Friday 80s Flashback for February 24, 2012

[Fear of a Two-Fold Theme] -- Those of you who follow this blog somewhat regularly know that last week's theme was inspired by Ernest Cline's novel, Ready Player One. Well, I finished that book the other night, and thought I would do another post featuring songs/artists mentioned in the book. But I also realized I had not yet done a Flashback in honor of Black History Month. But without the contributions of African-American musicians and singers, all of them uncredited and overlooked until later in the 60s and 70s, there would have been no rock and roll. And that means there would have been no decade of 80s music as we know and cherish it today. (I'll just sit here and wait for the haters to get the "blame game" out of their system and leave the room before I continue). Well, who says I cannot do both in one post? Who says I cannot honor the contributions of African-Americans to the music scene and play music (in)directly linked to Ready Player One? That's right, before you can say "Super Hero Team-Up," I combined the two potential themes into one powerful Flashback! Read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 17, 2012

 Source: geektyrant.com via Wayne on Pinterest

[Where We're Going, We Don't Need a Theme] -- This has been an odd week. On one hand, I have been immersed in re-remembering the 80s because I started reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, a novel of the near future in which people are obsessed with solving puzzles left by a man obsessed with the 80s (that is all-too-short a description of the book; you really should click the link and read the synopsis so you can see how much you need this book). On the other hand, I just have not been able to focus on figuring out a theme for today's Flashback. I keep wondering, how will I know if I have picked the right theme, or even the right songs for that theme? I mean, figuring out a flashback isn't exactly on the same level as trying to answer where do broken hearts go, right? And, normally, I don't think I would get so emotional about something like this, but I care about my fellow 80s-philes. I want to deliver a quality experience. And, although the argument could be made for doing a retrospective of Whitney Houston hits this week, I'm going to go with the first few songs mentioned in Cline's novel. What are the songs for this week? Read and hear more after the break.

Full-Spectrum Santorum?

Rick Santorum claims to be a “full-spectrum conservative.” But what does that mean? Well, let's unpack it.

"Rainbow" could be another term for "full-spectrum" ...

And I suppose Santorum uses "conservative" to mean a true "Republican" ...

So now we have "Rainbow Republican" which seems kind of familiar. What could that mean ...


Wait, I got it! Santorum is a Log Cabin Republican! This totally changes the GOP race!


But it does not change my opinion of Santorum.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 10, 2012

["Short Takes"] -- In the 80s, I subscribed to MUSICIAN magazine, which covered a wide range of music styles and boasted some seriously sharp writing in music criticism. My favorite feature in MUSICIAN was a page of "Short Takes" by J.D. Considine. This was a single page of record reviews, with each review ranging in length from one sentence to a full paragraph, and it appeared after the magazine's full-length reviews. With this format, Considine could easily weigh in on 12 or more new releases and you could read them all in a single commercial break. In my opinion, Considine was at his best when he was both snarky and brief. He was so good at being snarky that, in reply to a particularly perturbed subscriber's letter, an editor wrote: "Mr. Considine is employed for the sole purpose of p****ing off our readers." It is any wonder I enjoyed his work? So, for this week's flashback, I have selected singles from three albums for which Considine employed the cold concision of a miser in his scathingly brief reviews. Read and hear more after the break.

Friday 80s Flashback for February 3, 2012

[Damaged] -- As some of you know, I moonlight as the sound designer for Montgomery Theater. Well, tonight is opening night for our production of Gina Gionfriddo's "Becky Shaw." Now, "Becky Shaw" is set in 2009, so I did not use any 80s music for the sound design, even though most of the characters probably came of age during that decade and are deeply marked by its popular culture. Instead, this week's flashback features songs in honor of the play. These songs evoke the palette of emotions employed during the show, particularly playing upon the theme of being damaged. Which tunes were up to that challenge? Read and hear more after the break.