Posts Tagged Essay
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December 13, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Books That Blew My Mind # 9: “Holidays on Ice” by David Sedaris
Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris I’m not really one for Christmas books. But there’s one favourite, one must, every year I read (and now re-read) David Sedaris’ story, The Santaland Diaries. It’s special to me for a couple of reasons – first of all it was my introduction to the world of Sedaris. I […]Archive
November 26, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Unfinished Intro To A Life-Long Essay Celebrating Drums
My favourite underrated drummer ever – having to name just one – would be Stevie Wonder. I say this because a lot of people probably still don’t know that Stevie Wonder played the drums on a lot of his great recordings. And would always get up and jam live. I went to a drum-clinic something like […]Archive
October 31, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Lana Del Rey
There’s a new Lana Del Rey album out. This is not a review. A preview at best. But the reason I’m mentioning this now – and in this way – is because this is the first Lana Del Rey record that has been released since I’ve been a fan. I’m often asked about times I […]Archive
June 23, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
My New EBook: Wrestling Is Fake. That’s What Makes It So Real – Selected Grapplings (2005-2015)
I’ve just published my new e-book, my third. This is the first one that’s not about music at all. This is a selection of my various writings about pro-wrestling. I’ve fallen in and out with the “sport” over the last three decades, but I can’t quite shake my fandom, certainly don’t want to ignore my early […]Archive
February 24, 2021 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast # 247: Talia Marshall
Welcome to Sweetman Podcast. It’s 2021. But I started this year with conversations recorded at the very end of 2020. Now we’re into fresh conversations recorded in 2021. And this is episode 247 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys Now – as you probably know, as […]Archive
December 16, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Kae Tempest: On Connection
On Connection Kae Tempest Faber & Faber Social For some 20 years Tempest has been a writer and performer – plays, poems and a novel have been printed. Spoken-word shows incorporate music and poetry, there are book-length single poems and recorded albums that share titles with printed-word publications. To me it’s all exquisite. A quite […]Archive
September 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Stanley Crouch
The jazz critic and writer Stanley Crouch has died. He was 74. He published widely, including essays, novels, plays and poetry – but he is best known for his music criticism. And within that jazz. He was a rigid purist. He hated hip-hop, he was in vocal opposition to rap and its tendencies to lead […]Archive
July 30, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast # 223: Lance Philip
Welcome to episode 223 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify […]Archive
June 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
Neil Peart Was The World’s Most Overrated Drummer
A few years back I reviewed a Kindle Single, a keen drummer’s list of his Top 30 Drummers. Keen drummers don’t always make the best writers and this book – well it’s a sliver of a book (as is the point of Kindle Singles – seems wrong in this instance to bestow a title like essay) – […]Archive
March 14, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
In Praise of Hobbies Where You Kinda Suck: The Wonderful Experience of Being Quite Shit
I was never the greatest drummer. But I made a living from it. For a while. I made more money playing the drums in bands around the country than I have ever made from writing. I’d pack the car for a weekend and play songs I didn’t love to audiences there for beer and I […]Archive
December 3, 2019 by Simon Sweetman