For brief stretch of time, my adult beverage of choice was a velvet crush. I didn’t pick up on this from friends or family or even some intrepid bartender who could somehow spot that I’d be a sucker for the combination of sugary, “fruit”-flavored water and hard liquor, but because Soul Coughing sang about it in a song. The opening lyrics to the song “Mr. Bitterness” place the setting as a bar called The Bitter Seed and describes a woman who we will come to know as alluring and aloof. She drinks a velvet crush. Lead singer M. Doughty helpfully … Continue reading One for Friday: Soul Coughing, “Mr. Bitterness”

Eleventh Dream Day is the band that taught me about the fiscal realities of being a top college radio act. The Chicago group had a surprise hit on the CMJ charts with their second full-length and major label debut, Beet, in 1989. As it recall, it came out of nowhere, and wound up making it all the way to #2 on the CMJ album charts. To us, it seemed like a big deal. This was obviously a huge new band, rubbing shoulders with the iconic likes of the Cure, the B-52’s and Public Image Ltd. Surely they were now huge, … Continue reading One for Friday: Eleventh Dream Day, “Makin’ Like a Rug”

I hope I’m wrong and anxiously await the opportunity to be proved so, but I think we’re heading towards a dreadful Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday. I’ve adamantly disliked the selection of Seth Macfarlane as this year’s host for a variety of reasons (not just because I don’t find him or his creations funny in the slightest, but also because he’s by far the least prominent celebrity to host the program in my memory, diminishing the prestige of the whole endeavor), but it goes beyond that. Nearly every special segment of the show that’s been teased by the producers sounds … Continue reading One for Friday: The Billy Nayer Show, “Hey Boy”

As I’ve recounted, there were many discoveries I made after I arrived at the campus radio in the late-eighties. Among them were a series of records with a distinctive cover design, just the name of an artist atop a big black box with a dizzying array of other bands and performers listed within it. In small print at the very top of the jacket sat three simple words: “The Peel Sessions.” To the best of my knowledge, I hadn’t heard of John Peel, the British radio personality and indefatigable music fan who was the namesake for the records. We didn’t … Continue reading One for Friday: Billy Bragg, “Valentine’s Day Is Over” (Peel Session)