Anything ragged or rotten or rusty
The Oscar nominations arrive tomorrow. Usually I would be sitting in front of the television with a sheet of paper hastily scrawling down the honorees in the key categories as they’re announced, giving me the data needed to do some rapid-fire calculations. Somewhere nearby I had my predictions and those of my cohort from the movie review show we did on 90FM in Stevens Point what now seems an eon ago. Once the announcement was complete, I quickly tallied up which one of the two of us did a better job forecasting the nominations. Overwhelmingly, he was the victor. I … Continue reading Anything ragged or rotten or rusty
College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 16 and 15
16. “Dumb Things” by Paul Kelly & the Messengers Paul Kelly had been plying his trade for several years in Australia before he got a chance to take a crack at American audiences. He started performing in the mid-seventies and release the first album with his original backing band the Dots in 1981. He had greater success in his homeland when he assembled a new group to play with him. Called the Coloured Girls, after those that go “Doo doo doo doo doo-doo” in a certain Lou Reed song, they caused a little snag when A&M records came calling with … Continue reading College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 16 and 15
Spectrum Check
I knew was a little extra stressed out this week for a reason. It just occurred to me, as I prepared this post, that I actually wrote a lot for Spectrum Culture this week. I’ll start on the movie side, where I claimed responsibility for reviewing the directorial debut of Vincent D’Onofrio. This was in part because he’s enough of an oddball that I was very curious as to what he’d do behind the camera. I also have a marital obligation to acquire a horror movie for review from time to time and this one had the added curiosity of … Continue reading Spectrum Check
One for Friday: Dreams So Real, “Rough Night in Jericho”
There were a lot of Dream bands in the nineteen-eighties. By that, I don’t mean dream pop, although I suppose that’s true too. I’m referring to bands that actually used the word in their names. Perusing the D section of the music library of any respectable college radio station would turn up the Dream Syndicate and Dream Academy (and by the early nineties, the Dream Warriors). A little more concerted digging yielded Eleventh Dream Day. The really well-stocked stations might have even had a record or two from the Revolving Paint Dream. With all this, it’s no wonder there was … Continue reading One for Friday: Dreams So Real, “Rough Night in Jericho”
Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Forty-Eight
#48 — Stroszek (Werner Herzog, 1977) It’s difficult to write about Stroszeg without caving in and turning the whole thing into a prolonged essay on all the distinctive elements that make Werner Herzog’s films, the good and the bad, so … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 70s — Number Forty-Eight
Same As It Ever Was
From the October 31st, 1981 edition of Billboard: That’s right. This crap has been going on for ages. I’m honestly sympathetic to the creators who’ve had their viable marketplace chipped away by the ease of sharing copyrighted material, even as … Continue reading Same As It Ever Was
The call to arms you liken to a whisper
I’ve had a similar reaction to every film adaptation of a John le Carré work that I’ve ever seen. I find it admirable and fascinating in the moment, taking special notice of the careful consideration of the plain mechanics of … Continue reading The call to arms you liken to a whisper
Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Thor #192
Back in the pop art era when mighty Marvel mags manifested as the proudly powerful pinnacle of the scintillation sequential literature settled onto spinner racks across the nation, the sterling storytellers passionate proclivity for yahoo-inducing yarns was only matched by … Continue reading Mighty Marvel Checklist HyperboleCheck: Thor #192
College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 18 and 17
18. “Back on the Breadline” by Hunters & Collectors Hunters & Collectors formed in the early nineteen-eighties in Australia, quickly building a strong reputation as a propulsive live act. Except for those with an instinctive skill for combing the imports section of their local record store, the band didn’t really register in the U.S. until I.R.S. Records signed them up, probably inspired by the surprise success of Midgnight Oil’s Diesel and Dust briefly created a intense record company craving for all things that could be accurately described as both Aussie and epic. I.R.S. took the band’s 1987 album What’s a … Continue reading College Countdown: First Billboard Top 20 Modern Rock Tracks, Fall 1988, 18 and 17
Spectrum Check
Spectrum Culture was back in full wing this week, which meant that my words were all over the place as well. I was especially busy on the movie review front. First I weighed in on a highly problematic drama built around grief and guilt and contrived tension. We’re in that weird stasis zone in between the end of year Oscar fodder (much of which I can’t get screeners of because they’re being highly protective of pirating, even though they send them out as freely as Bed Bath and Beyond coupons to major critics and guild members) and the launch of … Continue reading Spectrum Check
