I couldn’t feel worse for Whitney Houston and her family -- particularly her minor daughter who she was apparently taking to clubs where alcohol was served (and who- knows-what was available in the bathroom!) -- over the last several years.

As great as her tragedy was, it was more for a kid. God bless, and help, her!

On the other hand, as an artist, it was hard to have any but the best feeling for Whitney. I know a little about it, from both a professional and personal level. And the telling thereof may say something about both the music business and the journalists who follow it.

To wit, at one point in my life, me.

I’ve already written about my experiences with the Rolling Stones during the recording of their classic album “Exile on Main Street,” not to mention the early days of the Ramones. But I knew them long before I...

Now, don’t get me wrong—I loved Steven Spielberg.

I could argue that “Jaws” figures as one of the great “programmers” (or genre movies) of all time, up with, say, Paul Muni’s original “Scarface,” from 1932, 1941’s “The Maltese Falcon” or the ‘80s “Top Gun”,entertainment so pure that it transcends its genre.

Similarly, in the ‘80s when I was writing about movies for a living, I put “Raiders of the Lost Ark” up with John Huston’s “Treasure of Sierra Madre” as the best action films of all time: “Badges, we don’t need no stinking badges….”

And, of course, who could refute such obvious labor’s of love as “Close Encounters...

From Hollywood hipsters to New York subterraneans, the watch has become “the thing.” Or, at least so the major newspapers would have you believe.

Ever notice that on pages 2-3 of the New York Times everyday three or four ads are for pricey watches like Bruget, Hublot, Patek-Phillippe? Heck, in L.A. even the haughty Los Angeles Times is running watch ads on its front page (previously a “no-no”).

Where’s it going to stop? Men’s Journal recently featured a half-million dollar watch on its cover, while the New York Times reviewed a $950,000 one. It’s arm wars!

Now, every good producer or hot new TV star needs a watch -- just does he need a $50,000 Rolex? The problem isn’t that watches cost too much; it’s that you pay too much because you don...

Sometimes it is hard not to have fun with a story; sometimes the stories have fun with you. (If they’re true!) This one falls into the nanosphere between -- it’s certainly all true and, looked at from the right point of view, fun.

But not if you’re my brother. People talk about making a deal with the devil to give their right arm for success. Tommy actually did, though whether it was the devil he made the deal with I can’t attest. It was certainly a higher power.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This goes back to the ‘70s, when my brother Tommy decided to ride his motorcycle around the world. Now, in the wake of Ewan McGregor and Charley Borman’s “Long Way Around” (2004, HBO), that may not seem weird. On the other hand, one was a movie star, the other’s dad a famous film director, and they had mucho...