College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 70 and 69
70. Jonny Polonsky, Hi My Name is Jonny Besides looking like he was about fifteen years too early to snare a role in the supporting cast of Lena Dunham’s Girls, Jonny Polonsky was notable as a discovery of one Black … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 70 and 69
Spectrum Check
My writing week with Spectrum Culture started with a look backward. Our Revisit series cycles through all the music writers, and my turn came up. I always have an extremely difficult time figuring out what to write on for this feature, usually defaulting to an album I know inside out. This time, that meant a few words on my favorite Billy Bragg album. For the film reviews, I wrote on new horror movie, directed by Katie Asleton and written by her husband, Mark Duplass. I thought it was solid, though I should note that the person in our household with … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods, “Rev It Up”
Though I started at the college radio station in the fall of 1988, my first time on air was a few months before that. While in high school outside of Madison, Wisconsin, I turned into a little bit of a geek boy fan, listening to local radio station WMAD-FM and calling up the deejays to discuss music. I vaguely remember a couple longer conversations with their overnight guy and one day when I called in a talked at length with the midday jock about the new Springsteen album, which I’m sure the radio professional on the other end found mercilessly … Continue reading One for Friday: Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods, “Rev It Up”
And rainbows have nothing to hide
This seems an adequate stand-in for words today. Continue reading And rainbows have nothing to hide
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Three
#33 — Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1969) I don’t expend a whole lot of words on the physical appearances or general attractiveness of actresses or actors, especially when I’m writing film reviews. Mostly, I don’t see how it’s relevant. So what … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Thirty-Three
My Misspent Youth: Fantastic Four Roast by Fred Hembeck and friends
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. As I’ve noted before in this space, I began my comic … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Fantastic Four Roast by Fred Hembeck and friends
Top 40 Smash Taps: “Nature Boy”
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. Bobby Darin has a remarkable twenty-two singles make it onto the Billboard Top 40, including an especially notable chart-topper. Though Darin was an accomplished songwriter, penning a number of his own hits, he had some of his greatest successes with covers, including “Beyond the Sea,” the English language translation of a French song that become enough of a signature tune that its title … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Nature Boy”
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 72 and 71
72. Poundcake, Aloha Via Satellite There is remarkably little information out there on the wild, wild web about the band Poundcake. They seem to fall precisely within that little window of time before every album received an abundance on … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 72 and 71
Spectrum Check
So while I spend my morning wishing some rain away, I’ll share the pieces I contributed to Spectrum Culture this week. I was present in both the film and movie sections, including a review of the sophomore effort by Little Boots. I’ll admit — as I essentially do right in the text of the review — that I sometimes feel a little out of my depth when writing on more electronica-based releases, but I must admit that I’m fairly pleased with the way in which I described the song “Every Night I Say a Prayer.” On the film side, I … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Karel Fialka, “Hey, Matthew”
During my first semester of college, I had a happy Sunday night ritual. After listening to The College Count-Up on 90FM–both before and after I became a member of the on-air staff there–I would head downstairs with a select group of discerning music fans from neighboring dorm rooms. We’d take over the TV room, usually with a ridiculous assortment of snacks and beverages–I recall mixing up jugs of Kool-Aid and consuming unseemly cheese spread on crackers–and watch MTV until after midnight. Our viewing typically started with an episode of The Young Ones, but we were really there for 120 Minutes, … Continue reading One for Friday: Karel Fialka, “Hey, Matthew”
