Now Playing: Love & Friendship
A little more than twenty years ago, Whit Stillman and Jane Austen were hot on the filmmaking circuit at the same time. The former was the writer-director behind a pair of very well-regarded and somewhat atypical indie house hits, both … Continue reading Now Playing: Love & Friendship
Laughing Matters: Jim Jefferies, “Guns Are Not Protection”
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. I lived in the Orlando metropolitan area for six years. While I was there, I worked for Rollins College, which was located around seven miles from Pulse, which has tragically become the most famous gay night club in the state of Florida. My chief responsibility there was General Manager and advisor to student-run radio station WPRK-FM. When I arrived, in 2001, one of the … Continue reading Laughing Matters: Jim Jefferies, “Guns Are Not Protection”
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 187 – 185
187. X, “4th of July” As a band, X were in a state of flux when they went to record their sixth album, See How We Are, which was released in 1987. They were coming off of one of the strongest commercial successes, with 1985’s Ain’t Love Grand and its hit single, “Burning House of Love” (though “hit” is a decidedly relative term in this instance). But they were also continuing the process of figuring out how to persevere as a unit following the breakup of key band members John Doe and Exene Cervenka, a situation that was only complicated by … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 187 – 185
From the Archive: Wordplay
This was written for my former digital home. That’s about all I have to add this week. The new documentary Wordplay is strongest in the final section, when its focus remains fixed on the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament held annually … Continue reading From the Archive: Wordplay
One for Friday: Hoodoo Gurus, “Where’s That Hit?”
And now today, on the first sweltering day of summer in the northern state where I currently reside, my mind casts back to similar seasons past, landing inevitably in 1989. That was my first summer at the college radio station, which felt like the true and proper beginning of my adulthood. The whole school year prior, living in a residence hall and going to classes, was still somehow an extension of what I’d always done, just with an odd sleepover component. But that first summer, I lived in an apartment, figured out my own meals, and balanced the competing schedules of a … Continue reading One for Friday: Hoodoo Gurus, “Where’s That Hit?”
Beers I Have Known: New Glarus Brewing Company Bubbler
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. Recently, I and my partner-in-all-things attended a beer sampling event in our current city of residence. We followed that with a stop at a nearby watering hole, where we engaged in an impromptu debrief session. As I was sipping on the New Glarus Brewing Company beer I bought, I was doing my best to sort through which of the middling offerings from our prior stop were worth remembering. My lovely and wise drinking buddy argued, … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: New Glarus Brewing Company Bubbler
My Misspent Youth: Captain America by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck
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. Considering I operated with only a modest outlay of spending change, my youthful comic book obsession was shaped by selectivity. I went all in for Marvel Comics early on, but I was never able to be one of those kids who bought practically everything with the company’s distinctive banner cutting across the top of the cover. I even forced myself to bypass some of the publisher’s most stalwart characters, such as … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Captain America by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck
The Art of the Sell: “Flesh and Bone” poster
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. There was a time when I loved seeking out new movie posters. Anytime I make the trek to one of the multi-screen bunkers on the edges of Madison, I prowled the hallways looking for new additions to the wall. It got even better when I managed a movie theater. Every day the mail delivery would bring a new handful of slender cardboard tubes stuffed with rolled up one-sheets. For me, it was a like a magical Christmas tree … Continue reading The Art of the Sell: “Flesh and Bone” poster
Muhammad Ali, 1942 – 2016
“I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want to be.” –Muhammad Ali My grandmother once told me she didn’t root for Muhammad Ali in every bout he fought, but she … Continue reading Muhammad Ali, 1942 – 2016
College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 190 – 188
190. X, “Burning House of Love” While some of the most fervent fans of the Los Angeles punk band X cast reflexive aspersions on the 1985 single that became the group’s biggest commercial success, bassist and singer John Doe considered it something of a breakthrough. At the time, he contended, “It’s taken me about 15 years to be able to write a song that’s as simple and direct as ‘Burning House of Love.’” Later, though, Doe largely came around to agreeing with the more negative assessment of the song, at least as it was recorded and released. For X’s fifth album, See How We … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 190 – 188
Coffee for Two 