One for Friday: The Beautiful South, “Song for Whoever”

Before I made it to the college radio station, I was devoted to the celebration of the album. I was convinced that full-length records were the proper measure of an artist. Anyone could zip out a three minute song, but it took true talent and dedication to construct the heady novel that was a great album. This was, in part, residual Rolling Stone influence–the publication’s review section at the time had no reviews of singles, and, given the nature of music sales at the time, little cause to change that. It was also because the artists who held the greatest … Continue reading One for Friday: The Beautiful South, “Song for Whoever”

It’s just another movie, another song and dance

Swing Vote (Joshua Michael Stern, 2008). Stern builds his soft political satire around the notion of a contentious U.S. presidential election coming down to one vote, an entirely ambivalent, freshly unemployed middle-aged scamp. That role, as it must, goes to Kevin Costner, who tries to find a new side to the die he’s been casting periodically ever since Bull Durham. It doesn’t work, in part because he can’t quite get a handle on how this guy’s charm should be balanced against his more problematic behavior. It’s mostly due to the tepid script, though. The raw material is there to tackle … Continue reading It’s just another movie, another song and dance

One for Friday: Kitchens of Distinction, “Hypnogogic”

There were a lot of things I appreciated about being at my particular college radio station back in the day. These things primarily revolved around the camaraderie and togetherness of the students at the station. In general, we viewed ourselves as apart from the rest of the campus population, in part because the responsibility of keeping this fully licensed FM station is proper working order, beholden to a tangle of a federal regulations that explicitly bound us to the community that existed beyond the borders of our campus. What’s more, when our classmates were plotting out spring break excursions to … Continue reading One for Friday: Kitchens of Distinction, “Hypnogogic”