I am neither oblivious nor immune to the pleasure to be had in watching Viola Davis absolutely kick ass on screen. Usually that description is more metaphorical, referring to her ability to take charge of a dramatic scene and command … Continue reading Now Playing — The Woman King
This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. At least in my era, I think the college kids who stewarded the airwaves at their campus … Continue reading Radio Days — Priority Emphasis
143. The Jam, Sound Affects (1980) As was becoming the norm, Paul Weller was not quite ready to go when he arrived at the studio to record the Jam’s fifth album, Sound Affects. Spurred in part by record company and … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #143 to #141
How Karina Longworth Brought Sex and Sleaze Back to Hollywood History by Alex Morris Given my specific cultural interests, it’s ridiculous that it took me as long as it did to listen to You Must Remember This, the Hollywood-focused podcast … Continue reading Outside Reading — Join Us, Won’t You? edition
Not to get all Mr. Holland’s Opus today, but one of the enormous privileges that comes from working in higher education for many years (in my case, about a decade and a half) is watching the exemplary human beings you … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Ariel Bui, “Sixteen”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Plain and simple, I love every last bit of this 1967 radio commercial that features garage rock … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — The Electric Prunes for the Vox Wah-Wah Pedal
AMANDA SHIRES Take It Like a Man (ATO Records) — There’s a lot of backstory that can be weighed when listening to Take It Like a Man, the eighth solo album from Amanda Shires. By her own accounting, Shires was … Continue reading Medium Rotation — Take It Like a Man; Surrender
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. During my first year … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Young Ones on University Challenge
Since great television comedy always begins with the script, this series of posts considers the individual episodes that have claimed the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series over the years. Pilots are rarely the strongest episodes … Continue reading Golden Words — Hacks, “There Is No Line”
146. Talking Heads, Remain in Light (1980) “Remain in Light was a difficult album to make,” Chris Frantz, drummer for Talking Heads, told Rolling Stone magazine a few years after the release of LP in question. “We wanted to do … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #146 to #144
Coffee for Two 