College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #680 to #677
680. Robert Plant, The Principle of Moments (1983) The Principle of Moments, the second solo album by Robert Plant, finds the frontman of the revered, departed Led Zeppelin asserting a new creative identity with greater assurance. His first outing on … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #680 to #677
Outside Reading — The Revolution Will Be Recorded edition
The Language I Learned From Cassettes by Ben Ratliff This remembrance of the golden days when cassette tapes were invaluable strikes strikes right at a nostalgic vein that I find irresistible. Ben Ratliff deploys well-chosen details to capture the bygone … Continue reading Outside Reading — The Revolution Will Be Recorded edition
This Week’s Model — Tegan and Sara, “I’ll Be Back Someday”
A glimmering Ring Pop of a single, “I’ll Be Back Someday” could redeem high school poetry. If that task is realistically beyond the scope of any bouncy pop song (or, you know, the abilities of mere mortals), it at least … Continue reading This Week’s Model — Tegan and Sara, “I’ll Be Back Someday”
Playing Catch-Up — It Came from Outer Space; The Fastest Guitar Alive; At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal
It Came from Outer Space (Jack Arnold, 1953). From the boom years of modestly budgeted, big studio science fiction, this tale of space creatures who alight on Earth is based on a story cooked by no less a luminary in … Continue reading Playing Catch-Up — It Came from Outer Space; The Fastest Guitar Alive; At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal
The New Releases Shelf — Patience
It starts with the guitar, a jackhammer line joined by a propulsive rhythm section beat. And then lead singer Marisa Dabice starts singing, her voice fierce and fragile at the same time as she delivers lyrics about a toxic relationship: “Who … Continue reading The New Releases Shelf — Patience
My Misspent Youth — What If? #29 by Steven Grant, Alan Kupperberg, and Al Gordon
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. When I started reading superhero comics, the publications of Marvel were … Continue reading My Misspent Youth — What If? #29 by Steven Grant, Alan Kupperberg, and Al Gordon
Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Pretty in Pink”
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. For college rock bands in the nineteen-eighties, … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Near Misses — “Pretty in Pink”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #684 to #681
684. Steely Dan, Gaucho (1980) For a band renowned for the meticulousness of their recordings, Steely Dan endured a remarkable amount of messiness on the way to Gaucho, their eighth studio album and their final effort until a reunion launched … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #684 to #681
Outside Reading — Mission Completed edition
Inside Apollo mission control, from the eyes of the first woman on the job by Erin Blakemore The fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 11 touching down on the moon has brought the expected cascade of articles and television news features. By … Continue reading Outside Reading — Mission Completed edition
This Week’s Model — The Mountain Goats with Stephen Colbert, “This Year”
The brilliance of the extended performance piece that was The Colbert Report duly acknowledged, the portions of the program I most adored were those instances when the host’s disguise fell just enough for his inner fan to emerge. In crafting a nightly show partially dependent on the guests with some amount of celebrity, Stephen Colbert at some point figured out that the rundown could be shaped in part by his own personal predilections formed through a lifetime of obsessive attention to science fiction, fantasy novels, comics books, and other touchstones of Gen X geekery. I admired the way he lived … Continue reading This Week’s Model — The Mountain Goats with Stephen Colbert, “This Year”
Coffee for Two 