When I first saw the semi-famous quote from Frank Zappa, that “Government is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex,” [1] [2] [3] I have to admit it was a hefty step ahead of me: I still believed in, if nothing else, at least our leaders’ proclivities for acting as good role models for young […]

The thought occurred to me a couple of years back, being reinforced by the fact that we’ve seen no new styles materialize, that the enterprise of visual art, as in creative art paintings, and its cultural efficacy, or power, deteriorated right before or with the onset of the pop culture icon Madonna. Wikipedia has it […]

* Now kids, we’re going to conduct dinner just the same, whether your crazy uncle XTC comes over or not. Sure, he’s been in the middle of the Serengeti with nothing but a canteen, drinking his own urine and initiating “vision quests,” as he likes to say. He** I hope he still has his OPTICAL […]

I know what you’re thinking: who in the rat’s toenails is Canned Heat? To Woodstock’s credit, that festival in its original ’69 permutation probably deserves a lot of credit for spreading the gospel on this band, who in my opinion came with a little more substantial, original material than, say, Joe Cocker or Joan Baez, […]

Now, just let me be up front about this matter. I’m a political left liberal with a liberal arts degree from a Big Ten university. Nobody is more on board than me with this ethos of art’s lack of obligation of moral proclivity. But this song… uh… is a little bit creepy. There, I said […]

I realize I’m a little bit late reporting on this situation but just let me briefly run down what’s happened between Dave Grohl and Oasis’ Noel Gallagher in the last month or so. On August 26 Loudwire, which is primarily a metal mag but apparently picks up some alt-rock storylines, ran the header that “Foo […]

For the longest time I had been on this terrible HUMP with the Dave Matthews Band. My first impression, upon hearing “Ants Marching” on the radio in 1995 or so in elementary school, was, This is one crazy Blues Traveler song (maybe better than “Run-Around” and inferior to “Hook”). Then came the gaggle of “What […]

Yesterday, a Friday, I found myself with a day off from work and a beautiful day, about 86 degrees, sunny and not too humid. I got a bunch of music listening done in early afternoon and then felt a little burned out on the projects I’d been working on, so it looked like it was […]

I just walked back home from work a second ago, a 20-minute walk. It’s 83 degrees out in Terre Haute, Indiana, at 10:20 p.m., plus humidity. Eight or so minutes into my walk, I come across the parking garage downtown. Fireworks start going off, into the air. This firebomb-like ball of blaze actually shoots downward, […]

Want to find a ’90s alternative band that will always be underrated and will never, ever, ever get enough credit for influencing the millennial landscape? Look no further than Soul Asylum, who started out in the ’80s in Minnesota as hardcore punk and by their ’92 hit single “Runaway Train” had fully paid their dues […]