A mural painted on a wall in Shanghai, China, presumably intended to instill environmental values. I took the photo almost exactly five years ago, so you can judge for yourself how well it has worked.

posted 26 March 2010 in Photos. no comments yet

For a long time, releasing an album with Volume One somewhere in the title seemed like a good way to ensure there would never be a Volume Two, unless those songs were already recorded (e.g., George Michael’s Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 or in a similar vein, Hall and Oates’ Rock ’n Soul Part 1). […]

posted 24 March 2010 in Tasty Bits. 1 comment

Our benevolent Google overlords have somehow acquired the rights to put the entire back catalog of Spin up on the Web. The search functions aren’t what they might be, so you’ll just have to browse. Pick a random issue in the late ’80s and have some fun. My professional career started at Spin–the first piece […]

posted 23 March 2010 in Articles, Outside. 3 comments

It shines for all. A picture from a few years ago of the clock promoting The Sun, the defunct New York newspaper. (At the time, the name had been revived by The New York Sun, which kicked off in 2002 with an issue that included the solution to the crossword puzzle in the last issue […]

posted 19 March 2010 in Photos. no comments yet

We kick off with an MTV promo, repeating from about three hours ago, for their show Now Hear This: MTV’s Guide to New Music. “On this week’s special year-end wrap-up,” Adam Curry says in voiceover as we see the members of R.E.M. doing their “Stand” jumps, “we’ll take a look back at world premieres, the […]

posted 17 March 2010 in 1988. no comments yet

Only once in the past decade has my wife taken the cassette from my tape recorder as soon as I finished a phone interview, popped it into her own Walkman, and then listened to the entire conversation, laughing gleefully throughout. That was when I interviewed Samuel L. Jackson, four years ago. Jackson was exactly as […]

posted 15 March 2010 in Archives, Articles, Unpublished. no comments yet

On a New York City street. The left boot was nowhere in sight.

posted 12 March 2010 in Photos. no comments yet

(New to the countdown? Catch up here.) It takes only three seconds to wave away the fetid smell of Paul Carrack: some squealing tires and a synthesized drum roll announce the arrival of Robert Barisford Brown. Immediately, “My Prerogative” whacks your eardrums with its greatness. New jack swing never got any better than this. Criminally, […]

posted 11 March 2010 in 1988. 4 comments

Another excerpt from the Andy Warhol Diaries. The other person in “we” is Bianca Jagger: Tuesday, January 3, 1978 We cabbed up to 86th Street ($2.75) and we finally hit Saturday Night Fever at the right time and were able to get in. Well, the movie was just great. That bridge thing was the best […]

posted 9 March 2010 in Excerpts. 2 comments

Another photograph from the Great Wall of China:

posted 5 March 2010 in Photos. no comments yet