13. The Sugarcubes, Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! In 1989, CMJ, the chief trade journal for college radio, released a handsome trade paperback to commemorate their tenth anniversary. Distributed to all of the subscribing stations, the book was a … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 13
Oh, the French. My first piece for Spectrum Culture this week was a review of the new film from director Catherine Breillat, who’s been playing around with classic fairy tales of late. This time, it’s the tale of Sleeping Beauty that she transforms, merging it with at least one other fable. Naturally, there’s some gratuitousness topless bathing in it. I also turned in a record review that was a little late, but not as shamefully late as the book review I recently sent it. That hasn’t run yet. I’ll sheepishly share that story when it does. Continue reading Spectrum Check
One of the unique results of complete immersion in the music of college radio is a skewed perspective on which songs and bands have become long-term staples. I’m constantly having to remind myself that certain songs that were huge smash hits in our little corner of the world aren’t as universally known as some Madonna song from roughly the same period of time. That’s compounded when it comes to the bands that I was actually a little perplexed at the time as to why they weren’t enjoying greater commercial success. Rock radio was fairly robust in the late-eighties and early-nineties … Continue reading One for Friday: Meat Puppets, “No Longer Gone”
One of the favorite parlor games of movie devotees is trying to discern which films and filmmakers have the greatest impact and influence in any given era. For example, at different times, I’ve heard it argued that the most significant … Continue reading Secretly I been tailing you like a fox that preys on a rabbit
#25 — Hoosiers (David Anspaugh, 1986) A couple of years ago, I saw Gene Hackman with his regular writing partner Daniel Lenihan at a book reading. When it came time for the Q & A portion of the event, the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Twenty-Five
The Tree of Life couldn’t have come from anyone other than Terrence Malick. The primacy of directorial authorship is touted for all sorts of filmmakers, but Malick moves with such a distinct creative rhythm that it’s difficult to imagine anyone … Continue reading Burn bright through the night, two pockets lead the way
Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977). There’s certainly no reason to expect anything less than inspired lunacy from a Werner Herzog movie, especially one he made back in the nineteen-seventies when thew rules of cinema were falling away like worn paint from a waterlogged wall. Stroszek follows a German man whose perilous romance with a prostitute causes him to move with her and his elderly neighbor to, of all places, rural Wisconsin. From there, Herzog’s examination of the general travails of the downtrodden trying to forge better lives takes on the added harsh tinge of the false promise of the American dream … Continue reading Bailey and Barbato, Bogdanovich, Herzog, Kurosawa, Margolis
14. Camper Van Beethoven, Key Lime Pie There were a handful of albums that predated my arrival at the radio station by only a year or two that I was especially regretful about. I would have loved to reach … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 14
Just a couple things from me went up this week. I reviewed the new album from Memory Tapes, which was very strong. It’s actually one of those albums that makes wish I had a radio shift since most of the songs on it would be perfect to drop in the middle of a set to enliven it. I also tapped out another very positive review, this time for the movie Terri, which contains what I think is John C. Reilly’s best performance to date. Strangely, I wasn’t supposed to receive this movie. The promotional folks said they weren’t sending out … Continue reading Spectrum Check
By American legal definition, I was barely an adult when the song “I’m an Adult Now” was released, which naturally made me the perfect target for its rapturous celebration of all things reckless and young. Well, that’s not quite true. When the song was first released in 1986, I was stick a couple years away when I could jump pell mell into all sorts of mature decisions, like voting, getting married or, scariest of all, joining the military. When its rerecorded version was released on the Love Junk album in the fall of 1988, with the attention-getting imprimatur of producer … Continue reading One for Friday: The Pursuit of Happiness, “I’m an Adult Now”
Coffee for Two 