62. Pretenders, Learning to Crawl (1984) Around a year after their release of Pretenders II and following the tour that supported it, Chrissie Hynde convened a band meeting. Bassist Pete Farndon was told of his ouster from the group, a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #62 to #60
Just Us by Charles Homans For this article, Charles Homans starts with the questionable press tour undertaken by a juror who served in a grand jury case examining one slice of the monumentally criminality of the amoral dimwit who placed … Continue reading Outside Reading — Peers edition
Much as I admire the ambition and sonic sweep the National often bring to their music, I must admit that nothing they do hits me in the solar plexus quite like those instances when they strips things down and have … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The National, “Eucalyptus”
Sixty-eighth in a series…. (source) Continue reading While Jesus is saving I’m spending all my grace on rosy-red pallor of lights on center stage
Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too. When moviegoers went to … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Pink Phink
Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022). Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund’s initial inspiration for the film Triangle of Sadness was the world of fashion, as reflected by the title’s reference to the furrowed brow that earns a male model (Harris Dickinson) … Continue reading Then Playing — Triangle of Sadness; The Whale; Black Adam
In the summer of 1962, Boston newspapers started printing stories about a series of seemingly connected murders in the city. The victims were found strangled to death in their apartments. After trying out a few other monikers for the killer, … Continue reading Now Playing — Boston Strangler
65. Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Punch the Clock (1983) As he did from time to time, Elvis Costello decided he wanted to make an album with broader appeal. Following the critical drubbing and commercial disappointment of his 1981 country … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #65 to #63
Critic, Critique Thyself by A.O. Scott I think A.O. Scott is a good film critic. I also think he’s great at writing about being a film critic. Upon the announcement that he’s stepping down from the co-lead position assessing the … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Balcony Is Closed edition
The band Drugdealer, which is mainly an outlet for Los Angeles singer-songwriter Michael Collins, manages to make it seem like the pop-rock music of the nineteen-seventies never really went away but remaining in a blissful state of perpetual, gentle revision … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Drugdealer, “Lip Service”
Coffee for Two 