All Authors >

JAMES PARKER

Latest Articles

Agent Zimmerman

Bob Dylan? A CIA spy? Wait . . . now it all makes sense. (Or as much sense as his lyrics make, anyway.)
I had just removed his hand — gently, I hope — from my knee when the man in the off-white linen suit told me that he was the one who recruited Bob Dylan into the CIA.

By: JAMES PARKER | November 20, 2007

Holy dread

Om, Middle East Upstairs, November 18, 2007
A riot in the nervous system, on the point of being a riot for real.

By: JAMES PARKER | December 09, 2007

Not shipping up to Boston

Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines
Lines upon learning that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will not, as previously rumored, be making a stop in Boston during his upcoming visit to the US

By: JAMES PARKER | November 14, 2007

Wrestle in peace

Remembering Mailer, the blustery king of American letters
In a life of many garlands and much renown, it was Mailer’s strange engagement with literary destiny always to be trapped on the wrong side of his art.

By: JAMES PARKER | November 14, 2007

Bat bummer

Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines
Lines upon learning that the actor Christian Bale, playing Batman in a new movie, has been unable to perform stunts in the waters of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor due to high pollution levels

By: JAMES PARKER | December 16, 2008

Trash talk

Who knew recycling, shorter showers, and organic spinach could cause such angst?
Trash night. Trash night, trash night, trash night. Abfallnacht , as they probably call it in Germany.

By: JAMES PARKER | November 07, 2007

Pleasure me

Van Halen, TD Banknorth Garden, October 30, 2007
How much red-blooded American entertainment can one town take?

By: JAMES PARKER | November 05, 2007

Swept off our feet

Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines
A sonnet for Pat D., the Phoenix cleaning guy, upon the winning of the 2007 World Series by his beloved Boston Red Sox

By: JAMES PARKER | October 31, 2007

Dreams of field

Our unlicensed psychiatrist answers disturbing questions about the joy of Sox
Do you see Dustin Pedroia in your sleep, riding a tiny blue bicycle?

By: JAMES PARKER | October 31, 2007

Kurt Cobain: About a Son

A cough-syrup trip through the myth of Cobain
Now this is interesting.

By: JAMES PARKER | October 31, 2007

No turning back

Could be verse: poetry ripped straight from the headlines
Lines in recognition of Eric Lamarque, the Canadian truck driver who this past week caused extensive damage to the Mass Pike’s brand-new Allston U-turn.

By: JAMES PARKER | December 16, 2008

Chronicle of a death foretold

Joy Division were rooted in grim finality. Now, through a series of new books, CDs, and films, the band has found new life.
What a difference a death makes.

By: JAMES PARKER | October 24, 2007

Taken under

A close look at the ‘dismal trade’
Blessed are the undertakers, for they take care of it.

By: JAMES PARKER | October 23, 2007

Sexual Halen

The little Dutch boys who could
Good news from the literary delivery room: the ignoble genre of rock biography has just given birth to its first genuine comedy.

By: JAMES PARKER | October 23, 2007

Till rust do us part

Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines
Lines upon learning that an artificial-intelligence researcher at the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands, has predicted that, by 2050, robot-human marriage will be legal in the state of Massachusetts.

By: JAMES PARKER | October 17, 2007