Category Archives: pop music

Are e-books tomorrow, or just the end of time?

Posted on September 18, 2011 by oddmanout215

Check out this from The Economist in case you’re still wondering about the future of mass-produced paper books: To see how profoundly the book business is changing, watch the shelves. Next month IKEA will introduce a new, deeper version of … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, enviromentalism, humor, mainstream media, movies, pop music | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Mitchell’s ‘Coyote’ still lean and mean

Posted on September 4, 2011 by oddmanout215

Recently, watching the Band back Joni Mitchell on “Coyote” (the video I put up here has been blocked) in Martin Scorcese’s The Last Waltz, I wondered about the link between cocaine and the fashionably emaciated look in the 1970s. Never … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, movies, pop music | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

We’ll all be rain dogs soon

Posted on August 27, 2011 by oddmanout215

For those in the path of Irene: “Rain Dogs” from Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs (1985) According to reports, Philadelphia will get more rain this weekend than any other major city in the region. Bad news for those of us in … Continue reading →

Posted in food, livable cities, Philadelphia, pop music | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Some ‘Rain’ to keep us sane in Philly

Posted on August 20, 2011 by oddmanout215

At last the rain god intervened to clean the stinking streets — am I paraphrasing Travis Bickle? — after the hottest July on record in Philly. And now there’s a chance this will be the city’s wettest August on record. … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, humor, livable cities, Philadelphia, pop music | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

More songs about buildings and bikes

Posted on August 17, 2011 by oddmanout215

I was watching a sunburned woman with red hair in a thick braid. In the corner of my eye, a bike rider zoomed past and disappeared behind a bus. I stepped into the street for another look, but the rider … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, enviromentalism, Great Recession, humor, livable cities, Philadelphia, pop music, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Her fame was fleeting, but Jones’s songs endure

Posted on August 13, 2011 by oddmanout215

Mojo has been a better music magazine than Rolling Stone for a long time, and forget that there isn’t much good music to write about these days, that’s another story. The July Mojo profiled singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones, who debuted … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, mainstream media, pop music | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Father’s Day works better as fiction

Posted on June 24, 2011 by oddmanout215

[This one got lost in the shuffle, but I’m guessing my legion of readers won’t mind that it’s a week late.] One of the pleasures of writing a novel is you can decide when and how things happen. For instance, … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, pop music | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

In praising Scott-Heron, Inquirer buries his message

Posted on June 1, 2011 by oddmanout215

Gil Scott-Heron, the African-American poet and musician who died this week at age 62, was most famous for his recording of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” a funny and uncompromising call-to-arms that envisions the downfall of the corporate masterminds … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, mainstream media, Philadelphia, Politics, pop music, taxes, unemployment, Wall Street, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Subterranean homesick Bob

Posted on May 25, 2011 by oddmanout215

I tried, but the hundred Inevitables dogged me all day. By the time I got back to the bunker the medicine man was gone and Beethoven had unwrapped a bedroll with Ma Rainey. I’d missed my chance to give Bob … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, economic collapse, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, Iraq war, mainstream media, Obama, Politics, pop music, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On the road to Johnny Brenda’s w/ Nicos Gun

Posted on April 5, 2011 by oddmanout215

You’re achy and pissed when you pull into Roadkill, AL, or wherever, and sick of looking at each other, of the smell of each other in that RV you’re rattling around in. But South by Southwest in Austin was sweet … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, Philadelphia, pop music | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment