Jon Cummings: Welcome to the first installment in a Popdose political adventure that wonÁ¢€â„¢t require you (or us) to leave the computer! HereÁ¢€â„¢s my little secret, Ted: A few months…
Jon Cummings
246 Articles
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
John McCain trotted out an oldie-but-a-goodie on Monday at the VFW convention Á¢€” proclaiming once again that, unlike a certain current president who allowed Osama bin Laden to give him…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Last weekÁ¢€â„¢s massive international celebration of Vinyl Record Day (wait Á¢€” you say that big party they showed on TV was about the Olympics?) reminded me of my teenage fascination…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Charlie Daniels Band – The Devil Went Down to Georgia My apologies in advance for taking occasional license with the meter… Johnny Mac went down to Georgia, he was lookinÁ¢€â„¢…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
When the compact disc was introduced in the mid-Á¢€â„¢80s, one of its main selling points (along with allegedly superior digital sound) was its durability. Vinyl records, we all knew, could…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Á¢€Å“Napoleon once said, when asked to explain the lack of great statesmen in the world, that to get power you need to display absolute pettiness. To exercise power, you need…
Popdose Staff
1 Min Read
The Popdose staff was sitting around the other day, doing what we do best — namely, talking about records that most people wish they didn’t remember — when a discussion…
The Chartburn Panel
1 Min Read
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/0KL_fgWgK40″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Mainstream Rock: Mike + the Mechanics, “Silent Running” (1985) David Medsker: I love Paul Carrack as much as the next guy, but is what…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Rick Springfield is getting something of a career re-boot this week. Twenty-seven years after Á¢€Å“JessieÁ¢€™s GirlÁ¢€ and the Working Class Dog album made him one of the Á¢€™80sÁ¢€™ first superstars,…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
By now itÁ¢€™s a clichÁƒ©, though often a useful one, to allow a particular song to remind you of a certain time or place Á¢€” that summer fling at the…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Nearly lost amid the fantastic PR (so far) and blind luck of Barack ObamaÁ¢€â„¢s Middle East tour Á¢€” and the horror show that has been John McCainÁ¢€â„¢s pathetic, flailing response…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
One of my favorite Popdose experiences to date came in the wake of Part 9 in our colleague Dave SteedÁ¢€™s wonderful Á¢€Å“Bottom FeedersÁ¢€ series. He had identified his first CD…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
For four days now, the left side of the electorate has been scratching its collective head and asking itself, Á¢€Å“Why donÁ¢€™t I think this is funny?Á¢€ Of course, Á¢€Å“thisÁ¢€ is…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
These days baby boomers, especially women, are in something of a panic. Demographically, professionally, financially and sociologically, theyÁ¢€™ve been dominating American culture for nearly half a century now, while succeeding…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
On the day we celebrated my daughter CatieÁ¢€â„¢s first birthday, my good friend Robert Simonson came out to the suburbs for the party and marveled at the mountain of toys…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
sitÁ¢€¢com n. Informal A situation comedy; a television comedy series involving a group of regular characters in everyday situations, often set in the home and/or workplace For three seasons, Weeds…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The stifling heatwave that gripped southern California for a full week blew away just in time for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to fill L.A.Á¢€™s Greek Theatre with music and…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Can you feel it? I feel it. You know what IÁ¢€â„¢m talking about Á¢€” that sudden jolt, that shock that has surged through the American consciousness over the past three…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
If youÁ¢€â„¢ve watched the TV news carefully this week, you may have noticed that somewhere amidst the all-Russert-all-the-time lovefest there were other events taking place Á¢€” some of which might…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
This was a tough weekend for political junkies Á¢€” particularly those whose televisions generally find themselves tuned to NBC-related channels. Tim RussertÁ¢€â„¢s death on Friday at the far-too-young age of…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Yesterday afternoon I was shopping around for a new mattress for my sonÁ¢€â„¢s bedroom, and I happened upon a brand-new AmericaÁ¢€â„¢s Mattress outlet in my town with a flashy Á¢€Å“Grand…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Last week in this space, I described a single by the Canadian rock band Prism as Á¢€Å“sounding like an early-Á¢€™80s Cliff Richard single (not that thereÁ¢€™s anything wrong with that).Á¢€…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
15. His trash-talking during high school basketball games inspired White Men CanÁ¢€â„¢t Jump 14. Until 2004, his last name was X 13. His actual grandmother? Oprah 12. HeÁ¢€â„¢ll only put…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Actually, itÁ¢€™s only Volume 2, but whoÁ¢€™s counting? This is an all-Canadian edition of my occasional series sorting through the wreckage of a vinyl collection that focused heavily on minor…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
The strange case of Joe Lieberman just gets curiouser and curiouser. Had things gone slightly different in Florida eight years ago, the current Á¢€Å“IndependentÁ¢€ senator from Connecticut might be wrapping…
Popdose Staff
1 Min Read
Bruce Springsteen – “Tunnel of Love” Jon: I recognize that this is a minority opinion, considering the iconic stature of so much of Bruce Springsteen’s work, but “Tunnel…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Last week, Republicans half a world apart (in more ways than one) showed us the difference between rational, reasoned political thought and unthinking absolutism. In Israel, on the 60th anniversary…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
The difference between journalism and history is, of course, time and perspective Á¢€” as IÁ¢€™ve been reminded over the last few months, as IÁ¢€™ve presumptuously taken it upon myself to…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
It happened again last night, a sight that many liberals have come to love. Veins a-poppinÁ¢€â„¢, eyes a-bulginÁ¢€â„¢, ears a-steaminÁ¢€â„¢, limbs a-twitchinÁ¢€â„¢, looking generally like his head was about to…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Over the past several months IÁ¢€™ve been engaged in a Vision Quest on this tiny slice of the Internet, attempting to locate and suitably disparage the worst Number One songs…