ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: play along with the Donkeys at "A Bored Game" and watch your fame and fortune lose out to randomness and chance! (Plus: Fran the Fan from Liverpool!) joebonomo.substack.com/p/what-they-...

In today's NO SUCH THING AS WAS: the back sleeve of the Donkey's obscure 1979 single "What I Want" tells a story old as dirt. joebonomo.substack.com/p/what-they-...

I’m so grateful to be teaching the extraordinary stories of Andre Dubus again. They’re wise, compassionate, poignant, brutal. His best, like “Killings,” “Rose,” and “A Father’s Story, are profoundly moving. If you haven’t read him, I highly recommend

"I was gifted with a life that was full of adventure. I've always believed, if you're gifted, that it's incumbent not to think about giving something back." RIP Bob Weir | 📸: Suzie Katz

ICYM my latest at NO Such Thing As Was: I wrote about Long Tall Shorty, the great U.K. band that couldn't catch a break. joebonomo.substack.com/p/in-a-perfe...

In today's No Such Thing As Was: some thoughts on Long Tall Shorty, the band that couldn't catch a break joebonomo.substack.com/p/in-a-perfe...

ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: I buckled up and hit the skies with Nazz. joebonomo.substack.com/p/if-you-wan...

Happy Public Domain Day to all who celebrate

Happy New Year, NO SUCH THING AS WAS subscribers, followers, and readers! Blast with me into the new year with spins of Nazz's "When I Get My Plane" and "Rain Rider." joebonomo.substack.com/p/if-you-wan...

The subtitle is a bit misleading—Brendan Borrell’s Power Soak: Invention, Obsession, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Sound is less about Boston founder Tom Scholz’s musical chops than it is about the quagmire of lawsuits that Scholz’s perfectionism brought on.

In celebration of Bo Diddley's birthday, here's a NO SUCH THING AS WAS I wrote a couple months back about the Bo Beat in the trippy late 60s. joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...

ICYMI "Wait awhile, eternity Old mother nature’s got nothing on me Come to me, run to me, come to me now We’re rolling, my sweetheart, we’re flowing, by God" joebonomo.substack.com/p/wait-awhil...

At today's NO SUCH THING AS WAS, Some thoughts on John Prine's "Christmas in Prison," and my Dad, gone a year now. joebonomo.substack.com/p/wait-awhil...

Today at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, the latest in my series of favorite flip sides! joebonomo.substack.com/p/here-are-e...

ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I revisited Purple Hearts, one of the leading bands of the late-'70s UK Mod Revival scene, to see how their songs have held up. (Spoiler alert: they've held up well!) joebonomo.substack.com/p/why-dont-y...

At NO SUCH THING AS WAS I take the occasional deep dive into bands from the U.K. Mod Revival. This time around I revisit Purple Hearts, who debuted in 1979 with the outstanding "Millions Like Us" 45 and stuck around for longer than most bands in the scene. joebonomo.substack.com/p/why-dont-y...

So sad to hear this. Malo was a stunning singer and interpreter, able to inhabit dreamy ballads, upbeat Tex-Mex grooves, and everything in between. The Mavericks' album Trampoline was on high rotation for me and Amy for many years. Today I'll play "Dream River" in his honor. shorturl.at/VzNtI

Like scores of others, I was listening to the radio broadcast of Monday Night Football. A few years back for The Normal School: A Literary Magazine I wrote about that night and the emotional fallout. www.thenormalschool.com/blog/2021/06... 📷 via Neil Fraudstrong

Pictured (L-R): Sylvester Stallone, apparently stung by an entire beehive; Paul Stanley, revealing that the KISS makeup was load bearing; and Donald Trump, recently poisoned by the Joker

ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: I weighed in on the new "demix" of "Real Love" and Beatles as a universal language. Link in bio. joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-this-...

For my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I write about the Beatles' Anthology, the new/old/new "Real Love," and the trippiness of time. joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-this-...

New at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: The Boys' "Brickfield Nights" and the Times' "Piccadilly Circus," two takes on the past joebonomo.substack.com/p/remember-t...

“Everyone needs to realize why am I here? It comes in everyone’s life; you ask why am I here? What am I doing? Once you are able to answer that question for yourself honestly, you have smooth sailing.” RIP Jimmy Cliff 📷: Etolane

ICYMI at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: Edwin Starr, George Harrison, and James Baldwin. #Repost joebonomo.substack.com/p/how-much-t...

Deadlines are still chirping, so until I can get back in the NO SUCH THING AS WAS saddle, here’s another from the archives.

#Coltrane #Ascension

John: "We'd like some Cokes, Mal." Paul: "Cannabis resin too!" J: "Yeah, if you got any cannabis send it in." [pause] P: "We've got *that* tape for the High Court tomorrow."

ICYMI: I reposted my review of Paolo Hewitt's The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology at NU SUCH THING AS WAS. joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...

I’m currently reading Paul “Smiler” Anderson’s engrossing Mod Art, a history of music, graphics, fashion, art, and mod design from the 1950s through the ‘90s. Highly recommended. 1/2 joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...

University Press of Mississippi is rocking a Welcome 2026 Holiday Website Sale through November 19. All books on the website will be $20.26 each, including the hardback and paperback of my interviews collection with Greil Marcus. shorturl.at/Rliuo

How does it feel to perform songs that you wrote and recorded a half century earlier, to get back inside of them to see if they, or you, still fit? I’ll never know, but I thought about it at the Saints 73-78 show, watching Ed Kuepper clutch his guitar like a lifeline. shorturl.at/Kxk2X

For my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I caught up with the Saints 73-78 who are catching up with their past. joebonomo.substack.com/p/got-no-tim...

We rode straight from the airport to here

ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I reviewed the new Hives album, and pulled wide to talk about five of their great songs. joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...

At my latest NO SUCH THING AS WAS I review the terrific new Hives album, and select five of my favorite songs of theirs from the last 25 years. joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...

Uh oh.

I wish that Roger Angell were around to write about Shohei.

ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: the Kundalini Genie, psychedelic music, and getting inside and out. joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...

That Will Smith ball not going out is like when a character in an enchanted house walks out of a room but ends up in the same room. We're trapped, friends.

This game is like I got caught smoking a baseball and now I have to smoke a whole pack of baseball

In my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I write about how I've been listening to more psychedelic music these days, for the ways it can elevate, the ways it can dissolve the environment around me. The Kundalini Genie's 2020 album 1111 delivers. joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...

Last weekend, I flew to Maryland and spent Sat helping my sibs continue to clean out my folks' place. Then my brother John and I rented a van and drove to Pittsburgh to drop some stuff off at his son's, and then to my bro's place an hour+ north. 1/3

ICYM my farewell to Space Ace at NO SUCH THING AS WAS joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-the-s...

At my latest NO SUCH THING AS WAS, so long Ace Frehley, wherever you’re rocketing joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-the-s...

ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I wrote about how the Bo Beat was revisited in the late '60s. joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...

"It's always good to walk in a room and know everybody kind of looks up to you because I guess I've earned it." Rest in Power, Spaceman

Sure, the Bo Beat is eternal, but it received some update patches near the end of the tumultuous 1960s. My latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS. joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...

I had a blast gabbing about Play This Book Loud with Marc Masters at The Music Book Podcast! themusicbookpodcast.buzzsprout.com/2120946/epis...

In my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, Michael Pollan, Walter Benjamin, and Pete Townshend go places, joebonomo.substack.com/p/right-thro...

Let it never again be said that a woman with no real reporting experience who fell for a Twitter account called "Official Antifa" cannot be the head of a huge news organization