Can I tell you something?
It really feels like this will be my final review.
When I went to see “Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3,” that thought couldn’t have been further from my mind. When I sat down to write about it, though, something strange happened.
I didn’t feel like writing about it. AND I REALLY LIKED THE MOVIE. That doesn’t happen, like, ever.
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There’s a certain beauty to how much technical wizardry James Cameron inserts into details that don’t really matter that much. The Marines in “Avatar: The Way of Water” possess machinery and weaponry that are the stuff of sci-fi wet dreams, yet here they’re just part of the scenery. That’s what gets Cameron excited: the ability to show the audience something they’ve never seen before, while treating it as if it’s no big deal.
If only he paid that level of attention to his screenwriting. Case in point: early in the film, a commanding officer tells his men, “You’re not in Kansas anymore.” It’s 2022, and Cameron is putting 83-year-old pop culture references in his scripts. Jesus.
Continue readingFeatures Hatchie, Elogy, The Lightning Seeds, Paul Oakenfold, and many, many more.
Hello. And, in all likelihood, goodbye.
This was not an easy decision to make. I was so close to doing my 100th Dizzy Heights show. That was the goal all along. I wasn’t sure what I’d do after I got to 100, but I really wanted to get to 100. However, between the timing of Mixcloud’s push to move everyone to the Pro tier, combined with what is shaping up to be a very busy 2023, it didn’t make sense to sign up for Mixcloud Pro if I’m going to disappear for months on end. And that will definitely happen next year.
Likewise, it killed me to take 90-95% of my shows down in order to make room for a handful of new shows. So, for the moment anyway, I’m walking away.
To everyone who listened these past six years, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have greatly appreciated the support, suggestions, and inspiration.
Well, I guess that’s it. Bye.
This is a true story. It took place in July 2022.
It’s late in the afternoon, and I’m an hour from home.
We started the day in Gurnee, Illinois. My kids go to a summer camp outside of Milwaukee, and on the way home, we often take 94 East, which takes us right by Six Flags Great America. Our kids know several kids in the Chicago area, either through camp or through us (and sometimes they go to camp with the kids they met through us), so we finally decided to stop and spend a day at Six Flags. It was a great day. Perfect weather, and the lines were not bad at all.
Anyway, that’s why we started the day in Gurnee.
Continue readingFeatures Sam Phillips, The Coral, Redd Kross, Elliott Smith, Ween, and more
I forgot to tell you the name of the band after my first talkie bit. It’s Slade.
I also forgot to tell you the name of a song in the first set. It’s called “Original Song.”
I am a consummate professional.
I also didn’t realize it when I was recording it, but this is likely my last show of the year. I started putting together a track list for a potential ‘Home’ show, and decided to scrap the idea. We’re on the road in two weeks, and no one listens to Mixcloud in December. I’ll see you in January.
Thank you, as always, for listening.
Features The Heavy, Dead or Alive, Teddybears, Prince, Calvin Harris, and more
Yep, I refer to a movie as a song, but did I re-record the bit once I realized the mistake?
Reader, I did not.
This is the first in a two-part series of songs about living quarters. The ‘Home’ show comes in about a month, and that wraps it up. Can’t imagine I’d get very far on songs about apartments and condos.
Thank you, as always, for listening.
This is probably going to be the new normal, flipping between themed shows and acrostic shows. Not only are these shows easier to make, they enable me to play songs I love that don’t fit a theme. Indeed, there’s a certain red-haired New Pornographer here who wrote a song that I can’t believe I’m playing for the first time in Show #93.
Thank you, as always, for listening.
I will be the first to admit that this is not the most original idea, but it’s filled with possibilities…for me to play the Boomtown Rats for the twelfth time. Not a typo.
On the other hand, six artists are making their debut in show #92, and even I’m like, I still have bands I haven’t played yet? Yes. Yes, I do.
Thank you, as always, for listening.
Features The New Pornographers, Owsley, Veruca Salt, Elastica, and more.
This was so fun, and so much easier of a process, that I will probably do this many, many more times in the future. Fair warning.
Truth be told, I hadn’t even heard the word ‘acrostic’ before Popdose’s original game maker Scraps did an episode of Name That Tune using an acrostic to spell out a hint to the final track. So not only am I stealing one of his ideas, I’m stealing one of my own ideas, because I used this exact acrostic for Cover Me. Look at the artists above and see you spot a pattern.
Thank you, as always, for listening.
Features a-ha, Go West, The B-52’s, The Smiths, and more.
Recycling another Name That Tune idea for a show (and I’m doing it again for the next one). It’s been, what, 14 years? That feels like fair game to revisit.
Hold Me. Thrill Me. Save Me. Those are the names of songs that, um, didn’t make the cut, but you get the idea. I didn’t realize it when I began work on this, but in the end, this became a tribute show to my lovely wife. The first two blocks have her fingerprints all over them
Thank you, as always, for listening.