Tommy Tomlinson

What made “Serial” work

ALERT WARNING ALERT: Spoilers from the last episode of “Serial” below. STOP NOW if you don’t want to know how it ends. Here’s my Journalism 101 question about

Deep stacks

Here are some of my favorites (and reader favorites) from over the years … if there’s an old story of mine you’d really like to see, drop me a line

Kiss the Boss

Did Bruce Springsteen, on the leadoff track from his new album, rip off… KISS? You decide. For a little more Springsteen news, check out my friend Liz Clarke, the biggest

Jason Isbell and Perfect Albums

I made a list of the best stuff I read, heard and saw in 2013 — it’s down at the bottom of this post — but in the end I

My year in books, 2017

I read 24 books this year. To be more exact, I guess, I finished 24 books this year — I’ve got a few more scattered around the house, but I’m

Old Man Duncan

My car is a 1999 Toyota Camry with 203,000 miles on it. It’s starting to burn oil a little bit, and my heel has rubbed a hole in the carpet, and

Willie’s

(photo from sssdc1 via Flickr) A lot of thoughtful people have written about how most of us need a “third place” — somewhere that’s not home and not work, somewhere

Online = CD, print = LP

Harvard Square has a lot of record stores, and I mean that literally — most of them carry CDs and cassettes and posters and such, but it’s mainly bins and

Marcus Smart, Michael Sam, The Boss

Late Sunday night, I wrote a piece for Forbes about Marcus Smart, the Oklahoma State basketball player who shoved a fan in the stands. Just as I filed that piece,

The guru

This piece won’t be as good as it would have been if Jay Lovinger were around to edit it. Here’s how he worked, at least with me: He would read

The Springsteen Show

The thing I’ll remember most is the guy running around in circles. Springsteen played Boston tonight, and when the house lights went up for “Born to Run” you could see

Willie’s

(photo from sssdc1 via Flickr) A lot of thoughtful people have written about how most of us need a “third place” — somewhere that’s not home and not work, somewhere

Short Stories

Short Stories

What made “Serial” work

Deep stacks

Kiss the Boss

Jason Isbell and Perfect Albums

My year in books, 2017

Old Man Duncan

Willie’s

Online = CD, print = LP

Marcus Smart, Michael Sam, The Boss

The guru

The Springsteen Show

Willie’s