84. The Cranberries, To the Faithful Departed And now we come to what is arguably the “lingering goodwill” portion of the chart, with a couple of albums that a reasonable observer may conclude garnered airplay less on their own individual … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 84 and 83
I had a lot of stuff go up at Spectrum Culture this week, so let’s just tick them off: –It’s fairly rare that I write for the book section, but it occurred to me late last fall that I just might be able to get myself a review copy of the massive, intimidating and universally adored new outing from Chris Ware, Building Stories. Evidently, I made my request right before our editor-in-chief, inspiring at least a bit of envy. That’s the proper reaction on his part, by the way. This thing is spectacular. In my many reviews for Spectrum, this … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Not to upset any lingering, devoted fan base the band might have, but I feel obligated to admit that the main reason I have affection for the band the Buck Pets is that I once knew a lovely young woman who appropriated their band name so she would have something to call me. She just liked the way it sounded, I think. When she was on the air, she’d play a song from the album and backsell it by sharing, “That one goes out to my little Buck Pet.” We never figured out what “Buck Pet” really meant, what the … Continue reading One for Friday: Buck Pets, “A Little Murder”
#41 — Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks, 1960) Though Elmer Gantry was released several years before the MPAA ratings system came into being, it was a bit of a trailblazer when it came to warning potential ticket-buyers of potentially challenging content. … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Forty-One
My brain is broken. I hope to have it fixed by tomorrow. Continue reading Programming Note
The new film Admission differs drastically enough from the source material novel of the same name that original writer Jean Hanff Korelitz was given the opportunity to address it, presumably with the consent of studio p.r. mavens given her willingness … Continue reading You have to pay the price of admission sometime in your life, somewhere along the line
The Three Stooges (Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly, 2012). Strangely, this attempt to update the Three Stooges for a modern audience is the most disciplined Farrelly brothers film in years. That doesn’t mean it’s good per se, but the screenplay does have a tightness and care that’s been largely missing from the siblings’ work for at least ten years or so. There’s some genuinely inspired staging to the hyper-violent comic set pieces featuring the trio of orphaned doofuses clumsily beating the hell out of each other which carries over the broader narrative. Not much of it is especially funny or … Continue reading Farrelly and Farrelly, Kazan, Levy, Stoller, Wain
86. Ramones, Greatest Hits Live The Ramones played their final live show on August 6, 1996. Beginning with its very title, they’d made it clear that the 1995 album ¡Adiós Amigos! would be their last, at least barring some major … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 86 and 85
Since I was traveling this past week, the editor kindly kept my workload light at Spectrum Culture (there were other factors too, but there certainly seemed some sympathetic generosity strongly at play). So the only thing that had my name on it was our list of the “13 Best Goth Albums of All Time.” I helped select the titles on the list–which I wish wasn’t ranked, I will note–and got to write the blurbs for two of the bigger albums, including the one that resides in the top spot. Never one who was heavy into goth music, I’ll admit it … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Back at the college radio station, I was always appreciative when I found out the official derivation of a band’s name. This was in part because it was handy information to have when introducing or backselling a band’s songs on the air, providing something interesting to help fill up the time. It was also fairly difficult background to come by for a lot of the artists we played. Even at that late date, there was no shortage of articles tracing how the Rolling Stones selected their moniker, but it was a lot harder to find out where the hell the … Continue reading One for Friday: The Woodentops, “They Can Say What They Want”
Coffee for Two 