Author: Soref

Tania (The Hearst Mystique)

It would be interesting to conduct a quick straw poll to see just what sort of name recognition Patty Hearst gets these days. I suspect that people under, say, age 42 may know the name, but have no idea who…

Kaddish For Reuben

Considering he’s just a TV character, some of the crustiest punks I know have had surprisingly strong feelings about Reuben Kincaid. It boils down to family issues and the search for a suitable male role model. Needless to say, these…

THE PROFESSOR OR MR. HOWELL?

By now, the question “Ginger or Maryann?” has been asked a million times in a million drunken places. But when was the last time anybody bended the gender and asked: The Professor or Mr. Howell? Gilligan and the Skipper can…

John Eisenhower (1922-2013)

John Eisenhower, son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, has died at the age of 91. He was the oldest living Presidential child at the time of his death by a significant margin. The next oldest (LBJ’s daughter) is not even…

TV Reinvented the Rock Star

(In Part 1 of this essay we explored the rise of the rock star in popular culture as a function of television. Part 2 touched on the ascendance of album rock. In the third and final installation, we look at…