Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. Of the many benefits … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Albert Brooks and Buddy
644. The Descendents, All (1987) For what was expected to the final album from California punk legends the Descendents, drummer Bill Stevenson introduced a concept he’d co-created which was dubbed “All.” Cooked up on a fishing trip, in 1980, All … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #644 to #641
The “Cancel Culture” Con by Osita Nwanevu Prompted by Dave Chapelle’s wrong-headed defense of Michael Jackson in his new Netflix special and the immediate dismissal of a new Saturday Night Live cast member after the exposure of his blatant, repeated, … Continue reading Outside Reading — Using Words Wisely edition
Freewheeling and delightfully loopy, the new single from Jennifer Vanilla (a performing guise of Becca Kauffman, departing member of Ava Luna) is a dance music knuckleball. Sounding like a turbo-holy union of Laurie Anderson and Sparks, “Space Time Motion” is a … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Jennifer Vanilla, “Space Time Motion”
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. When I started collecting Marvel Comics at the dawn of the … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Marvel Team-Up #74 by Chris Claremont and Bob Hall
Cat Power convinced me I might be wrong, or maybe just short-sighted. In the past, I’ve enjoyed certain songs from Lana Del Rey (usually the expected culprits), but I didn’t consider her an artist of real significance, someone who demanded … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Norman Fucking Rockwell
Panic in Year Zero (Ray Milland, 1962). This Cold War drama, one of a handful of films directed by Ray Milland, takes a fascinating approach to its tale of U.S. society in the immediate aftermath of nuclear weapons leveling a … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Panic in Year Zero; Searching; Stronger
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Dolly Parton was well-acquainted with the top … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “But You Know I Love You”
648. David Byrne, The Catherine Wheel (1981) In September, 1981, next to an ad for the retrograde comedy Carbon Copy (in which George Segal plays a man who is shocked to discover he has a black, adult son, played by … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #648 to #645
They Are What You Eat by Caity Weaver Maybe it’s because I’ve spent the past couple weeks in a unique vocational space that I so enjoyed Caity Weaver’s tour through the offices of Focus Brands, the company that specializes in … Continue reading Outside Reading — Fudgie Ho! edition
Coffee for Two 