Empty Mirror

a literary magazine

Ringo Starr: The Father of Modern Rock Drumming

Things are looking good for Ringo Starr at the moment. In the last 18 months he's released the album Postcards From Paradise, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, completed a 21-date American tour, is about to begin another in Asia. Despite his accomplishments over the decades, Ringo's drumming has been the subject of much controversy. To some, … [Read more...]

Found and Restored: Search and Destroy Reevaluated

I've been watching Dennis Hopper's more obscure and straight-to-DVD movies now for a number of few years; all in the name of 'research' you understand. I've seen some real clunkers (Space Truckers, Tycus) but I've also discovered some incredible work that has been added to the long list of my favorite films of all time (The American Friend, The Blackout). When it came to … [Read more...]

For Independence Day: Jimi plays the Star-Spangled Banner!

Here's Jimi Hendrix playing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, 1969. And if that's not enough for you, check him performing it on the 4th of July in Atlanta! Jimi Hendrix - Star-Spangled Banner, Woodstock Festival, August 17, 1969 Jimi Hendrix - Star-Spangled Banner, Atlanta, July 4, 1970 Have a happy and safe 4th of July, everyone! - Denise … [Read more...]

The Unforgivable Sin of Joss Whedon

Avengers: Age of Ultron is upon us, and that means the odds have gone up considerably of me having to confront The Whedon Problem with my more sophisticated, artsy friends. First you have to understand that my friends and I spend way too much time analyzing the latest “golden age of television” gems—Breaking Bad, The Fall, True Detectives, The Americans. We marvel at how The … [Read more...]

The Great Consciousness of Life

Reaching in, pulling out. The great divide is conquered; and there lies an ever-evolving mission to extract meaning from chaos. This, then, is where it resides, the theater of the soul and the heart. In rewriting my biography of Jack Kerouac, I found that the only way to revisit that book once again was to take all of Jack Kerouac's epic letters to Neal Cassady, all of … [Read more...]

Dennis Hopper as Daniel Morgan in Mad Dog Morgan

The film Easy Rider (1969) made its director and star Dennis Hopper, and the film's producer and co-star Peter Fonda, counter-cultural icons of the late 1960s. The film's minuscule budget, roaring box office success, and critical acclaim paved the way for a movement within Hollywood that would change the direction of filmmaking for the next decade. Accordingly, Dennis Hopper … [Read more...]

(Music Review) IR 29.1: New Generation Dub

One of the biggest crimes committed by the music industry has been their ability to co-opt, dilute and turn even the most radical of genres into something safe for mass consumption. Disco, punk and rap have all been taken and watered down so they would sell in Peoria. Even worse is how the industry corrupts these forms, turning them inside out, so instead of preaching against … [Read more...]

Movie Review – Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

As a kid in the 1960s, I remember asking my mom why we didn't ever have Granny Smith apples in the house. She replied that she refused to buy anything from South Africa because of what the government did to its people. As the years passed and I became more aware of the world around me, I began to understand why my parents refused to buy anything which came from South Africa. … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Music of the Sahara: Tinariwen’s new album Emmaar

In the early 1960s the creation of artificial borders in the trackless wastes of the Sahara desert might have been cause for celebration among the inhabitants of the newly created countries. However, the throwing off of colonial masters in Niger, Mali, Algeria, Morocco and others, also resulted in turmoil for the nomadic people who had called the region home for close to a … [Read more...]

Book Review – IR 30: Indigenous Visions In Dub

I guess it's appropriate that blockades have gone up again on the Tyndengia Mohawk reservation in South Eastern Ontario Canada as I begin to write this review. Here in Canada the First Nations people are usually out of sight and out of mind unless they manage to capture the media's attention with some event which inconvenience the population at large. While the fact that the … [Read more...]

Review: The Doors Examined by Jim Cherry

The Doors Examined by Jim Cherry / Bennion Kearny Limited / paperback / 978-1909125124 / 240 pages Journalist and author Jim Cherry has a long history with rock 'n' roll journalism, and currently writes the column, "The Doors Examiner." The Doors Examined includes some of those columns, along with material seen here for the first time. A huge amount of information is … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Soutak by Aziza Brahim

At first glance the Sahara Desert of North West Africa seems like one of the most inhospitable places on the face of the earth. Movies, and other Western media, usually show us images of trackless wastes, endless miles of sand dunes dotted with the occasional oasis and scrubby plants. However, this supposed barren land has been home to various nomadic people for centuries. … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Adrian Raso and Fanfare Ciocarlia – Devil’s Tale

When the Ottoman Empire invaded Eastern Europe they brought more than just their armies with them. Even today evidence of their occupation can still be found. Muslim communities in Serbia are only the most obvious reminder of their one time rule as traces of their cultural influence can still also be seen in other, more subtle forms, including musical influences. The invading … [Read more...]

Movie Review – Kill Your Darlings

Long before Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs would be celebrated as the poetical and political figureheads of a 'beat generation,' there was a murder. In the new film, Kill Your Darlings, the crime scene sets itself at Columbia University, 1944, when a young Allen Ginsberg (Radcliffe) is introduced to the anarchic, pornographic mind of fellow student, … [Read more...]

(Music Review) Acá: Viggo and Friends

Some people say, "Politics make strange bedfellows" (Don't say it to Putin - he might take it the wrong way and have you thrown in jail) but the first time I heard Viggo Mortensen had collaborated on an album with the notorious, infamous, riotous, speed metal, punk, over the top guitar player Buckethead, I thought politics has nothing on music. The idea that the actor, poet and … [Read more...]

The Beat Spirit Within Llewyn Davis: A Film Rumination

A film about a struggling artist could be many things: arty, pretentious, too ambitious and above all unfocused. For all its many cinematographic achievements and clever performances, the absurdity of I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007) fell to the weight of its lofty hopes. That film gave a highly-stylized rumination of the six lives, or characters, Bob Dylan sought to live, … [Read more...]

Review – How Music Works by David Byrne

We all listen to music. Maybe we only have it playing in the background, use it to help us sleep or meditate, or perhaps you sit and listen to it carefully. However, no matter how or why you listen, it can't help but have an effect on you. The majority of us just take it for granted that we enjoy the music we listen to and never really stop to think why. While we can talk about … [Read more...]

Music Review – David Broza: East Jerusalem West Jerusalem

There are some subjects I know not to talk to most people about, because they probably won't like what I have to say on the matter. Always having been slightly left of most anarchists I'm supposed to hold to certain opinions in order to not let the side down. Yet, I've always been of the opinion that being an anarchist means you can have whatever opinion you want and not have … [Read more...]

Film Review – Broken, starring Tim Roth & Cillian Murphy

There are some books you always remember for the way in which they opened your eyes to the world around you. They might have stripped away your innocence in the process, but they also reassured you that no matter how bad things could get, there were always some people doing their best to bring some balance to the world. The first book I remember providing me with that … [Read more...]

Review – The Clash Special Edition Releases

I remember a conversation I had with my brother when I was a teenager. He asked me if I thought I would still be listening to any of the music I liked then when I was 50. At the time it seemed like it was an eternity in the future, our parents weren't even that age. However, it did make me think. What would happen to my tastes in music as I aged? Looking at my parents record … [Read more...]

Film Review – The Last Song Before The War

I can't remember when I heard about the Festival au Desert, which has been taking place in Northern Mali since 2001, for the first time. I do remember it was in 2009 I was offered press credentials to cover the Festival, and regretting having to turn the opportunity down. Without a sponsoring media organization to cover my costs of travelling there was no way I could finance … [Read more...]

Music Review – An Evening With Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer

There have been many great artistic couples down through the ages. Now a days there seems to be more celebrity couplings than any real co-joining of artistic talents. So when I first began to hear rumours writer Neil Gaiman and musician Amanda Palmer (also known as AFP) were romantically involved I was intrigued. It felt a little odd to be interested in the love life of two … [Read more...]

Review – Nashville 2.0: The Rise of Americana

Once upon a time there was pop music. You either liked what you heard or you didn't, and you didn't particularly care about anything else. There were other types of music other people listened to, but that wasn't pop music. There was country and western music which was played by people who dressed funny and whose audience seemed to made up of senior citizens and people with … [Read more...]

Sly as a Vox

They’re back! The often-awful eighties with the pre-school neon colors and the radio infested with neo-synth-pop bubblegum bands. Although a few groups like Phoenix, the Killers and the recent stellar release from Empire of the Sun have picked up where the best of the eighties left off, the majority of time I’m left looking for who to blame for the atrocities I’m forced to … [Read more...]

Music Review – Tartit With Imharhan – Live from the Sahara

When the annual Festival Au Desert in Northern Mali was cancelled in 2013 due to the territory's occupation by terrorist organizations intent on imposing a very narrow definition of Islamic rule, organizers of the Festival were determined, if the world couldn't come to them, to bring the music of the Festival to the world. Formed in 2001 the Festival takes place during the … [Read more...]

Jim Morrison and Jack Kerouac

“If he (Jack Kerouac) hadn’t written On The Road, The Doors never would have existed.” — Ray Manzarek Manzarek might have added that if Jack Kerouac hadn’t written On The Road, none of the late 60’s might have happened the way they did, with kids hitting the road in search of themselves and the transcendental experiences that Kerouac had described in his novels. … [Read more...]

The Naked Beat

The Love Electric's new video was filmed in New York City, Lisbon, Berlin, and Woodstock. You can get "The Naked Beat" here. About A Love Electric The Love Electric is a band that does things differently. An art rock trio of three nationalities, A Love Electric, hailed as the tomorrow of creative rock by Mexico City's leading newspaper La Jornada, performs at some … [Read more...]

Book Review – Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall

Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall by Dave Thompson / Backbeat Books / 978-1-61713-564-4 271 pages Music journalist Dave Thompson's new book Roger Waters: The Man Behind The Wall is an entertaining intro to the music of the former Pink Floyd front man. Thompson takes an interesting circular route starting out with "The Wall," ostensibly another Floyd album but a vision so … [Read more...]

Review – Les Paul: The Lost Interviews by Jim O’Donnell

Les Paul: The Lost Interviews: Five Never-Before-Published Talks With a Guitar Genius by Jim O'Donnell / 978-1492218913 / 152 pages What comes to mind when you hear the name "Les Paul"? Maybe the iconic guitar, launched at the dawn of rock and roll and played by many of music's most talented guitarists. Or perhaps you think of the musician, the performer, the songwriter - or … [Read more...]

Beat Generation film – Kill Your Darlings trailer released!

Kill Your Darlings dramatizes an actual event that took place in 1944, as the writers who would later be identified with the Beat Generation became embroiled in a murder that made headlines. While attending Columbia University, Allen Ginsberg became friends with Lucien Carr who introduced him to Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs - and to David Kammerer, an older man who was … [Read more...]

Book Review – Erik Verhaar’s Andalusian Dogging

Andalusian Dogging by Erik Verhaar, translated by Jonathan Ellis / The Reception Game / 2013 / 17 pages In Erik Verhaar's short story, inspired by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's 1929 film An Andalusian Dog (Un Chien Andalou), the film itself becomes a character. An Andalusian Dog bumps into this story's narrator on the street: "I felt his fingers tap my shoulder. I … [Read more...]

Review – I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp by Richard Hell

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography by Richard Hell / Ecco / 978-0062190833 / 304 pages Where do ideas come from? How does an individual up with an idea that starts a whole movement? Does he or she think it up in a momentary flash of brilliance which causes them to have some sort of magical insight? Or is their insight born of a natural progression of … [Read more...]

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine which publishes new work each Friday.

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