Posts by author
Max Gray
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, Brandon Hicks illustrates the silly and circular patterns of being a romantic. Then, in the Saturday Essay, Amanda Choutka reminisces about her adolescence and growing up with an autistic younger sibling, whose favorite program was Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show.…
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Song of the Day: “Jailhouse Blues”
Sam John Hopkins wasn’t known as “Lightnin’” until a music executive heard him play in a recording session in 1946. Ever since then, Hopkins’s gutsy vocals and impressive blues guitar helped him live up to his name. His “Jailhouse Blues”…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
Caroline Smith writes about parenthood and television in the Saturday Essay. The wildly popular AMC drama Mad Men provides a thematic frame for Smith’s own foray into marriage and motherhood. She even teaches a college writing course on the television show,…
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Song of the Day: “Mannish Boy”
“I’m a man,” Muddy Waters growls on this hard-driving blues song. But in the next breath he sings, “I’m a man-child.” The subtleties of this message are often lost on audiences (and maybe even the artist himself). This is no…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, Brandon Hicks gives us “Leonard: The Dad From A Different Generation.” Next, Gayle Brandeis offers a personal and insightful portrait of female body image in the Saturday Essay, “Thunder, Thighs.” Before Brandeis’s own view of her thighs was changed forever, they…
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Song of the Day: “In the Lost and Found”
Elliot Smith fits the definition of “tortured artist” pretty cleanly. His childhood in Texas and the divorce of his parents contributed to enduring problems with depression, addiction, and suicidal tendencies. But the cliche fails to encompass his virtuosity and songwriting genius.…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, in the Saturday Essay, Melissa Carroll praises the “refreshing” film, The Diary of a Teenage Girl. But despite the wonderful story, great acting, and a great soundtrack, something about the movie falls short, Carroll argues. Some aspects of the adaptation are…
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Song of the Day: “Jump Off The Roof”
One of the least talked-about and most heartfelt tracks off Vince Staples’s identify-defining album, Summertime ’06, dispenses with the bravado of his other lyrics. At the same time, “Jump Off The Roof” showcases the fatalism and lyrical prowess that have garnered…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
First, Brandon Hicks takes a hilarious look at “The Stop Sign.” And in the Saturday Essay, Kyle Dargan provides a thoughtful response to a New York Times article on female body image. Dargan recounts his positive exposure to female athletes, dancers, and…
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Song of the Day: “The Less I Know The Better”
Australian musician Kevin Parker’s band, Tame Impala, is known for blending musical influences like psychedelia and lo-fi, but Parker’s proficiency as a songwriter only adds to his resume. On “The Less I Know The Better,” off the album Currents, a catchy…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
“If there was one thing I learned from Tess Durbeyfield, Lily Bart, and Constance Chatterly,” writes Gina Di Salvo in the Saturday Essay, “it was not to get trapped.” When Di Salvo becomes a mother, classic works of literature that…
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Song of the Day: “Asphyxiate”
The duo of Lizzie Karr and Ben Wiley are one of the more compelling electronic music groups to come out of the Bay Area since Bassnectar. Though their previous single, “Colours,” was like a prism of anthemic pop, their newest track is…