A Magazine of Popular (and Unpopular) Culture
Author’s Note: This is the second in an ongoing series of memoirs from my youth on the Kansas-Oklahoma border in the 1970s and ’80s. These chapters are intended for mature …
(I Barely) Remember the Alamo
The Year of Our Lord 2020 will forever be remembered for its chaos, uncertainty and turmoil — but despite it all, there were still bright spots, glistening golden kernels sprinkled …
Three of a Kind
When I first set out to compile a playlist of musicians who passed in 2020, I knew it would be a bigger task than usual, given the number of COVID-related …
The Grim Reaper’s 2020 Playlist
Rabbit holes are funny things. This morning, Christmas Day, 2020, I was goofing around on Facebook when I saw a post mentioning the ’70s song “Beautiful Sunday” by Daniel Boone. …
Down the Ol’ Rabbit Hole
*Everything in this story is 100% true except proper names of people and business entities. Content may not be safe for work or for delicate sensibilities. In 1993 I was …
Odd Jobs: Adult Bookstore Clerk
Elvis Presley has now been dead longer than he lived, and in the years since his untimely passing, the cruelty of time and the whims of social change have reduced …
Eternally Elvis
Warning: This article is 3100 words long and I freely admit it just barely skims the surface of the subject matter. So don’t @ me about your favorite Beatles cover …
Everybody Sings the Beatles
Thirty-five years ago today I called in sick to my part-time job at Long John Silver’s, cranked up my grandma’s Marantz stereo system to the max and plopped my 16-year-old …
The Overlooked Underbelly of Live Aid
Today is Independence Day, 2020, and it is fair to say that times in our fair nation are cuckoo-bananas. But the date is auspicious in that it marks the 50th …
American Top 40 at 50
In 2020 cartoon bands routinely sell out arenas all over the world (Gorillaz), set — and then break — new album sales records for their genre (Dethklok) and even get …
Saturday Morning Bubblegum Hit Parade