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From the Archive: De-Loused in the Comatorium

Dan Seeger

Since I evoked my Mojo phase in yesterday’s post, it seems only appropriate that today’s sheepish looks back towards old writing should present my most overt attempt at writing in that British publication’s style. Taken from my brief, happy tenure with Central Florida’s The Independent Journal, this review covers a unlikely blast of 21st century prog rock that–in a turn even more unlikely–I liked a great deal. It also inspired me to give it my best Mojo review section try, particularly when it came time to pile up quasi-arcane references. I remember being very happy with the results. And I … Continue reading From the Archive: De-Loused in the Comatorium

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One for Friday: Earth Opera, “The Red Sox are Winning”

Dan Seeger

Thought I can’t necessarily parcel my personal journey as a music fan into clear, clean divisions, I have had a few distinct phases, stretches when the material I sought out was actively influence by one source or another, be it individuals or, in a couple of case, entire radio station music libraries. And then there are the periodicals, led by the foundational and sometimes regrettable impact of Rolling Stone on my taste. I hold far greater fondness for a later period of time I think of, as I must, as “The Mojo years.” I started buying the U.K. magazine after … Continue reading One for Friday: Earth Opera, “The Red Sox are Winning”

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Frears, Kurosawa, Robson, Sturges, Taylor

Dan Seeger

Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954). I sometimes identify Akira Kurosawa’s Ran as epic filmmaking writ as large as the screen allows. Seven Samurai, made over thirty years earlier, is epic filmmaking in the inverse, pruned and delicate and piercingly intimate. There are major moments to it, too, and scenes of pounding cinematic glory, but what really makes it work is the painstaking intricacy of Kurosawa’s storytelling. There’s a reason other creators return to it time and again, extracting what is useful for their own tales of valor and ironic victory. Kurosawa and his collaborators (Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni are … Continue reading Frears, Kurosawa, Robson, Sturges, Taylor

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From the Archive: Rush

Dan Seeger

Reviewing films in a small, Central Wisconsin community led to some strange situations. It was always a bit of a crapshoot as to what would actually come to town, not just on opening weekend but at any point during its run. We spent a lot of time with our weekly radio show trying to figure out how to handle it when only one new release came to town, or other things that we were actively excited to cover dragged their way in well past the point when the national media was covering them. Given that, I’m sometimes amazed at the … Continue reading From the Archive: Rush

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One for Friday: Fountains of Wayne, “Utopia Parkway”

Dan Seeger

I’d like to say that I grabbed a hold of Fountains of Wayne after seeing That Thing You Do!, but that’s not quite accurate. Fountains of Wayne songwriter Adam Schlesinger penned the title cut to Tom Hanks’s directorial debut, miraculously creating an instantly catchy number that never overstayed its welcome despite being circled back to repeatedly in the film (and then there are those of us who’ve watched the film countless times and still never gotten sick of it). That introduction should have reasonably been enough to convince me that this was an artist made for me, particular since his … Continue reading One for Friday: Fountains of Wayne, “Utopia Parkway”