review

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Street Sermons LP by Daddy Long Legs. It’s funny how an album cover is capable of getting the gears to begin running in a listener’s mind and cause them to begin drawing conclusions and/or forming expectations of the music before they even hear a note. In the case of Daddy Long Legs’ debut album, Street Sermons, the image on the album’s cover sort of cross a couple of wires; the black...

Black Adam Look, I like the Rock, OK? I have for a long time. I know he acted like a total jabroni through the entire making of Black Adam, trying to become the universe runner of the DCU while peddling his brand of wrestler-turned-legitimate-actor and his weird liquors, but maybe having the Rock be the new face of DC wasn’t such a farfetched idea. And of course it didn’t work out. This was all too little too late. And...

Claudia Hoyser Red Lights Turning Green (GFI Music) Every now and then, an artist takes you by surprise. Who would expect the Aging Punk to love a Country singer? And not an alt-country artist, either; a pure, down-home Country artist. I am now officially a Claudia Hoyser fan. A local record store (Record Archive — if you’re ever in Rochester, NY) provides pizza and beer and free music every Wednesday. I often stop in to see what they have. Hoyser...

The Philosophy of Modern Songby Bob Dylan Could anyone but Bob Dylan have written a book like this? I use the words “book” and “Bob Dylan” lightly because I don’t think either of those things are true. Let me explain. The Philosophy of Modern Song is just a plain weird book. It’s fun, sure, but it’s also bizarre as hell. What it is is 65 essays on 65 songs that we guess made a big impact on Dylan. Or maybe...

Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilizationby Neil deGrasse Tyson I know Neil deGrasse Tyson is often the victim of ridicule, but I can’t help but like the guy. At the very least he’s considered annoying because he likes to challenge our understanding of things, and people don’t like that. He can sometimes be that guy at parties who likes to correct people, so of course that’s annoying. It’s just that NGT (those who know him personally call him that, or...

The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginariesby Kathi Weeks The struggle of the proletariat against Capitalism is hard and real. So is the struggle against this book. I should know better than to commit to a book with such an enchanting title, because the subject matter sounds interesting and relevant. However, the reality is that The Problem with Work is damn-near unreadable for the entirety of its 230 pages. I’ve had a long academic career and...

I Went Down to St. James Infirmary By Robert W. Harwood A Pig’s Tale By Ralph Sutherland and Harold Sherrick At first glance, these two books have little in common other than being about popular music. The first traces the evolution of a classic blues song, the other the birth and life of a bootleg record company. In the end though, they both involve the quirks of American copyright law, especially as it applies (or doesn’t) to music and the...

Horace Andy Midnight Scorchers What’s this? Two Horace Andy records in one year? Is this a typo? Not at all! 2022 brought us two stellar albums from the man Horace Andy. The thrilling Midnight Rockers, and its companion piece Midnight Scorchers. Fans of Midnight Rockers already knew that a dub, or reworked, version of Midnight Rockers was in the works. What might have been a surprise to all of us is that Midnight Scorchers is possibly better that Midnight Rockers....

Anti-Flag Lies They Tell Our Children (Spinefarm) It might sound a little counter-intuitive but, throughout their career (which has run for thirty-five years now – as of this writing), Anti-Flag has always proven to be at their best when people have already counted the band out – that’s when they have something to prove and that’s when they shine. Most recently, the band shone after they’d finished their two-record contract with RCA and the band released The People or The...

Three Thousand Years of Longing What an odd movie for George Miller to follow up Mad Max Fury Road with. And what an odd thing to start a movie review with a sentence that ends in a preposition. But, there you have it. Let’s accept that. I went into this movie knowing nothing about it, but certain that I love Tilda Swinton and was indifferent to Idris Elba. Let’s be honest, he’s an OK actor at best and skates by...