Monthly Archives: June 2022
Small Business Saturday: Figberrytea + Bonus Interview With the Artist!
Posted on June 11, 2022
It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Small Business Saturday post, but today we are changing that! And we are kicking off our return of this series with what is undoubtedly one of my new favorite artists, Figberrytea! I mention this every time I do one of these posts, but I’m going to […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 11: “Ray of Light,” by Madonna
Posted on June 11, 2022 16 Comments
For nearly all Gen-Xers, there are three artists who can reasonably be said to have been universal experiences, i.e., they were in the soundtrack to your life whether you went out of your way to listen to them or not: Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna. They were everywhere, the musical air that one breathed, there […]
New Books and ARCs, 6/10/22
Posted on June 10, 2022 8 Comments
As the weekend approaches: Another set of new books and ARCs for you to consider. What here would you be happy to read on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon? Share in the comments. — JS
A Personal History of Music, Day 10: “Basement Apartment” by Sarah Harmer
Posted on June 10, 2022 8 Comments
I don’t usually turn to Time for musical recommendations, but in late 2000, I happened to have a subscription to the magazine and the magazine, in turn, happened to recommend Sarah Harmer’s album You Were Here as the top debut album of 2000, and one of the top ten albums of the year. The next […]
Buying Mystery Books Paid Off!
Posted on June 10, 2022 52 Comments
A couple days ago, I went to a local used bookstore. After doing some perusing in the main area, I saw they had a shelf in the back with brown paper bags. They were mystery bags, with a book inside, the genre of which was written on the front of the sack, along with the […]
Meet the New Boss
Posted on June 9, 2022 36 Comments
Today I formally did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while: I created an LLC to handle my myriad business interests. I did this for various legal and financial reasons, none of which are probably of any real interest to anyone who is not actively involved in my day-to-day life. But it did […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 9: “Big Bright World” by Garbage
Posted on June 9, 2022 13 Comments
Some bands and musicians you have to grow into, and/or have deep introspective thoughts about, and some you get right from the word “go,” no additional thinking required. For me Garbage is in the second category. I first heard them with the single “Queer,” and two things were immediately clear: The band had perfected a […]
The Big Idea: Maya Deane
Posted on June 9, 2022 3 Comments
How many ways are there to tell a classic story? As many ways as there are people to tell it. In Wrath Goddess Sing, author Maya Deane finds a new way to tell one of Western Civilization’s oldest tales. MAYA DEANE: I’m going to let you in on a secret: there is no one single […]
Sunset 6/8/22
Posted on June 8, 2022 2 Comments
What a sunset looks like during a tornado watch. In case you were wondering. (We’re fine.) — JS
A Personal History of Music, Day 8: “Sweet Surrender” by Sarah McLachlan
Posted on June 8, 2022 10 Comments
A quarter of a century ago — so long ago that this site did not even exist — I wrote a long essay entitled “Why I Have a Soft Spot for Sarah McLachlan.” To get right to the spoiler, it was because, in no small way, I identified with her. As I wrote at the […]
The Big Idea: Ren Hutchings
Posted on June 8, 2022 1 Comment
They say not to meet your heroes, but that’s exactly what Ren Hutchings’ protagonist, Uma Ozakka, does by means of time travel. Travel through the Big Idea behind Under Fortunate Stars and see how their fates intertwine. REN HUTCHINGS: I’ve loved time travel stories for a very long time. As a child, I was fascinated by […]
Was “The Bad Guys” Good?
Posted on June 7, 2022 4 Comments
There were a lot of good things about The Bad Guys, and I enjoyed watching it, so what is it about this movie that made it mediocre? When I saw the trailer for The Bad Guys, I was thrilled that a movie with such a unique look was coming to theaters. Ever since 3-D animated movies became […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 7: “Willow” by Joan Armatrading
Posted on June 7, 2022 13 Comments
This is the oldest song in my Personal History of Music, dating from Armatrading’s 1977 album Show Some Emotion, but that’s not when I encountered it. I encountered it nearly 20 years later, when it popped up on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Boys on the Side, which starred Drew Barrymore, Whoopi Goldberg and […]
The Big Idea: Samit Basu
Posted on June 7, 2022 1 Comment
We all want to be heroes, but how realistic is an individual saving the world? Author Samit Basu explores this idea in his newest book, The City Inside, making his characters focus on what they can save in their own worlds. SAMIT BASU: My Big Idea, initially, was to write a near-future story set in my city. […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 6: “Style” by Taylor Swift
Posted on June 6, 2022 18 Comments
My path to Taylor Swift and my appreciation of her as a musician and songwriter was a bit backward from how I think it’s usually done, either by me or by other folks. Usually there’s the music first: a song or album that catches our ear and makes us want to listen, and having listened, […]
The Big Idea: Dave Creek
Posted on June 6, 2022 2 Comments
Today’s Big Idea is Super-Sized, because author Dave Creek has not just one, but two, new books out in the world, released simultaneously. How did this happen and how do his books — Watcher of the Skies and Chanda’s Homecoming — relate to each other? Dave is here to give you all the details about […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 5: “Love Is a Stranger” by the Eurythmics
Posted on June 5, 2022 20 Comments
Over on Reddit, there’s an interest group (or “subreddit”) called “Im14AndThisIsDeep,” where the gist of the subreddit is to show a bunch of images/statements/gifs/etc that seem deeply profound if you are young and inexperienced, and, uhhhh, less so if you have any knowledge of the world under your proverbial belt. The group is not very […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 4: “Kiteflyer’s Hill” by Eddi Reader
Posted on June 4, 2022 9 Comments
The thing about Eddi Reader is that there are just too many songs to choose from to represent her excellence: Nearly all the songs from Fairground Attraction, the neo-skiffle band she emerged from with a bang (including the just-about-perfect pop song called, appropriately, “Perfect”), and a whole spread of singles from her solo work. But […]
A Personal History of Music, Day 3: “Where Will I Be” by Emmylou Harris
Posted on June 3, 2022 19 Comments
In March of 1996, I left the job I had been working at for five years — film critic for the Fresno Bee — and joined a then up-and-coming technology company called America Online as their in-house writer and editor. I had joined AOL for two reasons: The first was that the Bee wanted to […]
Strawberry Flavored Disaster
Posted on June 3, 2022 49 Comments
For the past decade, I’ve had a tiny strawberry patch by my house. Most years, I fail to do anything with them, except maybe make some jam, but nothing spectacular. This year, I decided I would try to use them for a freshly baked pie. It seemed so aesthetic and simple. So, I got to […]
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