Michael A. Walsh (born October 23, 1949) is an American music critic,
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
, screenwriter, media critic, historian, and cultural-political consultant.
Career
A 1971 graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., Walsh began his journalism career as a reporter and later music critic in 1972 at the ''
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle'' in upstate New York. He was named chief classical music critic of the ''
San Francisco Examiner
The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863.
Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...
'' in November 1977, where in 1980 he won an ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for music criticism. He became music critic of ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine in the spring of 1981, where his cover story subjects included
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine ( ; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March ...
,
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing.
Life ...
and
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...
. He was also a foreign correspondent for the magazine from 1989 to 1996, based in Munich, Germany, from which city he covered first-hand the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of Soviet communism in 1991.
Beginning in February, 2007 and running until 2015, Walsh wrote for ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...
'' both under his own name and using a fictional persona named David Kahane, the name of which "is borrowed from a screenwriter character in (the movie) The Player". This persona has evolved into one of "... a Hollywood liberal who has a habit of sharing way too much about the rules by which they live to a conservative audience."
In January, 2010, in collaboration with
Andrew Breitbart, he launched BigJournalism.com, devoted to media commentary and criticism. From December 3, 2010, to the summer of 2013 he contributed a weekly opinion column for the ''New York Post,'' and in late June 2012 became a featured columnist at
PJ Media. He is now the editor of the websit
the-pipeline.org which deals with energy issues. His work has appeared in such publications as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
Vanity Fair'', ''
GQ'', ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'', ''
Smithsonian Magazine
''Smithsonian'' is a magazine covering science, history, art, popular culture and innovation. The first issue was published in 1970.
History
The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' magazine ...
'', and ''
Connoisseur''; in Europe, he has been published in ''Transatlantik'', ''Die Woche'', and the British edition of ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...
''. His literary works have been translated into more than twenty languages, including German, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese.
Bibliography
Non-fiction
* ''Carnegie Hall: The First One Hundred Years'' (Harry N. Abrams, 1987)
* ''Who's Afraid of Classical Music'' (Fireside Books, 1989)
* ''Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works'' (Abrams, 1989, updated 1997)
* ''Who's Afraid of Opera?'' (1994)
* ''So When Does the Fat Lady Sing?'' (Amadeus, 2008)
* ''Rules for Radical Conservatives'' (as David Kahane; Ballantine, 2010)
* ''The People v. the Democratic Party'' (Encounter Broadside, 2012)
* ''The Devil's Pleasure Palace'' (Encounter Books, 2015)
* ''The Fiery Angel'' (Encounter Books, 2018)
* ''Last Stands'' (St. Martin's Press, Dec. 2020)
* ''Against the Great Reset'' (Bombardier Books, 2022)
* ''Against the Corporate Media'' (Bombardier Books, 2024)
Novels
* ''Exchange Alley'' (1997), a Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection upon publication that has since become a cult novel
* ''
As Time Goes By'' (sequel to the film ''Casablanca,'' 1998)
* ''And All the Saints'' (2003), a fictionalized autobiography of
Owney Madden's life that was a 2004
American Book Awards winner.
Espionage thrillers
* ''Hostile Intent'', featuring the character of "Devlin", a top-secret operative of the
Central Security Service, was published in September 2009 by Pinnacle. It reached No. 1 on the
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking ...
bestseller list upon its release, and twice appeared on the ''New York Timess extended bestseller list in October of that year.
* A sequel, ''Early Warning'', was published in September 2010.
* The third book in the series, ''Shock Warning'', was published in late September, 2011.
Film
''
Cadet Kelly,'' a 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie (co-written with Gail Parent) starring
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer, author and businesswoman. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hilary Duff, various accolades, including a World Music Awards, World Mus ...
was, until ''
High School Musical
''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American Musical film, musical television film produced by and aired on Disney Channel as part of the network's List of Disney Channel original films, slate of original television films. The first installmen ...
,'' the highest-rated
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...
movie in history. He also wrote and produced the 1995 documentary ''
Placido Domingo: A Musical Life'' for PBS, and wrote the narration for the 1999 video version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical, ''
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat''.
Other
A lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, Walsh has written ''Hard Headed Woman,'' a biopic of the rockabilly singer
Wanda Jackson
Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American retired singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of Rock music, rock, Country music, country and Gospel music, gospel. She was among th ...
, for LD Entertainment, and ''25/7'' for Disney. Scripts in development include ''How High the Moon,'' about the lives of
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...
and
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...
; ''Hound and Horn,'' set in 1940s Marseilles; and ''The Harp,'' a feature film/television series set in rural 19th-century Ireland. His Cold War script, ''Charlie'' (
Mikael Håfström
Jan Mikael Håfström is a Sweden, Swedish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 2003 film ''Evil (2003 film), Evil'', and the movie adaptation of Stephen King's short story ''1408 (short story), 1408''.
Early life
Born in Lun ...
, director), is currently in the financing and casting stage.
Personal life
He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the
Wende Museum in Los Angeles.
His principal residences are in rural Connecticut and in
County Clare
County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...
, Ireland.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Michael
1949 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American writers
American Book Award winners
American male journalists
American male novelists
American male screenwriters
American media critics
American spy fiction writers
Boston University faculty
Breitbart News people
American classical music critics
Eastman School of Music alumni
Living people
National Review people
New York Post people
Novelists from Massachusetts
Novelists from New York (state)
San Francisco Examiner people
Screenwriters from California
Screenwriters from Massachusetts
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Time (magazine) people