“There's a lot of stuff in the 80's that's even more relevant today.” From DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN

THE GODFATHER with live accompaniment from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra last night was incredible. Interesting (but necessary!) that they had mandolin and accordion players sitting in for the performance. Also, my first time in the Warner Grand Theater, an impeccably restored Art Deco gem.

As an added bonus, can we have a national perception of the Midwest outside of the trope of farmers in a small-town diner that includes all of the contributions to American culture made by Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and more?

Happy New Year! The chow here looks tasty, but when “Ocean Fresh” Sea Food is in quotes, you may or may not start the new year with a case of food poisoning. Milwaukee is 1,000+ miles to the Atlantic shore. I checked. The Albermart Sky Lounge Milwaukee, WI circa 1950 #VintageMenus #HappyNewYear

Drinking champagne and reading about lucha libre—bringing this lethargy into 2026

I try not to obsess about reading or goals but I’m pleased with how much and what I read this year - 36 books - 7 short books (33 1/3s plus short works on comics and film) - 54 comic collections/runs (various sizes and lengths) - 20 graphic works (GNs, memoir, history, European comics albums, etc.)

This century really doesn’t have that new millennium smell anymore huh

This is a great story, and yet another reminder that -- for something that felt like a fun goofy feature when it launched -- as we lose more and more actors, the AV Club's "Random Roles" has turned out to be an amazing oral history project.

Saw this interesting tidbit in the back of Chris Ryall’s look at Daredevil: Born Again in the Bloomsbury series—a Marvel corner box book is in the works?!? Couldn’t find an official announcement but 🤞💸 (Corner box images below are from a previously released book, Marvel by Design from gestalten)

I don't understand why musicians who want to back out of playing the Trump/Kennedy Center don't just do what Van Morrison did with his contractual-obligation album: Go up there and play a bunch of completely ridiculous thirty-second-long joke songs.

Caught this (somewhat) seasonal gem for the first time in a theater! May need to have a martini later🍸

The Beatles were a big part of my Christmases growing up so it was nice to stumble on a bootleg of their holiday fan club messages a few months back. Gave it a spin today—it’s all over the place, tossed off but it’s wild that the most popular band of all time made these every year

Seriously, one of our newer Christmas traditions is to watch Rudolph and call out Donner and Santa whenever they act like assholes (which is a lot)

As is holiday tradition at Stately Regan Manor—I humbly present the Wreath of Khan

How apropos is it that two sequential posts in my timeline start with the word “apropos”? cc: @jessnevins.bsky.social, @seanhowe.bsky.social

Went to the Yoko Ono exhibit at Chicago’s MCA. Incredible career in conceptual, performance, and participatory art. Visual artist in various media and yes, musical artist who worked with John Cage before meeting John Lennon (1/2)

Bought OTD in 1972: this was a total game changer - a very effective piece of popcult activism and a great listen. It opened up a whole swathe of 60s US pop that Brits had hardly heard and the sleeve notes offered the word Punk as a way out of early 70s stasis: ‘the relentless middle-finger drive’

We need a Taschen edition or something of Pete Frame trees

Remember kids, if you buy boxes, shipping supplies, office supplies, or industrial supplies DO NOT SHOP ULINE.

RIP Rob Reiner. Strangely enough, watched Spinal Tap II on Saturday before he died. It’s a bit fan service-y but I really can’t begrudge them for wanting one last go-round (esp. in hindsight) (1/?)

I know bad news happens every second of every day, but can we press pause for just, like, a week?

Released 46 years ago today London Calling, the third studio album by The Clash, featuring the song Train in Vain The Clash - Train in Vain (Stand by Me) (Live at the Lewisham Odeon, 1980 #punk #punks #punkrock #theclash #londoncalling #traininvain #history #punkrockhistory #otd

You can't make this up - the Trump administration sent a letter telling Milwaukee to crack down on fare evasion on the fare-free streetcar. urbanmilwaukee.com/2025/12/12/f...

A lot of you would fail “be kind, rewind” today.

Really getting late 2008/early 2009 recession flashbacks from all of the potential and actual local business closings.

I say this as someone whose entire job is finding the narrow use cases in which AI is actually useful: All the fear about AI, all the reluctance to adopt it, is entirely legitimate, and a product of the fact that it's been foisted on the public with no consideration of its negative externalities.

Also, of course, the State Department changing typefaces for reasons that boil down to "fuck accessibility" is both utterly in line with the overt bigotry of this administration and a signal indicator of how unserious these people are, it doesn't matter what typeface you use when you're a joke

Next up is the Christmas episode of The Odd Couple.

Cap is the blueprint

It really is the lack of imagination that gets me with these technolibertarian world builders. All the money in the world and the best they can come up with is colonizer diet camp.

RIP Steve Cropper. “Green Onions” is one of those songs you’ve heard a billion times and you think you know but here it sounds 1000x more badass

green bay packer hall of fame, football player statue, angle 1, green bay avenue, green bay, wisconsin, 1992

Christmas sweater day on TOTP

Steve Cropper might be the best ensemble guitar player ever. Here's our @wfmu.bsky.social interview from 2022 - it's just over an hour and cover's a lot of ground. APPLE: podcasts.apple.com/.../steve....... SPOTIFY: open.spotify.com/episode/7nfi.... Or wherever you get your podcasts!

Calling all Bee Gees lovers! Today I have a stunning set of Bee Gees songs sung by the ladies! From funky and soulful to angelic.. wow! Crayons to Perfume 7pm Thurs. WFMU Rock’n’Soul Radio @wfmu.bsky.social @wfmurocknsoulradio.bsky.social

Here’s my Spotify Wrapped 🎵✨

I consider myself a Wally Wood fan (with several originals of my own) but... I didn't know about this. Apparently in the early 60's Wally pitched a Sunday newspaper strip showcasing famous people, and made up some presentation pieces, like this one.

The final broadcast of Reggae Schoolroom with Jeff Sarge starts in 5 minutes on WFMU--not to be missed! www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...

Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen— - Cheap Trick (minus Tom Petersson) - Clash (without Mick Jones) - Buzzocks (after Pete Shelley passed) - Dead Kennedys (sans Jello Biafra) - X (2014, all original members, usually-not-snarky spouse says “this is a first for you, isn’t it?“)

Nah

Booked to go in a few weeks—very excited to experience Ono’s work

RIP Jimmy Cliff. Was fortunate enough to see him live in 2012, years later stayed at a Jamaican resort run by the family that made THE HARDER THEY COME so this resonates with me a little deeper than usual

The original Captain Marvel and Flash Gordon movie tunics.

Whoever did the descriptions for @criterionchannl.bsky.social Blackout Noir collection most certainly did not pull any punches with phrases like “evocatively scuzzy” and “everyone’s favorite sleazoid heel”