Dave Shiflett

Lost in the Stars Country awaits its (musical) messiah Oct 03, 2016 | By Dave Shiflett Many an aging hack writer (ahem) regrets not having worked harder in math class, or in what was once called “shop," which would have…

Sept. 16, 2016 2:32 p.m. ET Cussing sure isn’t what it used to be. These days it seems nearly impossible to horrify, or impress, with a display of nuclear nomenclature. Even the pope has publicly dropped something of an F-bomb,…

April 8, 2016 2:45 p.m. ET Lest Americans grow bored with immigration, terrorism, confiscatory taxation and other mainstays of campaign chatter, Bernie Sanders has dragged the hapless Washington Redskins into the circus, saying that their pigment-specific moniker is on the…

The ancient Hebrews honored beards. Peter the Great taxed his shaggier subjects. Lincoln grew one to make his mug look more presidential By Dave Shiflett Jan. 27, 2016 6:57 p.m. ET Those who are by nature contemplative, or who just…

By Dave Shiflett January 17, 2016 One year from now, perched atop the steps of the Capitol and overlooking a vast crowd of his fellow citizens on the National Mall, Donald J. Trump could be sworn in as the 45th…

As the writer of Donald Trump’s first “campaign book,” the slightly revered and lightly-quoted “The America We Deserve” (published in 2000), I have been asked by “many, many people” (to deploy a Trumpism) to offer my recollections of the man…

By DAVE SHIFLETT Nov. 20, 2015 The world is short on laughs these days, unless you happen to be amused by Internet beheadings or the gales of political flatulence that keep the nation’s curtains constantly aflutter. Excellent timing, then, for…

By Dave Shiflett August 28 at 12:03 PM Otis Redding’s burst of fame was short but eventful. He shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin and drew the Beatles and other British pop royalty to his concerts. He…

Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” series did no favors to the book-tour industry, selling scores of millions of copies despite the fact that Larsson died before his books were published. He made the fatal miscalculation of climbing seven flights of stairs, which…

Ben Bullington wrote songs while working as a country doctor in White Sulphur Springs, Montana (population: 939), often scribbling away in the early morning hours before work and during down times in the emergency room. He wrote lyrics on cards…

Sit-Downs With Stand-Ups By DAVE SHIFLETT June 23, 2015 6:58 p.m. ET Writer, producer and director Judd Apatow is probably best known for movies like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Knocked Up” and “Anchorman,” any one of which, given their unbuttoned sexual…

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ‘Stardust’ Memories Willie Nelson sometimes wonders: Did I really write these songs, or am I just a channel chosen by the Holy Spirit Dave Shiflett May 22, 2015 3:38 p.m. ET Music can be a hard…