College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #924 to #921
924. The Nils, The Nils (1987) Formed in Montreal in the late nineteen-seventies, the Nils were perfectly poised to infiltrate college radio when their self-titled debut album was released. With nearly ten years under their guitar straps, the Nils had … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #924 to #921
From the Archive — “And we begin, as always, with the latest in movie news….”
As I’ve done on two prior occasions, I’m using the weekly rifle through old writing to share one of the news segments that always started our weekly movie review program. As usual, I must note that the research and subsequent … Continue reading From the Archive — “And we begin, as always, with the latest in movie news….”
One for Friday — Last Town Chorus, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”
There was a time when one of my household charges was to collect covers. As chores go, it’s not bad. With a clear imperative to seek out novel versions of familiar songs, I scoured the internet in the hopes of … Continue reading One for Friday — Last Town Chorus, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”
That Championship Season — How I Met Your Mother, Season Two
Plenty of television series have hung on longer than they should have, the dictates of commerce outweighing storytelling considerations at nearly every turn in the business of doing a show. But I don’t know if any long-running program so thoroughly … Continue reading That Championship Season — How I Met Your Mother, Season Two
The Art of the Sell — Converse, “For guys who want to keep playing….”
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. Friends, Converse shoes have been my primary footwear for a long, long time, and I can assure … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — Converse, “For guys who want to keep playing….”
My Writers — Brian K. Vaughan
As I’ve recounted elsewhere, I spent an embarrassingly long time trying the kick the habit of comic book collecting I plunged into as a kid. There was always one more series to hang on for, some promise of new wrinkles … Continue reading My Writers — Brian K. Vaughan
Laughing Matters — Muppets Tonight, “Sid Knishes and His Mosh-Pit-atoes”
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. In the past several … Continue reading Laughing Matters — Muppets Tonight, “Sid Knishes and His Mosh-Pit-atoes”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #928 to #925
928. John Cale, Honi Soit (1981) “Among the True Perverts of Rock, John Cale has always been the most persistently wanton,” Boo Browing wrote in The Washington Post around the time Cale released the album Honi Soit. I believe it … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 1000, 1979 – 1989 — #928 to #925
From the Archive — Deceived
In the early nineteen-nineties, drab psychological thrillers were inescapable at the multiplex. At around the same time, Goldie Hawn clearly felt a need to take her career in a different direction. These situations converged, and it was not pretty. This … Continue reading From the Archive — Deceived
One for Friday — Frightened Rabbit, “Oil Slick”
I wrote about Frightened Rabbit only once. When I was regularly churning out copy for Spectrum Culture, I put in to detail the ingenuity of a track from the band’s sterling 2013 album, Pedestrian Verse, as a contribution to the … Continue reading One for Friday — Frightened Rabbit, “Oil Slick”
