There were many stars in Motown's firmament - among them, Stevie, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves and Diana Ross - but I happen to have loved the Four Tops most of all.

The Who, England's most self-conscious band, have released 'Quadrophenia,' which in turn freezes in time our image of the mid-Sixties Mod sensibility.

I saw rock n' roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.

The Beatles production is often so 'perfect' that it sounds computerized. 'Sgt. Pepper' really does sound like it took four months to make.

Bob Dylan was the source of pop music's unpredictability in the Sixties. Never as big a record-seller as commonly imagined, his importance was first aesthetic and social, and then as an influence.

It didn't matter that Charlie Chaplin may not have been a great director or a great anything else. He made great movies.

What makes the Stones' arrogance so divine is that we all believe that long ago and far away they weren't rich and famous but poor and struggling, just like us.

'Let's Get It On' is a classic Motown single, endlessly repeatable and always enjoyable.

Since her landmark 'Tapestry,' Carole King has both oversimplified and over elaborated that masterful album's style until her music has become something more overtly but less effectively personal.

Barry White seemed so filled with self-parody at first that it was easy to dismiss him. But it is becoming increasingly obvious with every additional release that he is a very talented man.

Part of me believes that the completed record is the final measure of a pop musician's accomplishment, just as the completed film is the final measure of a film artist's accomplishments.

Poison!" Grover yelped. "Don't let those things touch you or...""Or we'll die?" I guessed."Well...after you shrivel slowly to dust, yes.""Let's avoid the swords, " I decided.

The innocent supposition, entertained by most people, that even if they are not brilliant, they are not dumb, is correct only in a very relative sense.

I love 'Top Chef.' I think it rewrote the book on how food shows are presented on TV.

People look to the future for salvation, but the future never arrives.

If my husband ever met a woman on the street who looked like one of his paintings he would faint.

Beautiful mind, tortured soul. I do have to figure out why I am attracted to these broken birds.

A moment of silence, please, for the lost art of shutting up.

There is no country on earth that has done more for our own poor and for the poor around the world. We are not the ones that need to be targeted.

If you always wanted to wait for something better, you'd never buy anything, right?

So be my passing! My task accomplished and the long day done, My wages taken, and in my heart Some late lark singing, Let me be gathered in the quiet west, The sundown splendid and serene, Death.