#13 — Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975) Occasionally in the nineteen-nineties, I had to explain to friends that Al Pacino was once indeed a great actor, capability of shrewdness and subtlety in his performances. Presumably this shouldn’t have been … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Thirteen
40. “4th of July” by X Releases in 1987, See How We Are was the sixth album by the Los Angeles band X. Notably, it was also their first without founding guitarist Billy Zoom, who reportedly left because he was frustrated by the band’s lack of commercial success (he had delivered an ultimatum regarding the need for a hit ahead of the band’s prior album, Ain’t Love Grand!, in 1985). To replace Zoom, X recruited Dave Alvin shortly after he left the Blasters. “4th of July” was the only song on the album not written by John Doe and Exene … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, 40 and 39
So I had a busy week at Spectrum Culture. Almost too busy. I’m not sure anyone needs that many of my words. It started with my latest contribution to the Revisit series over on the film side, a consideration of Wayne Wang’s Smoke. I recently confessed to the site’s editor-in-chief that this is the toughest feature for me to crack, trying to find something freshly pertinent to write about films that I know well. And I want to write about something that’s a somewhat unique selection, not simply celebrate films that have no shortage of advocates. I think I did … Continue reading Spectrum Check
What follows is the information I’ve been able to glean about the band Ten Speed Summer. It may be flagrantly incorrect. By some accounts, Ten Speed Summer was a pop-punk band based in Santa Barbara and led by bassist Dave Ehrlich. When he recorded the song “Pantera Fans in Love” for the second volume of the Happy Meals compilation series put out by indie label My Records, he recruited several members of the band Nerf Herder to help him out. According to comments by Nerf Herder band leader Parry Gripp at the time, they liked both Ehrlich and his song … Continue reading One for Friday: Ten Speed Summer, “Pantera Fans in Love”
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. (image source) Everyone should have the blessing of a local brewery in the town where they attend college. I don’t mean one of the fancy brewers that dominate my current city of residence. Instead, I mean the kind of place that’s been around decades, serving its hometown with sudsy dedication. Being a devoted good kid throughout high school, I’m proud to say that a Point Special in the can (known affectionately as a … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Point Special
#14 — Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973) I have a strong awareness that retroactively visiting certain films creates an entirely different impact than, say, connecting with them chronologically, especially as they’re released. For example, I’d seen a lot of films … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Fourteen
Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master has the look, feel and tone of a masterpiece. It has a distinct anti-narrative structure that allows even the moments that falter to feel organically right, refutations of the supposed need for everything in a … Continue reading I want your picture but not your words, you know they want it, but there’s no verse
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. Exile was a band that formed in Kentucky in the nineteen-sixties. They were a group of high schoolers that got together to play and, in true Wonders style, were picked up by the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars tour to barnstorm around their home state and then nationwide. Success didn’t immediately follow, however, and it was the endurance of the band, as much … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “You Thrill Me”
There was a time when there seemed to be no more enticing goal than to work eternally in college radio. Just continuing on in broadcasting had its appeal too, although it was hardly a field known for its stability and … Continue reading College Countdown: KROQ-FM’s Top 40 Songs of 1987, An Introduction
This week at Spectrum Culture, the significant mound of assignments I’ve picked up lately started to catch up with me (though not at the level of the next crazy few days). It was one of those rare weeks when I had two new film reviews up. As it turns out, both were documentaries and both were at least somewhat disappointing. First, I offered an assessment of the new film from Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. I selected it because I figured its subject matter–baseball knuckleballers–made me a little more qualified to review it than many of my cohorts at the … Continue reading Spectrum Check
