If Taki were a singer, he would be George Melly. Alas, if Taki were George Melly, he would be dead. George Melly was a “fat and fairly famous” (his second wife’s words) British entertainer. He died in London on July 5, a month before his 81st birthday. The Melly resume defied a one-line apophthegm—blues singer, jazz singer, journalist, screenwriter, historian of … [Read More]

Shots Fired: Sam Francis on America’s Culture War By Samuel Francis / Edited by Peter B. Gemma Published by FGF Books (Vienna, Virginia), 2006; 361 pages with index To those of us who knew and respected for years the journalism of Samuel Francis (1947-2005), it remains hard to believe that he is gone. The outlets that regularly published him – Chronicles, … [Read More]

The ancient riddle runs: “What’s a psychiatrist?” Answer: “a man who goes to the Folies-Bergère and looks at the audience.” A good deal of “looking at the audience” becomes inevitable when one contemplates the recent British movie Notes on a Scandal. Not that it is at all lacking in purely artistic merit. On the contrary, it is among Britain’s most powerful … [Read More]