Michael Jackson via last.fm"...in 1979, with Off The Wall, he invented modern pop as we know it. He'd been around for years, making the occasional solo record, but for literally millions of us, it was a de facto debut album from a kid -- a kid! Like us! -- we were hearing for the first time. It was … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2009
APPETITE FOR SELF-DESCTRUCTION
Cover via Amazon Early in "Appetite for Self-Destruction," Knopper quotes former Warner Records and EMI CEO Joe Smith as observing, "This business ain't full of Martin Luther Kings." It says something about the emotional power of music that anyone would expect sainthood in its executives, but in the … [Read more...]
RESEGREGATING THE CHARTS
"The Beatles hit white America like the biggest thing to happen maybe ever, and they hardly hit black America at all..." Elijah Wald in TIME, talking about How The Beatles Destroyed Rock'n'Roll (Oxford). Erik Himmelsbach, LA Times Michealangelo Matos, AV Club … [Read more...]
THE GAINSBOURG CHRONICLES
Image via Wikipedia "I feel a nostalgia for an age yet to come." Matt Kane see also: Warhol as Batman, with Nico … [Read more...]
UNDERREPORTED STORY OF THE MONTH: HEALTH CARE
INSURANCE SECTOR PROFITS FROM TOBACCO INVESTMENTS UPDATE: new links Related articles by Zemanta Life, health insurers invest big in tobacco (beinghealthyhomeandaway.blogspot.com) Health, life insurers hold billions in tobacco stocks: NEJM article (scienceblog.com) Health Insurers Own Tobacco … [Read more...]
YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY BABY
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that life and health insurance companies in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain invest heavily in tobacco companies. Tobacco use is a major cause of fatal lung diseases and cancer, and is known to elevate the risk for heart attack and stroke. … [Read more...]
BACKHANDED ENDORSEMENTS
I get a special chill whenever I find myself agreeing with EVERYTHING Ralph Nader says. And Matt Taibbi is not GOD-ON-A-STICK, but he can be pretty persuasive. … [Read more...]
DEFINITION HUNT: POSTMODERNISM
If postmodernism is useful, then it's not as a theory in itself, but as an approach to other theories, perhaps typified by a degree of quasi-existential self-realization, a certain incredulity to meta-narratives (be they social, religious, cultural, philosophical, or economical), and a desire and … [Read more...]
ELMORE LEONARD IS NOT A HACK
OR: RENTAL OF THE MONTH 3:10 To Yuma gets at all those Batman themes in that rarest of imperfectible genres, "the Western." Exploiting the hoariest of cliches, Russell Crowe plays the baddass like a carney barker, but Bale bores a hole in him with his eyes, and by the end it's less a surprise twist … [Read more...]
TOP DOZEN SLEEVEFACERS
OR: POSES DOUBLING AS COMMENTARY... (why does Bowie dominate this meme?) … [Read more...]
COSMIC FOOTNOTES: JELLYFISH DIVISION
THE PERFECT EXISTENTIAL CODA
Just before we left, Lester took us down into the basement of his house, to look through his stack of discarded promo albums, and told me to take anything I wanted. I selected three different Move LP's, among other castoffs, but when I showed him the recent Dana Gillespie album, he waved his hand … [Read more...]
THIS IS NOT A COFFEE TABLE…
Somewhere between Duchamp's Mona Lisa and Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece," the worth and import of a modern artist began forming behind the question "Is this artist pulling our leg?" Jeff Koons, now ensconsed, starts a lot of the answer like his forebears, with a big Yes, and then... Ingrid Sischy's … [Read more...]