The criteria for a good Christmas song are as follows:1. No unreflective overuse of holiday trope words. Most of them are seductively easy rhyming words, like “merry” or “holly” or “cheer,” but easy rhymes with cheesy. Good holiday tracks should find new meaning in these old saws or eschew them altogether. Easier said than done, […]
Every year at the beginning of September my publishing company used to ask me if I had any Christmas music to send them. I never did. They’d chastise me in a friendly way that Christmas music was always in demand, good for some easy licensing dollars, and I’d promise myself that the following year, sometime […]
I thought it’d be fun to review the new Michael Bublé album because I assumed most of it would be tepid pseudo-jazz and I wanted to test my ability to say something interesting about it. I’ve got a little bit of a reputation as a “hater” and figured I’d better start trying to be a […]
Every few years, someone will start a debate about what punk really is. Most recently, this debate was sparked by a Seattle Weekly piece titled “Punk Rock is Bullshit,” in which ostensibly grown-up punk (and Talkhouse contributor) John Roderick very eloquently deconstructs his wasted life of misguided punk rock ideals. He reduces the music to fun, albeit stupid, rock […]
I’ve had several mentors in my journey as a filmmaker and each of them has offered great lessons and insights, often without even trying. Some I sought out, others arrived in my life at just the right time. Through each of them, I have come into contact with a wealth of knowledge and experience that […]