Exactly. I was somewhat aware of, like, "Rock n' Roll" or something, but they just weren't brought up a lot. It's why I was amused at seeing the movie "Adventureland", which was set in the 80s where the hep teen girl was really into Big Star and Brian Eno, and the VU and I just thought….that's ridiculous. You couldn't…

It really does remind me of, like, 1963 or something in that regard, just constant big, splashy shit to throw at the wall and wait for a salute. I mean, we've already gotten "Ben Hur", 'Magnificent Seven' is coming, and they are remaking 'Cleopatra' now. How soon till Melissa McCarthy in "Hello Dolly"?
Problem is we…

I had to look that up; they do have a son by that name, but he is not, from what I can tell, the son of Lester Bangs. I don't think Bangs ever had kids.

When I was a kid, my friend had a Stretch Armstrong, and one day he accidentally got a hole in him (the doll, not my friend), and it started to leak this gelatin kinda stuff, and we squeezed it some more, then watched him bleed out in quiet fascination.
But those were the days when only the Rothschilds had a Pong game,…

He's also married to Corin of Sleater-Kinney!
I don't know if that's really national news or anything, tbh

I had a stretch, myself, around that age when I listened to a lot of glum things (aforementioned Red House Painters, Low, Idaho, a lot of the 'slowcore' stuff of that early 90s era), much of which was and remains excellent. But I also soon realized that I was feeding my own worst, depressive instincts with it, and had…

Yeah, I always took that movie to be totally tongue-in-cheek. I mean, even the Donner Superman movies were as much played for laughs. We didn't take these things that seriously back then.

Not much. Watched "American Ultra', which was fine for what it was, surprisingly good cast for something that kinda came and went. Bought a few new records, Chook Race out of Australia (chimy guitar band, our Australian friends rarely have ever let us down), The Hecks, kinda noisy distorto/late-period Wirescapes outta…

I've very much come around to the idea that Paul Newman was the greatest American film actor of the 20th century, in terms of screen presence/charisma, the ability to do comedy and drama equally well, and general quality of films he was in. The fact that he had to wait for 'The Color of Money' to win an Oscar should,…

Speaking of things that sound better really fucking loud

I don't hear it myself, but I get the impression that many who are much more invested in her than I do, and that's fine. I do believe she is attempting to use her platform, but she also must serve the commercial interests. It can actually be done on both levels, and has been many times. I feel like I'm not qualified…

I can definitely understand that. I go either way, depending on the mood; I do find that I am more in the "appreciate" mode with a lot of somewhat-more experimental stuff, and there are things I'm glad I own, and will occasionally listen to, but I'm very much in the 'I need a tune' camp more and more these days.
There…

I think of so many black artists, particularly jazz, of the past who reflected the societal rage into their music, and it really did strike a chord; with all the shit that still goes on, we need people like Archie Shepp, Ayler, Mingus out there on the frontlines, if nothing else than providing a soundtrack. So much of…

I often fear that, as fans like me start dying off, that there aren't gonna be people there to carry it on (which not only means being a fan, but encouraging others, finding and supporting new artists, etc). Cultural curiosity is one of the few things we all still have left in us. It must continue, or this all means…

There was a lot of great sonic adventuring in the past on commercial/pop radio; feel like it's gotten a bum rap, because most fans/critics now listened to a time when it was at it's most banal (the recent past, where it's been coughing up blood). There were always limitations, of course, and some were much better than…

Yeah, I mean that's been the case since forever, so it's just the way the game works. I've spent about 40 years now investigating as much as I can get my hands on, and certainly things people/critics love I can love, and also be bewildered by the appreciation for. I've also learned to really appreciate certain stuff…

I will say that, while I really don't share your musical tastes, particularly of the modern vintage, I always genuinely appreciate your enthusiasm. I wish more people cared as much as you do, and I mean that seriously.

You understand everything.

It's so funny to me, I truly am not one of those 'it was better then' guys at all, hate all that shit, but it's like I'm in an Earth 2 situation where I'm telling the 'kids' that they need to really listen to louder, noisier music (no matter the style, r&b, rock, hip hop, jazz, country…anything) because the stuff they…

They got free Vienna sausages. I mean, cans of them.
Hard to turn that down.