I don’t really know the Black Keys, other than what I heard a couple of months back in a piece on NPR (for the record, they didn’t sound bad), so I’m not entirely sure of the authority from which BK drummer Patrick Carney speaks in this interview as presented. But damn, if I don’t pretty […]

Last year I did one hundred mini-record reviews from my collection, and I had quite bit of fun doing it. I’m going to continue poking through this year as I get the time (when I’m not listening to NPR or audiobooks in the car, mostly), as long as it stays fun. I like talking about […]

For all the posting I did this year, I don’t think I hit as many personal “wow” writing notes this year. Most of what I ended up posting was “link and short response” and “oh look at this thing” blogging, which, while valid art forms, don’t really exercise the writing muscles much. However, that doesn’t […]

My favorite Christmas song, for what I hope will be a quiet Christmas eve. Joni Mitchell wrote it, I discovered it via the Indigo Girls, though I think I’m currently in love with this version from Tori Amos: Hope you enjoy your Merry Christmas with a little bit of melancholy; I know I do.

People who know me understand that historically, I’ve been a fan of the modern GI:JOE franchise; I own almost the entire run of the 80s Marvel comics series, including a copy of issue #1 signed by both writer Larry Hama and penciler Herb Trimpe. I spent my tween years watching the cartoons and collecting the […]

I’ve written a lot over the last year or two about coming to terms with getting older. It’s one of those things we all have to come to terms with. Of course, the world is remarkably good at coming up with all kinds of reminders of one’s (relatively) advanced age: little aches and pains, graying […]

With this entry, I’ll have reviewed one hundred records since starting this little project back in May. Whether anyone else is enjoying the project or not, I’ve been having a good time revisiting old music and fond memories through the exercise. If nothing else, it gives me something original to write about beyond commentary on […]

If there’s a theme this time around, it’s the idea that you can draw lines between all kinds of things, and despite the existence categories like “rock”, “country”, “r&b” or whatever, a lot of interesting stuff happening in the brackish areas where the borders bump up against each other. Each of these records, quite accidentally […]

As you may be aware, dear reader, I’m a big fan of the kind of pop culture meta piece like this one from (surprise) Amanda Marcotte about what she perceives as the ascendance of mass-market mediocrity in modern American popular culture as being inherently more “worthy” than properties with more limited, niche appeal. I include […]

It’s been a little while since I did one of these. Of course, it’s november, so there’s very little blogging going on at all, thanks to the whole novel-writing experiments and general life stuff. Of course, I’m still doing the up and back to DC thing for work, and last week, coming home took me […]