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”
Meet me, Jesus, meet me, meet me in the middle of the air
Fifty-third in a series…. (Source) Continue reading Meet me, Jesus, meet me, meet me in the middle of the air
Why go into the outside world at all? It’s such a fright!
So this is now a thing I do around Emmy nomination announcement time. As usual, plenty of caveats apply, mostly around the acclaimed television series that I don’t happen to follow or haven’t yet caught up on. Still, I’m a fairly well-viewed fellow. I know the Emmys will do what they must, including continue to lavish praise on the increasingly intolerable Modern Family, but I have my own views on what constitutes the top achievements in television. Roughly using the same span of eligibility that the Emmys adopts, here are my picks for the ten best shows of the past … Continue reading Why go into the outside world at all? It’s such a fright!
Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Six
#26 — A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951) Elaine Stritch was talking about Marlon Brando once, and Elaine Stritch never minced words. In discussing Brando’s time in class with Stella Adler, studying the fiercely emergent acting strategy formulated by Constantin … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Twenty-Six
Great Moments in Literature
“Everyone laughs except Bix, who’s at his computer, and you feel like a funny guy for maybe half a second, until it occurs to you that they probably only laughed because they could see you trying to be funny, and they’re afraid you’ll jump out the window onto East Seventh Street if you fail, even at something so small.” –Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad, 2010 “YOUR NAME IS BEVERLY GABLE, AND YOU ARE RETURNING HOME AFTER AN EVENING OF BABY-SITTING. FOR THREE AND ONE-HALF HOURS YOU WATCHED THE FLICKERING IMAGES PLAYING ON A TELEVISION SET, OBLIVIOUS TO … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 5
5. Heart, Dog & Butterfly Dog & Butterfly was the second Heart album released in 1978. Sort of. The band that famously features the Wilson sisters, lead singer Ann and lead guitarist Nancy, released their debut album on Mushroom Records … Continue reading College Countdown, The First CMJ Album Chart, 5
