Ann Powers

@annkpowers.bsky.social

25447 Followers 1563 Following

I write about music things and things music at NPR and elsewhere. Latest book: TRAVELING: ON THE PATH OF JONI MITCHELL. Out now in affordable paperback!

Gwayne Hightower being like oh no my dude
Ser Christon Cole being so irritating
Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn and Bernadette Manuelito in Dark Winds as played by Kiowa Gordon, Zahn McLarnon and Jessica Matten
A view of Athens from the top of Mt. Lycabettus
A photo of the pool at Patmos Paradise where I am currently relaxing
The screen and a few moviegoers at Cinema Thision, the open air cinema near the Acropolis
The cover of Prefab Sprout’s album Steve McQueen, which shows the band clustered on and around a motorcycle in the mode of that great actor
Hayley Williams behind a bullhorn striking a power pose
Jessie Buckley and Wagner Moura arm in arm
An image of the Academy Award statue with the headline about our podcast episode about needle drops in this year's race
Robert Plant holding a dove, famously
An announcement from Publishers Marketplace that I've sold a book to Holt on Paul McCartney's years as a young man about town in London, 1964-1968.
Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy, driving his motorcycle into his fate (an oncoming truck)
Maltipoo Frankie looking perplexed in a Happy New Year crown
An image of a masked man on a motorbike from the film Touki Bouki
The cover of the book The Beatles and the Historians by Erin Torkelson Weber
An Irish harp flag
Collage of pics of Alice Gerrard being a folkie on the cover of her book Custom Made Woman
Almanac-style cover of John Darnielle's This Year: A Book of Days
A drawing of Lola Kirke astride the Washington Square Park arch on the cover of her memoir WILD WEST VILLAGE
Roddy Bottum looking young n cute on the cover of his new memoir THE ROYAL WE
Spandau Ballet fabulous fops
Udo Kier as monstrous baby Little Brother in the Danish TV show The Kingdom, directed by Lars von Trier
Pan-Euro-American power pop band Oracle Sisters rocking out at Nashville’s Blue Room
The poster for the 1997 sci fi movie Gattaca with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman it’s good watch it
CMAT in the audience at the Basement East, where she began her show.
A Facebook post describing numerous errors about musician Laura Nyro’s discography.
Cip from WSMV TV website reading "After Eric Clapton concert, pantsless woman drove car with missing wheel through Nashville, police say"
A quote from a New York magazine piece about “the death of criticism” that says critics should reflect the audience’s taste which of course has always been part of good arts writing!
The cover of my book GOOD BOOTY: LOVE ABD SEX, BLACK AND WHITE, BODY AND SOUL IN AMERICAN MUSIC
A smiling young John Anderson on the cover of his single Seminole Wind
The Lady in the Radiator from Eraserhead
cover of ID magazine with a pic of the young rocker Sombr with a butterfly over one eye, with the tagline: Can Sombr Save Rock 'N' Roll?
Dominic Guard in Picnic at Hanging Rock after the Whatever got him
Frank N Furter and Rocky
A paragraph from a Semafor piece about the New York Times reshuffling arts critics -- the gist is that leadership says they "wanted to move away from a 'thumbs up, thumbs down' review style, and instead offer criticism that would provide more information and context for people who did not plan to see or hear the reviewed works themselves." THAT'S BULLSHIT
Sally Timms looks on as Jon Langford balances guitar on head like the rock god he is
A quote from my review of Yanni at Radio City Music Hall, in a woman's dissertation
The cool red overhead lights on the plane I’m stuck on at BNA
My maltipoo Frankie looking alert
Frankie the maltipoo
A paragraph from Alissa Wilkinson's essay on the Times Best Films list noting that no Black or Latino women directors appear on the list and only four Black directors, and only 11 films by women. BOO
My list of films for the NYT Best of the 21st century thing: La ciénega, I'm Not there, Tangerine, The Souvenir, No Bears, The Saddest Music in the World, Oldboy, Neptune Frost, Killing of a Sacred Deer and Thirteen
A garden exploding with flowers in my front yard
Bridget Everett in a sequin shift performing at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park in June 2025
A poster for I AM THE BAND show June 22 at Lincoln Center
The story of the Sentinel Pine, which stood for more than 100 years after King George tried to claim its wood for England and then was made into a covered bridge by New Hampshire citizens after it was felled by a storm.
The green and glorious vista from New Hampshire’s Kilburn Crags. Old growth forest and rolling mountains.
David Rawlings, Paul Kowert and Gillian Welch onstage at the Ryman playing a gorgeous two and a half hour set.
Me and our maltipoo Frankie relaxing on the den couch
Musicians Moogstar and Swamp Dogg at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville doing an onstage interview with the Tennessean’s Marcus Dowling.
A photo of Andre 3000 with the headline “Andre 3000’s Piano Record is a Bold Example of Not Knowing What You’re Doing”
A bearded, big-eyed Ringo Star shares his drumki with a very juvenile delinquent looking George Harrison, circa 1958