Let me tell you a story about The Independent, the Spectator and me. In the summer of 1987, I was a transcendently lazy store clerk working for Schoolkids Records on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. One day I got a call from a friend who worked as a receptionist at the Spectator offices. Spectator was looking […]
Dan Neil
Posted inNews
Rumble Seat
This, my 163rd column for The Independent, is my last. Yes, well, I know 163 isn’t a round number. It’s much more interesting: It’s a prime number. Why am I quitting? Since the Florida recount, I simply haven’t had enough time, what with my medication and electroshock therapy. Moreover, my freelance dance card is full. […]
Posted inNews
Rumble Seat
WADI RUM, Jordan–The desert stretches for 3,000 years in every direction. To the west is the city of Aqaba, where Saladin warred against Richard the Lion-Hearted and T.E. Lawrence led the Arabs against the Ottoman Turks. To the north is the city of Petra, where the Nabataean Arabs stamped the canyon walls with towering facades […]
Posted inNews
Rumble Seat
JUAREZ, Mexico–In the two decades since the original Beetle was last sold in the United States, the car that was a paisley-powered right of passage for millions of driving Americans has faded from memory. Whatever lingering and unrequited affection there was for the old dumpling, it might be fair to assume, was satisfied by the […]