Some glimpses of rock across the ages:
•I mentioned Meat Loaf yesterday, and speaking of rockstar weight-gain, here’s Ann Wilson with sister Nancy in the 70s and three decades later (here looking better than she sometimes does, I think), again with Nancy. One half of Heart, still fabulous, the other, a living simulacrum of […]
It’s all connected: I think we knew songwriter/producer Jim Steinman’s songs (such as Meatloaf’s best-known stuff) are Wagnerian. What I didn’t realize is that he got his start in college actually writing an updated version of a Wagner opera. Since then, his stuff has been distinctive enough that I correctly guessed the man […]
Though I eagerly await news from this week’s Libertarian Party nominating convention, I will say this for the Republican candidate, McCain: he’s not an annoying Bible-thumper. Indeed, religious former Bush advisor Marvin Olasky (the UT Austin journalism prof who popularized “compassionate conservatism,” a slogan now largely abandoned in the U.S. but newly-popular with UK […]
Talk of minor political parties inevitably turns one’s mind to thoughts of ballot access and voting irregularities.
And that reminds me that I thought during the 2000 election, the most entertaining presidential election ever, that if on-the-spot music distribution were more common (YouTube and online music not quite having become big then), Weird Al Yankovic could […]
Today — May 16, 2008 — moviegoers are getting a small dose of Christian allegory along with more blatant forms of fantasy via the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Five and a half years ago, I was getting a big dose of Christianity in the small form of girlfriend Dawn Eden.
Dawn is […]
Much as I love the nerdy New Wave music genre, I’m often reminded, with wistfulness and nostalgia, that some of the greatest 80s songs didn’t quite fit the New Wave niche nor other obvious categories like classic rock and thus have not been remembered as vividly as they should be. For example:
•“Voices” by Russ […]
For me, the grand slam is connecting my four favorite topics (which readers must sometimes fear are the only four topics I like): (1) libertarianism, (2) science, (3) sci-fi-type stuff, and (4) rock n’ roll. I’m delighted, then, to notice a bit of trivia that connects the four, just in time for this, my […]
Well, last time I checked, I failed to find any clips of Wild Record Party (a short-lived, insane cable access show here featuring stuffed animals and puppets dancing to various old garage-rock-type numbers in front of album-cover backdrops) on YouTube, but, as it happens — since I don’t have cable and just watch the handful […]
In plugging tonight’s Jen Dziura/Molly Crabapple event, I chastised the general depravity of the City — but unlike your average depravity-chastiser, I am aware that popular culture didn’t just get naughty in the past decade or two. If someone said to you that there is a catchy song likening a woman’s sexual prowess to […]
This story may sound hard to believe, but if studied in detail, it might unlock vast, heretofore unexplored secrets about the inner workings of the human mind.
Background first: I have noticed before that there is a big, sometimes disturbing chasm between short-term memory and long-term memory — something very important that only makes it into […]
After last night’s karaoke, I find myself thinking about David Bowie’s “China Girl,” another monotone classic I can handle, and I’m reminded that Bowie once said that one of his biggest influences was Anthony Newley, the man behind the songs from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, including “The Candy Man.”
Given Bowie’s Newley influence, his […]
Yesterday I pointed to cannibalism in Africa as a sign of America’s cultural superiority, but it just so happens a friend e-mailed me yesterday to tell of his own small indulgence in cannibalism here in the U.S., which came to have certain spiritual overtones, much like the African cannibalism.
Apparently, during couples therapy, his wife used […]
Last night’s debate went well, and Christian rock prevailed, according to the audience vote. Much of the debate hinged on definitional questions (What is rock? What is Christianity? What is suck?).
Much as I like to think of myself as a guy who likes to err on the side of expansive, inclusive definitions […]
The week is shaping up to be more rock-oriented than I anticipated:
•Tonight, of course, is our epic debate at Lolita Bar (8pm, 266 Broome St. at Allen St. near the Delancey St. subway stop) between Brian McCarter and Daniel Radosh on Christian rock. (Note: Daniel’s certainly no paleoconservative, but in addition to defending Christian […]
“Does Christian Rock Suck?” — with former rock singer Brian McCarter (yes) vs. Rapture Ready! author Daniel Radosh (no). Michel Evanchik moderates, and Todd Seavey hosts. Wed., April 2, at 8pm.
Just to keep things interesting, you’ll note we have a rocker and God-believer from South Carolina arguing yes, it does suck and arguing no, it […]
