32. Elvis Costello, Spike By the time Elvis Costello released he album Spike in the spring of 1989, his reputation and personality were already well-established within the music industry. Certainly, he had a vast array of smart, literate songs that … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 32 and 31
This week, I looked to current events to help explain why I find Barbara Kopple’s masterful 1990 documentary American Dream so damn powerful. Sometimes I feel a little sad that Kopple has largely concentrated on comparatively lightweight fare for the bulk of her career, but realistically the amazing quality of first two films are enough to make her the deserving recipient of boundless admiration. I also reviewed a new documentary about exotic animals like lions and elephants kept as pets. It’s a measure of how crazy my week has been that I kind of miffed the review initially and had … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I am a participant in the World’s Largest Trivia contest. My team is called The Cakers. And “Come On Eileen” is our song. Whenever it’s played–on the radio, over the supermarket loudspeakers, shuffled up by an iPod–it feels like it was played just for us. No matter who’s performing it. In that spirit, with no other fuss, I humbly present this week’s One for Friday song. Badly Drawn Boy, “Come On Eileen” (Disclaimer: Honestly, I spent no time whatsoever figuring out if this is out of print. It doesn’t really matter to me today. I’ll still take it down I’m … Continue reading One for Friday: Badly Drawn Boy, “Come On Eileen”
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll share some … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: “Third Rate Romance”
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll share some of the most personally memorable answers from my many, many years of involvement with the contest. Every one of my teammates has stories like this. These are mine. Not every story is going to be a happy one. When teams register, they get a rulebook dubbed The New Trivia Times. Amidst the ads from generous local businesses, explanation of the … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: For Real
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll share some … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: Exile on Main Street
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll share some … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: Mind Your Knickers
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”
