A friend of mine said this to me this weekend, describing a recent, fateful trip to a lame bar in Ft. Wayne, which he embarked upon under the dangerously vague group rubric of “seeing some band.”  First, what a completely alienating and bizarre, not to mention chastening, feeling for a music geek (which he most [...]

The Atlantic’s Michael Kinsley, clarifying prior (not completely off-base) comparisons of Tea Partiers to 60s counter-culturalists (such as David Brooks‘).  Really, it’s all about the self:
A final difference: although the 1960s featured plenty of self-indulgence, this wasn’t their essence. Their essence was selfless and idealistic: stopping the war; ending racism; eradicating poverty. [...]

If, like me, you spent much of your childhood glued to WWF broadcasts on television–or (also like me) if you spend much of your adulthood geeking out at well-crafted, incisive articles about the careful organization and marketing of commercial entertainment, then Deadspin’s “Dead Wrestler of the Week” feature is right up your alley.  It’s the [...]

Maureen Tkacik, in the latest CJR, explaining the basic economic truths underscoring the decline and fall of print journalism.  I label a lot of the posts on this blog “selling culture,” and one of these days I’ll write a post explaining exactly what I mean by that.  In the meantime, Tkacik does a good job [...]

But man, it appears that Profile was my shit in the early 90s.  Related: if anyone can slide me a .rar of Ron C’s Back on the Street, I’d love to jam “And I’m Ron C” again, just for old time’s sake.  Title track. (via)

“Today the bankroll required for at least token establishment as a tape ‘manufacturer’ is even smaller, and the repertoire possibilities even wider.  And entrepreneurs, undaunted by the still limited number of suitable tape recorders in American homes…are jumping in wholesale.”
…
“Conspicuous by their absence, however, are the major record companies, of which only RCA Victor has [...]

“What constitutes a hype?  It’s the launching of tunes and records with great fanfare and thousands of free promotional records to disk jockeys and juke box operators, tunes which were recorded by top artists on major labels and which inspired numerous ‘cover’ disks and reams of publicity.  A flock of big hypes have faded away [...]