Comments on: On Taste

By: Tim Oliver

Tim Oliver — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:57:22 +0000

Yeah, in, yet another Rolling Stone interview Dylan said “I used to know what a song was. I don’t know what a song is, anymore.” He also said that happiness wasn’t terribly important to him, which ought to explain a lot about the mercurial songwriter.
Damn, reading that Faulkner loved Car 54 makes me cringe almost as much as when I heard that Kerouac loved The Beverly Hillbillies !

By: Charles Walston

Charles Walston — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:55:17 +0000

Faulkner’s neighbor was Jim Silver. He was head of the history department at Ole Miss at the time, later wound up at USF in Tampa. I took a seminar with him and he spent about half of every class telling stories about Faulkner, including their mutual love of Car 54. Silver had advanced emphysema and brought an oxygen tank to class, but he still smoked unfiltered cigarettes.

I don’t care what Bob Dylan says, Jimmy Buffett is horrible.

By: JT

JT — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:53:56 +0000

Tom, this is such a thoughtful and thought provoking piece. It takes the snobbery out of something as simple as choice.

By: jeff cochran

jeff cochran — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:43:41 +0000

for a time after zevon’s passing, dylan performed “accidentally like a martyr” in concert. a great zevon selection. around the same time, he also performed “brown sugar.” dylan forgot some of the lyrics but the band was hot. the spirit was intact and all was right with the world.

By: Bill King

Bill King — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:17:29 +0000

Great piece, Tom! It works both ways, too. One of my favorite images from my time covering music was riding in a pickup truck in the Tennessee countryside with cowboy-hatted Charlie Daniels while he swigged … a bottle of Perrier.

By: Dallas

Dallas — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:25:07 +0000

Wow. Great piece of writing, and what a reach. How well I remember the day the music died in the AJC newsroom – you editing the wires when the John Lennon bulletin arrived and announcing it with graphic shock to the entire warehouse of writers, editors and loafers. One of my most oft-told stories.

By: Reagan

Reagan — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:28:26 +0000

And the revelation that Julia Child’s assistant made to a few of us at a food conference once that her favorite and most often consumed happy hour menu: goldfish crackers and a reverse martini (vermouth with a splash of gin)

By: Doug Cumming

Doug Cumming — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:17:23 +0000

Then there’s the story of Eudora Welty and Walker Percy, seen at a cocktail party in intimate conversation for a long time, just the two of them. What were y’all talking about, some culture vulture asked one of them. “The Incredible Hulk” was the answer. Both loved the TV show.

By: Terri Evans

Terri Evans — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:17:10 +0000

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard (or read) such a just and generous, yet reasoned portrayal “on taste.” Marvelous. I know what I like and I liked this essay. Okay, I loved it.

By: Eileen Drennen

Eileen Drennen — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:24:29 +0000

Wow, Tom, what a wonderful essay. From your opening tidbit on Faulkner (which I’d never heard but love, and it made me hear the voices of Tooty and Muldoon) to the closing revelation on Coleman, this is pitch perfect, smart and fabulous. I’m clapping in your direction. Just beautiful!

By: Elizabeth McAlister

Elizabeth McAlister — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:56:12 +0000

My husband, David, the James Joyce reading, Wagner listening, lover of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and zombie movies will like your essay.

By: Cliff Green

Cliff Green — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:08:03 +0000

Good stuff, Tom Welcome aboard.