Articles written about Retro

RETRO: My Lives with Salinger

Everything Holden says about missing and loving his dead brother Allie, and his kid sister Phoebe, stirs me up. His distress about school, parents, girls, sex, adults, and “phonies” registers with me. Pernnially.

A Tale of Two Stoners

The award-winning, NYC-based indie press Heliotrope Books has published two “marijuana memoirs” – Forty Years Stoned and Just Say Yes. These memoirs are both in sync with cultural and legal trends making cannabis not just decriminalized but also ubiquitous. From investment advisors to avid smokers, weed is thriving as we ring

Alcohol & One Writer’s Boyhood

By M. J. Moore In his short story “Just Like the Girl” (with its sardonic epigram being a line from an old 1890s ditty: “I want a girl, just like the girl that married dear old dad . . .”), author James Jones dramatized

The Doctor Broad: A Mafia Love Story

No one other than Dr. Barbara H. Roberts, MD, could have told this story. It reads with the verve of a page-turner novel by Irwin Shaw, and has the texture and moral dilemmas of Flannery O’Connor’s best stories. At the same time, there is a delicious naughtiness to

Remembering Adele

A talented, uniquely fated woman died in New York on a Sunday night in 2015. When her obituaries appeared, the public was again reminded that Adele Morales Mailer was the second wife of author Norman Mailer; also that she was the wife he stabbed nearly to death at the nadir

Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood

By Sean Sobel Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood more than lives up to it’s Sergio Leone once-upon-a-time title. As one might expect from Tarantino’s prior films, his new one is full of humor and gratuitous violence. Still, this excellent piece of storytelling also

PUZO IN THE TRUMP ERA

By M. J. Moore Mario Puzo died twenty years ago this summer. As a novelist, he remains fixed in the public’s mind for one paramount reason: The Godfather. Michael Corleone’s tormented transformation. Sonny’s temper. Fredo’s fecklessness.

RETRO: Meet the 4th Beatle

When he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Award for Musical Excellence in 2015, Ringo Starr was individually honored as a solo artist, just as the other three Beatles had been, years earlier. And yet, Ringo will always be most famous

culture

Renaissance of the Arts: An Interview with Collagist and Artists Revolution Movement Founder, retro, B

Artists Revolution Movement is revolutionary because instead of it being about how many likes or followers you have, we are in it for the art.

African-American culture

A Champion's Temperament: My Memories of Arthur Ashe

“Do you know him, Dad?” I asked my father. It was the 1975 US Open, and my father was using Arthur Ashe’s locker at the West Side Tennis Club. He didn’t say much in reply, and continued getting ready for his match in the senior doubles. I was

1950s

RETRO: When Carol Met Mario (Excerpt)

(Note: This is an excerpt adapted from the author’s book MARIO PUZO ~ AN AMERICAN WRITER’S QUEST, forthcoming in 2019 from Heliotrope Books.) Between 1979 and 1999, there were two constants in author Mario Puzo’s life. First and foremost: No matter what else he wrote, no matter

America

Veterans Day: Remembering World War I on Its 100th Anniversary

This Veterans Day commemorates 100 years since the last shot of World War I was fired at the 11th hour on November 11th, 1918. My hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey was the port that nearly all soldiers would pass through on their ways to and from the Great War—or

1980s

RETRO: Twists of Fate: Blowin', Knockin', Tangled (Fiction)

For our readers’ pleasure, we present a RETRO short story of love, music, and mail. “Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.” – Bob Dylan It started during the week of Thanksgiving 1983, precisely one year and three months

1980s

RETRO: Twists of Fate: Blowin', Knockin', Tangled (Fiction)

For our readers’ pleasure, we present a RETRO short story of love, music, and mail. “Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.” – Bob Dylan It started during the week of Thanksgiving 1983, precisely one year and three months

1918

RETRO: America's Stunning 1918 Emergence

FOR MY GRANDFATHER: MAURICE ANTHONY MOORE (1891-1959) Even after President Wilson and the U.S. Congress declared war against Germany on April 2, 1917, it wasn’t until 1918 that America had major forces on the ground.However, contrary to the canard that the USA played no ultimate role in

1918

RETRO: America's Stunning 1918 Emergence

FOR MY GRANDFATHER: MAURICE ANTHONY MOORE (1891-1959) Even after President Wilson and the U.S. Congress declared war against Germany on April 2, 1917, it wasn’t until 1918 that America had major forces on the ground.However, contrary to the canard that the USA played no ultimate role in

1970s

RETRO: Middle School Awakenings ~~ August 1971

It’s before midnight and business is slow at the New Corsica Restaurant, so Kev’s off work early and he’s surprised we’re all up and sitting there, gathered around the tube. He works really hard as a busboy on weekend nights. I’m

1970s

RETRO: Middle School Awakenings ~~ August 1971

It’s before midnight and business is slow at the New Corsica Restaurant, so Kev’s off work early and he’s surprised we’re all up and sitting there, gathered around the tube. He works really hard as a busboy on weekend nights. I’m

Amanda Lepore

Flashback: The Blonds’ Gold Show at New York Fashion Week

We’re getting closer and closer to New York Fashion Week 2018, and in all the years of iconic NYC fashion few designers have held a candle to the glamorous, rebellious shows created by Phillipe and David Blond. Before we discover what the trendsetters have in store for the

books

RETRO: 100 Years Ago... 100 Years From Now

A century after Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos served in World War I, their messages linger in our memories and hearts. It’s been going on for as long as most of us have been alive. Even longer. The Hemingway Mystique is a publishing phenomenon every bit as real

Flashback: Lady Gaga's Bandleader Brian Newman

We’re so excited about Lady Gaga’s upcoming film A Star is Born (which itself gives off great retro energy, with its long legacy) that we’re flashing back to a time when the Mother Monster first showed her love for old Hollywood glam. Check out

books

RETRO: In the Mood! (Fiction/Excerpt)

Note: This excerpt from the author’s novel FOR PARIS ~ WITH LOVE & SQUALOR occurs in 1943. The female narrator is in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs).In a funny way, Glenn Miller was more hip in his Army Air Force uniform than he’d ever been in a