I’ve been feeling a lot of pressure to see Standard Operating Procedure, the new Errol Morris documentary about the goings-on at Abu Ghraib. I had already seen Taxi to the…
Jon Cummings
246 Articles
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
Man, IÁ¢€™ve got a headache. Maybe itÁ¢€™s a hangover from the most recent installment in this series, when so many readers joined me in sifting through the effluvial of the…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Some fascinating new polling data has surfaced on the most intriguing political battle of our time. HarvardÁ¢€â„¢s Institute of Politics conducted an online survey of the showsÁ¢€â„¢ key demographic Á¢€”…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
A few weeks ago in this space, I located the origin of my personal anglophilia in the syndicated radio show Rock Over London, which introduced Americans to Á¢€Ëœ80s-era British acts…
Jon Cummings
3 Min Read
As the Democratic primary campaign slogs onward to Indiana and North Carolina this week, Hillary Clinton Á¢€” despite her still-overwhelming deficits in votes, delegates and cash Á¢€” is reveling in…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Like a lot of music buyers back in the late Á¢€™70s and early Á¢€™80s Á¢€” a pre-Compact Disc era when recession, market oversaturation, aversion to disco, and other factors sent…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
One year ago today, my hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia, came face to face with a horror few American towns have had the misfortune of witnessing. To mark this somber anniversary…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Something’s come over me as I’ve contemplated this, the fourth edition of what promises to be a six-part series (the invention of time travel seeming unlikely before I conclude, sometime…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
I know IÁ¢€â„¢m a few days late, but may I please be the one who gets to pry the gun from his cold, dead hands? Forgive me if I decline…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Having spent the last two columns riffing on the careers of Robbie Williams and Texas, two acts that sped my acclimation to the U.K. during my familyÁ¢€â„¢s late-Á¢€â„¢90s stint as…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
In our current age of hyper-partisan combat and contempt Á¢€” to which I have proven myself at least as susceptible as my fellow fifth-rate political blatherers Á¢€” it sure does…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Imagine a band with a sultry female singer, an impressive new-wave pedigree, a sound that expertly blends Motown soul with contemporary pop/rock, and oodles of international success over more than…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Á¢€Å“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.Á¢€ — Abraham Lincoln Tuesday evening…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Á¢€Å“ItÁ¢€â„¢s not a country, itÁ¢€â„¢s a company.Á¢€ The most politically daring drama on network television comes to a likely end next Tuesday Á¢€” for a second time. The saga of…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
ItÁ¢€™s time for the third installment in our six-part series (assuming I finish before the end of the decade) documenting the most putrid pabulum of the rock era. And this…
Jon Cummings
2 Min Read
Eddie Money knows he’s an archetype, and he doesn’t mind it one bit. His 15-year run of AOR hits and arena-rock stardom, from the 1978 double shot of “Baby Hold…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Patti Myers wants her favorite band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — and she wants you to help get them there. “If you are fortunate enough to…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
As any loyal Popdose reader with a lingering affection for British power pop surely knows, the name of this column is cribbed from Nick Lowe’s 1978 album Jesus of Cool,…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
At first glance, the video for Al Jarreau’s 1984 single “After All” seems simple enough. Jarreau sings on a soundstage “rooftop” while a pair of dancers interpret the song’s romantic…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
To no oneÁ¢€â„¢s surprise, Republicans this week trotted out what promises to be one of their primary lines of attack against Barack Obama in the fall, should he win the…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
You’d think that slogging through the detritus of the 1960s would be a more delicate maneuver than slinging the shite of the ’50s. You’d be mistaken. The Sixties were the…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Looking back on a year that many critics hail as one of Hollywood’s best ever, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that many of this season’s Oscar-nominated films bear political…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
I would hope that every music geek had a friend growing up like my friend John Á¢€” a guy who was just as passionate about music as you were and…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Silly Republicans: Don’t you know heartland rock is for Democrats? We seem to go through this every election cycle: Another GOP contender tries to trade his corporate-shill reality for some…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Welcome to the first installment of an occasional series that dares you to wallow in the very worst of the very best — or best-selling, at least — singles from…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Grammy week is upon us, and I couldn’t be less excited. I used to live for the Grammys during the early part of the year, just like I lived for…
Jeff Vrabel
2 Min Read
In most cases, a breakup song is whatever happens to be playing in the background, but on rare, special occasions, it’s as though the DJ has temporarily set up shop…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Last week the Federal Communications Commission harrumphed briefly to life, handing down one of its outrageous and seemingly arbitrary fines to a broadcast network that dared show a bit of…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
Here in the etherworldly state of Serious Pop Culture Fandom, Internet division, it’s traditional to set impossibly high quality standards and then smite with mighty (and snarky) blows any album/film/novel…
Jon Cummings
1 Min Read
“In Rudy Giuliani’s New York, where the curtain is being lowered on civil rights and civil liberties, anyone who dares to challenge the Mayor, this joyless man with the angry…