You're browing the archives for the month of July 2008

1988 Countdown #85: Fat Boys, “The Twist”

Here’s a list of some of the albums that came out in 1988, hip-hop’s golden year: EPMD’s Strictly Business, Big Daddy Kane’s Long Live the Kane, Boogie Down Productions’ By All Means Necessary, Slick Rick’s The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton, the Jungle Brothers’ Straight Out the Jungle, Eric B. and […]

posted 31 July 2008 in 1988. 2 comments

Geckos and Clothespins

I interviewed Aaron Eckhart last year for the cover of Men’s Journal, when he was in the middle of filming The Dark Knight. The production was shrouded in secrecy; when I casually asked Eckhart how long his makeup took, he wouldn’t tell me. It took me a moment to figure out why. At the time, […]

posted 30 July 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet

1988 Countdown #86: Henry Lee Summer, “I Wish I Had a Girl”

More snark from Kevin Seal, who waves his hands insincerely to connote his great excitement with the countdown. Seal talks about Henry Lee Summer denying that he sounds like John Cougar Mellencamp: “He’s a very modest fellow, especially when it comes to the women who fall all over him in this video,” says Seal. Cut […]

posted 29 July 2008 in 1988. 6 comments

Top Five: Double Your Pleasure

Nobody batted an eye at the Beatles releasing two albums in a year. (In 1965, they put out Help! and Rubber Soul, not to mention a movie and a few killer non-LP singles such as “Ticket to Ride” and “We Can Work It Out.” Oh, they also toured the States and John Lennon put out […]

posted 28 July 2008 in Tasty Bits. 10 comments

Friday Foto: Chinatown

Taken a couple of years ago on a side street of Chinatown, some hours after a New Year’s parade was over.

posted 25 July 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

1988 Countdown: Commercial Break #6

Once again, MTV visits the Duke. First up, a network spot for the show Now Hear This: MTV’s Guide to New Music. This program aired on Monday nights and was hosted by golden-maned Adam Curry. “World premiere videos,” voiceover guy says, and we see clips of Keith Richards, Huey Lewis, and the Fresh Prince (aka […]

posted 24 July 2008 in 1988. 4 comments

The Impostor

As you might remember, last month I visited Mötley Crüe in their rehearsal studio and accidentally broke international celebrity-gossip news. I was actually there to report an article about the band prepping for their summer tour, which is now available online at the Rolling Stone website. Much to my surprise, the four people in the […]

posted 23 July 2008 in Articles, Outside. 1 comment

1988 Countdown #87: Kylie Minogue, “The Loco-Motion”

Inside my skull, Kylie Minogue is Exhibit A for how the pleasures of pop music can be contextual. If I had spent the last twenty years living in London or Sydney, I would have heard Kylie’s countless singles on the radio, seen her tweak her image in dozens of videos, and read lots of glossy […]

posted 22 July 2008 in 1988. 5 comments

Bow-wow-wow (Yippee-yo-yippee-yay)

I was delighted to hear Snoop Dogg’s country-rock track “My Medicine” getting played on our local alternative-rock radio station; it was one of the oddball standouts of his latest album, Ego Trippin’–which I reviewed a few months back for Rolling Stone. I originally had cooked up a much longer version of the Sonny and Cher […]

posted 21 July 2008 in Outside, Reviews. 1 comment

Friday Foto: Joshua Tree

Two more pictures from my May trip to the California desert and the Joshua Tree National Park, one involving a crow leaving its perch on a pickup truck: The other picture is probably my favorite from the trip:

posted 18 July 2008 in Photos. no comments yet