Sophie's choice: Rankin/Bass or Syd & Marty Krofft?

I had it in my head this was called Turn Me On Dead Man (i.e. even cooler/more obscure Beatles reference than Glass Onion) but no such luck m.imdb.com/title/tt1436...

Been watching late night monologues on and off for half a century ... Never seen anything like that.

What an honor and a joy it was to share a few fond memories of my alma mater bit.ly/4lBMKPS

Over a century ago, today, a blind performer turned political dissident was born in Egypt. To commemorate the start of Shaykh Imam's story, the subject of my new book project, it seems only fitting to share this podcast episode: kerningcultures.com/sheikh-imam-...

The Scantron is starting to feel very steampunk.

The great David Johansen of the NY DOLLS has been battling stage 4 cancer for the past few years, unable to work. This being America, he is having a hard times paying for medical care. A fundraiser has been set up through Sweet Relief; more info below. www.sweetrelief.org/davidjohanse...

Austin folks: show up for Liz!

Evidently @katejewell.bsky.social was lucky enough to have a friend in high school with a tape deck in their car that could only play "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." Also her review of Unspooled is super detailed and thoughtful. Thanks to Kate and @ranjitdighe.bsky.social !

@limnpress.bsky.social The Obsolescence Issue featuring a piece by @slobster48602.bsky.social and myself. I had a blast writing this article and I am stoked to see the connection between the historic (mixtapes) and present (tape labels) use of cassettes that we’ve traced in it.

Great to see "Unspooled" by @slobster48602.bsky.social on @variety.bsky.social's Best Music Books of 2024 list!

Thanks to @adamorosi.bsky.social and Variety magazine for naming Unspooled one of their best music books of 2024 variety.com/2024/music/n...

Thank you @subwaysurface.bsky.social for taking the time and thought to engage so fully with my work (and two other terrific books)

Thanks to Boulder Weekly for recommending two of our titles on their holiday music book guide, "Unspooled" by @slobster48602.bsky.social and "At the Vanguard of Vinyl" by Darren Mueller.

Shane Denson's Discorrelated Images (2020) is one of the best books I've read this year. Hard to tl;dr, but we went from syncing to the human body to syncing to machines. Demonstrated through cinema. shanedenson.com/discorrelate...

Nothing against chimps but the NYT seems to be working through trauma with a lot of Buzzfeed type stuff above the fold

Ben Düster and I co-authored a piece on the int'l cassette revival for this beautifully produced journal. Feeling quite obsolescent these days so it's entirely apropos.

my latest with @jessmaddox.bsky.social is out this morning in @femmediastudies.bsky.social! We propose influencer snark as a feminist media practice to address concerns of credibility, authenticity, and representation in the influencer industry. please share!!! www.tandfonline.com/eprint/XZSZD...

In which Ben Duester and I discuss pre- and postmillennial cassette scenes

My third summer academic read: Rob Drew’s @slobster48602.bsky.social’s UNSPOOLED: HOW THE CASSETTE MADE MUSIC SHAREABLE (Duke UP, 2024). Brimming with insights on various meanings of cassettes. Sends me back to my childhood bedroom where I recorded songs off the radio!

The recording of our Popular Music Books in Process session the other day ... youtu.be/5ujN97jY8t8?...

My book comes out today, feels bittersweet like the summer solstice. So often I planned how I'd reward myself when it was done, only realizing afterward it was its own reward. Grateful to have been able to write it.

dukeupress.edu/unspooled will be out Tuesday! Happy to share my haul of pre-ordered copies with interested grad students, adjuncts, jr faculty. Email me your mailing address ([email protected]) ... hoping to get the word out and not go gently into academic book oblivion.

Unspooled traces a few of the musicians who crossed paths with the cassette in its transition from fugitive format to cultural touchstone. Here's my annotated playlist courtesy of Duke!

@portwoodstacer.bsky.social has assured me it's okay if I brag that I was interviewed by a Jeopardy! champion ... she also happens to be the best academic book proposal consultant in the business. Really enjoyed our talk!

!!!

Delighted to have received my analogue copy of @slobster48602.bsky.social’s UNSPOOLED: HOW THE CASSETTE MADE MUSIC SHAREABLE (and extra delighted by the design work from Duke UP’s Aimee Harrison) 👏👏👏

PSA: you do not have to apologize or feel ashamed of promoting your own book. 1) people are mostly not seeing your posts. 2) you are *helping* people find out about something they might be interested in. Others will simply ignore if it’s not new info to them. Most ppl appreciate reminders

Big change on my campus: the Kar's Sweet 'n' Salty mixes in the vending machines have suddenly become Sweet 'n' Spicy mixes.

The inverted legalese that appeared on the j-cards of several early tapes released by Martin Newell (a.k.a. Cleaners from Venus) could serve as a credo for all of cassette culture ...

An easy Saturday but I'll take it on 3rd night of covid

I still recall being floored by Paul Gilroy's talk on Turner's Slave Ship, one of many highlights of the seminal 1990 cultural studies conference at Urbana-Champaign.

Lear and MTM, the quality TV dialectic of a 70s childhood.

We're looking to hire 3 new science or health communication faculty at the University of Florida. Please share. explore.jobs.ufl.edu/en-us/job/52...

Pardon the proverbial cross-posting but three days remain on Duke's 50% off cyber Monday presale for Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable with discount code CYBER23 (after which it will return to 30% off with code E24RDREW) www.dukeupress.edu/unspooled

I'm on this ... my Dad's favorite show

i had to restrain myself for @dukepress.bsky.social's 50% off sale, but i snagged some gems. ➤@lmesseri.bsky.social's upcoming ethnography on VR ➤erin mcelroy's upcoming multisited study on techno-imperialism ➤the latest translation of the maestro (rip dussel) ➤a reader on the cuban revolution

Duke threw a playlist up on Spotify for my book Unspooled: all songs originally released on cassette, all artists discussed in the book. Some may surprise. nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

Love this tattoo owning fandom for one of Billy's best

What better purchase to mark cyber Monday than a paper book about analog media? Duke is offering 50% off pre-orders of Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable until December 8. Use discount code CYBER23 at www.dukeupress.edu/unspooled (in Canada utpdistribution.com/978147802559... ).

Next Monday, 12/4, at 5:15pm I'm 🗣️ in Penn's Material Texts series. I haven't had any ⏰ for research this year, so I changed my title + topic — to REPAIR MANUALS — a few wks ago, but the website still reflects the old plan. Please join us in-person or on zoom! pennmaterialtexts.org/about/events/

With her uncommon, three-voweled first name, Anya Taylor-Joy counts as one of the youngest celebrities ever to enter the pantheon of nyt crossword clues. Move over, Enya.

What we wanted from the Beatles was to stay with us forever, but in a manner more akin to Field of Dreams than Reanimator or Weekend at Bernie's. www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/m...

In today’s newsletter: why we all struggle to love our dissertations, and how you can use your book as a dissertation do-over Plus a sign-up link for my free webinar, How to Publish a Book from Your Dissertation newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/p/your-disse...

I'm excited about both of my new spring classes — Local Media and Collecting Media — and I hope I can create the space, amidst all this institutional service + instability, to do them justice + enjoy them cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/courses/2024... cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/courses/2024...

Announcing a free special issue in Journal of Popular Music Studies on podcasting and gender edited by @kategalloway.bsky.social, Morgan Bimm, and me. Big thanks to our authors and to @kgoldschmitt.bsky.social , @ehphd.bsky.social, & @ericdharvey.bsky.social! Link: online.ucpress.edu/jpms/issue/3...

Tuesday Nov 19! John Szwed joins the Popular Music Books series 5 pm ET to talk COSMIC SCHOLAR, the first ever bio of Harry Smith, the "hipster magus" who created The Anthology of American Folk Music and much more. With American Roots' Nick Spitzer. To come: iaspm-us.wildapricot.org/Popular-Musi...

Heard from an alum of my Book Proposal Accelerator that they’ve received 3 positive reader reports from their top choice university press, all recommending publication. 🎉🎉🎉 The best emails to receive! I’ll be running the Accelerator again in January 2024. Details forthcoming in my newsletter 📨

One of my favorite cassette photos, of Daniel Johnston flaunting his tape Yip/Jump Music -- a still from the film The Devil and Daniel Johnston.