Bringin’ the Crazy: John Cale in the 1970s

By Emily C.

John Cale’s musical career has encompassed many genres—rock and classical notwithstanding—and at present time he still shows no sign of letting up. He also notably produced many other artists’ albums; it’s impossible to imagine Nico’s The Marble Index and Patti Smith’s Horses without his dark sonic influence. Cale’s own 1970s solo albums—particularly his Island Records trilogy of Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy—have also dated remarkably well.
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Top Five Most Unexpected Summer Songs

By Emily C.

I grew up in South Florida, where summer was obviously guaranteed to be oppressively hot and sticky. The worst part about being in Florida is how people assume you were probably growing up by the beachside, chilling out, getting tan, and doing something constructive and athletic. I was usually found doing embarrassing things like writing awful “confessional” poetry, reading books that were way over my head, and working on my paleness, when I should have been out, say, making friends. Another diversion was—of course—listening to a lot of Goth, indie, and shoegazer “hits” of the 1990s and before. Because of that, the following songs have sounds I will always associate with summertime.
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My Top Five Summer Movies

By Christian Lipski

I was going to do my top five summer camp movies, but as I looked back through history, it seems that summer camp movies are, as a rule, not very good. So with the kind permission of my editor I expanded to include summer movies in general. These are the films that make me feel cool in the desiccating heat of the Pacific Northwest, the ones full of the possibilities of summer.
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Top Five Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) Programs

By Nicole V.

One of Canada’s national treasures is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or the CBC. Since an early age, I’ve understood its reach across the country as a public broadcaster and have even referred to it as the lifeblood of the nation, a proclamation that is perhaps a bit dramatic (not to mention very nerdy), but for as long as I can remember the CBC has been both a television and radio staple in my life. Why so beloved?
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Sex, Death, and Philip Michael Thomas: The Five Most Incomprehensible Music Videos of the 1980s (In No Particular Order)

By Emily C.

You are getting verrrry sleepy. . .

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Top Five Records Bought For A Dollar (or less!)

By Katrina Randell
All photos by Matthew Armstrong

I love records. I love buying campy records at thrift stores, the Sally-Anne, or places like Toronto’s Neurotica records. Below you will find my top five favorite records that either me or my fiancé purchased for a dollar, or in some cases, less.
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Top Five David Bowie Looks

By Christian Lipski

Ah, the chameleon. He’s been so many people over the years. Here are my favorites!
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WASTED! The Top Five Most Inebriated Performances/Tours (In No Particular Order)

By Emily C.

1. Jefferson Airplane, two nights in Germany, 1978

“Give me head.”

Grace Slick earned the sobriquet “the Liz Taylor of rock” during the 1970s due as much to her propensity for Liz-like excess as her attractive appearance. Her heights of Babylonian overindulgence climaxed with two wacky nights in Germany in 1978, during which Ms. Slick single-handedly managed to alienate an entire European nation and change the lyrics to much of her band’s back catalogue, both tasks equally momentous in scope. Some “highlights” of the performances: Grace, who appeared to be completely wasted and was drinking throughout the show from a Dixie cup, changed the lyrics of “White Rabbit” from “Feed your head” to, inexplicably, “Give more head.” It probably didn’t matter what she sang, given her throat sounded completely mangled anyway; she had probably also smoked about 100 Kools that day.
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Top Five Most Useless Star Wars Characters

By Megashaun

1. Ponda Baba

Who is he?
In Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi enter the Mos Eisley Cantina in search of a pilot willing to fly them to the Alderaan System. Luke orders a drink and an alien with an ass for a mouth takes exception to the young traveller’s looks. That alien is Ponda Baba, a creature from the Aqualish race.
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Top Five Thrift Store Finds

By Lisa Haviland

Mrs. Lou Reed
Sunglasses from Buffalo Exchange, Brooklyn, NY; 2007

The Commack Flea Market was a teenage thrift-store-junkie’s dream: rows upon rows of inexpensive mini-stores—more like clothing bodegas than actual stores—in a multi-level arena five minutes from my parents’ house. It was in the confines of this Long Island mall-reprieve maze that I learned to dig through the chintz and hone in on second-hand gold.
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