Spectrum Check
I only had one new piece go up at Spectrum Culture, but it was a fairly distinctive one. Capitol Records recent reissued four old country albums on vinyl and apparently actively solicited reviews from various outlets. The editor-in-chief sent out an email asking if anyone was interested in reviewing the respective titles, and my many, many hours as a kid (and I’m talking single digits here) sitting in front of my grandparents’ big console stereo listening to Kenny Rogers records made it clear that I needed to participate. I went ahead and claimed The Gambler. Listening to it again, for … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Map of the World, “I Fight for My Life”
Inadvertently, this is the second time in the last three weeks that I’m featuring a band that Atlantic Records simply didn’t know how to handle. Map of the World was a band from Ann Arbor, Michigan, signed by the major label in the late nineteen-eighties, a time when A&R men roamed college towns with fevered urgency, so sure that the next R.E.M. was lurking out there somewhere. The group–headed up by the sibling team of Khalid and Sophia Hanifim–had exactly one release for the label, a 1989 EP entitled An Inch Equals a Thousand Miles. When it wasn’t embraced automatically … Continue reading One for Friday: Map of the World, “I Fight for My Life”
My Misspent Youth: Fantastic Four by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz
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 mentioned before, I know exactly which comic book got … Continue reading My Misspent Youth: Fantastic Four by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Forty-Three
#43 — Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967) Films centering on revenge are easy, perhaps too easy. The motivation for the central character or characters are built right in–only the simplest backstory is needed in order to convince the audience of … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Forty-Three
Top 40 Smash Taps: “Thinkin’ Problem”
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. David Ball had a first pass at a music career in the late nineteen-eighties when the country music singer-songwriter secured a recording contract with RCA Records. A trio of singles in 1988 and 1989 failed to generate anything but the most meager of interest from country radio and the album he recorded was shelved. Jump forward a few years, and Ball gets his … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Thinkin’ Problem”
And movie stars you thought were long dead now are framed beside your bed
In recent interview with New York magazine’s online outlet, director Sam Raimi was surprisingly frank about earlier films of his that didn’t work, specifically citing Spider-Man 3 and The Quick and the Dead. I concur on the former and would … Continue reading And movie stars you thought were long dead now are framed beside your bed
College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 90 and 89
90. Marilyn Manson, Antichrist Superstar You know, when I counted down Trouser Press‘s picks for the ten best albums of 1981, I made a point of listening to every one of them before I wrote on them. Not with this … Continue reading College Countdown: 90FM’s Top 90 of 1996, 90 and 89
Spectrum Check
I usually lay these links out in roughly chronological order, but I’m instead going to start with my favorite piece of the week for Spectrum Culture. Part of the household agreement made when I took on this fairly time-consuming side gig dictated that I would routinely, though not indiscriminately, request horror films to review. This led to the acquisition of The ABCs of Death, a gimmicky anthology film that never escapes its gimmick. I decided to adopt a modified version of the film’s conceit for my review starting each sentence with each successive letter of the alphabet, from A to … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Soul Coughing, “Mr. Bitterness”
For brief stretch of time, my adult beverage of choice was a velvet crush. I didn’t pick up on this from friends or family or even some intrepid bartender who could somehow spot that I’d be a sucker for the combination of sugary, “fruit”-flavored water and hard liquor, but because Soul Coughing sang about it in a song. The opening lyrics to the song “Mr. Bitterness” place the setting as a bar called The Bitter Seed and describes a woman who we will come to know as alluring and aloof. She drinks a velvet crush. Lead singer M. Doughty helpfully … Continue reading One for Friday: Soul Coughing, “Mr. Bitterness”
Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Forty-Four
#44 — The Bride Wore Black (François Truffaut, 1968) Quentin Tarantino insists that he never saw The Bride Wore Black before conceiving of his Kill Bill films, but I don’t believe him. I’m sure he’s not lying, that he’s actually convinced … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 60s — Number Forty-Four
