I can think of no better way to explain why I think so highly of Rachel Esser than to share the text she sent me, reporting on her progress in writing this guest post: “I wrote a whole thing for a Bearobics song, but then I remembered ‘Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en.’” Rachel takes special pleasure in anything that can honestly be described as “bonkers,” and especially enjoys movies in which people slice off someone’s face in order to use the resulting nasty sheet of skin as a mask, a quality that would frankly be disturbing in anyone but her. … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: The North American Hallowe’en Prevention Initiative, “Do They Know It’s Hallowe’en?”

The man who provides today’s entry goes by many names. For our purposes, we’ll opt for Phantom Third Channel, the ingenious moniker he adopts when overseeing his regular shift at WPRK. Or, for that matter, one of the countless substitute shifts he takes on during any given week, being a willing slave to music like few others I know. By simply moving his personal record collection to a storefront he would immediately have an inventory that would make any competitors shudder, agape with wonder at how they could ever keep up. Record-shopping with him is a delight, if only because … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Russ Morgan & the Gay Sisters, “Metro Polka”

Holly Tedder is simply one of the funniest people I know. As is often the case with the individuals in my life who fit into that category, she also loves to laugh (and has a great one), and some of my proudest, happiest moments at WPRK involved coming up with some snarky comment that she found entertaining. I always marveled at her ability to knowledgeably approach music, locking in on how it made her feel, but also how it elicited those feeling, expounding on the impact of minor keys, chord changes and other intricacies of songcraft. The only thing she … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: The Candy Bars, “Enough to Choke a Cold Air”

I usually check with the authors of these guest posts as to how they would like to be billed in their introduction, but I’ve known all along that I was going to insist upon referring to today’s wordsmith as Phil Defiler. Using the moniker that links him to his beloved music project is the best way I can think of to pay tribute to his immense, playful talent, which is itself only made more endearing because of his modesty. I can’t even begin to describe the reasons why, but seeing him play live in the WPRK studios during one of … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Mary Margaret O’Hara, “Body’s in Trouble”

All next week I will be away, with consciously chosen limited access to the churning storms of the interweb. That creates a dilemma as I have the dueling, incompatible compulsions of insisting on something new in this space every day (even if that means occasionally resorting to nothing more than a piece of ecumenical, rubberized art) and a self-defeating love of procrastination. Luckily, there is a precedent. The last time I was absent from this space for a similar amount of time, I looked to my old friends from the college radio station that is so commonly a factor in … Continue reading A Week of Fridays II: An Introduction