Thanks to my budding thespian daughter, I wound up watching the entire Tony Awards last night. Given that I can’t recall the last time I watched an entire anything, this…
Pete Chianca
64 Articles
Pete Chianca is a humor and music writer and author of Glory Days: Springsteen's Greatest Albums. He lives north of Boston with his wife, two kids and an indeterminate number of dogs and cats. Read more Pete at Pete's Pop Culture, Parenting & Pets Blog.
0
1
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
I’ll say right off that I am not a fan of talent competition shows, with their rosy-cheeked overachieving would-be Mariahs and dysfunctional judges panels. But that’s not to say there…
0
3
Pete Chianca
3 Min Read
Pete Chianca pays tribute to films about cleaning up elephant poop. Wait, what?
0
2
Pete Chianca
2 Min Read
It’s a good bet that whoever says there’s no such thing as an original idea — in music or otherwise — has not taken a good close listen to Jonathan…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Did you ever wonder what Tales from Topographic Oceans might sound like if it were written by Rodgers and Hammerstein instead of Jon Anderson and Steve Howe? Me neither, but…
Pete Chianca
3 Min Read
Given that as I write this, the forecast for the week is a steady snow starting on Tuesday and tapering off sometime in 2013, I have decided to spend the…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Popdose teams up with world-renowned CAP News for a look at the most important pop culture stories of the past year. February: Stern Gets Ellen, Kara DioGuardi to Kiss at…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Leave it to British folk-rock rebel Frank Turner to come in under the wire for 2010 with Rock & Roll, a five-song EP that offers 17 of the most compelling…
Pete Chianca
3 Min Read
When I was a kid, every year around this time I would watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. I did this despite the fact that critics regularly put this 1964…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
On ”Like Jerry Lee,” the opening track to Jason D. Williams’ new album Killer Instincts, he deals right off the bat with the uncanny similarity — in look, ability and…
Pete Chianca
2 Min Read
”You can’t hold me, baby, with anything but contempt,” Elvis Costello sings amid dueling guitars on the explosive title track that opens his latest album, ”National Ransom” (Hear Music). It’s…
Pete Chianca
2 Min Read
The Boston Phoenix described indie-folk act Leland Sundries as ”The Band meets Lou Reed,” and as intriguing a prospect as that is (I have to suppress an image of Reed…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Is the YouTube sensation known as Fred the new Pee-Wee Herman, or a harbinger of hell on earth? Pete Chianca knows the answer.
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
As a lake full of pretty young co-eds prepares to be eaten by fish this weekend, Pete Chianca reflects on the bloodthirsty creatures of his cinematic youth.
Pete Chianca
2 Min Read
When Arcade Fire turned up in 2004, it was with nothing less than the most uplifting reflection on mortality ever put to record, the elegiac yet hopeful Funeral. Their 2007…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
If there’s one thing American Slang isn’t, it’s a Bruce Springsteen tribute album. Gone are the direct references to Springsteen lyrics and mentions of Mary and Janey that dotted the…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
The L.A.-based rock combo The Henry Clay People were the darlings of the blogosphere for a time in the wake of their 2008 album For Cheap or for Free. With…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Where does Stevie Van Zandt find these bands? It’s easy to imagine the Wicked Cool Records founder prowling around with his ear pressed up against strange garages, listening for the…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
It’s that time of year again — and this April 1, Pete Chianca looks back at some of the finest fools in film.
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
I don’t know about everybody else, but I for one couldn’t be happier about the return of the ’70s flourish. You know, the urgent strings, the unnecessary but wholly welcome…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Deep in the scrotum-shriveling dead of winter, Pete Chianca resurfaces with a list of some chilly cinematic suggestions.
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Now, don’t get the wrong idea: This is not a ”best of” list — that would indicate that I listened to every album released and compared them, which sounds like…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Thanksgiving is upon us once again, and you know what that means: Dinner, and awkward interaction with little-seen family members. And then dessert. Because let’s face it — without food…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
In a stunning convergence of teeth and propellers, Hilary Swank’s Amelia arrives in theaters this weekend, inspiring Pete Chianca to look back at some other noteworthy biopics.
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Pete Chianca has heard you giggling through Bob Dylan’s new Christmas album, and he doesn’t much care for your lack of respect.
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
One thing you learn pretty early on in Springsteen saxophonist Clarence ClemonsÁ¢€â„¢ memoir Big Man (Grand Central Publishing, 400 pages, $26.99, Oct. 21) is that youÁ¢€â„¢re not going to be…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Brian Setzer doesnÁ¢€â„¢t want your money. ThatÁ¢€â„¢s the only possible explanation for all the banjo-plucking, yodeling, classical noodling and other activities guaranteed to keep his songs off the radio, not…
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Michael MooreÁ¢€â„¢s latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, opens around the country today, and if the early reviews are any indication, itÁ¢€â„¢s yet another cleverly executed and scathing reminder of how…
Pete Chianca
2 Min Read
With Jennifer’s Body arriving in theaters this weekend, Pete Chianca’s thoughts have turned to all the wonderful ways high school can be horrible — particularly in the movies.
Pete Chianca
1 Min Read
Waldorf: “He’s doing it! He’s writing about road movies!” Statler: “Amazing!” Waldorf: “Astounding!” Statler: “Boooor-ing!”