Author: Dan Seeger

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One for Friday: David Bowie, “Real Cool World”

Dan Seeger

Once the Academy Awards ridiculously came up with only two final nominees for the Original Song category, plenty of people were quick to respond with dismay, disgruntlement or downright animosity. It was evidence of a broken system or simply final confirmation that the category was entirely outdated, a relic of a different era of Hollywood when even the most serious-minded film found a way to wedge a number into the proceedings (there were fourteen songs competing at the 1945 Oscars). Then once the Academy announced that they had no intention of having either of the songs performed live on awards … Continue reading One for Friday: David Bowie, “Real Cool World”

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Twenty Performances, or Oscar, How Did We Grow Apart So?

Dan Seeger

Sure, that banner above would work much better on Sunday, but that’s the day I’m committed to demonstrating how good I am at counting backwards. For the foreseeable future, this annual indulgence needs to land a few days earlier. What follows is my best approximation of how I might fill out a nominating ballot issued for the acting branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had it landed in my hands. All the usual caveats apply, mostly the admission that there are problematic gaps in my personal viewing so the exclusion of certain names may reflect my … Continue reading Twenty Performances, or Oscar, How Did We Grow Apart So?

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College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 8 and 7

Dan Seeger

8. “Wild Wild West” by The Escape Club Well, yuck. The divide between the Billboard chart and my memories of the fall of 1988 is no vaster than it is right here. Maybe it’s some sort of protective blackout in my brain, but I don’t remember the title cut from the goony British quartet’s sophomore release crossing our airwaves at all. It was surely everywhere else, though, going to very top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts, a pretty damning indictment of the state of Top 40 radio that fall, especially when the chart-toppers from before and after its one … Continue reading College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 8 and 7

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Spectrum Check

Dan Seeger

The first I had up at Spectrum Culture this week was a review of a new film starring Linda Cardellini. I’m particularly proud that I managed to avoid invoking Freaks and Geeks, which seems to be cited in every other review I’ve seen of the film. It certainly says something about the lingering brilliance of Paul Feig’s high school series that it remains the main touchstone for Cardellini despite the fact that she’s been a part of some notable films and spent several seasons as a central cast member of E.R., many of those years coinciding with the time that … Continue reading Spectrum Check

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One for Friday: The Apples in Stereo, “Show the World”

Dan Seeger

When I got my first job in commercial radio, it was at a “New Rock Alternative” station, which was terminology intended to convey that while we were going to play the biggest of the big when it came to college radio material, artists that sounded like Pearl Jam were going to have a far easier time muscling onto our playlist. My hope was that I’d be able to stay up on music through working there. After all, we were primarily playing the artists that college radio broke in the first place. How far behind could we be? The issue, as … Continue reading One for Friday: The Apples in Stereo, “Show the World”