Annie Zaleski
@anniezaleski.bsky.social
NYT Bestselling Author, “Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs.” 33 1/3 book on Duran Duran’s ‘Rio.’ Other books: Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Pink, Christmas songs, Cher. Trans + disability rights are human rights. [email protected]; anniez.com.
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Annie Zaleski
@anniezaleski.bsky.social
· Nov 15
Annie’s Newsletter | Annie Zaleski | Substack
Music musings with a personal twist. Click to read Annie’s Newsletter, by Annie Zaleski, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
anniezaleski.substack.com
An intro! I'm a music journalist who also (sometimes) writes about culture, business, healthcare + marketing. I've written books on: Duran Duran's 'Rio,' Pink, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Christmas music (and soon): love songs and Cher! I have a newsletter too: anniezaleski.substack.com
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
everything is terrible so here’s the swedish chef doing rapper’s delight
July 11, 2025 at 3:28 AM
everything is terrible so here’s the swedish chef doing rapper’s delight
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
I interviewed Rob Reiner as one of the bonuses for the @criterion.bsky.social BluRay of SPINAL TAP. We talked for an hour about the movie and his career and then they shut off the cameras and we talked about movies for another hour. A delightful, unhurried genius.
December 15, 2025 at 5:51 AM
I interviewed Rob Reiner as one of the bonuses for the @criterion.bsky.social BluRay of SPINAL TAP. We talked for an hour about the movie and his career and then they shut off the cameras and we talked about movies for another hour. A delightful, unhurried genius.
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
Rob Reiner, as I found out just a few weeks ago, was vocal in his support of the first Stonewall March in texas, all the way back in 1977, made his support of queer rights VERY public when it was not even a little bit fashionable to do so.
Rob Reiner was one of the key people behind the effort to go to court to overturn California's anti-marriage equality Proposition 8 when it passed in 2008.
Working with Chad Griffin, they founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights and got Ted Olson and David Boies to team up to fight Prop 8.
Working with Chad Griffin, they founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights and got Ted Olson and David Boies to team up to fight Prop 8.
December 15, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Rob Reiner, as I found out just a few weeks ago, was vocal in his support of the first Stonewall March in texas, all the way back in 1977, made his support of queer rights VERY public when it was not even a little bit fashionable to do so.
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
Rob Reiner on Letterman with Daphne Zuniga (😍🦊) and John Cusack, stars of his first post-Spinal Tap film, in the audience and Albert Brooks on the phone and one of his old actors (Paul Shaffer) surrounded by keyboards.
Rob Reiner (& Albert Brooks) on Letterman February 28, 1985
YouTube video by Don Giller
www.youtube.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Rob Reiner on Letterman with Daphne Zuniga (😍🦊) and John Cusack, stars of his first post-Spinal Tap film, in the audience and Albert Brooks on the phone and one of his old actors (Paul Shaffer) surrounded by keyboards.
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
the good that you do persists in this world
December 14, 2025 at 8:20 PM
the good that you do persists in this world
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
A beautuful thread about Rob Reiner.
I’m just going to tell the story. Back in 2000 I was volunteering for the Gore campaign when he came along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Alfre Woodard and Dule Hill to a GOTV event here in MN. He ended up sitting down across from me stuffing his envelopes.
December 15, 2025 at 3:38 AM
A beautuful thread about Rob Reiner.
“Spinal Tap” brought the razor-sharp humor; “When Harry Met Sally” captured sweetness and deep humanity. What horrible news to end a weekend full of horrific news. people.com/rob-reiner-d...
Rob Reiner, All in the Family Star and When Harry Met Sally Director, Dead at 78 Along with Wife in Apparent Homicide
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner were found dead in their Brentwood, Calif., home in what police are calling a double homicide.
people.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:37 AM
“Spinal Tap” brought the razor-sharp humor; “When Harry Met Sally” captured sweetness and deep humanity. What horrible news to end a weekend full of horrific news. people.com/rob-reiner-d...
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
The ACA isn't just "health care for people who don't have a conventional employer." It also disallows something that was incredibly common 20 years ago, which I fear is getting lost to generational memory: insurance companies could deny you health care for essentially any previous health problem.
I'm dubious about Amazon's commitment to keeping pre-existing conditions a thing of the past.
December 14, 2025 at 11:50 PM
The ACA isn't just "health care for people who don't have a conventional employer." It also disallows something that was incredibly common 20 years ago, which I fear is getting lost to generational memory: insurance companies could deny you health care for essentially any previous health problem.
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
God damn. What incredible guts this guy has.
I once took a bat away from a guy who was beating someone with it, and I can't imagine that I would have done this. Not from that distance, not having to slip through the cars.
Just a ridiculous act of heroism.
I once took a bat away from a guy who was beating someone with it, and I can't imagine that I would have done this. Not from that distance, not having to slip through the cars.
Just a ridiculous act of heroism.
December 14, 2025 at 2:17 PM
God damn. What incredible guts this guy has.
I once took a bat away from a guy who was beating someone with it, and I can't imagine that I would have done this. Not from that distance, not having to slip through the cars.
Just a ridiculous act of heroism.
I once took a bat away from a guy who was beating someone with it, and I can't imagine that I would have done this. Not from that distance, not having to slip through the cars.
Just a ridiculous act of heroism.
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
Sunday reading; how @jon.wprb.com prepares for his world famous 25 hour Christmas radio marathon christmasagogo.blogspot.com/2025/12/jon-...
Jon Solomon on the 25 Hour Marathon
If you agree with me that Christmas stands for exuberance, excess and extravagance, than a 25 hour radio show filled with Christmas music is...
christmasagogo.blogspot.com
December 14, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Sunday reading; how @jon.wprb.com prepares for his world famous 25 hour Christmas radio marathon christmasagogo.blogspot.com/2025/12/jon-...
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
I shouldn’t have to share this article as much as I do. Sending condolences to all friends and family and loved ones from the Brown Shooting today.
www.newsweek.com/2025/07/18/f...
www.newsweek.com/2025/07/18/f...
Why Flavor Flav says the US must ban firearms now | Opinion
The lack of U.S. gun laws has created a violence epidemic unlike anywhere else on Earth. This is domestic errorism
www.newsweek.com
December 14, 2025 at 4:24 AM
I shouldn’t have to share this article as much as I do. Sending condolences to all friends and family and loved ones from the Brown Shooting today.
www.newsweek.com/2025/07/18/f...
www.newsweek.com/2025/07/18/f...
Don’t forget - airing tonight!
There’s an additional Taylor Swift doc option for you this weekend in the U.S. — and this one has me! The CW picked up the British Channel 4 documentary I filmed earlier this year and will air it Saturday night at 8 pm! Details here. 🫶❤️ deadline.com/2025/12/the-...
December 13, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Don’t forget - airing tonight!
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
Hell yeah bunch of videos of MJL sitting in with Magnolia and Johnson last night. Played Just Be Simple, Dark Don't Hide It, Blue Factory Flame, Texas 71 and a few others.
www.instagram.com/magnoliaandj...
www.instagram.com/magnoliaandj...
December 13, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Hell yeah bunch of videos of MJL sitting in with Magnolia and Johnson last night. Played Just Be Simple, Dark Don't Hide It, Blue Factory Flame, Texas 71 and a few others.
www.instagram.com/magnoliaandj...
www.instagram.com/magnoliaandj...
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
As he celebrates his 100th Birthday this very day, can we all take a moment to acknowledge that time when Dick Van Dyke won the internet internet.
Forever.
Forever.
December 13, 2025 at 12:43 PM
As he celebrates his 100th Birthday this very day, can we all take a moment to acknowledge that time when Dick Van Dyke won the internet internet.
Forever.
Forever.
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
Stevie Saturday: live on German TV 1974
December 13, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Stevie Saturday: live on German TV 1974
Absolutely wild that all of the circa-1992 reviews, show listings and ads list the Wallflowers as....Wallflower.
December 13, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Absolutely wild that all of the circa-1992 reviews, show listings and ads list the Wallflowers as....Wallflower.
Having lengthy chats with @mwardlaw.bsky.social tonight about the Wallflowers. He is such a big fan he saw them in 1992(!) opening for Cracker(!!).
December 13, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Having lengthy chats with @mwardlaw.bsky.social tonight about the Wallflowers. He is such a big fan he saw them in 1992(!) opening for Cracker(!!).
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
Hats off to @residentadvisor.bsky.social for this massively ambitious undertaking. (I wrote about Ricardo Villalobos.) Some really fine writing here, and the selection is top notch, a fittingly dynamic representation of the past 25 years. ra.co/features/4481
The Best Electronic Tracks of 2000-25 · Feature ⟋ RA
2000-25: The Best Electronic Tracks, Records and Mixes of the 21st Century.
ra.co
December 10, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Hats off to @residentadvisor.bsky.social for this massively ambitious undertaking. (I wrote about Ricardo Villalobos.) Some really fine writing here, and the selection is top notch, a fittingly dynamic representation of the past 25 years. ra.co/features/4481
Feeling like 2026 is going to be a Hole renaissance, between Melissa Auf Der Maur's book and the just-announced Courtney Love doc at Sundance, "Antiheroine." (Personally, I am here for any Hole resurgence - lots to say about them and that era!) festival.sundance.org/program/film...
December 12, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Feeling like 2026 is going to be a Hole renaissance, between Melissa Auf Der Maur's book and the just-announced Courtney Love doc at Sundance, "Antiheroine." (Personally, I am here for any Hole resurgence - lots to say about them and that era!) festival.sundance.org/program/film...
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
I wrote a new piece for @pghcitypaper.com about loving analog media in a digital world. If you’re someone who’s into vinyl, film photography, print media, and invaluable local businesses, you should check it out! I also coin the phrase “techno-bummerism” lol
In a digital world, Pittsburgh is an analog paradise
At places like Galaxie Electronics and Bernie's Photo Center, young people are relearning the joys of vinyl, film, and slowing down.
www.pghcitypaper.com
December 11, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I wrote a new piece for @pghcitypaper.com about loving analog media in a digital world. If you’re someone who’s into vinyl, film photography, print media, and invaluable local businesses, you should check it out! I also coin the phrase “techno-bummerism” lol
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
60 years ago tonight, the velvet underground at summit high school in new jersey, opening for the myddle class, both acts' 1st proper shows. rob norris’s classic “i was a velveteen” (from kicks #1) suggests the VU had just been fired by cafe wha?, so maybe an earlier gig? great local coverage, too!
December 12, 2025 at 12:35 AM
60 years ago tonight, the velvet underground at summit high school in new jersey, opening for the myddle class, both acts' 1st proper shows. rob norris’s classic “i was a velveteen” (from kicks #1) suggests the VU had just been fired by cafe wha?, so maybe an earlier gig? great local coverage, too!
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
'Let it Snow' with all the positive lines removed
December 11, 2025 at 9:33 PM
'Let it Snow' with all the positive lines removed
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
There’s an additional Taylor Swift doc option for you this weekend in the U.S. — and this one has me! The CW picked up the British Channel 4 documentary I filmed earlier this year and will air it Saturday night at 8 pm! Details here. 🫶❤️ deadline.com/2025/12/the-...
December 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
There’s an additional Taylor Swift doc option for you this weekend in the U.S. — and this one has me! The CW picked up the British Channel 4 documentary I filmed earlier this year and will air it Saturday night at 8 pm! Details here. 🫶❤️ deadline.com/2025/12/the-...
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
More excellent reporting from the student newspaper at IU Bloomington (albeit a little late for world #AIDSDay) www.idsnews.com/article/2025...
Ryan White died before he could attend IU. Now, he’ll be memorialized on campus
A memorial to Hoosier HIV/AIDS advocate Ryan White is set for a spring installation.
www.idsnews.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:53 AM
More excellent reporting from the student newspaper at IU Bloomington (albeit a little late for world #AIDSDay) www.idsnews.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Annie Zaleski
It's kind of wild how the first P.M. Dawn album is both deeply 1991 and could also come out right now
December 11, 2025 at 3:28 PM
It's kind of wild how the first P.M. Dawn album is both deeply 1991 and could also come out right now