820. Bob Dylan, Slow Train Coming (1979) During his nineteen-sixties heyday, the most notorious moment of Bob Dylan’s career came at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, when he flouted tradition and took the stage with a full band plugged into … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #820 to #817
With the news this week that Moulin Rouge! The Musical is officially coming to Broadway (hardly an unexpected turn after its Boston tryout largely drew raves), I found myself wondering if Baz Luhrmann is done with director feature films, ready to simply shovel dollars into his bank account from the revival of his greatest success. It’s been five years since he made The Great Gatsby, and there have been few signs of a follow-up. Of course, Luhrmann takes his time. His adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great American Novel arrived five years after its predecessor, a bumbled epic depiction of … Continue reading From the Archive — Australia
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988, Cowboy Junkies released the album The Trinity Session. It wasn’t the Canadian band’s debut album (that was the provocatively titled Whites Off Earth Now!, issued two years earlier), but most of us … Continue reading One for Friday — Cowboy Junkies, “Misguided Angel”
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate the day! Continue reading Happy Thanksgiffing!
#40 — Katie Holmes as April Burns in Pieces of April (Peter Hedges, 2003) There’s a passage of young adulthood that I find is rarely captured with accuracy and empathy in cinema. There’s an endless supply of teenagers navigating the … Continue reading Greatish Performances #40
I don’t think it’s simply a matter of longevity that gives the new Cat Power album, Wanderer, the feel of a classic. I’m referring less to the actual quality of the release — although it’s plenty strong — than the … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Wanderer
An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (Jim Hosking, 2018). I’m sure there’s an easier, more lucrative career path to follow than the road chosen by Aubrey Plaza since the end of Parks and Recreation, which makes her spirited commitment to … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn; Straight Outta Compton; Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
824. Minutemen, Ballot Result (1987) In December 1985, D. Boon, guitarist and vocalist with the punk band Minutemen, was feeling feverish while riding in the back of a van traveling down the Arizona highway. He was lying down, seatbelt off, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #824 to #821
One of the cute celebrity stories that made the rounds this week was Steve Carell’s talk show tale of meeting Kelly Clarkson, more than a decade after he shouted her name while getting his chest hair waxed off in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. It’s not much of a story, but anything mildly interesting enough to briefly disrupt the news cycle of constant misery is always welcome. And if Carell can find a reason to bring up The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I suppose I can, too. This review was written for my former online home, and it was one of the very first … Continue reading From the Archive — The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Thirty years ago, in the autumn of 1988. Scruffy the Cat released their second and final full-length album, Moons of Jupiter. Raucous rockers with a touch of roots styling to their music, the band had a prime place in a … Continue reading One for Friday — Scruffy the Cat, “Moons of Jupiter”
