PROFESSOR OF POP

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23990139992554923752009-07-19T12:55:55.464-07:00PROFESSOR OF POPLINKS TO WORK BY ANDREW GOODWIN AND LINKS TO THINGS ANDREW THINKS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO BE LINKED TO...Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.comBlogger320125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-87071988903002721592009-07-19T04:44:00.000-07:002009-07-19T10:21:25.603-07:00Footballers: Screwed At Both Ends

John Terry, Chelsea captain (unless he transfers to Manchester City -- you can stop laughing now) is essential to Chelsea FC because the influx of non-English players & the increasing turn-over of squads means that all Englsh teams need a club icon ("Mr. Chelsea") in order to keep their hands firmly in the trousers of the fans who otherwise might wonder why the team is called Chelsea at all.

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-82893352678523611722009-07-18T06:35:00.000-07:002009-07-18T09:49:39.170-07:00Chelsea Take The Left Coast!

Chelsea Football Club arrived in Seattle yesterday for a series of branding & marketing exercises, we mean -- sorry -- pre-season friendlies. Tonight the Chels take on the mighty Seattle Sounders. And may the best team from west London win. This is invariably the prof's favorite part of the season: the anticipation of future triumphs (the League title again, that's all the professor of pop cares

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-19833095615339071092009-07-17T08:20:00.000-07:002009-07-18T09:45:24.315-07:00Twits & Wankers II

Twits are already for old foggies. New kids on block have overthrown commodity fetishism re., speed, music, physical object & printo journo. Ads now seen as noise absent signal. TV irrelevant. Colbert editing Newsweek. Cinema now a popcorn fest. Buckets of starch needed to ride out Zeno-like multiple endings leading to zzzzzzzs for the over 40s. [Don't get too perky Mr 39 40 is not just a #. U r

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-53483636950927138142009-07-13T11:31:00.001-07:002009-07-13T14:01:24.245-07:00Jackson Reaction

Front cover of OK Weekly last week: MICHAEL'S TRAGIC DEATH: WHY HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE.This is not true. He did have to die.It is annoying to be told that you will always remember where you were when Michael Jackson died precisely because it is true. As an older generation can recall -- or so we are told -- where they were when the first Kennedy was killed.John Lennon. This is the only pop star

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-12116651209564124972009-07-07T12:01:00.000-07:002009-07-08T10:09:01.462-07:00Affirmative Kultur: Further Thoughts On YES

1. Errata. Bart Nagel kindly points out that in my recent YES post the prof transposed the first & last names of Benoit David.2. Apologia. This was a mistake & was certainly not intended as a slight upon Mr. Benoit. [The error while requiring a correction/apology is perhaps explained -- in part -- by the fact that Benoit, the frontman & lead singer in the group that night, never introduced

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-35033887816009048922009-07-05T11:36:00.000-07:002009-07-05T11:47:21.099-07:00Insomnia

Brilliant oldie from MASSIVE ATTACK heard last Thursday in downtown Berkeley leaking from a homeless person's shopping cart (i.e. home). POP named that tune in less than 2 seconds. Further evidence for the centrality of timbre in popular music.

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-91068771199906167832009-07-04T18:29:00.001-07:002009-07-05T11:30:05.334-07:00Fragile: YES @ the Saratoga Mountain Winery

Chris Squire has now almost completed the total ruination of the group he co-founded (with Jon Anderson) in 1968 -- YES.This became apparent during last night's show at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA -- a venue chosen by the professor of pop because he assumed that the show might include one decent performance of one decent song (it did -- 'Astral Traveller') & therefore if you are dragging

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-82782185420622623952009-06-22T11:31:00.001-07:002009-06-23T06:23:15.843-07:00Til Txt Do Us Prt?

Just the other day someone proposed to the professor of pop, via the mechanism of email, using the sintax of twit. Now. To be fair, this proposal has now been downgraded via F2F conversation to a mere proposition. However, the prof is not unfamiliar with the English language & he knows perfectly well there is practically no difference (in terms of language games) between a proposition & a

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-14693138111896014152009-06-18T02:07:00.000-07:002009-06-18T03:32:58.301-07:00The Afternoon Of The Living Dead

Here's a short story for you. About meditation & zombies. It was written in 2005. First published by The Worst Horse in 2006. It was composed for a friend who was having a zombie party. The professor of pop refuses to wear fancy dress, so he wrote a story instead. He was heckled throughout the 20 min reading by an obnoxious toddler who should have been at home in bed.Parents! And their spoiled

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-20548086089328148812009-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:002009-06-11T10:08:04.999-07:00A Conversation With Tom Clancy

A snippet from a recent pre-match conversation with the very brilliant & wide-ranging Tom Clancy (not the Other One):POP: I've totally resigned from the whole Buddhist thing. I don't believe in it anymore. I think the precepts are unethical, plus I'm not at all sure about the 4th Noble Truth. Or why it's fourth, when it should be third. I've given it all up. But I can't stop trying to do it.TOM:

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-48966803956888437522009-06-03T14:57:00.001-07:002009-06-03T15:55:44.656-07:00What's So Funny About Peace, Quiet & Mudbathing?

It occurred to me, while lounging around in Calistoga recently & attempting to sweat out a hard case of the rotters, that if humans are made up of 3 elements -- mind, body, will -- then maybe we are a sort of Zenn diagram comprising 7 interdependent zones.It occurred to me also to speculate idly on whether there is a form of mental illness having to do with not knowing whose sunglasses you are

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-44784823564011457412009-05-28T09:25:00.000-07:002009-05-30T11:22:32.887-07:00Robots IV: The Academic Emporium

Robots IV: The Academic Emporium by John Cleese, Andrew Goodwin, Michael Palin, & Scott Rowe (of Le Bateau Ivre), with assistance from Susan Hellein.Mashed from Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Cheese Shop"The Players:John Cheese - Prospective student at the University of Difficulty, IQDr. Wilfred Wensleydale - Deputy Head, Dept. of PhilosophyTradeMark Gunderson -- Program Assistant, who is

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-78902875665167667992009-05-26T07:56:00.000-07:002009-05-26T08:19:14.706-07:00Yes, It's Simon Frith On The Pet Shop Boys

Here it is.Professor Frith once had the honour of having a PSB review re-printed in a Pets concert program.Simon & the prof are still working on our forthcoming interview/conversation. Sorry it is taking longer than expected.Also check out Chris Heath's PSB book Literally, where Frith's work is liberally deployed.Mr. Heath is a real smart gent who once had the pleasure of a long transatlantic

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-81808155573175946492009-05-25T07:02:00.002-07:002009-05-25T10:46:16.406-07:00Robots III: A Very Brief Engagement With The Kultur Industry

"It is as if the class from which independent intellectuals have defected takes its revenge, by pressing demands in the very domain where the deserter seeks refuge."-- T. W. Adorno"I am a punk. And I always will be a punk."-- Martin Fry, ABC+++On page 15 of the current Mott The Hoople issue of MOJO (May 2009) there is a photograph on the top right hand corner of the page. It is a representation/

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-10932287360930239082009-05-22T09:31:00.000-07:002009-05-22T10:24:10.061-07:00Robots II

Backinthedistantdaze, red-top tabloid (or for all we know black&white broadsheet) newspapers told us that future humans -- in our lifetimes -- would lead vital lives of leisure because robots would do all the hard graft.They forgot to tell us that we would be the robots.+++Thanks to Lisa Foley for the Random House Thesaurus.

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-32835407217075696902009-05-20T06:47:00.000-07:002009-05-20T14:24:00.075-07:00Yes, The Pet Shop Boys Are Back In Town

The Pet Shop Boys apparently do not know how to make a poor album. From their debut LP Please (which the prof bought @ HMV on Oxford St, on cassette tape -- ah, bless) to the new release Yes, every collection of songs is solid -- no filler, strong hooks, arrangements that make you feel and words that make you think.Yet the PSB have something in common with New Order, & it is an unfortunate

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-21220533446016232392009-05-10T08:39:00.001-07:002009-05-10T15:23:19.551-07:00Yes?

The professor of pop was recently involved in a most illuminating conversation/confrontation with a Berkeley cop, which terminated thus:POP: "So what you're saying, basically, is that this is a police state?"COP: "Yes."This also terminated the prof's lifelong perhaps too generous view of the forces of law & order.+++

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-45327280363051633242009-05-08T14:01:00.000-07:002009-05-21T12:30:15.809-07:00Close To The Edge (by YES)

This morning, the professor of pop listened to one of the three greatest works of progressive rock -- Close to the Edge by Yes. The other two being Supper's Ready by Genesis, and Thick As A Brick by Jethro Tull.The prof has been listening to CTTE since he was a little lowercase teenage goodwin, sometimes as often as several times a day.The origin of this 18-minute opus is a song written by

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-25423624877217161442009-04-28T09:13:00.000-07:002009-04-28T10:58:47.420-07:00Shaken Not Stirred

"The first time, Mr Bond, is an accident. The second is co-incidence. And the third time is enemy action."-- Ian Fleming, GoldfingerOh, & check this out.+++Thanks to Bruce Ecker for the 007 ref. [& you can also Wiki the one wizard the prof ever met whose rare & compassionate wisdom actually works.)+++The professor of pop will be off-line awhile.Forthcoming: the paper that the prof would write if

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-13436097331667356432009-04-09T11:15:00.000-07:002009-04-09T11:59:50.982-07:00Giants 2, Chelsea 3

Yesterday, on the day of Chelsea FC's Euro-thrashing of Liverpool at Blandfield (Benny might as well send the youth team down, for the 2nd leg) & during which every goal did cross the line, the professor of pop also had the privilege of attending his first baseball game, in the company of Red Sox/SF Giants fan Susan, & thanks to the kind efforts of notorious baseball-pusher, Professor Rob

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-16563890008455131952009-04-08T11:03:00.000-07:002009-04-08T11:09:40.870-07:00Run DMC: Kings Of Rock

Run DMC crash the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.Only the 2nd rap group to make it.Shameful.+++

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-53628103122488228832009-04-05T21:49:00.000-07:002009-04-06T00:09:45.177-07:00Happy Birthday Fred Frith!

Thanks to Dawn & Marco, Susan & and the prof were able this afternoon to attend Fred Frith's 60th birthday concert at Mills College. It was lovely to see Fred in such good form, and lovely too to see that smile that so resembles Simon's. DNA is a funny thing. The prof felt posthumously happy if you see what we mean for the Frith pater. Both so involved in music (which Dad from humble origins

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-27960100954652498692009-04-01T10:27:00.000-07:002009-04-01T10:28:57.185-07:00Auntie Pasta

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-41393495909266604652009-04-01T07:31:00.000-07:002009-04-01T07:35:00.451-07:00World Crisis Deepens

Or is it yet another April Twit?

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399013999255492375.post-68568544445970738472009-03-31T13:26:00.000-07:002009-03-31T13:45:01.612-07:00Wankers?

“Critical intellectuals became ‘the chattering classes’, whingers, hand-wringers (at the more robust end of the market, wankers), who when not actively subversive were out of touch with economic and social realities.”-- Nicholas GarnhamFunny how these sorts of things occur: just yesterday afternoon while cleaning up at home & listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer (sorry but it helps get the job

Professor Of Pophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02233092478333394765zeppelinandrew@gmail.com0