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I love The Beatles and I’m most certainly not ashamed of it. A blog composed mainly of stories about embarrassing favorite songs would therefore seem like the wrong space to write something about them. And honestly, there’s not much left to say about the four lads from Liverpool, but please bear with me here. MyContinue reading "The End"

I rarely know for certain when a dagger is going to strike. Some situations, I can anticipate it. I find myself in a place or an environment I recognize as potentially conjuring up memories of the past and I prepare myself, deep breath and all that, to step through it. It’s all part of theContinue reading "Team"

When R.E.M.’s alleged masterpiece Automatic for The People was released, I didn’t even know it was coming. Once the self-proclaimed World’s Biggest R.E.M. fan, I had lost the magic when “Losing My Religion” had gone global. While Out of Time was a great album, yes, even “Shiny Happy People,” the band had lost what madeContinue reading "Find the River-R.E.M."

     When I was nine years old, there was only KISS. Nothing else mattered. Except NFL football. KISS, NFL football. But mainly KISS. Way, way back before then, I had been six when I walked in the kitchen after a day of first grade in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas and found one of my older brothersContinue reading "I Was Made for Lovin’ You–KISS"

Note: this isn’t an essay about a Most Embarrassing Favorite Song. It’s an essay about time. It was a sunny weekday afternoon, a typical Colorado May day when everything is glorious and everything is in bloom; the monsoon thunderstorm cycle has yet to begin and life has reignited in splendor after a typically snowy MarchContinue reading "Ship of (old) Fools"

Ice has a primary function in a bar setting; it keeps your drink cold. It keeps the beer cold in the coolers; it makes strong, undrinkable liqueurs and concoctions consumable. We love ice for these and many other reasons. Little known to the average civilian is the other main purpose of ice in a packed,Continue reading "Never Knew Love Like This Before–Stephanie Mills"

How dare you buy this record. I didn't understand why Depeche Mode was as popular as they were in the '80's. I remember seeing the "People are People" video and thinking yeah, another British synth pop band, this time on a warship. They were just more of the same, interchangeable with Pet Shop Boys andContinue reading "Enjoy the Silence-Depeche Mode"

In the '80's and far before, if you went to a big college in the south, the most assured way to have the most possible fun was to join a fraternity. One might assume that because the guys I pledged with and I were all southern white boys we were all basically the same; howeverContinue reading "Freedom! ’90-George Michael"

I consider Coldplay to be the '00's equivalent of middle-period Journey circa Escape: they were your girlfriend's favorite band that you weren't totally repulsed by. In place of loving ballads punctuated by Neil Schon's scorching guitar solos, you had catchy, hooky, non-threatening tunes that were fine for picnics and Saturday morning sojourns to the farmer'sContinue reading "Viva la Vida-Coldplay"

This cover of New Order's sacred classic is so light, so cute, and just so damned...inappropriate. At first glance it sounds like it arose from the the middle of a Kidz Bop acoustic anthology, placed there like a Trojan Horse virus for the sole purpose of terrorizing a pale, slender former clubbist in Manchester, EnglandContinue reading "Bizarre Love Triangle–Frente!"