My latest film, “The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero—and Nuclear Peril Today” has been airing over PBS stations this past month and streaming for free (key links to watch now and more here). A companion book is now available, and you can read more or order here. Thank you. And subscribing to this newsletter is still somehow FREE.
Fresh from his triumph at Sunday’s Emmys award show—he won one but more dramatically earned the largest ovation of the night when introduced (no doubt due to CBS canceling his top-rated show over politics)—here is his monologue last night.
Trump has arrived in the UK, after four arrested for beaming Don and Jeff on walls of historic Windsor Castle.
If you missed it, the piece about me and new film “The Atomic Bowl” (see links above) in this week’s New Yorker, online and in print. They somehow fit in Springsteen and Hanks but failed to mention that I’ve written 13 books and directed three previous films for PBS since 2022, but still….kind of a thrill.
I’ve been tempted to make a film on another one of my pet historical subjects—the Bloody Sunday massacre. Hard to match the Greengrass movie but maybe worth a try. Anyway, I mention this because one of the Brit shooters finally on trial for murder and receiving wide attention in Ireland and the UK.
Finally, at NY Times today:
Obama Says the Nation Is in a ‘Political Crisis’
Big Dylan news, as arriving on Halloween’s Day will be another in his Bootleg series, this time from his (very) early days, back to 1956 even, “Through the Open Window.” It will be available in the usual mix of configurations, with the cheapest being a two-disc CD for about 33 bucks. Here is promo and one cut below:
This next volume in the award-winning Bootleg Series tells the story of Dylan’s emergence and maturation as a songwriter and performer, from Minnesota to the Greenwich Village bohemia in the early 1960s. It includes rare Columbia Records outtakes, recordings made at club dates, in tiny informal gatherings, in friends’ apartments, and at jam sessions in long-gone musicians’ hangouts. The 4LP Highlights edition includes a 24-page book and features 42 tracks, of which 18 are completely unreleased as well as 9 super-rare cuts.
See the track listing here. Here is the obscure “Rocks and Gravel,” interesting vocal:
Plus, new cut from upcoming Chrissie Hynde duets album, here with K.D. Lang, with female take on classic “Me & Mrs. Jones.”
From Tunes to Toons
Steve Brodner:
Really powerful cartoons today!
Mrs. Jones seems to know how to get around.