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. Because sometimes I’m in an airport. Previously… —Point Special —21st Amendment Bitter American … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
78. White Zombie, Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds Perhaps every generation gets the Renaissance Man it deserves. The former Robert Bartleh Cummings first found fame as the co-founder and driving creative force behind the band White Zombie, a group with which he shared an adopted second half of a name. The group released four proper studio albums from the late-eighties to the early-nineties, with the remix effort Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds serving as their official parting shot in 1996. Featuring modified fan favorites with parenthetical names such as “Meet Bambi in the King’s Harem Mix” and “Sex on the Rocks Mix,” the album … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 78 and 77
Through a combination of personal foresight and editorial generosity, I didn’t have anything new go up this past week at Spectrum Culture. Good thing I took the occasion of scrapping and scrambling for valuable Trivia points to slough off this regular update last week, meaning I do have some words to redirect curious souls towards. On the film side, I reviewed a new documentary on Ricky Jay, the noted sleight of hand artist and curious curator of all manner of ancient and enduring chicanery. The movie has its strengths and weaknesses, but what I really wanted to write was that … Continue reading Spectrum Check
When I was removed from the constant discovery zone of college radio, I often poured through music magazines to find my way to new artists. This meant that, like a sportswriter considering whose name to write on his or her MVP ballot, I was unduly susceptible to a performer with a good story. Jack Logan had a great story. He was a longtime songwriter who came to prominence fairly late in life, after moving to Georgia, where he befriended Peter Buck of R.E.M. While Logan was still making his living as a swimming pool motor technician, he started releasing albums, … Continue reading One for Friday: Jack Logan, “Teach Me the Rules”
#37 — My Night at Maud’s (Éric Rohmer, 1969) Two old friends bump into each other one night, trading memories and even little jabs. The test out the accuracy of their lingering impressions of one another. Eventually, one introduces the other … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Seven
I really wanted to be a science fiction fan when I was in middle school and high school. It seemed the proper extension of my geeky interest in comic books, albeit an extension that, I felt at the time, carried … Continue reading My Writers: Harlan Ellison
These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. A guy born Vladimir John Ondrasik III is probably making the right choice in adopting a stage name before going into showbiz. Rather than adopt a straightforward name, Ondrasik opted for a moniker that called to mind a band, taking inspiration from his favorite sport, hockey. Under the name Five for Fighting, Ondrasik came out with his debut album, Message for Albert, in … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “The Riddle (You and I)”
My team, The Cakers, had another resoundingly successful weekend in the annual staging of The World’s Largest Trivia Contest by WWSP-90FM, the student-run college radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Adding to the satisfaction of our fifteen place … Continue reading 15
Despite my best intentions, I had no reasonable time to keep up my regular features these past couple of days. There will probably be a couple placeholder posts for the next few days, then back to normal after that. Continue reading Programming Note
As per tradition, the One for Friday format can shift on the day the World’s Largest Trivia Contest begins, in large part because I feel obligated to post a certain #1 hit from the nineteen-eighties. And so I once again present a version of my team’s theme song. The only way this track could be better would be if it utilized the sound effects from different version of Pac-Man. Continue reading One for Friday: Super Morrissey Bros., “Come On Eileen (Blinky’s 8-bit Chasers version)”
