34. Dead Milkmen, Beelzebubba Given the remarkable and highly unlikely success of the video “Punk Rock Girl” on MTV, it’s worth noting that Dead Milkmen actually had a very difficult time with the cable network when they released the album … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 34 and 33
This week, I managed to get back into the Spectrum Culture fray. First I turned my attention to a big ol’ slab of music, reviewing the new record from the band Faust, which was largely challenging because I needed to … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I used to relentlessly dig through music magazines to fulfill my information cravings about bands we played at the college radio station back when I was a student. Those were the resources we had. No MySpace pages, no Facebook, no Google searches. I don’t submit this as some 21st century variation on complaints about uphill treks through snow both to and from school (though I had to deal with that too), but simply as preface to noting how often I knew next to nothing about the bands that I played repeatedly on the radio. If their releases were significant enough … Continue reading One for Friday: The Chant, “I Don’t Ask For Much”
#39 — Frances (Graeme Clifford, 1982) Jessica Lange is magnificent in Frances. I’ve toyed around with different ways to start this entry–maybe focusing on the real life story of the film’s subject, the abused nineteen-thirties actress Frances Farmer; calling attention to … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Thirty-Nine
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. It was always easy for me to determine if a particular … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum
One Hour with You (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932). It’s a basic necessity to mention “The Lubitsch Touch” when evaluating one of the films from the great comic director, even if it’s simply to point out the absence of his trademark deftness in the work in question. One Hour with You is considered a fairly early effort–nearly a decade before revered classics like Ninotchka and The Shop Around the Corner, but, in the way of the era, the director already had dozens of films under his belt by this point. The film is a pretty odd duck, a soft-stepping musical about flirtations … Continue reading Dugan, Lubitsch, Mangold, Reitman, Taccone
#40 — The Accidental Tourist (Lawrence Kasdan, 1988) Life moves at the same speed for everyone. It makes no adjustments for hardship or elation. It marches on with oblivious indifference to individual confusion and worry, allowing for no extra time … Continue reading Top 50 Films of the 80s — Number Forty
36. Adrian Belew, Mr. Music Head Listing off the bands and performers that Adrian Belew has played with during his career is like flipping through a cool kid’s record collection. David Bowie, Talking Headsand Frank Zappa all provided Belew a … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 36 and 35
Usually I’d fill this day with a check of reviews that I posted with Spectrum Culture over the week. Due to my recent travels, I didn’t have anything written in time. So instead, I’ll provide a preview of tomorrow’s post. Continue reading Don’t hold your breath, cuz it’ll make you blue
I would be deeply negligent if I didn’t begin this week by offering up fresh gratitude to Steve, Wayne, Jon, Colin and Andrea for their exemplary efforts filling in for me last week. The array of guest stars exceeded my high expectations, provided a set of completely unique perspectives in this space. These are definitely people who’ve influenced me greatly over the years, and they all managed to do so again with their respective approaches to the feature. That naturally got me thinking about how this weekly feature generated in the first place. At the time I hung an “open … Continue reading One for Friday: Small Factory, “Suggestions”
