Keep Rockin'

Legendary critic Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times offers a fun and fascinating retrospective of his 37 years covering the pop music scene in Saturday's "Backstage Pass." Hilburn gives us the lowdown on his encounters with stars such as John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, Bono and Elvis. I appreciate that he also praises the songs of younger stars such as Kanye West and Jack White of the White Stripes. Hilburn is a master at using snippets of dialogue to capture people's personalities, as he does during this description of a scene with Michael Jackson:

"Popcorn was ordered from his personal chef, then he pulled a video from one of the huge trunks he took on tour. Slipping it into the VCR, he settled on a couch and said, 'Let's watch cartoons.' Jackson was 26."