This Week At Media Room
Fred Hersch, Sacred Geometry, Kokoroko, And More Band Names
It was a busy week at Media Room and American Karma.
Fred Hersch
On Tuesday Media Room posted my interview with renowned jazz pianist Fred Hersch.
I first heard Hersch’s music in 2010. I was sitting in my law office, exhausted and needed to clear my head. I searched “new jazz trio releases” and came across “Skipping” from his album “Whirl” (below).
I played the song over and over on my oversized office speakers, mapping out its harmonies and rhythms. I thought I was alone in the building until a colleague walked in and said, “I love the music but how about a different song?”
Our interview will be published at All About Jazz on Wednesday, July 16.
Mason Winfield
In Thursday Buffalo author Mason Winfield and I did a live event. We discussed his book Buffalo’s Occult Architecture: The Spiritual, the Supernatural, and the Niagara's Great Builders, and the occult origins of Buffalo’s built environment.
On Friday Media Room published my song essay, “It’s Because They’re Brothers,” featuring five songs sung by siblings.
Kokoroko
I love African music, especially Afrobeat. Two years ago I published “Disco Is Dead! Long Live Disco!” where I argued that the irrational, violent hatred of disco of the late 1970s and early 1980s was actually displaced homophobia.
Disco never died. It returned to Africa and became a part of the African musical Diaspora with bands like Kokoroko.
Look for my review of their new album, “Tuff Times Never Last” next week.
Greater Western New York Film Critics Association Midyear Poll
I am a proud member of the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association which just released its critics poll of the best films of 2025 thus far. “Sinners” and “Black Bag” topped the list.
My top pick? “Eric LaRue” (below). You can read my review here.
More Band Names From My Spiral Notebook
Pile Of Falcons (Debut album: Turtles All The Way Down)
Switchblade Henry And Inside Straight. (Debut Album: Gettin’ Drunk At The OTB)
American Karma published twice last week. On Wednesday I revisited “Welcome To Moe’s!” from my series, “The Moral Injury Of Late Capitalism.” While deregulation creates spikes of increased productivity it does so, in part, on the backs of workers.
As illustrated by my lunchtime visit to Moe’s, the easiest way to increase productivity in the service industry is through short-staffing.
As anyone who has worked at a restaurant will tell you, however, short-staffing is unsustainable. Employees will burn out, customers will stop coming, and one day a hand-lettered “CLOSED” sign (above) will start fading in the sun.
On Thursday I updated the “birthright citizenship” series. You may recall the June 27 Supreme Court decision that “nationwide injunctions” issued by trial courts (such as the one preventing enforcement of President Trump’s annulment of birthright citizenship) were unconstitutional.
On July 10, a New Hampshire federal judge issued another injunction staying enforcement of Trump’s Executive Order striking down the 14th Amendment.
This time the injunction was based not on universal injunctions, which have no basis in federal statute (laws passed by Congress), but rather on a pending class action, a type of lawsuit created by Congress in 1937.
The New Hampshire judge certified “all children born to parents who are in the United States temporarily or without authorization” as plaintiffs in a case against the Executive Order and prevented enforcement until it is decided.
In her June 27 decision Justice Amy Coney Barrett virtually invited such a class action by asking the rhetorical question, “[w]hy bother with a . . . class action when the quick fix of a universal injunction is on the table?” (page 14).
The Court then stayed enforcement of the ruling striking down universal injunctions for thirty days, presumably so just such a class action could be filed.
For more on this issue I recommend Adam Liptak’s July 12 column in the New York Times.
Editor’s Note: This post ended here until Saturday, July 12. The following Note on the issue of birthright citizenship was published yesterday afternoon.
Have a great week.
Great week for Media Room!