Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre.” Now watch trailer for acclaimed 2025 film “The Atomic Bowl” coming to PBS in July. Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for FREE. Sustain this newsletter by ordering one of his books.
Shorter post today as we begin a mini-vacation, and can’t be sure how active I will be until Friday.
For starters, as summer travel madness begins: John Oliver last night on airline safety. Gulp.
Next up, Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” lp was released on this date in 1978. At Crawdaddy, we had published the first major article on Bruce in January 1973, then the first cover story anywhere in 1975, and then another cover in ‘78. That cover below and what I imagine was the first attempt at the “Badlands” track in the studio—slurred nonsense lyrics over the now familiar band background.
Happy to report that my new film “The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero—and Nuclear Peril Today” won the top prize, Best Documentary Feature, at the International Uranium Film Festival in Rio on Saturday night after closing the two-week fest, now in its 14th year.
As I have revealed previously, it will start airing on July 12 via PBS, as we near the 80th anniversary of the first atomic test at Trinity and the two atomic bombings of Japan, which killed over 200,000 (so contact your local public TV stations, please,and urge them to carry it this summer). Let’s just say that it is the story left out of “Oppenheimer.”
A few quick links: check out the web site for the film; here is the PBS.org site (which includes a 30-second trailer); and a new podcast interview with me.
Toon Ups
Ann Telnaes
Ukraine’s drone attack:
Congratulations for your award. The film will be on my list for this summer. Having been to Hiroshima and Nagasaki I’m very interested. Rest up while you can.
Congratulations on the award.
Singer.