jefitoblog.com

Here’s the complete transcript of my interview with Kristen Alderson of One Life to Live, conducted for this Popdose feature about the show soundtrack album One Life to Live: The Sound of a Kiss. Let’s start off by talking about the way your musical aspirations have developed. Obviously, you’ve been on the show for quite awhile, and you’ve started singing more often over the last few years… Well, I’ve always loved singing. My first job was being Molly in Annie[...]

Here’s the complete transcript of my interview with Kassie DePaiva of One Life to Live, conducted for this Popdose feature about the show soundtrack album One Life to Live: The Sound of a Kiss. So here’s a funny coincidence: A very good friend of mine, Fred Wilhelm, has written a few of the songs you’ve recorded, both for your albums and for the show. Yeah! He wrote [singing] “Too little money, too little…” He’s a very talented writer, and a[...]

Here’s a curious little novelty item from my promo vaults. Released by Mercury in 1992, this CD single — recorded by Don Was under the cheeky, but not particularly clever, pseudonym A Thousand Points of Night — was timed to coincide with the great Bush/Clinton/Perot three-way showdown known as the ’92 election. “Read My Lips” wasn’t a hit, and it isn’t a particularly entertaining listen, but after hearing it for the first time in many years this morning, I’m fascinated[...]

We’re never more vulnerable than when we express our love for another person, and I think properly expressing that vulnerability is one of the hardest things a pop songwriter can try to do. Too often, we’re willing to settle for sentimentality, irony, or cute humor — unnecessary layers built up around a simple, powerful emotion. And it’s understandable, really; when you’re talking about something that boils down to three simple words, you have to find some way of filling up[...]

I was deeply saddened to learn of Michael Been’s recent death. I’d been a huge fan of his work for years — like a few other people, I imagine, I first heard the band in 1989, when “Let the Day Begin” made a dent at MTV and rock radio. But it was the following year, when Red Moon was released, that I really fell in love with the Call, and spent the next year or so delving into a catalog[...]

I recently found an ancient bag of microcassette tapes containing some of the interviews I did in the early ’90s. Here’s a 15-minute chat with erstwhile Georgia Satellites frontman Dan Baird, on the occasion of the release of his first solo album, Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired. I want to discuss some of the experiences you had on each of the albums — starting, of course, with the first one. Well, I was really nervous. Everybody was. Rick Price[...]

I haven’t posted here this week, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking. Here’s what I’ve been up to lately: Blu-ray Review: The Princess and the Frog (Dadnabbit) CD Review: Ratboy Jr., Smorgasbord (Dadnabbit) DVD Review: Chicago, Chicago Transit Authority (Popdose) Our Favorite Movie Time Machines (Rotten Tomatoes) CD Review: Goldfrapp, Head First (Eat Sleep Drink Music) Six Artists We Wish Would Retire (Popdose) CD Review: Uncle Rock, The Big Picture (Dadnabbit)

Like a lot of people I know, I’m deeply saddened by the news of Alex Chilton’s sudden death…and also like them, I suspect I’ll be spending most of the day listening to Big Star tomorrow. Words may come later. Tonight…music. Keep An Eye On The Sky – Big S…

Pair of new articles up at Dadnabbit today: A review of the new Rubinoos kids’ album, Biff-Boff-Boing!, and reviews of Disney’s first four Studio Ghibli deluxe DVD/Blu-ray titles.

Temperatures are above 50 degrees here for the first time in months, which means, I guess, that spring is just around the corner — and for some reason, this time of year always makes me think of the spring of 1990. I’m not sure why, really. It wasn’t that great of a time for me; I was just about to turn 16, for one thing, which meant I took unimportant things way too seriously and willfully ignored the stuff I[...]