The Hold SteadyThrashing Thru the Passion Happy 400th Vinyl Vlog! Thank god for this album, folks. Thank GOD! I think I’ve said this before, but the Hold Steady are one of those bands that suffers from Monty Python syndrome, in the sense that it’s good, but the most annoying people in the world will not shut the fuck about it. Have you met a Hold Steady fan? If you’re not sure, then you haven’t. The real Hold Steady fans are annoying as hell. As such, it’s hard to...
The Fleshies Introducing the Fleshies photo: sorrystaterecords.com The Fleshies conjure up distinct memories in my brain. No, not of circle pits and skateboarding empty pools. The Fleshies remind me of the Pennsylvania country side. It’s in my long drives where I would most often consume albums in their entirety without interruptions. I knew I had always enjoyed the Fleshies (or just “Fleshies” as they used to be called), but on a 2 hour drive through the aforementioned Pennsylvania countryside I...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the HumanWorld LP by Peter Perrett. As of 2019, saying that singer/guitarist Peter Perrett has had a storied career would be a laughable understatement. After forming (and then collapsing) Glory in 1976, Perrett formed the fantastic Only Ones in 1978 where he established one of the greatest songbooks in the history of power pop. Perrett has ridden The Only Ones, off and on, ever since then (the band has broken up and...
Shazam! How is Shazam! not the biggest movie of the year? It certainly was a big success and made a whopping $364 million vs its $100 cost, so it is was indeed a giant hit. So much so that a sequel is being developed. But Shazam! didn’t become a cultural phenomenon like the Marvel movies have. And that’s quite a shame, because DC movies will never get the same recognition as Marvel movies no matter how original they try...
We’re Pregnant! The First Time Dad’s Pregnancy Handbook by Adrian Kulp Child-rearing! An event rarely experienced or written about. This book is a first! No of course not, but if you think that books for parents-to-be are probably more woman-centric then you would be very right. Of course there are books detailing the developmental process which should be something that interests both parents, but since the baby is inside the mother, it only makes sense to talk about what changes...
Empowered and Sistah Spooky’s High School Hellby Adam Warren, Carla McNeil, Jenn Lee Adam Warren is someone who’s easily underrated in the comic book world. In addition to that he’s also underappreciated. His contribution to the Dirty Pair franchise was funny, innovative, looked great, and somehow just kept getting better. And it’s this same unique sensibility that Warren was able to bring to Gen13. In a run that included so many ups and downs, Warren’s issues were consistent high points...
Beastie Boys Bookby Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz How are you going to write a Beastie Boys autobiography without Adam Yauch? That’s the first thing Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond bring up in the Beastie Boys Book. Of course, the group was greater than the sum of its parts, but Yauch might have been the creative fuel and driving force behind the band. That’s the picture the band paints of him at least. But the story must be told, and...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Holger Danske LP by The Old Firm Casuals. After a solid amount of time up on blocks (the band’s debut album was released in 2014 and, while there have been a couple of splits and a couple of EPs, demands for something more substantial have gone unanswered), a recent reissue campaign renewed interest in The Old Firm Casuals (a.k.a. Singer/guitarist Lars Frederiksen’s “other” band, beyond Rancid) and so they’ve answered that...
Stringer: A Reporter’s Journey in the Congoby Anjan Sundaram I have to keep looking at the cover of Stringer to make sure it’s not a novel. That’s the kind of vivid engrossing story Anjan Sundaram tells in this book. I took a chance on Stringer after seeing Sundaram on the Daily Show many years ago. I was captivated by his story so I thought I’d check out his book. I appreciate a good novel as much as anyone, but I...
Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back)Jeff Tweedy I came late to the Wilco game. Maybe it’s because I associated them with an old girlfriend who tried getting me into them. I was just too engaged in punk rock to really care. I remember us driving from San Diego to Portland Oregon and her playing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in the car trying to impress me. Hoping it would get through to me. It wasn’t happening. On that trip she also...