748. The Kinks, State of Confusion (1983) On the U.S. singles chart, the nineteen-seventies were rough for the Kinks. Previously shoulder to shoulder with the Who on the tier just below the Beatles and the Rolling Stones on the pyramid … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #748 to #745
As the new version of Dumbo soar into theaters, it seems a long lifetime since a new directorial effort from Tim Burton was cause for excitement. When I was crafting reviews for my college radio station in the early nineteen-nineties, … Continue reading From the Archive — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The opening guitar riff is almost enough for me. Rhythmic, echoing, and steely strong, it reminds me of the first moments of Billy Bragg’s “The Saturday Boy,” though with an extra coat of hard toffee gloss and a quickened pace … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Tacocat, “Hologram”
It’s not all that unusual for a filmmaker to establish themself as a vibrant new voice within their first couple of features. But I can’t think of another recent instance in which a creator who was already a known quantity … Continue reading Now Playing — Us
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. In 1962, Sam Cooke released the cut … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “I’ll Bring It Home to You”
This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. I’ve become a little complacent about the ease in which the supercomputer I … Continue reading Beers I Have Known — Hopkins Brewing Company Hipster AF
Tomb Raider (Roar Uthaug, 2018). I saw both films that cast Angelina Jolie as adventurer Lara Croft at the time of their original releases, and I don’t remember a second of either one. I suspect the same fate awaits Tomb … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Tomb Raider; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Red Sparrow
752. Bleached Black, Bleached Black (1987) College programmers who first dropped the needle on the self-titled debut of Bleached Black might have been expecting to get a sweeping dose of glorious goth music. Instead, the band from New Haven, Connecticut … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #752 to #749
I’m entirely sincere when I note it’s pleasing that so many media outlets reported on the surprise arrival of the first child of a movie biz power couple by neglecting the papa. In a culture that still routinely refers to … Continue reading From the Archive — The Squid and the Whale
In my music fandom, I have a few clear weaknesses, sounds and conceits before which I am utterly helpless. One of chief bits that gets me almost every time is a song that is about being a song, calling attention … Continue reading This Week’s Model — An Horse, “This is a Song”
Coffee for Two 