
— concert review; the last of nine pieces I wrote for this Gannett newspaper
“Should aging theaters be saved?” State News, October 19, 1984.
— feature story on the Fox Theater in Detroit – printed next to another related story “State Theatre awaits wrecking ball.”
“Gloria Steinem speaks out on Reagan, porn and ERA.” State News, October 19, 1984.
— contributed to this piece, includes Q & A with the famed feminist
“John Irving speaks out in Ann Arbor.” State News, October 9, 1984.
— feature on the novelist
“Harry Callahan’s personal vision.” State News, October 1, 1984.
— includes a rare Q & A with the acclaimed photographer; later quoted in Harry Callahan: New Color – Photographs, 1978-1987 (Hallmark, 1988)
“Lenny’s comic legacy.” State News, August 6, 1984.
— interview with Kitty Bruce, daughter of comedian Lenny Bruce
“Max Weinberg on The Big Beat.” State News, July 27, 1984.
— interview with Bruce Springsteen’s drummer
“Anderson’s avant-garde vision.” State News, May 18, 1984.
— interview with the performance artist Laurie Anderson
“Clash in Detroit.” State News, May 10, 1984.
— concert review; the legendary band, fronted by Joe Strummer, “approved” and autographed my article in my presence a couple days after it was published
“Artists in Exile.” State News, March 30, 1984.
— article, includes q&a with the future Nobel Prize winning Russian poet Joseph Brodsky