Mike Hanopol review, 1996

Stumbled on half a handful of old reviews of mine in the L.A. Weekly‘s apparently spotty archives. This one seemed the least embarrassing. L.A. Weekly, 12 August 1996

Teena Marie mash note, 1991

Hadn’t intended to post this here (parts may or may not redundify my infamous top 10 writeup of Emerald City in Stairway to Hell), but Craig Seymour (self-identified “Black gay music critic, Writer/photographer/ archivist/activist, Author: Luther Vandross bio; All I Could Bare: My Life in Strip Clubs & more”) tweeted it yesterday, which makes posting…

Shielding Kids From Pop Culture

One good way to limit kids’ exposure to crass materialism — not 100% successful, in my long parenting experience, since peer factors will eventually come into play, but sometimes successful — is to bring them up going to lots of garage sales and flea markets and thrift stores, so they realize prices in places like malls are a ripoff.…

Videos I’ve Loved Before

I didn’t notice until today, but last week Alfred Soto posted a list of his favorite music videos ever, after participating in an I Love Music poll calculating the top picks of lots of other folks. Realized I’ve never put together such a list, and I’m not sure how feasible it would be — my…

4 Indie 45s From the ’90s

Excerpts from a short-lived monthly column called “Singles Again” (should’ve been “Singles Again Again,” since I’d previously used the same title at the Village Voice) in the online magazine Blurt (after two installments on the Idolator website) in which I started to comb alphabetically (as you can see, I didn’t get very far) through my…

Aqua and Gabba review, 1997

I’m so predictable. But aren’t you glad I don’t hate fun? L.A. Weekly, 5 December 1997

Roxette profile, 1991

Similar to when I interviewed the Pet Shop Boys for the same publication four months earlier, in that both involved highly stressful trips from Philly to a New York that was still terrifyingly foreign territory to me, except that Per Gessle was warmer than Neil Tennant and Marie Fredriksson was colder than Chris Lowe. Though…

Baader Meinhof review, 1997

Can’t argue with 100% certainty that he’s a better singer than say the Suede guy or a better songwriter than say the Pulp guy, but as melodicists they don’t come close, and Luke Haines would remain my favorite ’90s Britpop auteur (small praise, but still) even if that wasn’t his primary band’s name. The album…

Celine Dion defense, 1997

Published a full decade before Carl Wilson’s acclaimed 33 1/3 book about Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love. Just saying. Which isn’t to say I was the first critic to put in a good word for the lady — Simon Frith and Frank Kogan may well have preceded me. Should also note that I overstate my…

Monster Records Metal Reissue Licks, 2004

TRUTH AND JANEY, ERUPTS! In April 1976, an unpretentious numskull trio from some Iowa cowtown recorded this ballroom concert (longest endurance tests 9:05, 8:12, 7:21, 6:51), not issued on double vinyl till the early ’90s, and not on CD till now. To read their backstory, you need their 1,000-pressing 1976 studio LP, No Rest for the…