The second season of everybody’s favorite new TV show, Mad Men, starts July 27 on AMC. I recently visited the show and saw the capacious set of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency: the desks had IBM Selectric typewriters, the ashtrays were filled with lipstick-stained cigarette butts, and the secretaries were wearing tight dresses and foundation […]

posted 30 June 2008 in Outside. 2 comments

This is a little embarrassing. When I moved across the country last year, I misplaced some of the notes and supporting materials relating to my flipwalks. Specifically, I don’t seem to have any information on flipwalks #28, 29, and 30. (I do have a notebook that seems to have all my notes on flipwalks 31 […]

posted 27 June 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

I’m on the road today, so you’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out what the #91 video is. But I’ll take the opportunity to tell you about one song that isn’t on this countdown at all: Debbie Gibson’s “Foolish Beat.” The ballad hit #1 on the Billboard singles chart in June 1988, […]

posted 26 June 2008 in 1988. 4 comments

It’s a law of rock that a supergroup will split up superacrimoniously, and you’ve probably heard that’s what happened this year with Velvet Revolver: Scott Weiland ditched the band to return to Stone Temple Pilots, leaving the rest of the group to look for a lead singer again (and bat away rumors that they’d reunite […]

posted 25 June 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet

The break starts with another excellent animated MTV promo. (Whoever was in charge of these must have been having a blast.) This one stars marionettes in a drawing room that appears to be inspired by Marie Antoinette. The sexiest marionette, with a drink in hand and red pants so tight they look like they were […]

posted 24 June 2008 in 1988. 4 comments

The first installment in an irregular series of posts, highlighting some of the more improbable lyrics I run across. Writing about “Always on My Mind” got me listening to my old Pet Shop Boys albums. Generally, they hold up really well, but Introspective does have a few clunkers. Neil Tennant mispronounces “Debussy.” He fails to […]

posted 23 June 2008 in Tasty Bits. 3 comments

I relaunched this website about two months ago and haven’t done much to promote it, other than emailing a bunch of friends to let them know I had found a new way to waste time. But I hugely appreciate everyone who’s linked to it, and this seems like a good moment to be reciprocal: My […]

posted 23 June 2008 in Links. no comments yet

A few years ago, I brought my camera along to a (long, dull) video shoot for Los Lonely Boys, in a small town about an hour north of Austin, Texas. This was my favorite picture of the day. (More flipwalks next week.)

posted 20 June 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

There are two essential out-of-print music books that I own only in treasured Xerox copies. One is Jon Savage’s The Kinks: The Official Biography. The other is Chris Heath’s Pet Shop Boys, Annually. I had never thought until today about the similarities between Ray Davies and Neil Tennant–British songwriters with a particular gift for lonely […]

posted 19 June 2008 in 1988. 5 comments

I’ve got another piece up at the Barnes and Noble Review: this one‘s a short review of The Complete Peanuts: 1967 to 1968. Two additional buying recommendations in a similar vein: 1. Schulz and Peanuts, the stellar biography from last year by David Michaelis. 2. Any previous volume of The Complete Peanuts (or all of […]

posted 18 June 2008 in Outside, Reviews. no comments yet