You Want To See Something Really Scary?* 10 Horrific Scenes for Halloween
Sean MurphyFirst off, a confession of sorts: scary movies don't scare me. Or, to put it less bluntly, as a one-time horror movie aficionado, I quickly outgrew the ways gore supplanted…
I Like To (Re)Watch or, The Movies on My Mind
Celebrating one of my favorite movies, Serpico, I wrote the following: I want—and need—to revisit this movie on an annual basis, because it satisfies many needs. One, it's a masterpiece, so there's…
Welcome to Machine: Why ‘Dead Man’ is Jim Jarmusch’s Masterpiece
Johnny Depp is going to be gone someday, and for those enjoying his work posthumously, an assessment of his enigmatic career—bookended by the cotton candy of 21 Jump Street, and…
Ray Thomas: Legend of a Mind, RIP
Sad news to report the passing of original member Ray Thomas. In tribute, I'm reposting my entry on The Moody Blues (from my PopMatters column The Amazing Pudding), originally published…
You Want To See Something Really Scary?* 10 Horrific Scenes for Halloween
First off, a confession of sorts: scary movies don't scare me. Or, to put it less bluntly, as a one-time horror movie aficionado, I quickly outgrew the ways gore supplanted…
RIP Walter Becker, Your Work Here is Done
RIP Walter Becker. Not many musicians were involved in a run as productive and consistently sublime as Steely Dan's. My life, in short, would make much less sense without his…
The 100 Best Classic Progressive Rock Songs Part 5: 20-1
Yes: “Awaken” (from Going for the One) 1977 was not only about clothespins and green-toothed sneers: just as punk was gaining steam, Yes, the band that represented everything everyone hated…
The 100 Best Classic Progressive Rock Songs: Part 2, 80-61
King Crimson “Red” (from Red) The progenitors of math rock on their last album of the ‘70s. <i>Red</i> is the paradigm that every pointy-headed prog rock band worships at the…
The 100 Best Classic Progressive Rock Songs: Part 1, 100-81
Welcome back, my friends to the show that never ends. After gamely, if humbly attempting to track the 25 best old-school progressive albums of all time, it’s inevitable to turn…
Led Zeppelin: Day by Day
Imagine Led Zeppelin in our contemporary culture, with smart phones and social media documenting their every activity and utterance—a ceaseless spectacle. It’s impossible. Literally; obviously. But it’s possible that the…