(Above: I have this CD. It's wimpier than the Brand X bags in a Hefty ad.) On a snowy Saturday night in Grand Rapids I took a pilgrimage to the local pizza shop to pick up dinner. Since the roads were bad, the drive took about three times as long as usual. I tuned into … Continue reading Checking the charts: Billboard Hot 100, January 7, 1989
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New year’s resolutions: Dramarama, “Last Cigarette” (1989)
(Above: Cover art for Stuck in Wonderamaland, 1990) I was never really a smoker. I was in the habit of buying cigarettes only when working at my first job, which I fondly think back on as "petroleum distributor." To be correct, I had exactly three jobs that were not in radio: -Gas pump jockey, Brian's … Continue reading New year’s resolutions: Dramarama, “Last Cigarette” (1989)
Fast away the old year passes: Dan Fogelberg, “Same Old Lang Syne” (1980)
(Above: How many New Year's Eves were spent.) This is a series of stories in a few parts that all sort of fit together - it's like "Love, Actually" without the pretty models. New Year's Eve used to be my favorite holiday. We would all gather together with a lot of alcohol and a … Continue reading Fast away the old year passes: Dan Fogelberg, “Same Old Lang Syne” (1980)
Rest in peace, George Michael: “Freedom ’90” (1990)
(Above: George Michael, in somewhat happier times.) To say that 2016 has been a rough year in popular music - especially for fans of the 1980s - would be an understatement. I was still dissertating earlier in the year when we lost David Bowie and Prince, so I did not create entries specifically for their … Continue reading Rest in peace, George Michael: “Freedom ’90” (1990)
12+ Blogs of Christmas, Airing of Grievances Edition: Bob Rivers, “The Twelve Pains of Christmas” (1988)
(Above: "I gotta lot of problems with you people..." Say the word "festivus," and most people with a handle on popular culture of the 1990s will know exactly what you mean. The holiday, first introduced to the lexicon by Seinfeld (a show that added such phrases as "double-dipping" and "not that there's anything wrong with … Continue reading 12+ Blogs of Christmas, Airing of Grievances Edition: Bob Rivers, “The Twelve Pains of Christmas” (1988)
12+ Blogs of Christmas: We Need a Little… Edge
(Above: The Edge of Christmas, Oglio Records. Another one from my collection.) I don't want to give the wrong impression: I don't dislike Christmas music. In the last piece I talked about how some of the music of the season isn't helping those who are having emotional issues. (Fun fact: in each of the last … Continue reading 12+ Blogs of Christmas: We Need a Little… Edge
12+ Blogs of Christmas: We’ll Muddle Through Somehow
(Above: Bummed Out Christmas (Rhino), one of the pieces of my collection.) "What came first - the misery, or the music?" This question, asked by Rob Gordon in High Fidelity (one of my all-time favorite films), is appropriate today. The Christmas season is not all snowflakes and candy canes for everyone. Depression escalates for some, … Continue reading 12+ Blogs of Christmas: We’ll Muddle Through Somehow
12+ Blogs of Christmas: Observe the snow.
(Above: Christmastime in Michigan.) If we really wanted to, we could break the songs heard on the radio at the holidays into themes. There are Christmas songs and there are winter songs. One could argue that the winter songs could stay in rotation well into February were it not for the fact that by the … Continue reading 12+ Blogs of Christmas: Observe the snow.
12+ Blogs of Christmas: Mona Abboud, “The Pretty Little Dolly” (1966)
(Above: Johnny's not sure what he signed up for.) 50 years ago tonight - December 15, 1966 - a classic Christmas moment took place on The Tonight Show. Mona Abboud, an actress who performed children's voices in commercials, got her chance to sit on the panel with Johnny Carson. She performed a song about the … Continue reading 12+ Blogs of Christmas: Mona Abboud, “The Pretty Little Dolly” (1966)
Stop the presses: The Lemon Pipers, “Rice is Nice” (1968)
(Above: The December 12, 1991 Southtown Economist, framed and in my office. Students sometimes ask about "all the 8-tracks.") 25 years ago today, my hometown newspaper did a feature on me. I had left 97X in Davenport, Iowa a few months earlier, and was toiling away doing mornings at WLLI in Joliet. In one move … Continue reading Stop the presses: The Lemon Pipers, “Rice is Nice” (1968)
45 Ruminations Per Megabyte 