If you’re related to a famous performer and have aspirations of your own, it must be extremely difficult. If you’re related to one of the most famous performers in the world–if you’re Paul McCartney’s younger brother, for instance–it must be … Continue reading Album Spotlight: Mike McGear—*McGear
SPOILER WARNING: I’m assuming in these reviews that readers have seen the show. If the pilot of Freaks And Geeks introduced us to a cast of characters who were realistic and ripe for potentially funny and dramatic situations, Beers And … Continue reading Freaks And Geeks: S1E02 “Beers And Weirs”
Hey, Avocadians! I would love your input on a story I just wrote. It’s a bit unusual in its form. Let me explain. My friend on the writing site I frequent is running a contest, and it’s all about using … Continue reading Ghost In The Machine: Avocado-Inspired Fiction
Freaks And Geeks, a comedy-drama about high school in 1980, premiered September 25th, 1999, on the NBC network, lasting a mere 12 episodes before being cancelled. An ardent fan campaign persuaded NBC to air three more episodes in July 2000, … Continue reading Freaks And Geeks: S01E01 “Pilot”
Of all of George Harrison’s solo albums, I think this eponymous one from 1979 is perhaps his best. His first solo record, All Things Must Pass, is broader in scope but is encumbered by Phil Spector’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink production and a … Continue reading Album Spotlight: George Harrison—George Harrison
WEELLLLLLLLLLLL… You ever notice how many songs in the Fifties started with “Welllllllllll…”? There was bound to have been another word, but that’s the cleanest one we could use.—Carl Perkins ELVIS IS EVERYWHERE! ELVIS IS EVERYTHING! ELVIS IS EVERYBODY! ELVIS … Continue reading The Elvis Is Everywhere Day Thread
The Rutles. A legend that will last a lunchtime. An inspired parody of The Beatles, The Rutles, quite apart from their music and comedy, were notable for three reasons. They were the first “mockumentary”, several years before This Is Spinal … Continue reading The Rutles: Movie Review—All You Need Is Cash
The concert film Stop Making Sense with live performances by the Talking Heads, directed by the late Jonathan Demme, is the best rock concert film EVER, and it’s now showing on Amazon Prime. It’s even better than The Kids Are … Continue reading The 3/24 Day Thread Stops Making Sense
40 years ago today, Hair, one of acclaimed director Milos Forman’s most underrated films, was released. Forman (1932-2018) was born in Czechoslovakia, began his film career there, emigrated to New York in 1968 and is best-known for The Fireman’s Ball, One … Continue reading The Hair Day Thread
Hello, comrade poets and poetry lovers! Sam Barber/comicalArchitect came up with this thread originally, last year. If you’re out there, Sam, I’m not trying to steal your idea. But I thought I’d resurrect your idea of a spot where we … Continue reading Poetry Corner
In 1994, Apple Records and the BBC combined forces to unlock the gates of unreleased recordings being issued officially with the two CD release of Live at the BBC. These songs, recorded from 1963 to 1965, owe their existence to … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—The BBC Recordings
Although EMI and Capitol wanted to release a live recording of the Beatles for years, many obstacles prevented it. At the time the band was touring, the equipment wasn’t advanced enough to overcome the noise levels created by the screams … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—[Live] At The Hollywood Bowl
Once an artist hits it big, it’s only a matter of time before compilation albums of her or his work begin to be released: Greatest Hits, Best Of and the like. Since the Beatles were one of the most successful … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—Compilations
MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW Netflix dropped Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on December 28th to a flurry of interest and publicity. The episode is one of the first of its kind: an interactive movie. Viewers receive a brief tutorial on how to make … Continue reading TV Review: Black Mirror—Bandersnatch
Compared to the first two albums in the series, Anthology 3 came off as an afterthought, a somewhat limp finish to the collection. It lacked the brand-new “Beatles” song which opened the first two records, and while EMI promised … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—Anthology 3
Like most of you, I get sick of Christmas music pretty rapidly around this time of year. Radios everywhere are blasting a weird mix of Mariah Carey, the Beach Boys, Burl Ives and David Bowie/Bing Crosby nonstop 24/7 until I … Continue reading Christmas Music: Why It Fascinates Me
Almost fifty years ago exactly, The Beatles’ tenth album and their only double album of new material was released, five years to the day after With the Beatles. When you think about what a progression their music had undergone in … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—The Beatles (The White Album)
If the Anthology 1 album was of historic importance, Anthology 2 is far more interesting musically. However, it’s also padded quite a bit. There are two tracks that definitely don’t belong here, and a number of others are pretty but … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—Anthology 2
The Beatles Anthology was years in the making, dating back to shortly after the group broke up. Their friend and roadie, Neil Aspinall, began compiling footage of the band for a documentary to be entitled The Long and Winding Road. … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—Anthology 1
Paul McCartney has released so many solo albums (thirty at least, including Wings but excluding his classical efforts) that I’ve given up trying to rank them. Egypt Station, his latest, is probably not in the top five, but it is … Continue reading Album Spotlight: Paul McCartney—Egypt Station
When the Beatles’ album catalog was released in 1987 for the first time on CD, EMI realized that there were a number of songs that had never been included on albums which would become otherwise unavailable.[footnote]Or, in one case, a … Continue reading Album Spotlight: The Beatles—Past Masters
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