The Theory of EverythingThe Origin and Fate of the Universeby Stephen Hawking It’s probably a good idea if we collectively started consuming a little less fiction and read more non-fiction, particularly stuff that challenged and helps us understand the world around us, right? Someone on my block didn’t think so and put this book in a “Free” box on their stoop and I couldn’t help but give it a good home. What I like to think is that the contents...
A Clockwork Orange At first, I thought this was going to be a tough review to write. When I first started getting into Kubrick’s movies, I remember really liking A Clockwork Orange but some scenes at the beginning sort of tainted my opinion of the movie. Yep, I’m talking about that scene you’re thinking about, and I really couldn’t think about A Clockwork Orange for years without thinking specifically of that scene. Going through the AFI Top 100 list, I...
Crossroadsby Jonathan Franzen I watch so much fiction (movies, TV shows), that I make up for it with the books I read. I didn’t read much last year, but when I did, I tried to stick to non-fiction, autobiographies, etc. But when Jonathan Franzen releases a book, that all comes to a stop. I’m what you would call a literary dum-dum. I judge books by their covers. I can’t recognize an elegant sentence if it was repeated for an entire...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Vespa & Londonians 12” EP by Booze & Glory. Remember back in the early aughts when Fearless Records compiled a series of albums which found some genuinely great punk bands covering a multitude of different artists and genres – recasting them all in a punk context? Some of those covers were actually really, really cool (hearing AFI perform Guns N’ Roses’ “My Michelle” was pretty cool, as was Strike Anywhere’s cover...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Grade 2’s Graveyard Island: Acoustic Sessions 12” EP. As someone wise once said, “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans,” and no punk band is making the best of a bad situation more than Grade 2 has, lately. The band had to put the promotional efforts behind their Epitaph debut album, 2019’s Graveyard Island, on hold when the CoVid-19 pandemic caused all touring routes to shut down indefinitely a couple...
Red Victory: A History of the Russian Civil Warby W. Bruce Lincoln Soviet Russia history is my jam. Particularly the early Bolshevik stuff. The tactics, the politics, drama, it all comes together into an interesting soup that’s as exciting as it is disheartening. But, what I’m not as well-versed on is the Russian Civil war. I’m aware it happened, and was aware of some of the policies involved, but my hopes for this Bruce Lincoln book was that it would...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Digital Age of Rome LP by T. Hardy Morris. It’s weird to think how tumultuous a year 2020 was, and how that tumult was reflected in the music which was released at the time. Even if a band didn’t actually have a political streak in their hair or bone in their body, conflict in the times seemed to appear in the music. Now, 2021 has had its share of rough running...
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain I never knew Anthony Bourdain as a chef, only as a traveler/food documentarian. And a trusted one at that. I love food more than I care to admit, and every time we’re traveling somewhere, nationally or abroad, my wife and I make sure to watch any episodes Anthony Bourdain might have taped in the area. Of course, he can’t hit up every spot, but we’ve never been disappointed by his recommendations. The man has...
WHO: Down By Law WHAT: Lonely Town WHY: One of my loves when I was coming up in my punk days that I keep falling for every time they release a new album. As one of the best bands to surface from the Epitaph 90s era, Down By Law has kept going for more than 30 years, still releasing their own brand of pop punk. It’s also a very special era in Down By Law history as the punkrockacedmyfightsong lineup...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Plizzken’s …And Their Paradise Is Full Of Snakes LP. The fact of the matter is that, in punk circles, no one wants to be a “middle of the road” kind of band. Why? Well, as Dwight Eisenhower once said, “The middle of the road is all the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters,” and it is in those gutters (or teetering on the brink of them) where...