College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 1
1. General Public, “Tenderness” The Beat had just had their biggest hit in the U.K. when the breakup happened. A cover of the pop standard “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” a song first elevated to hit status by Andy Williams, … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 1
From the Archive: A Prairie Home Companion
I don’t have much to add to the review below (originally published at my former online home), except to note that every great director deserves to have a final film as perfect of a closing statement as this one is … Continue reading From the Archive: A Prairie Home Companion
One for Friday: Tom Petty, “Wildflowers”
It’s very possible Wildflowers was the last album I purchased while living in my college town. I stuck around for roughly a year and a half following my graduation, working a thankless movie theater management job and soothing my post-collegiate … Continue reading One for Friday: Tom Petty, “Wildflowers”
Beers I Have Known: Fort George Brewery The Optimist
This series of posts is dedicated to the many, many six packs, pony kegs and pints that have sauntered into my life at one point or another. I’m learning to be less precious about the beers I collect in my … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Fort George Brewery The Optimist
Now Playing: Battle of the Sexes
On September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, with great ceremonial adornments, strode to the center of the playing field of the Houston Astrodome, where a tennis court had been put in place. The event was billed as … Continue reading Now Playing: Battle of the Sexes
Tom Petty, 1950 – 2017
For me, Tom Petty’s career was a recurring invitation of rediscovery. The Florida native delivered his first album with the Heartbreakers in 1976, which put him right on the cusp of artists who, in my perception, had simply always been … Continue reading Tom Petty, 1950 – 2017
Laughing Matters — The Onion, ‘No Way to Prevent This’
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. Today, The Onion posted … Continue reading Laughing Matters — The Onion, ‘No Way to Prevent This’
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 2
2. R.E.M., “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” At the time R.E.M. released their fifth studio album, Document, in 1987, the little ol’ band from Athens, Georgia was still adamantly against a … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 2
From the Archive — Pleased to Meet Me
A couple of weeks back, a friend of mine was kind enough to share some airtime with me. After participating in the reunion weekend for my old college radio station two years runnings, I decided I was up for swinging … Continue reading From the Archive — Pleased to Meet Me
One for Friday — Any Trouble, “Girls Are Always Right”
This is it, friends. This is exactly what 1980 sounded like. The single “Girls Are Always Right,” from the U.K. new wave band Any Trouble, has some Joe Jackson to it. And Elvis Costello, and Graham Parker, and Marshall Crenshaw. … Continue reading One for Friday — Any Trouble, “Girls Are Always Right”
