"Louise as the winsome French girl in Now We're in the Air (1927)." (Photo and caption from "Lulu Forever") 

I think the first time I can recall hearing the name "Louise Brooks" was years ago in a scene from "The Simpsons". In the 2002, season 13 episode "Weekend at Burnsie's", Mr. Burns prepares for a big investor meeting by practicing a speech with these lines: "So, profits will be thinner than...Louise Brooks negligee! You know, Louise Brooks, the silent star of Lulu?" While Mr. Burns got things a bit twisted (Louise played a character named Lulu, but the movie's English name is Pandora's Box, this quirky little tidbit stuck in my mind. Who was Louise Brooks, and being that she was a silent film star, how was she...

Dr. Dre in sparkly gear with a stethoscope before joining NWA. (Image Source)

On Thanksgiving, I finally got around to watching the 2015 film "Straight Outta Compton". I liked it, and Ice Cube's son is pretty much his spawn. He is rightfully and most truly, a junior.

The film starts in the years before N.W.A. Eazy-E is a drug dealer. Ice Cube is in high school (dealing with perhaps the scariest school bus commute this side of the Middle East.). And Dr. Dre is spinning records as a DJ... decked out in shiny and/ or sparkly jackets.

Okay, okay, so, this was the early to mid- 80's, we had Rick James being super-freaky, Prince wondering about doves crying, and MJ in rhinestone everything.

I'm a huge podcast fan (as longtime readers of this blog know), and I've decided to start (yet another!) new series just to catch you up on my favorite listens. So here goes:

Donna Summer (Image Source)

Check out Hit Parade's Chris Molanphy on the fasinating history of disco diva Donna Summer:

Donna Summer was a hit-maker for two decades and a dance floor deity for more than three. Her collaborations with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte were formative in dance, electronic, and rock music, influencing everyone from David Bowie and Blondie to Madonna and Moby. But the rock establishment was stinting in its appreciation—whether at Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1979 or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the 2000s. This month, we examine how...

Jim Bakker in screen captures from his current show, "The Jim Bakker Show". (Google Images)

This has been one long, crazy story. Nearly unbelievable, except, very true. Sadly true. As a Christian, especially as one with roots in Pentecostalism, I felt shame and anger while reading about the exploits of Jim Bakker. Yes, I know I personally have nothing to do with the man or his ministry. But the greed, lies, and corruption is reflected back on the entirety of the Body of Christ. We all look awful to the very world to which we are called to be salt and light.

While reading for this series, I swung by the library and picked up Tammy Faye's 1996 autobiography, Tammy: Telling It My Way. Published in the decade after PTL's fall and about...

"Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God."

-Aeschylus