// Category Archive for: Issues

The Amsterdam of the South: Todd Rundgren Plays Atlanta

By Adam McIntyre

“You’re the Amsterdam of the South! I’ve never seen so much good green. Bless you for that. Good on ya! And 50 miles outside of town? Squidbillies.”
Todd Rundgren addressing Atlantans at the Variety Playhouse Theater; April 17, 2008
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From Jesus to Micky Dolenz

By Michelle Patterson

In the winter of 1986, I was in the fourth grade, and being raised in a strict Evangelical Christian household. Cable television was off limits, especially the sinful offerings on MTV. Mostly, this was HBO’s fault. HBO, in its early days, was all T & A movies and raunchy comedy specials. One could tune in at any time of the day and see a naked pair of practically any body part.
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With Facebook, Who Needs a High School Reunion?

By Laura L.

It’s almost summer, and that means many things: Strawberries are in season. Your nearby sno-cone stand is open. Baseball is in full swing (pardon the pun). And you may be planning to attend (or avoid) your high school reunion. Next year marks ten years since graduating high school, so I’m mentally preparing for my reunion. Or I would be, if it weren’t for Facebook.
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Because It’s Real: Q & A with Jont

By J Howell

You may know of Jont from his song, “House of Dreaming” from the soundtrack to The Wedding Crashers. I first met Jont through MySpace two years ago, when he was first entertaining the idea of taking Unlit (explanation below) on the road in the States. It seemed like a beautiful thing to have at my home, so I told him I was in. The Unlit we held here in Kansas City was one of the most amazing, fun things I’ve ever been a part of.
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Andrea, Lynda, Margot, and Erin

By Christian Lipski

Wonder Woman

When I was seven or eight, Annie came out on Broadway, and they published an article in one of those newsprinty school magazines that you’d get for free. The picture was of Andrea McArdle as Annie, and something just clicked in my head, and I desperately wanted her to be my girlfriend. I filled up all the blank space in the picture with little drawn hearts. I kept that picture for a long time.
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Hating The Eighties: Frank Tovey and Fad Gadget

By Emily Carney

Frank Tovey

During the first years of the 1980s, electronic music underwent a mutation into synth pop. In the United States, the new synth pop seemed to be represented by two imports from England, namely Gary Numan and the Human League. While Gary Numan specialized in overly serious songs about urban alienation (and aliens!), the Human League shifted their focus from overly serious songs about urban alienation to slick, well-produced hits about guy-girl relationships and “good times.” While both entities have been idolized by fans and musicians (particularly within the last decade), another pioneer of electronic music has been overlooked, even posthumously.

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Play Me I’m Sick

By Michelle Patterson

Sunday is the day that I clean: when I secure my ear-buds into my ears, put my iPod into shuffle mode to zone out the surroundings, and just focus on the tasks at hand. Dust bunnies be damned! Suddenly, a song begins and I feel nauseated. I just want to forget about cleaning and focus on how to get the room to stop spinning. (more…)

The Geeks Shall Inherit The Jokes: Cinematic Titanic

“If they could give him plastic surgery,
you think they could’ve fixed the scar on his hand?”

For those of us who were Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans, the new riffing-over-bad-movies venture of Joel Hodgson (and original cast members Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Mary Jo Pehl, and J. Elvis Weinstein) is like the second coming of Crow T. Robot.
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Crush Encounters of the Pre-Pubescent Kind

By Ann Clarke

We all had crushes as kids. My crushes changed as I aged, mostly because my tastes evolved, or the crushes in question began to look horrible with age. The strange picks I will highlight below, however, only cover the years before puberty.
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Those Old Melodies: Songs Rediscovered

Intro by Less Lee Moore

Recently I was listening to The Vines’ Highly Evolved album again. My history with this album is intriguing, and proves my theory that some music needs to be fully digested before you can appreciate it.
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