College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #170 to #168
170. Psychedelic Furs, Midnight to Midnight (1987) The fall of 1986 would have been an opportune time for the Psychedelic Furs to release a new album. In the spring, they’d received the biggest boost of their career when the song … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #170 to #168
Outside Reading — Kind of Blue edition
THE PARTY OF NEGATIVE HOPE by Dan Brooks This essay by Dan Brooks perfectly puts words to an anger I feel towards the political party that I have consistently voted for my entire adult life. I believe I’m more willing … Continue reading Outside Reading — Kind of Blue edition
This Week’s Model — The Beths, “Expert in a Dying Field”
Pop songs have piled up clever metaphors for dashed romances and heartbreak since the first time Elvis Aron Presley swiveled his hips. Some are better than others, to be sure. To alight on a new metaphor that borders on genius? … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The Beths, “Expert in a Dying Field”
Then Playing — My American Cousin; The Trouble with Harry; Zero Motivation
My American Cousin (Sandy Wilson, 1985). This amusing, small-scale coming-of-age drama from Canadian writer-director Sandy Wilson draws on her own childhood to tell the story of a girl on the cusp of her teenaged years (Margaret Langrick) whose drowsy summer … Continue reading Then Playing — My American Cousin; The Trouble with Harry; Zero Motivation
Now Playing — Thor: Love and Thunder
I want to review the new film Thor: Love and Thunder without feeling obligated to contextualize it against the whole Marvel moviemaking machine, but I’m not sure that’s possible. Well, it’s likely possible. Maybe it’s not advisable. It is officially … Continue reading Now Playing — Thor: Love and Thunder
The New Releases Shelf — Muna
What if getting dropped by a major label is the best thing that could possibly happen? Maybe Muna could have found their way to the current version of their collective creative self under the corporate yoke of RCA Records, but … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Muna
Top Ten Television, 2021-2022 season
Here we are. Tomorrow morning, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announces their nominees for the seventy-fourth Primetime Emmy Awards. Per usual, I use the occasion to fill my little corner of the digital world with my personal choice … Continue reading Top Ten Television, 2021-2022 season
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #173 to #171
173. Steve Forbert, Jackrabbit Slim (1979) Like a lot of young songwriters, Steve Forbert mostly told his own story on his debut LP, Alive on Arrival. A year later, when it was time to deliver his sophomore effort, the Meridian, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #173 to #171
Outside Reading — As American as the Fourth of July edition
Guns on Parade by Henry GrabarMuch as I think it’s broadly acknowledged that the constant cycle of gun violence, especially as perpetrated against average people simply going about their days, is dispiriting and exhausting, I sometimes do think enough attention … Continue reading Outside Reading — As American as the Fourth of July edition
This Week’s Model — Rat Tally, “Longshot”
Look, I am who I am. Much as I earnestly strive to diversify my musical tastes, becoming genuinely enraptured by blipping, blooping tunes I would have been quick to disregard in the past, there are certain sounds that are going … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Rat Tally, “Longshot”
