Pop culture at its most disturbing
After a six-year hiatus, Alison Krauss and Union Station (better known by its fans as AKUS) has released a calming, low-key, and familiar new CD, Paper Airplane, that instantly feels like an old friend welcoming you home. AKUS albums have always relied heavily on relationships for their subject matter, but Paper Airplane takes that concept one step further, with every …
This month, the last typewriter manufacturing factory, Godrej and Boyce, is closing its doors, ending an impressive 141-year run for the invaluable, deadly, powerful, groundbreaking, trendsetting…but evidently not indispensable…mass communications tool. For writers, businesspeople, and journalists, the typewriter literally became an extension of one’s appendages. Since its invention in 1870, countless classic pieces of literature (along with some pieces arguably …
Track 1 begins with a muffled throwback to 1981 synth-pop before quickly morphing into a crisp, electronic wonderland that seldom lets up. Ten years after the release of its “comeback” CD, Secrets, The Human League is (finally) back with Credo, affirming its spiritual foundation on dark, melodic beats. The history of The Human League is a strange one, rife with …
eff Probst, Paula Abdul, and the Blair Witch should be thanking a small suburban family from Santa Barbara every time they cash a paycheck. In 1971, cameras were allowed into a seemingly normal and happy middle American home. When PBS aired “An American Family” in 1973, the facade of normalcy and morality rooted in the 1950s completely imploded as a …
I was about 12 the first time I saw “Night of the Living Dead.” Back in the days before the web and instant viewing, certain movies known as “cult” or “underground” films were surrounded by a mystique and mythological aura, and classics such as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Pink Flamingos,” and “Faces of Death” were often talked about much more …
s I drove past, I thought surely I couldn’t be seeing it right. A Saturday afternoon, and the parking lot is EMPTY? I had not heard anything about the mall being closed for construction or anything, so that must not be it. It appears I was more out of touch than I thought. Northwest Plaza in St. Louis has been …
Last night was the 9th annual TV Land awards. The show is a chance for pop culture icons to receive the recognition they deserve (albeit often 30 and 40 years late), and also is a chance for the rest of us to see what age has done to those beloved kids and characters we grew up with. Yep, many of …
Last month’s newest “Bigfoot” video has people talking about the mythical monstrosity all over again. Thomas Byers of North Carolina claimed to have captured the legendary creature, also known as “Sasquatch” and the “Yeti,” on video a few weeks ago, crossing a desolate highway. Once it hit the web, the video was examined and scrutinized on news programs, talk shows, …
Duran Duran is back with a new release, All You Need is Now, universally praised as the band’s best since 1982’s Rio. Producer Mark Ronson chose to guide the band back to its synth roots, with a sound hearkening back to the first two albums, and the gamble paid off. All You Need is Now debuted at #11 on the …
Ann and Nancy Wilson, the Earth Mother and Ageless Siren of rock, have just released a new concert DVD and Blu-ray to accompany their successful new release, Red Velvet Car. Night at Sky Church was filmed last March at the VERY cool Sky Church hall in Seattle, home of the band Heart. After years of live releases that underscore the …
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