For fans of pop music with integrity, the pop charts of 1989 were a desolate place. Between an avalanche of soul-sapping covers (Michael Damian, Michael Bolton, Martika), the blatant New…
Jon Cummings
246 Articles
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The original, furiously populist theme of this column, as I envisioned it last weekend, was Á¢€Å“Nationalize the Banks, Now!Á¢€ Well, as of Monday that was taken care of, so, moving…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
Tonight Japan and Korea will face off in a grudge match at Dodger Stadium Á¢€” having already split four games over the last two weeks — in the finale of…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
For much of his solo career, it was Paul McCartneyÁ¢€â„¢s peculiar fate to seem perpetually in need of a creative comeback. Chafing against the impossibly high standard he set for…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
It’s nice to see Raul Malo back in the spotlight. The onetime Mavericks frontman hadn’t exactly gone quiet, but over the last several years his big voice has been muted…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
Last week Marti Jones was back in Washington, DC Á¢€” the city where she and I had our greatest moments together during her career in pop music. (Actually, she was…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
He may have called for Á¢€Å“a kinder, gentler nation,Á¢€ but the first year of George H.W. BushÁ¢€â„¢s presidency, 1989, turned out to be Ground Zero for the Culture Wars. It…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
ItÁ¢€™s been a giggle this week watching Democrats paint Rush Limbaugh as the Á¢€Å“bloated, drug-addledÁ¢€ head of the Republican Party, as Paul Begala put it the other day. ItÁ¢€™s been…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
To fans of her four albums of marvelous acoustic pop in the mid-to-late Á¢€â„¢80s, Marti Jones seemed on the cusp of becoming the next (albeit far hipper) Linda Ronstadt. Jones…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
IÁ¢€â„¢m a college student in an arena full of fresh-faced tweens and teens, all hopped up on free candy and wholesome vibes, and weÁ¢€â„¢re awaiting an appearance by one of…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
For a few precious years in the late 1980s and early Á¢€â„¢90s, the most communal experience on the pop touring circuit was a family affair. Recording artist-producer Don Dixon and…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
If the tallest tree in the forest cracks at the base, and everyone in the country hears it, do we have an obligation to prop it back up? Or can…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The last couple weeks have served as a brilliant, if butt-ugly, reminder that governance should be judged not on the back and forth of day-to-day events, but on outcomes. When…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
ItÁ¢€â„¢s inevitable these days that a conversation with Lisa Loeb is going to circle back to food. Sure, sheÁ¢€â„¢s a once-and-perhaps-future pop star and, more recently, an actress and reality-TV…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Like most people I know, my favorite feature in Us Weekly is the Á¢€Å“Stars — TheyÁ¢€â„¢re Just Like Us!Á¢€ spread. You know, Brad Pitt with his fly down, Ryan Phillippe…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
My brief tenure as a resident of Philadelphia, from 1990 to ’92, coincided with a period of remarkable growth for the Hard Rock Cafe chain of restaurants. The chainÁ¢€â„¢s cofounders,…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
As of last night, absolutely nothinÁ¢€â„¢. (Legislatively speaking, at least.) But you gotta give Barack Obama points for trying. Presidents donÁ¢€â„¢t often do what Obama did on Tuesday. A week…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
EditorÁ¢€â„¢s note: What follows is no less than the third column that Popdose writer Jon Cummings has attempted to wring out of a single interview last fall with former Letters…
The Chartburn Panel
1 Min Read
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/bo2Aypi0R2c” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Mainstream Rock: Blue Oyster Cult, “Burnin’ for You” (1981) Mike: One of exactly two Blue Oyster Cult songs I’m familiar with (I’m sure we…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Á¢€Å“Tomorrow is some shit, people,Á¢€ Adam Yauch declared matter-of-factly Monday night, after searching for an appropriate way to close out the Beastie BoysÁ¢€â„¢ fearsome inaugural-eve Rock the Vote gig in…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Sometime in the early afternoon next Tuesday Á¢€” after Barack Obama takes the oath of office, and before the new President and First Lady take the traditional stroll up Pennsylvania…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Almost exactly a year ago on this site, my esteemed Popdose colleague Dw. Dunphy closed a column by asking, Á¢€Å“What has modernity offered you? Hannah Montana?Á¢€ He was concluding a…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
We white folks are feeling pretty good about ourselves these days. And why not? A couple months ago, almost half of us voted to put a black guy into what…
Jeff Giles and Jason Hare
8 Min Read
Jason: Jeff, are you awake? Jeff: Ah, Mellowmas morn! Jason: Is it…is it…is it here? I’m a little groggy. Jeff: I put a little something extra in your eggnog last…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
If you’re looking for the perfect holiday gift for that cousin who dropped out two credits shy of her BA in European Civ — or for that pesky uncle who…
Popdose Staff
1 Min Read
It all started back in September, when Robert Cass sent an e-mail to the staff telling us Billboard had announced that Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” is the top song of…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
My World History teacher in high school, Mrs. Rivers, was less than efficient in her use of verbiage. While lecturing about the Peloponnesian Wars or the Roman aqueducts, she would…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
Á¢€Å“Eighty percent of success in life is just showing up.Á¢€ Á¢€” Woody Allen For a few years there Á¢€” as George Bush “won” a pair of shady elections and then…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
A decade ago this past summer, Kay Hanley and her bandmates in Letters to Cleo had to be talked into accepting a free trip to Hollywood when the producers of…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The other day my Popdose colleague Ted Asredagoo posed the question of how President-Elect Obama — once he is wrapped up in the business of actually, you know, governing —…