As with my #Come30 presentation in August 2024, I've created a twenty-minute video presentation for the #Shhh30 virtual symposium happening this weekend. I am over the purple moon to be talking about The Gold Experience, the album and the era. These were my undergraduate years, fall 1992 - spring 1996, and yes, 0(+> taught me… Continue reading Three Epiphanies (sources annotated)
I'm presenting at the #Come30 online symposium tomorrow morning but won't have had a chance to add the Works Cited for my presentation before it's shown. Plus, there are a lot of sources to credit. So here we go. I'll list some in the traditional way where appropriate but also share the original sources for… Continue reading The Problem with Abundance (Sources Annotated)
NOTES ON THE SIGN O' THE TIMES BOXSET, PT. 1. It took me a while to listen to all of the Sign O' the Times outtakes from the boxset released in 2020. Maybe you've had this experience: you know a work of art is going to be so good that you want to hold off… Continue reading Soul Psychodelicide
Two months ago, my mother, who has dementia, fell. The memory care facility called me and I rushed over; by then the parademics were getting ready to load her onto a gurney. I can't describe that moment yet. And here is where I say Mom is still alive and back in the memory care unit… Continue reading Cure and Care
Godard's 1966 film is on YT in its entirety with English subtitles. Look at the scary warning below and ask yourself: "Am I old enough to view this film?" Maybe you aren't. You should watch it anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO2pREcnQ0I Masculin Féminin is set in Paris in 1965, and it's a grim place, alluring but never beautiful.… Continue reading Masculin Féminin
Dispatches from the virtuality--Prince as superhero--Chris Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0g9Qkrc8nE I was fortunate to participate in another online symposium produced by De Angela Duff, my hero, a.k.a., Polished Solid. <--If you are interested in what's happening in Prince scholarship, De Angela's channel should be your first stop. SexyMF30 celebrated and examined Prince's 1992 Love Symbol album, stylized… Continue reading SexyMF30 Prince Symposium
Like Substack but with less stackin'. Prince Sticks Up for Teachers at Age 11 In April 1970, Prince was eleven years old and Minneapolis teachers were on strike. In recently discovered footage shot by WCCO, the Twin Cities' CBS affiliate, there is Prince, confident but with a familiar shyness, sticking up for the teachers. When… Continue reading Echoes of Ourselves
Recently I was interviewed for our local community paper's book column about my 2017 book, Nothing Has Been Done Before. Read it here! I enjoyed chatting with Mandy Shunnarah about the continuing relevance of "the new" in music culture, and we even took a related detour into musical genres. If you want to learn more… Continue reading Revisiting Nothing Has Been Done Before
In the category of "Did Not Know I Needed This," Built To Spill clocks in with a twenty-minute "Cortez The Killer," the Neil Young anti-colonialism song. My mother is now in a memory care facility. The last five minutes of BTS' performance, recorded live somewhere, gets at the feeling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNOvqFISxIc
My band's first full-length has been available for some time over on Bandcamp in digital and CD formats. We're also on the Spotify and other streaming sites. We also have a kick-ass t-shirt for your consumption! Pic follows the embed.
Robert Loss 