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30 May 2010 13:51

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Culture: Gary Coleman’s former classmate: He was dealt a rotten hand

  • Of all the bad hands people have been dealt in life, of the people who I have known up close, compared to the starving in Mongolia, Gary had as about a rotten combination as anything I’d seen.  I won’t give the details, but there was very much a horrifying tragedy about his life, a desperation that I think at age 16, was too big for us his classmates to comprehend or take in.
  • Blogger Richard Rushfield • Regarding his former high school classmate, Gary Coleman, who died on Friday. Rushfield makes it clear that Coleman’s great tragedy is that he was forced into a lifestyle that wasn’t normal and milked him of his fortune, but more importantly, of a normal life. “As I grew older and watched now from afar, the reports his life get stranger and stranger, it became more clear how much what had happened in those days had cost him,” Rushfield writes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jan 2010 12:40

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Music: ShortFormBlog Saturday Mixtape: Remembering Jay Reatard

  • Jay Reatard was a musical genius of brevity. His great gift was an uncanny ability to write a pop song tighter, more stylistically diverse and with with more hooks than anyone else. Which is why his death earlier this week came as a total shock. His best days weren’t behind him. He was just getting started. So with that said, here are five songs from his fruitful recent period which nail down why he’s essential.

  • 1. “My Shadow” was something of a calling card to the rest of the world about what his hometown of Memphis already knew from his many early bands – Reatard’s ability to reimagine punk as fun, poppy, and dark was unparalleled.
  • 2. “All Over Again” was one of Reatard’s best singles, and he recorded a lot of them. In fact, he released TWO singles compilations in 2008, and both of them were stylistically different enough to warrant purchase of both. Despite its two-minute length, the song doesn’t feel anything remotely close to short. It’s loaded with ideas.
  • 3. In Jay Reatard’s heaven, “Haunting You” should be playing on repeat. It’s quite literally his modus operandi, and it feels like, considering the circumstances of this week, that it was written ahead of time, to his many fans – past, present and future.
  • 4. What Reatard did better than most was the driving chorus, insistent and forceful. “Always Wanting More,” was a great example of what he does best. In a live setting, he played his short songs as quickly as he could, often not stopping for stage banter and plowing through songs as if he was a Ramone.
  • 5. Perhaps the most interesting part of Reatard’s most recent release, “Watch Me Fall” (what an ominous album title), was an evolution of his sound. He started adding elements from 1980s Kiwi-rock on the album, and largely drove the songs with acoustic guitars rather than thrashing electric sound of most of his earlier material. Single “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me” (also ominous) showed a sound that was getting more diverse without losing its best elements. What a terrible, awful loss of someone so amazing.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Sep 2009 14:52

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Culture: Well, that’s one way to remember dad: Sean Lennon + nude model

He’s recreating the famous Rolling Stone cover, except he’s playing Yoko and the girl next to him is playing John. We don’t like this. (Photo in link NSFW) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2009 10:03

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Music: Blink-182: A freaking mess onstage after DJ AM’s death

  • We are doing our very best to get through this show, but right now it’s very hard.
  • Blink-182 bassist/singer Mark Hoppus • On playing a show in Hartford, Conn. last night, almost immediately after DJ AM’s death. The band sang a song in honor of their fallen comrade, who was especially close with drummer Travis Barker, with tears rolling down their eyes. This sounds like one of the saddest sights ever. Both Barker and Goldstein shared in the plane crash tragedy last year, which killed many of their friends even though they survived. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2009 10:06

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Politics: Editorial cartoonists remember Ted Kennedy through creativity

Editorial cartoonists of all stripes took a stab at the legend that is Ted. The sheer number of angles taken is pretty awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2009 23:19

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Politics: They don’t build journalists like Robert Novak anymore

  • For a half-century, Novak worked like a wheat thresher, feeding and grooming his sources until they gave him the harvest of news—or he beat it out of them.
  • Slate columnist Jack Shafer • Describing Robert Novak and what he did to get his scoops, no matter how small. It was a approach that worked for him, but not without imperfection – his methods managed to out CIA operative Valerie Plame, a saga which sullied his reputation late in life. (Though attacks by “The Daily Show” didn’t help his image, either.) All in all, he lived life as the ultimate D.C. insider. This is a great piece on Novak; we suggest you read it. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2009 22:11

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Culture: Best way to celebrate the life of Michael Jackson: Choreography

  • New Edition had about three days to get together a choreographed Michael Jackson tribute for the BET Awards, which were tonight. And surprisingly, they pulled it off. Way to go, dudes. Host Jamie Foxx was also in full “Beat It” getup. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
 
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