38. Toad the Wet Sprocket, Bread and Circus The band Toad the Wet Sprocket doesn’t actually have a lead electric triangle player named Rick Stardust who had to have his elbow removed, although anyone who listened to the sketch “Rock … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 38 and 37
I met Colin P. Walsh when I walked into his dorm room, mistakenly thinking it was the hallway. He wearily looked up from what he was doing (which was probably about five things at once–Colin is the only person I’ve ever known who could successfully read, watch TV and listen to music all at the same time), calmly explained my mistake and noted that it happened all the time. The rest, they say, is history. To him I owe my exposure to several major league ballparks (most now retired from service), a different appreciation for wine and an unwavering affection … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Babelfish, “Crowded Room”
I know few people as personally passionate about music as my friend Wayne Semmerling. He’s the sort of radio DJ, of which there are too few, who studies his playlists, trying to make certain that he’s crafting shows that are diverse, fresh and consistently entertaining. (He’s also been getting attention for his formidable culinary skills for years now, but that’s a different post.) He remains a fixture at the radio station I invoke so often in this space, and has tirelessly given of himself over the years to help keep the humble student-run outlet a vital part of the community. … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Sigmund Snopek III, “Thank God This Isn’t Cleveland”
I’ve gone record shopping with Steve Senski, and it’s like watching Albert Pujols hit or Ray Allen sink three-pointers. Actually, those comparisons, while accurate, don’t suit him very well. It’s like watching David Cronenberg arrange a mound of fleshy gore just so for a shot. That’s better. It’s like watching a master at work is my point. There was a time when he was devoted to owning every release listed in the fourth edition of the Trouser Press Record Guide, and he came shockingly close to the goal. He knows music, and knows it well. These days he presides over … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: Candyland, “Fountain O’ Youth”
40. Marshall Crenshaw, Good Evening Marshall Crenshaw is as well-known and widely respected for his skills as a songwriters as his is for his performing talent. With that being the case, it raised some eyebrows when his 1989 album Good … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 40 and 39
When last we did this check, I was a meager contributor to the Spectrum Culture site. This week was a far different matter, with my words cropping up all over the place. First, there was my latest contribution to our WTF feature. My previous outing, I opted for horror films, but this time I went for one that was scary in an entirely different way: Otto Preminger’s 1968 disaster Skidoo. If only I could have watched it anew before writing, but the Preminger estate works overtime to keep this one as far from the public eye as possible. Another bit … Continue reading Spectrum Check
Tomorrow I leave for a week. I’m not going far, but, as a matter of choice, I’m not going to have access to the Wild West shootout that is The Interweb. I was in a similar situation right around this time last year, and I chose to let this site go dark for a week. After some consideration, I decided on a different approach this time around. For one thing, I don’t want to disrupt the marathon countdown that I’m right in the middle of. But I also wanted to use my absence as impetus to do something I’ve been … Continue reading A Week of Fridays: An Introduction
42. Government Cheese, Three Chords, No Waiting There are a few ways to gauge how serious a band is about truly honoring the gods of rock ‘n’ roll each and every time they step on stage. If one of the … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 42 and 41
Not much from me at Spectrum Culture this week, but I’m pretty fond of the one thing I did write. Specifically I wrote a review of the music compilation Those Shocking Shaking Days – Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk: 1970 – 1978. I’m not sure about the quality of my work–it’s still way to early for me to give it an honest assessment–but it was fun to tap into my Mojo reader muscle memory and try to come up with something that could run in their reissue section. On the basis of all the writing I need to … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I used to be pretty good at making mixes. I was better with tapes than CDs, and the lack of time boundaries offered by digital playlists stymies me completely. I liked the process of sitting down in front of the stereo and building the mix track by track, listening in real time as it evolved. Even the physical act of pressing the buttons offered some additional satisfaction that’s lost when moving file names around on a computer screen. I still make mixes, but they take me forever. Ironically, the ease of building them now has turned it into a strangely … Continue reading One for Friday: Baxendale, “Music For Girls”
Coffee for Two 