Blurbs

In the downtown area of South Bend, Indiana, my hometown, the State Theater sits conspicuously empty, and now, even boarded up. It’s a minor disappointment — probably not as grave as the giant, still-vacant College Football Hall of Fame, which, to my knowledge, hasn’t had any foot traffic in about 13 years or so. Still, … Read more“Pitting Seinfeld and The Simpsons Together as Cultural Foils, as Particularly Pertains to the Classic Rock Element of ‘Psychedelia’”

It’s January 12, 2025, and Michiana braces for a deep freeze. We’d been due for a cold winter,  and we’re surely getting it, with highs in the next few days in the teens, and some forecasted single-digits within a week or so. A stately, tranquil, white blanket of snow cloaks the landscape.  We all, as … Read more“Less Gods and More Goddard “

I had some professor one time, I think in grad school, who pledged this bizarre, incredulous allegiance to “kid a,” apparently a reference to the 2000 Radiohead album. That’s kind of like how Rumours is, Fleetwood Mac’s apparent commercial and artistic breakthrough from 1977. It’s like there’s this puzzling level of pride at mentioning “rumours” … Read more“Is ‘Dreams’ Poised to Become Our Subtly Trippy National Anthem?”

Well, first of all, take a deep breath. It’s gonna be a while. Grab a Snickers. If you need to go outside and smoke, or go to the BMV and get a new driver’s license, this would be a good time to do it.  Remember that this isn’t commensurate to TOOL’s catalogue as a whole. … Read more“The Correct Procedure for if Someone Plays a Song from Fear Inoculum on the Jukebox”

Now, in no way, in the last five years or so, has my desire for a new R.E.M. album equalled my craving for a new album from the wayward troubadours known as Ween, which certainly seems ill-fated at this point. And, again, almost as soon as I have the thought, I’m fumigated from my “ideal” … Read more“R.E.M., You’re Gone, and Yes, We Miss You”

In one of the more caustic SNL impersonations of all time, Jimmy Fallon handled MTV’s Carson Daly, once long ago. His take on Daly, at the time, struck me as a little ham-handed and excessively brash, as he even assigned to him the words “I’m Carson Daly and I’m a massive tool” [1] [2]. Unfortunately, … Read more“An Unfortunate Blip of National Dissent”

At this point, it seems like Beach House’s career is pretty much over, at least in the sense of anyone caring about it. As should be known to anyone who reads this site, Sub Pop was very instrumental in killing it: granted, they “killed” it by making it sterile, like dumping a bunch of chlorine … Read more“Why I’d Like to Do a Beach House Interview”

It’s true: The White Stripes could pretty much do no wrong in 2005. They’d gone from cutesy garage-rock-revival also-rans to rock demigods with Elephant (2003), which bequeathed us the invincibly virile “Ball and Biscuit”; the lilting and gorgeous “I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother’s Heart” and its show-stopping steel guitar solo, … Read more“On Get behind Me Satan and the Perils of Having All Substance and No Style”

Well, folks, the proof’s in the pudding, so to speak. Third Eye Blind’s music speaks for itself, evident, for one, in the uproarious sing-along of “How’s it Going to Be” I just heard last weekend in the bar where I work. The songs hold up, the melodies are still rich and fibrous, and the whole … Read more“Third Eye Blind / Conclusion”

Any meager, cursory glance at our culture in the world today should indicate decisively that lust and romance remain primary game for subject matter of pop lyrics. In terms of Stephan Jenkins, himself, he always seemed perfectly aligned with “pop” as a phenomenon by way of lyrics, which seemed to have begun, via his first … Read more“Third Eye Blind Theory / Chapter 5: ‘I Want You’ and Stephan Jenkins’ Furnishing of the Romantic Relationship as a Spiritual Expedition