People are stupid. I should know. I’ve been one for over 50 years. The headline of this month’s column comes from an email I received more than a decade ago, which was entitled “Children’s Books We’ll Never See.” The sub-head is something I often say to remind myself that, deep down, I was born with … Read More
CULTURE
CTRL + ALT + DELETE
(Confessions of a NumLock) Over the past several months I’ve had three paradigm-shifting experiences in my personal relationship with the computer. The first occurred last April. My office email program crashed, and I lost every single message I had sent over the previous two months. Several hours after I regained consciousness, I found myself completely … Read More
Living The Dream? (Part 2 of 2)
(Special Thanks To Sarah Best) I don’t know about you, but it seems to me like this country has been stuck in a serious mood-funk over the economy for close to three years. Now, a lot of experts are predicting 2011 won’t be any better than 2010. Probably the same experts who told us the … Read More
Seriously, People: We’re Better Than We Think.
(Bull Connor: He’s dead. Really.) Birmingham is full of losers. None bigger than yours truly. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever met someone who’s relocated to Birmingham from a comparably-sized (or larger) city without asking them, “What in the world got you to move here?” The inherent assumption, of course, being that nobody would move … Read More
Wherein The Author Comes Out Of The Closet
(This Week’s B-Metro Column) This column, its 87-song Playlist, and easily 12 hours of listening time over past few weeks, were directly inspired by a brief clip from “The Other Guys,” the new Will Ferrell / Mark Wahlberg buddy-cop movie. The guys receive radio orders to Bust A Perp. And not just any Perp. The … Read More
Introducing The New Woman In My Life
(FROM MY 8.10.10 B-METRO COLUMN) I have a Word file entitled “keepers”—where I’ve ranked my favorite records, by year, dating back to 1980. Aside from being critical to maintaining Geek Cred, it’s a handy reference tool I use before making over-the-top claims like this one: Stephanie Finch’s debut album, Cry Tomorrow, is my favorite pop … Read More
Dear World Cup: It’s not you. It’s me.
Despite the best efforts of my 13-year-old son, a monthly subscriber to Soccer America and a devoted fan of English League Football, I’m suffering from a serious interest deficit in this year’s World Cup. And the sad truth is, the American in me is winning-out over my own best efforts to maintain the same level … Read More
Apple: The New Beatles?
June 18, 2010: After months of intense speculation, adoring fans across America are queued-up (some since the night before) to be among the first to own the latest release from Apple. It’s a scenario not uncommon to my generation’s once-upon-a-time frenzy to procure tickets to a Beatles concert. And in many ways, Apple today has … Read More
Fletcher Hare: YouTube Star
(He’s in the middle, wearing the Parliament T-Shirt) Fletcher signed-up for Rock Band as his elective this Spring—and the band had its public debut in Birmingham’s world-famous Spencer Center last night. Click here for a sonic blast of primal rock at its absolute rawest. (Warning: May be disturbing to pets and small children). http://bit.ly/rokkband
Wilco revisited. (I owe Jeff Tweedy an apology.)
(THIS WEEK’S SOUNDLINKS COLUMN) A NOTE OF INTRODUCTION: I recently discovered, much to my surprise, that not everyone on earth has heard of Wilco, so here’s my two cents’ worth: Not since the Beatles’ mid to late period—from Rubber Soul to The White Album—has any band in pop music successfully jumped across as many genres … Read More