The New Releases Shelf — Star-Crossed
Kacey Musgraves has a story to tell. It’s a sad story, it’s a true story, and it’s her story. After filling Golden Hour, her roundly acclaimed 2018 release that won her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Star-Crossed
Then Playing — The Ascent; Love Field; Dune
The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1977). The fourth and final feature from Soviet director Larisa Shepitko is a powerhouse drama set during World War II. After Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostyukhin) are dispatched from their unit to seek desperately … Continue reading Then Playing — The Ascent; Love Field; Dune
Laughing Matters — Charlie Hill on The Richard Pryor Show
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. Charlie Hill rejected Richard … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Charlie Hill on The Richard Pryor Show
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #290 to #288
290. Quarterflash, Quarterflash (1981) The members of the Portland band Seafood Mama spent a good portion of 1980 peddling their independently released single “Harden My Heart” as they gigged across the Pacific Northwest. The song took hold in local radio, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #290 to #288
Outside Reading — A Record Record Record? edition
Pure Nostalgia: The Oral History of ‘That Thing You Do!’ by Jake Kring-Schreifels Jake Kring-Schreifels draws a dream assignment: gathering reminiscences about Tom Hanks’s directorial debut, That Thing You Do! The considerable charm of the feature comes through in the … Continue reading Outside Reading — A Record Record Record? edition
This Week’s Model — Mitski, “Working for the Knife”
A mild panic rose a couple years ago, when Mitski announced she was withdrawing from the music-biz grind for an indefinite period of time. She had to take to social media to remind her devotees that “indefinite” is foremost a … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Mitski, “Working for the Knife”
My Misspent Youth — Wednesday Comics: Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell
I read a lot of comic books as a kid. This series of posts is about the comics I read, and, occasionally, the comics that I should have read. At a time when comic books from the major two publishers … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Wednesday Comics: Wonder Woman by Ben Caldwell
Radio Days — Rediscovering the Jazz Butcher
This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves. There are many enormous pleasures to returning with some frequency to my college radio alma mater to … Continue reading Radio Days — Rediscovering the Jazz Butcher
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “I Need to Know”
These posts are about the songs that fell just short of crossing the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had a … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “I Need to Know”
The Art of the Sell — That Thing You Do trailer
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. For a few weeks in the late summer and early fall of 1996, nothing made me happier … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — That Thing You Do trailer
Coffee for Two 