Author: Dan Seeger

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Beers I Have Know: Bur Oak Brewing Company Clyde’s Caramel Cream Ale

Dan Seeger

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. Sure, any time I walk on down the hill and maybe buy a beer, I naturally think about my friends and wish they lived out here. But, as I’ve discovered from my own residential wanderings, there is a distinct benefit to having beloved compatriots scattered across our national geography. For one thing, visits can include some sudsy explorations. We broke a longstanding household rule and took to the roadways over the long holiday weekend, … Continue reading Beers I Have Know: Bur Oak Brewing Company Clyde’s Caramel Cream Ale

MusicLeave a comment

College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 193 – 191

Dan Seeger

193. Blue Öyster Cult, “Burnin’ for You” Naturally the process of trekking through a two hundred and fifty songs was going to lead to a few discoveries that would have been useful for me earlier. Almost exactly two months after retiring the “Top 40 Smash Taps” feature on this site, acknowledging that my collection of posts was probably not comprehensive (but was also “good enough, to be sure”), here I find another one that meets the qualifications for inclusion. “Burnin’ for You,” the lead single from the Blue Öyster Cult’s Fire of Unknown Origin LP, became their second to cross … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 193 – 191

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One For Friday: Kasey Chambers, “Better Be Home Soon”

Dan Seeger

Like a lot of other DJs at my college radio station, I gravitated to covers. It was commonplace in the nineteen-nineties, which is part of the reason labels we’re always pushing artists to include revamps of familiar songs on their albums. In a crowded marketplace, it was one of the surest ways to grab the fickle attention of student broadcasters. With limited spots on a playlist, anything with a whiff of the familiar held an appealing safety. And yet I didn’t actively chase covers, not until years later. That’s when my splendid partner-in-all-things made it clear that she found covers … Continue reading One For Friday: Kasey Chambers, “Better Be Home Soon”

ComicsLeave a comment

Bait Taken: Captain America: Steve Rogers #1

Dan Seeger

There are many building blocks of the internet, but the cornerstones are think pieces, offhand lists, and other hollow provocations meant to stir arguments and, therefore, briefly redirect web traffic. Engaging such material is utterly pointless. Then again, it’s not like I have anything better to do. I’m under the impression that the mess in which we find ourselves mired in currently began with Captain America. More specifically, it started nearly ten years ago, when Marvel Comics released Captain America #25. Sales of comic books were in a steady and dire decline, and the Marvel Entertainment Group was still a year away … Continue reading Bait Taken: Captain America: Steve Rogers #1

FilmLeave a comment

The Art of the Sell: “Strange Days” trailer

Dan Seeger

These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of pop art.  As someone who once strung trailers onto the front of films for a multi-screen theater (as if there’s any other kind these days), I have a special affection for teasers that were clearly shot separately from the features they promoted, that stood as their own little movies. Appreciating the extra effort, I opted for those over frantic assemblages of clips any chance I got. Once it was out of my control, I spiritually extended a special … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Strange Days” trailer

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College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 196 – 194

Dan Seeger

196. The Psychedelic Furs, “All That Money Wants” Richard Butler intended “All That Money Wants” to be his closing statement on the Psychedelic Furs. The song was written as a direct response to his dismay over the heavy commercial push given to the band’s 1987 album, Midnight to Midnight, which Columbia Records touted as “The Psychedelic Furs’ Masterstroke” in advertisements. Throughout the supporting tour, Butler found that he was growing increasingly detached from the lyrics he was singing onstage. In explaining “All That Money Wants,” Butler said, “It was about the success of Midnight to Midnight and how people began to look … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 196 – 194