30-Day Song Challenge, day 8: a song I know all the words to
Hell, I know all the words to lots of songs. So let’s pick something fun. Ah – this’ll do (I said excuse me):
Read moreCategory Archives: Features
30-Day Song Challenge, day 7: a song that reminds me of a certain event
Verily, it was one of the best days of my entire college career. It was near the end of spring semester of my senior year. That evening my fraternity (Theta Chi, Gamma Omicron chapter) was having its annual Go to Hell Party, which was our big pre-finals blowout. As it happened, the finals of the campus intramural softball tournament were
Read more30-Day Song Challenge, day 6: a song that reminds me of a place
Where were you the first time you heard Gorillaz? I was on vacation in Florence. We were relaxing after a relentless day of sightseeing and trying to decide what to do for dinner. We had the TV on a music video station and up came this hip, trippy vid by a band I had never heard of. How cool it
Read more30-Day Song Challenge, day 5: a song that reminds me of someone
She was my first great love, and I have written about her more than any woman I have ever known (here, for instance). I hope she’s happy. (Sorry there isn’t a real video for this one, but Van Morrison doesn’t really need video, does he?)
Read more30-Day Song Challenge, day 4: a song that makes me sad
Bella ragazza, I’m sorry.
Read more30-Day Song Challenge, day 3: a song that makes me happy
At so many points along the way I have felt like music was life. There is music on most of the day when I’m working. There’s music when I’m driving around. Music when I’m riding my bike or working out. Music when I go to sleep. Music in my best and worst moments. I was a club DJ and I
Read more30-Day Song Challenge, day 2: my least favorite song
Remember how I said yesterday that naming my favorite song was really, really hard? Uh-huh. Piece of cake compared to naming my least favorite song. At the root of the issue is a basic math problem: if 99% of everything is crap (and that’s probably understating the case) then there are 99 times as many crap songs as great ones.
Read moreThe 30-Day Song Challenge, day 1: my favorite song
“Hey, Sam. What’s your favorite song?” This is about as hateful a question as it is possible to ask a guy like me. I own somewhere in excess of 4,000 CDs probably and if you put a gun to my head I could make a case for at least several dozen songs that fit the bill. I could pick a
Read moreThe 30-Day Song Challenge: let’s get it started in here
If you have a Facebook account it’s damned-near inconceivable that you haven’t tripped across the 30-Day Song Challenge. You may even have done it (or be in the midst of doing it) yourself. I was thinking about having at it myownbadself, but I couldn’t imagine just posting a song on some of these days (come on, my favorite song? The
Read moreTuneSaturday Video Roundup: 4am with Dotsun Moon
2011 is already shaping up to be a great year for new music. Esben & the Witch’s greatly anticipated debut really delivers, Adele’s sophomore effort is a strong step forward, and Wire is back, after all these years, with an outstanding effort that manages a sound that’s both contemporary and true to their New Wave heritage. A fantastic new REM
Read moreEmbAerosmith: American Idol and the final humiliation of Steven Tyler
I watched one season of American Idol a few years back out of a combination of boredom and morbid curiosity. It was everything I had imagined and less, a welcome-to-the-Fall-of-Rome extravaganza where everything wrong with popular music, if not American popular culture in general, was frog-marched past the cameras in a weekly parade of cynicism and banality that would have
Read moreSaturday Video Roundup: Smooth Cello Criminals + The Devil Went (System of a) Down to Julliard
Gods, this is feckin’ brilliant. In fact, it’s so good I could have sworn I heard three cellos at one point. NOTE: No children were molested during the recording of this song…
Read moreThe Best CDs of 2010, part 3: CD(s) of the Year
Previously: Part 1: The Gold LPs Part 2: The Platinum LPs Things fall apart, but the band plays on. There have been a lot of years where the competition for CD of the Year was hotly contested, but I’ve always been able to make a call in the end. I think I probably got it wrong a couple of times
Read moreWednesday Video Roundup: S&R’s 2010 Platinum LP award winners take the stage
Yesterday S&R revealed its Best of 2010 Platinum LPs. Since, as a famous man once said, “you can’t get the sound from a story in a magazine aimed at your average teen,” today we’re going to offer you some sounds. And sights. Click. Enjoy. And if you like what you hear click back over to yesterday’s post where we have
Read moreWe’re looking for poems that we didn’t know we were looking for: Scholars & Rogues launches poetry journal
S&R readers have probably noticed that we like poetry around here. Something we have been talking about for quite a while, in fact, is why we didn’t take the next step and become a poetry publisher. Now, after months of planning, we’re doing precisely that. On Monday, we will publish our first poem as a poetry journal. If you’re wondering,
Read more
lullaby pit 