Spitball Army

A rare visit today to the Birmingham Barnes & Noble (by virtue of being near my doctor’s office) was cut short due to the introduction of St. Paul and the Broken Bones on their sound system. I couldn’t get out of there quickly enough. I swear, that belly-flopper of a lead vocalist wants to be […]

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I walk into work Monday and before I can even log in to the store system, three people have stopped me to ask what I think of the New Refrigerator in my department. New Refrigerator? I ask. IT HAS A STEREO BUILT IN! they each swoon, wide-eyed, slack-jawed. Indeed, our Whirlpool representative is on site, […]

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My very demanding computer ordered me to update its iTunes program recently, so I did it, rather than face the unknown consequences of not having an updated iTunes program. The last thing I want is to not be able to access the tens of thousands of mp3 files on the hard drive. Yes, there are […]

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John Ford’s epic, stretched so three-hours thin that Alex North’s bombastic score bludgeons holes right through it.

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Nearly every band that played at our San Diego high school dances in the mid-’70s tried their hand at Steely Dan’s “My Old School.” Everyone would scream and holler when the song began because, well, it was about OUR school, of course (why not, right?), and we were either willfully ignoring the fact that one-half […]

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Card is untitled on its front.

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Exhausted, so working my way through the @nytimes “1,000 Best Films Ever” list. So far today, two real duds: Lust for Life and Silk Stockings. Lust is so comically overwrought, I expected Kirk Douglas’ Van Gogh to morph into one of Lon Chaney Jr’s monsters. Just bad. The theme music for Lust for Life sounds as […]

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It’s been ages since I bought a new CD. Today I got the new concert tribute to Kate McGarrigle, “Sing Me the Songs,” and it is killing me. Anna McG, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Emmylou, Teddy Thompson, Norah Jones, Richard Thompson, Antony…many more, and it sounds so great to hear terrific song interpreters singing such […]

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Approximate playing time: 72 minutes.

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Some musical artists are torture artists, as well – torturing their fans between releases.

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