I recently stumbled on a Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) interview about Boogie Nights from 1997 and began revisiting of his work. I’ve now seen all of his nine written-&-directed films, most more than once, and he’s certainly up there with the greatest of the active mid-career contemporary filmmakers. Since Boogie Nights he’s been compared […]
Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino — Friends and Cinematic Soulmates
June 30th, 2025 · 7 Comments · Movies
Tags: Alfred Hitchcock·Amy Adams·Austin Butler·Billy Wilder·Bradley Cooper·Burt Reynolds·Christoph Waltz·Cooper Hoffman·Damien Chazell·Edgar Wright·Eli Roth·Gweneth Paltrow·John C. Reilly·John Travolta·Margaret Qualley·Mark Wahlberg·Pam Grier·Paul Thomas Anderson·Phil Hoffman·Philip Baker Hall·Philip Seymour Hoffman·Quentin Tarantino·Reese Witherspoon·Robert Forrester·Sam Jackson·Samuel L. Jackson·Sean Penn·the Coen brothers·Tom Cruise
Vegas Golden Nights & High Lights — Top of Eiffel to Top of Sphere
May 31st, 2025 · No Comments · Real-life Adventure Tales
Highlights of Golden Nights By the laws of physics, taking a trip while you’re on a trip exponentially amplifies the experience. Here’s some of the peaks in the weeks with the freaks . . . The Black Dot “Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it […]
Tags: Arte Museum·Branford Marsalis·Cirque du Soleil·Dead and Company·Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas·Joe Russo's Almost Dead·Mad Apple·Mystere·Oteil Burbridge·Shakedown Street·Sphere in Las Vegas·Vegas Golden Knights
Brian’s Top Things To Do in Las Vegas — Psychedelic Edition
April 12th, 2025 · 17 Comments · Grateful Dead, Real-life Adventure Tales
. I’d never given Las Vegas a moment’s thought in my life. I checked in with some cultural colleagues I’ve been jamming the arts with for 40+ years and none of us can remember the city ever coming up for any reason. In fact, it was kind of looked down upon as this superficial wasteland […]
Tags: Cirque du Soleil·Dead and Company·The Beatles LOVE·The Sphere
“A Complete Unknown” Scene Breakdown – Time Codes, Song Titles, Quotes & Context
March 11th, 2025 · 8 Comments · Movies, New York City
This is a scene-by-scene breakdown of the Dylan biopic masterpiece A Complete Unknown co-written and directed by James Mangold. Besides being one of the best living filmmakers, Mangold was undoubtably tapped because of how well he handled the Oscar-winning Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. After Jeff Rosen and Bob’s management team optioned the […]
Tags: Al Kooper·Albert Grossman·Bob Dylan·Bobby Neuwirth·Boyd Holbrook·Dylan Goes Electric·Edward Norton·James Mangold·Joan Baez·John Hammond·Johnny Cash·Mike Bloomfield·Monica Barbaro·Newport '65·Pete Seeger·Peter Yarrow·Robert Shelton·Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee·Timothée Chalamet·Tom Wilson
17th Anniversary of Producing a Story a Month for BrianHassett.com
February 8th, 2025 · 7 Comments · Hitchhiker's Guide to Jack Kerouac, Kerouac and The Beats, Movies, Real-life Adventure Tales, Weird Things About Me
On this weekend 17 years ago — in the heat of the Democratic primary of 2008 between Hillary & Obama — I started BrianHassett.com. Every month since then for 17 years I’ve written at least one new piece for the site. “17” has been a weird number that’s followed me around my whole life from […]
Tags: Anne Murphy·Bob Weir·Carolyn Cassady·Janis Joplin·Jesus Christ·Joe Biden·Neal Cassady·Peter Jackson·Taylor Swift·The Beat Generation·The Beat Museum·The Beatles
The Day I Thanked Arthur Miller
January 29th, 2025 · 6 Comments · Real-life Adventure Tales, Weird Things About Me
The Day I Thanked Arthur Miller One of the nice things about living in Manhattan — you often bump into and sometimes get to talk to really smart people on the sidewalk. When they’re famous, mostly you just nod acknowledgment and smile — like seeing Robin Williams walking and playing with his son on […]
Tags: Arthur Miller·Colin Powell·Death of a Salesman·Dustin Hoffman·Ed White·Eugene O'Neill·Herbert Berghof·Huckleberry Finn·Jack Kerouac·John Malkovich·Kate Reid·Phyllis Condon·Robin Williams·Sam Shepard·Stephen Lang·Tennessee Williams·Timothy Leary·Uta Hagen
A Complete Unknown movie review
December 24th, 2024 · 43 Comments · Movies, Music
A Portrait of The Artist As A Young Man Here’s what I riffed to social media after I got home from the advance screening on December 18th . . . Caught the sold-out “A Complete Unknown” IMAX screening in Toronto last night — and boy was it GREAT to see it on a […]
Tags: Albert Grossman·Allen Ginsberg·Benedict Cumberbatch·Bob Dylan·Boyd Holbrook·Dan Folger·Edward Norton·Elijah Wald·James Mangold·Joan Baez·Joel Coen·Johnny Cash·June Carter·Monica Barbaro·Oliver Hardy·P.J. Byrne·Pete Seeger·Peter Gehety·Ramblin' Jack Elliott·Scoot McNairy·Sharon Tate·Timothée Chalamet·Woody Guthrie
Taylor Swift in Toronto — from a Deadhead’s Perspective
December 2nd, 2024 · 53 Comments · Grateful Dead, Music
. I was just living in Taylor world for the ten days she was in Toronto doing six sold out stadium shows — something no other artist has ever come close to doing here. Six stadium shows … and you couldn’t get a ticket. Well, you could if you wanted to pay $4000 for one […]
Tags: Alice Cooper·Beyonce·Bob Dylan·David Bowie·Deadheads·Fare Thee Well·Grateful Dead·Madonna·Paul McCartney·Shania Twain·Swifties·Taylor Swift·The Beatles
Didn’t Work
November 26th, 2024 · 3 Comments · Politics
. The ideas didn’t work, the policies didn’t work, the empathy didn’t work, the life story didn’t work, the billion dollars in fundraising didn’t work, the millions of volunteers didn’t work, the field offices didn’t work, the phone banking didn’t work, the door knocking didn’t work, the huge rallies didn’t work, the inspiring speeches didn’t […]
Tags: Barack Obama·David Plouffe·Kamala Harris·Michelle Obama·Tim Walz·Vincent Van Gogh
Kamala Harris is an Empath — Donald Trump is a Sociopath
October 31st, 2024 · 16 Comments · Politics
Kamala Harris is an Empath — Donald Trump is a Sociopath . One candidate is trying to scare bitter people into voting out of fear and resentment toward the world. The other is appealing to “the better angels of our nature” as Abraham Lincoln so poetically put it 150 years ago. One candidate sees beauty […]
Tags: Abraham Lincoln·Kamala Harris