This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll share some … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: “Third Rate Romance”
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll share some of the most personally memorable answers from my many, many years of involvement with the contest. Every one of my teammates has stories like this. These are mine. Not every story is going to be a happy one. When teams register, they get a rulebook dubbed The New Trivia Times. Amidst the ads from generous local businesses, explanation of the … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: For Real
34. Dead Milkmen, Beelzebubba Given the remarkable and highly unlikely success of the video “Punk Rock Girl” on MTV, it’s worth noting that Dead Milkmen actually had a very difficult time with the cable network when they released the album … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 34 and 33
This week, I managed to get back into the Spectrum Culture fray. First I turned my attention to a big ol’ slab of music, reviewing the new record from the band Faust, which was largely challenging because I needed to … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I used to relentlessly dig through music magazines to fulfill my information cravings about bands we played at the college radio station back when I was a student. Those were the resources we had. No MySpace pages, no Facebook, no Google searches. I don’t submit this as some 21st century variation on complaints about uphill treks through snow both to and from school (though I had to deal with that too), but simply as preface to noting how often I knew next to nothing about the bands that I played repeatedly on the radio. If their releases were significant enough … Continue reading One for Friday: The Chant, “I Don’t Ask For Much”
36. Adrian Belew, Mr. Music Head Listing off the bands and performers that Adrian Belew has played with during his career is like flipping through a cool kid’s record collection. David Bowie, Talking Headsand Frank Zappa all provided Belew a … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1989, 36 and 35
Usually I’d fill this day with a check of reviews that I posted with Spectrum Culture over the week. Due to my recent travels, I didn’t have anything written in time. So instead, I’ll provide a preview of tomorrow’s post. Continue reading Don’t hold your breath, cuz it’ll make you blue
I would be deeply negligent if I didn’t begin this week by offering up fresh gratitude to Steve, Wayne, Jon, Colin and Andrea for their exemplary efforts filling in for me last week. The array of guest stars exceeded my high expectations, provided a set of completely unique perspectives in this space. These are definitely people who’ve influenced me greatly over the years, and they all managed to do so again with their respective approaches to the feature. That naturally got me thinking about how this weekly feature generated in the first place. At the time I hung an “open … Continue reading One for Friday: Small Factory, “Suggestions”
#41 — Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) In a recent article, Mark Harris argued that he could pinpoint the exact day when movies died, bypassing the arrival of Jaws and Star Wars–benchmarks commonly cited by cineastes dismayed about … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 80s — Number Forty-One
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
Coffee for Two 