I brought along my camera to Burning Man this year, but I don’t like taking too many pictures while I’m there; I feel like it puts me in the mindset of being an observer rather than a participant. But one morning, I went for a long bike ride and took a few pictures on the […]
For those of you just joining us: I recently unearthed videotapes of MTV’s top 100 countdown from 1988, and I’m working my way through the broadcast one video at a time. To see all previous entries in this series, click on the “1988” category in the right-hand margin of this website; I predict you will […]
posted 4 September 2008 in 1988. 13 comments
As of last night, I’m back from the desert, and after many showers, I think I might have actually removed all the alkaline dust from my body. But I’m not counting on it. While I was gone, the Barnes and Noble Review published a brief take of mine on the soundtrack album to Passing Strange, […]
posted 3 September 2008 in Outside, Reviews. no comments yet
(I’m on my way home from the Nevada desert today. Until I get back, here’s one more installment of my 2006 double-album series.) If not being able to edit an album down to a single vinyl disc of about 45 minutes is self-indulgent, then what’s not being able to able to edit down to a […]
posted 2 September 2008 in Tasty Bits. 8 comments
Wow, The River has a lot of filler. How much? If you pare away all the generic rockers (e.g. “I’m a Rocker”) and other dross on Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 double album, you have plenty of room left over for “Roulette,” a thundering track about a nuclear accident. (It was recorded during the River sessions but […]
posted 29 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. no comments yet
While I’m away at Burning Man, here’s another rock question from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (along with my answer). If you want more of these, you can either visit the Secret Rock Knowledge, or scroll down to the bottom of this page and hit the button that takes you to Amazon to buy Is Tiny Dancer […]
posted 28 August 2008 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
The conundrum for any music fan: would you rather have more songs from your favorite band on their new album, even if it meant the album wasn’t as good? Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin’s 1975 double disc, epitomizes that paradox. The great tracks are among the band’s very best, but they get a bit lost when […]
posted 27 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. 6 comments
When Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton’s Little John? was published in 2006, providing all the answers you ever wanted to your musical questions–and some you didn’t even know you needed–the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked me to answer a few bonus questions. So I did. But unless you live in Georgia, you probably never saw them. This […]
posted 26 August 2008 in Buy My Stuff. no comments yet
Unforeseen side effects of the iPod: I probably couldn’t have put together Short Sharp Shocks without the help of iTunes breaking down my music library by length of song. And I wouldn’t have had the patience a couple of years ago to edit down classic double albums to single albums without being able to tinker […]
posted 25 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. 5 comments
A few months ago, I was invited by my friend Chris Noxon to join his Burning Sensations club. The rules of the road: about twenty people make mix CDs and send them out to the other members of the club on a biweekly schedule. So about once a year, you make twenty copies of a […]
posted 21 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. 9 comments
