Tag Archives: long-reads

The Marxist political scientist Michael Parenti once wrote, “The essence of capitalism is to turn nature into commodities and commodities into capital.” Perhaps no one knows this more intimately than90-Day Fiancestar Stephanie Matto, a YouTuber turned adult content creator who claims to have made upwards of $200,000 selling her farts …

When Saturday Night Live debuted in October 1975, New York City was in such a state of severe disrepair that the cover of the New York Daily Newsone day that month read “Ford To City: Drop Dead.” “It was just after Watergate and Saigon,” says producer Lorne Michaels. “It was …

* Some names have been changed to protect survivors of sexual assault and abuse. Years before the secret room in the garage behind his place, years before he ran around sickening the souls of untold girls in Putnam County, New York, Howard Gombert had a jones for Rachel R.* From …

You never know what’s going to happen with an audition,” actor Ted Levine remembers of the first time he portrayed Jame Gumb, The Silence of the Lambsvillain also known as “Buffalo Bill.” “I just pulled something out. It was scary. It felt kind of magical.” “I read with the three …

In 1971, Peter Guralnick published Feel Like Going Home, which told the story of the blues through a series of revelatory profiles of Muddy Waters, Skip James, Howlin’ Wolf, and more. He ended the book with a goodbye: “I consider this chapter a swan song,” wrote Guralnick, who was 27 …

It started as a continuation of the misadventures of the Griswold family; it ended up becoming one of the most surprisingly popular and oft-quoted holiday movies of all time. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is the story of beleaguered patriarch Clark Griswold – played by the inimitable Chevy Chase – who …

O n March 20th, 1995, country singer Cleve Francis convened a group of 14 artists, journalists, college administrators, branding experts, and music-industry workers for a special occasion — one of the first meetings of the Black Country Music Association. Francis began by stating the BCMA’s mission: to educate the public …

B ruce Springsteen is standing on a gravel driveway outside his house, squinting up at the sky. This morning, an early-August thunderstorm straight out of one of his own metaphors rumbled through New Jersey’s Monmouth County, soaking Asbury Park, buffeting Freehold, leaving muddy ground here in the horsey acres of …

In Todd Snider’s mind, the most unusual aspect of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires’ wedding in 2013 wasn’t that Snider was asked to marry them or that he wasn’t legally ordained to do so until that day. It was what Snider was asked to recite: “Prayer,” an obscure song by …

O n Instagram she was “escty,” the Lolita goth princess, pouting and preening next to heart-shaped handcuffs, Louis Vuitton-branded handguns, and bound-and-gagged Hello Kittys. She was also “beegtfo,” the girl next door, mugging with her sister in Christmas photos, donning pastel barrettes and holding her toddler half-sister to her hip. …