Keeping with tradition, the final words I offer on a just-closed year of music come in the assembled as a celebration of a quintet of tracks that stood out for me. I’m not proclaiming these to be the best five … Continue reading Five Songs from 2017
I’ve rarely felt so detached from the prevailing music culture as I did in 2017. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. It’s not only that my resounding obliviousness of the songs that stormed the pop charts (I wouldn’t … Continue reading Top Ten Albums of 2017
Unless I strike a new vein of dusty old words as I mine through my hoarded papers, I will soon reach the end of writing from my college radio days that can be transferred to this site for digital preservation. … Continue reading From the Archive — Regarding Henry
I think New Year’s Eve is a dandy night to be on the radio. Perhaps influenced by one of my cohorts at the college radio, a seasoned drinker, who referred to the last night of the calendar year as “amateur … Continue reading One for Friday — Jesus Jones, “Right Here, Right Now”
Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951). This drama about the power of the Ku Klux Klan in a small U.S. town plays as a odd hybrid of courtroom potboiler and lurid thriller. A woman named Marsha Mitchell (Ginger Rogers) is passing … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — Storm Warning; Pickpocket; Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. One of the most thrilling things about transformative works of art is that it’s desperately rare that … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations”
Craig Gillespie’s Lars and the Real Girl is a small marvel of gracious, empathetic filmmaking. Centered on a lonely, withdrawn man who engages in a tender love affair with a life-size doll, the film is primed for harsh mockery. Instead, … Continue reading Now Playing — I, Tonya
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. Merry Christmas, all! Previous … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Kids in the Hall, “A Visit from Santa”
4. Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U” The tip-off about the identity of the songwriter in there in title. When Sinead O’Connor released “Nothing Compares 2 U” as the lead single from her sophomore album, I Do Not Want What … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 40 Cuts, March 16, 1990 — 4 – 1
Since I invoked (via hyperlink) this old chunk of writing when I shared my thoughts on Star Wars: The Last Jedi the other day, it seems reasonably appropriate to drag the whole essay straight over. That’s what this Saturday feature … Continue reading From the Archive — The Sopranos finale
