College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 52 and 51
52. The Wallflowers, Bringing Down the Horse Here’s what rock ‘n’ roll nepotism sounded like in the early-to-mid-nineteen-nineties. Bringing Down the Horse was the sophomore effort from the band the Wallflowers, fronted by Bob Dylan’s son Jakob. The group is … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 52 and 51
Spectrum Check
We had another shortened week at Spectrum Culture, because that’s the way the summer goes sometimes. It coincided nicely with my own week away, but I still managed to slip in one major review, writing on a unique new documentary covering mass killings in Indonesia. It’s a complicated topic and, amazingly, an even more complicated movie, which caused me to put an awful lot of effort into the piece at a time when it would have been handier to dash one off. I hope I did it justice. I also pulled together a few words for our feature on the … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Cheating Off of Someone Else’s Paper
While I try not to cede this weekly space entirely to the efforts of others, there is indeed a precedent. We’ve just returned from almost a week away, and my brain is soft, pliable and unable to think of a good entry for this week. Honestly, I can’t even come up with a wildly creative, obscure song selection. But there’s always Mr. Robyn Hitchcock… Continue reading One for Friday: Cheating Off of Someone Else’s Paper
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Twenty-Two
#22 — Salesman (Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, 1968) I tend to think of the documentaries from the Maysles brothers as fairly wooly and structureless. Grey Gardens, undoubtedly their most famous film, is an intimate portrait of the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Twenty-Two
One thing I don’t want to see is a network Jesus on TV
Forty-sixth in a series… Continue reading One thing I don’t want to see is a network Jesus on TV
Beers I Have Known: Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager
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. As a general rule, I don’t care for fruit beers. I completely understand … Continue reading Beers I Have Known: Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Twenty-Three
#23 — The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, 1962) The guests at a snooty, upper crust dinner party adjourn to the music room, engaging in discussion, whiling away the night. Then the time comes to leave, many of them announcing their … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Twenty-Three
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 54 and 53
54. The Cure, Wild Mood Swings Many observers thought the Cure might be finished after their 1992 album, Wish, though that was hardly the first time the disintegration of the band was predicted. (There may have been some who would have preferred the band shuffle away for good after the their yucky Judge Dredd theme song.) Those doomsayers forgot Robert Smith’s endless capacity for regenerating his chief creative outlet and eyeliner-streaked cash cow. Wild Mood Swings, the band’s tenth album, was released in the late spring, the precise time frame that worked well for them since 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 54 and 53
Spectrum Check
I’ve somewhat lost track of all the various assignments I’ve picked up for Spectrum Culture, but I’ve got a funny feeling that I’m going to be hit with a very busy week sometime soon. This week, I had only one full-length effort for the site, but I did my best to make it worthwhile, especially since I feel added pressure whenever I write on something that’s an established classic of cinematic erudition. Specifically, I wrote on the debut feature from Alain Resnais, which also happens to be the first real big-screen role for recent Oscar nominee Emmanuelle Riva. I also … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “A TV Guide in the Olduvai Gorge”
It’s been a little over a year since I finally secured a turntable after several years without, as a friend of mine once called the device, a vinyl-spinner. It was absolutely wonderful to track through the remainder of my record collection, often playing things that I figured (somewhat erroneously, as it turns out) were essentially entirely unattainable these days. Turns out, though, that the main appeal of having a turntable again is being able to shop for records again. I’m not referring to the new culture of 180 gram vinyl rapturous collecting (though my household does occasionally succumb to that … Continue reading One for Friday: The Balancing Act, “A TV Guide in the Olduvai Gorge”
