If you play it backward you can hear Paul singing “eat your vegetables.”
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The Rest is Noise (6)—Descent into the Maelstrom
It’s been leading up to this, the past several months, as we have tracked the descent of the twentieth century into its mid-century madness through the course of its music. Alex Ross’s book is quite clever in this—but it seeks to illuminate the music of the century through its intellectual and social history. The focus […]
ArtSunday: You can take the boy out of the working class, but can you take the working class out of the boy?
As I’ve noted before, I grew up working class in the South. My neighborhood, my school, my family and friends, it all oscillated between “redneck” and “white trash,” and yes, there’s a difference. I wrote not long ago about the challenges facing those of us trying to climb the socio-economic ladder when nothing in our upbringing […]
Saturday Video Roundup: Natalie Maines, out on her own
Natalie Maines has a new solo CD set to drop Tuesday. It’s entitled Mother, and it’s simply wonderful. If you’d like a preview you can stream it at NPR. I think we can now safely call Maines a former C&W artist. Mother, which is largely a collaboration with Ben Harper and his band, lies solidly to […]
TunesDay: Fiction 8 at the Colorado Dark Arts Expo
Sunday’s Colorado Dark Expo here in Denver featured live music, DJs, visual artists, fashion and stylists, alternative performances and vendors, all to benefit homeless and LGBTQ youth programs. Worthy cause, great event, and the high point for me was the opportunity to see the first local appearance of Fiction 8 in quite some time. It wouldn’t be […]
PSY’s “Gentleman” vs. The Lost Patrol’s Driven: Nickelback wept
Rhetorical Question of the Day: In anticipation of the new song release from K-Pop star PSY, we anticipated that: a) he’d boldly break off to forge new and innovative artistic directions b) he’d pimp that “Gangnam Style” formula like a four-dollar whore at the Republican National Convention I thought so. For my part, I wondered […]
Tuesday Morning RAW: Last night’s Izod Center crowd could spell trouble for WWE’s creative team
First off, if you were among the crazies at the Izod Center for Monday Night Raw last evening, we salute you. Sweet baby Jesus on a pogo stick, what were you people on? For those who missed the goings on in East Rutherford, this was the Raw on the night after WrestleMania, and what showed up […]
TunesDay: Phoenix and Aline are making 2013 a big year for French Indie Pop
We haven’t historically regarded the French for their rock & roll. Wine and cuisine, sure. Beautiful women, absolutely. But Europe’s greatest pop music has always tended to emerge across the channel. Then, in 2009, a little band from Versailles called Phoenix blowed up with Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix and one of the year’s hottest Indie singles, “Lisztomania.” Phoenix […]
ArtSunday: About a book…
“Will was beginning to come to the conclusion that he was not, as he had always previously thought, a good liar. He was an enthusiastic liar, certainly, but enthusiasm was not the same thing as efficacy, and he was now constantly finding himself in a situation whereby, having lied through his teeth for minutes or […]
The rock star meme…
“The only things Mick and I disagree about are the music and what we do.” – Keith Richards As a break (addition, really) to my 2013 reading list, I read (in an afternoon) The Rolling Stones - Quote Unquote by Jon Ewing. It’s a typical rockumentary knockoff of a book. It’s full of pictures (they’re great and span the Stones’ entire […]
Orlando Chamber Choir: Lamenting Lowlands
Here are my program notes for last Thursday’s concert by the good old Orlando Chamber Choir. I have done only minimal editing–enjoy! The need to provide rituals at ceremonies for the dead appears to be one of the oldest characteristics of recorded human history—there is considerable archeological evidence that rituals of some sort accompany burials […]
TunesWeek: the ’90s video that changed the world
Part 5 in a series. Once upon a time there was Def Leppard and Motley Crue and Skid Row. Then this video happened and that, as they say, was that.
TunesWeek Video: they’re classic for a reason…
First, let’s understand each other. I think videos are crap for the most part. As the previously mentioned “Runaround” by Blues Traveler confirms, if what Neil Postman warned us that we shouldn’t want did not fit what MTV – whose hegemony in the field was never seriously challenged – wanted, which was looks over musical talent, […]
TunesWeek: ’90s video and Spike Jonze
Part 4 in a series. It sometimes seemed like MTV in the 1990s was little more than a video résumé for one Adam Spiegel, aka Spike Jonze. He seemed to be the guy directing all the damned videos, and some of the era’s most inventive concepts were his. Here’s a sample. Up first, let’s watch some […]
Ten years ago this week the Dixie Chicks controversy erupted: I’m still not ready to back down
To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. ― Theodore Roosevelt On March 10, 2003, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire theatre in London, Natalie Maines stepped to […]
TunesWeek: the artistic side of ’90s video
Part 3 in a series. Our first couple of installments in the series where characterized by rage, I suppose. So today let’s step away from the anger and look at videos of a more artistic bent. First up, the video I’ve always sort of regarded as the best ever: “Dirt,” by Death in Vegas. Avant gardiste […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- I-5 bridge collapse: reflecting on our crumbling infrastructure
- Pope Francis says atheists can go to heaven: Sweet Jesus! The College of Cardinals done elected a hippie
- Magic Hat vs. West Sixth brewhaha: will MH win the battle that costs them the war?
- WordsDay: Postmodernist Xerism at it most discontentedly hopeful…
- How to stop journalists: Say they might be criminals
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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Samuel Smith: I'm not really having problems with the "Jesus die…
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rmarktroutman: Thanks for the objectivity. In Kentucky, we are f…
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Bret Higgins: Human error, not crumbling infrastructure. Over-si…
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Retro Hound: I can tell you what my fellow Baptists will have t…
