Like grandma used to say, It’s not home until the cartoon John Schuck is hanging in the living room.

My brother sent me some of the greatest wall art I’ll ever have to celebrate my new apartment.

Lots of classic jazz albums came out of the “Battle of the tenor saxes!“ idea but “A Blowing Session,” with Griffin, Hank Mobley, AND Coltrane breaking the sound barrier on standards really outdoes them all.

Orioles announce Turnstile Night

Happy 61st birthday to Chuck Biscuits! From his time in D.O.A., here's their cover of Led Zep's "Communication Breakdown." #1001CoverSongs Song # 315: youtu.be/pP2gfaL20Jk?...

When I asked Melvin Gibbs's collaborators to describe him as a player and a thinker, they reached for poetic comparisons drawing from science, nature and myth open.substack.com/pub/darkforc...

Literally who gives a shit.

Running laps in high school wrestling practice, nearly dead, when the parade of Linkin Park and AC/DC finally breaks and a rap song comes on that‘s so good I momentarily forgot how awful I feel. Got home and googled “Sorry Mrs Jackson/ I am for real.”

He is risen (he = Kid Millions)

“Kissing My Love” and “Express Yourself” alone make Gadson immortal, let alone the rest of his incredible 70s beats, but he played well into the 21st century for artists varied as Kelly Hogan, Beck, Paul McCartney, Margo Price, and Corinne Bailey Rae. Drumming royalty.

It’s Marvin Gaye’s birthday, and of all the immeasurably great songs he released, this one is maybe highest for me. If only for the way he sings “How in the world have you been?” One of those moments that always brings me close to tears and I can’t even really say why.

My biggest problem with Robert Polito’s new book “After the Flood,” about Dylan post-1991 (some of my fav music ever), is that it treats him strictly as a world-historical artistic genius and ignores that he’s also one of the all time inscrutable celebrities who occasionally makes dogshit.

I've been doing field research for 25 years and they just… tweeted it out.

Finally digging into @johnlingan.bsky.social 's Backbeats and it's taking me a while because every time he describes a track he does it so well I need to listen to it right away.

Fair warning to speed readers:

Nodded so hard while reading this that I sprained my neck.

Stopped to see an old friend.

Really fun to be interviewed on Connecticut‘s WNPR for a long segment about drummers (including Hal Blaine, Hartford’s favorite son) They had a live drummer in studio for demonstration!

Rewatched most of these in the last few months and here's where I'm at. 1 Phantom Thread 2 One Battle 3 Punch Drunk Love 4 Boogie Nights 5 Licorice Pizza 6 There Will Be Blood 7 Magnolia 8 The Master 9 Hard Eight 10 Inherent Vice

Poking around @tylerwilcox.bsky.social's essential Doom and Gloom from the Tomb, found this three-song Murray St.-era session with Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, and Jim O'Rourke on acoustic guitars, glorious. doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/6661148...

My favorite novel and its final pages feel like levitating: "Little, Big" by John Crowley.

Shoutout to Great Blacks in Wax.

This, along with the insistence that its sexually/racially demented villains are both ludicrous and very sincere threats to humanity, is also what makes it an incredible Pynchon adaptation. Not just of Vineland, but the whole style. Pat's nickname is Rocketman!

Very cool for Anderson to say straight out that PPD was at play in this story. That seemed very clear from the script and performance and was one of the more touching elements of the movie to me, though I didn’t see it addressed much by critics.

Very cool, unbelievably in-depth essay. I interviewed Pam last year and she was amazing, so honest and thoughtful about her family legacy and her lifeline proximity to the Opry side of Nashville. Beautiful artist and soul.

You Can Make It, It's 'The Fly'

No one talks about this but “Fresh” syncs up perfectly with “Crash,” Dark Side of Oz-style.

This is how I found out that Sly Stone and David Cronenberg were born on the exact same day.

Glad I could provide some light reading for this noble librarian.

One of my favorite albums, sickeningly underrated.

Thanks to @kjzz.org and @samdingman.bsky.social for having me on to talk about book reviewing in the wake of WaPo closing its books section: www.kjzz.org/the-show/202...

I owe so much of my sense of self to FUGAZI and I tried to explain why thefutureisourstomake.substack.com/p/i-will-not...

“Glad you could come, John. I’ve been mulling an awful conundrum and not even the infinite San Francisco sky behind me can help me untie it.”

Saw Vertigo on 70mm tonight, what a gift. So many subtle ways that Hitchcock destabilizes the audience, but my favorite is the constant presence of huge windows in every interior, which gives even calm conversational shots an enormous depth. Also, I feel like we still undervalue Jimmy Stewart.

Fun with Infante.

The current list price for the paperback of Thomas Pynchon's "Mason & Dixon" is $30.99, a dollar more than the hardcover of his newest book.

Wild that this song isn’t better known, though that’s true of so many non-Greatest Hits from Smokey. Just an awe inspiring composition and production. If you’ve never heard it before, just wait for it to open up.

Nearly died from a blizzard while in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Should’ve seen this coming, but I’ve been corrupted absolutely by my electrician.

Must-buy. Elon is building an admirable career chronicling forgotten, still-relevant pockets of NYC crime. And they’re page turners!

velvet underground researchers have apparently confirmed that this audio from a random youtube user is genuinely the long-lost july '67 performance from upbeat, a cleveland teen tv show, doing the unreleased "guess i'm falling in love" complete with screaming girls. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU2U...

For Bill Frisell, music at its best feels dreamlike. His latest, In My Dreams (@bluenoterecords.bsky.social), demonstrates this phenomenon. He joins @aquariumdrunkard.com to discuss the LP, dreams, and, of course, Gary Larson’s The Far Side: aquariumdrunkard.com/2026/03/02/b...

Top 5 record of the 1980s for me, by a band I love more than most things. “Head Full of Steam” is a perfect confection, “Apology Accepted” one of the great album closers. They should be a household name everywhere.

Wrote my undergrad thesis on Tristram Shandy so I’ve been meaning to read this supposed Cuban version for two decades. It’s stylistically/formally nothing like Sterne (or Ulysses) but it’s a riot and Infante got Nestor Almendros to shoot this incredible author photo.

Should’ve seen this coming, but I’ve been corrupted absolutely by my electrician.

John McCain sang “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” on the campaign trail 20 years ago but sure it’s the MAGA faction.

I’m reading Backbeats, which is awesome, and enjoying going back and listening to the featured drummers in a new light and fresh ear. @johnlingan.bsky.social

For my latest Audio Books column, I spoke with @jonbern.bsky.social about his excellent new biography of Justin Townes Earle

Okay

This was a wonderful event and I got to say hi to the god Michael Dirda which always makes my day, but someone needed to stand up and just say one time, loud: FUCK BEZOS.