The Soul of America
by Jason T Sparks Perhaps you’ve noticed that we have just lived/are living through an intense moment in American history? A pandemic hovers over everything, as does our recent election, which has weaponized seemingly...
ANNAINAUSTIN...and Company! Blog
REQUIEM FOR 2ND AVENUE NORTH
*ed note: this is a developing story. We’ve done our best to confirm the facts at time of publication…but things change By Jason T Sparks Early Christmas morning, 2020, and my wife and I...
JOSE FELICIANO: BEHIND THIS GUITAR
By Jason T Sparks Imagine, if you will, that the human brain consists of a huge number of index cards: you can imagine it as a vintage Rolodex or an old-school library card catalogue....
THE DONUT KING
From our coverage of the 2020 Nashville Film Festival by Jason T Sparks When you watch documentaries you learn things. Here’s a thing I learned from a documentary: within the city of Los Angeles,...
NEVER TOO LATE: THE DOC SEVERINSEN STORY
From our continuing coverage of the 2020 Nashville Film Festival by Jason T Sparks Once upon a time, there was a skinny guy from Nebraska named Johnny Carson, and he was the burning-hot epicenter...
THE MYSTERY OF D.B. COOPER
Coverage of the Nashville Film Festival, by Jason T Sparks Here’s what we know: on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 1971, a nondescript, middle-aged man in a dark suit boarded Northwest Orient Airlines flight...
THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART
By Jason T Sparks as seen at the Nashville Film Festival 2020 Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb were not unsung heroes of the music business. They weren’t eccentric geniuses toiling in obscurity, mainly known...
Nashville Film Festival 2020*
BY JASON T SPARKS About a year ago, on this very website, I wrote the following: Going to a film festival is its own experience. For the most part, it’s a positive experience. By...
The Vast of Night
While the Pentagon just confirmed the sighting of UFO’s, that hadn’t yet happened in 1950s America. There were rumors, mysterious objects in the night sky and starchy government confirmations of…weather balloons. This film places...
THROUGH SPACE, TIME, AND MIDDLE AMERICA PART TWO: POLISH FORTUNE TELLERS, DENNY’S, AND SOLITUDE
As I roll through another international neighborhood, I begin to notice the locals are mostly in Cubs gear, and all walking towards the same thing. Turns out I’m driving towards it—Irving Park intersects with West Addison, as in 1060 West Addison, AKA Wrigley Field, AKA the official address of one Elwood Blues. I can’t believe my luck—I wanted to experience this town, and this one road appears to be giving me Peak Chicago.
Bad News Outside The Bar
On the Saturday where Space X became the first company to launch astronauts into orbit while my friends were out protesting the murder of Floyd George, I was out on an errand between Houston...
