College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 3
3. Yes, Tormato The very first lyrics heard on the Yes album Tormato are “In the fountains of the universe: Set time in accord/ Sits the boychild Solomon: Every turning round and round,” sung over electronic trilling that sounds heavily … Continue reading College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 3
From the Archive: Edward Scissorhands
We started our movie review radio program, The Reel Thing, in the fall of 1990, which meant that we had to contend with the still expanding market of home video. That was how a significant number of people did their movie viewing, and the home video release of a film could be as important of a story as its first sojourn through theaters. Besides, doing home video reviews helped us fill a few more minutes in an hour-long show. Now, I wish we’d more often used the opportunity of another review a few months later to find a way to … Continue reading From the Archive: Edward Scissorhands
One for Friday: Firewater, “She’s the Mistake”
I’ve featured a selection from Firewater’s Psychopharmacology one before in this space. As I noted at the time, the album was one of the first I bought from the finest local, independently-owned record store in my new hometown at the time. Even though I owned it and it was circulated through my CD player with some regularity, I was still reminded of the way that being involved in a college radio station had the blessing of prolonged, collaborative discovery. The Firewater album did all right for us, with most deejays (myself included) gravitating to the snaky, catchy title cut. Then … Continue reading One for Friday: Firewater, “She’s the Mistake”
I reached the top and had to stop and that’s what bothering me
When we arrived for a screening of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, my partner in all things requested two tickets to “Angry Monkeys.” It took the ticket seller a beat or two to catch on, but once he … Continue reading I reached the top and had to stop and that’s what bothering me
Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Five
#25 — An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951) As far as MGM was concerned, there was an element of risk to letting director Vincente Minnelli team up with Gene Kelly for the musical An American Paris. Though proven commodities, they’d … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Five
Top 40 Smash Taps: “Call Me Lightning”
These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. The quartet comprised of Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, and Pete Townshend, known collectively as the Who, first reached the Billboard Top 40 with their 1966 single “Happy Jack.” They made it into that portion of the chart a total of sixteen times, doing so as late as 1982, by which point dearly departed drummer Keith Moon (who, as much as anyone … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Call Me Lightning”
Everyone’s happy, they’re finally all the same, ’cause everyone’s jumping everyone else’s train
Snowpiercer, the new film from director Bong Joon-ho, is ravishingly bonkers. Based on a French comic book saga, the film presents a future vision of the world plunged into permanent, uninhabitable winter, a result of overcompensation in the battle against … Continue reading Everyone’s happy, they’re finally all the same, ’cause everyone’s jumping everyone else’s train
College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 4
4. Linda Ronstadt, Living in the USA In 1978, Linda Ronstadt was about as big as a rock ‘n’ roll performer could get, though most of the superlatives that got flung around centered on her gender. After a slightly belated … Continue reading College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 4
From the Archive: Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
According to the gimmicky title scrawled across the top of my radio script (“Reel Thing V: The Final Frontier”), this review was featured in the fifth episode of our weekly movie review program. This was clearly a week in which our modest college town didn’t get very many new films, necessitating a trip to Madison to catch art film screenings there. I’d barely seen any Akira Kurosawa films by this point (probably only Ran, and I may not have even seen that yet), a highly inconvenient fact I tried to cover up in the writing process with only the most … Continue reading From the Archive: Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
One for Friday: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Spinster”
Every Joan Jett song should feature her barking out “Fuck you!” within the first fifteen seconds. Jett was all over the radio when I first really started paying attention to it as something other than background the adults had on. With backing band the Blackhearts, her cover of “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” was the number one song in the country for seven weeks in the spring of 1982 (originally recorded by the British band Arrows, Jett had taken an earlier pass at it in 1979, with no less than the Sex Pistols in tow). It was absolutely everywhere, heralding … Continue reading One for Friday: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Spinster”
Coffee for Two 