Golden Words — Cheers, “Give Me a Ring Sometime”
Since great television comedy always begins with the script, this series of posts considers the individual episodes that have claimed the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series over the years. Cheers starts with an underage drinking … Continue reading Golden Words — Cheers, “Give Me a Ring Sometime”
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Mary Jane”
These posts are about the songs that just barely failed to cross the key line of chart success, entering the Billboard Top 40. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 41. Rick James traveled a long, rutted road … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Mary Jane”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #632 to #629
632. Santana, Marathon (1979) In many respects, the shifting trends of rock music in the late nineteen-seventies probably felt very accommodating to guitarist Carlos Santana. A master craftsman with his guitar, Santana had major hits with hard rock music as … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #632 to #629
Outside Reading — Scene I: The End of October edition
Angels in East Texas by Wes Ferguson Part reporting, part reminiscence and reflection, Wes Ferguson writes about the staging of Tony Kushner’s widely acknowledged masterpiece, Angels in America, at an East Texas college in the late nineteen-nineties. Validating a stereotype … Continue reading Outside Reading — Scene I: The End of October edition
This Week’s Model — Beach Slang, “Bam Rang Rang”
Because sometimes nothing sounds quite as good as big ol’, messed up, slap and bash rock ‘n’ roll. The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City, the new album from Beach Slang, releases January 10, 2020. Continue reading This Week’s Model — Beach Slang, “Bam Rang Rang”
My Misspent Youth — Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
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. I bought Watchmen, the limited series written by Alan Moore and … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Laughing Matters — League of Extraordinary Freelancers
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. If there was any … Continue reading Laughing Matters — League of Extraordinary Freelancers
The New Releases Shelf — All Mirrors
I don’t believe there’s another current performer who’s simultaneously otherworldly and vehemently down-to-earth in quite the same way as Angel Olsen. Part of the equation is fairly easy to work out. Olsen specializes in melding spare, airy music with words that … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — All Mirrors
Playing Catch-Up — La Pointe Courte; Boy Erased; Stan & Ollie
La Pointe Courte (Agnès Varda, 1955). Three years before Claude Chabrol’s Le Beau Serge, the film usually cited as the beginning of the French New Wave, Agnès Varda delivered this film that certainly flaunts a lot of the hallmarks of … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — La Pointe Courte; Boy Erased; Stan & Ollie
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #636 to #633
636. Dead Milkmen, Eat Your Paisley! (1986) Any act that nabs a sizable amount of attention with a novelty hit faces a distinct challenge. The fundamental nature of a single that earns airplay because of its comedic uniqueness is a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #636 to #633
