March, 2025 - The Constant Bleeder

The Takeovers
Turn to Red
2006, The Fading Captain Series

I recommend making bold statements sometimes. I’ve heard that it’s good for your circulation.

My bold statement of the day is that Robert Pollard fans have more FUN than any other fans in rock music. What sets Pollard fandom apart is that it’s long-sustained fun. I’ve been on this ride for thirty years now and it’s still going.

Now I’m not saying that those of us who know our Mars Classroom from our Elephant Jokes are guaranteed to throw the craziest parties or be the most enthusiastic whitewater rafters, but when it comes to having over 100 albums of music to explore and re-explore as we follow an eccentric genius who won’t take a year off and is determined to use rock music to draw his own step-by-step map of the insights and calamities of aging, I think that us Pollard freaks have it pretty good. Things are always happening. We never get radio silence.

Had my formative influences been a little different, maybe I’d be a Juggalo today and I’d have no idea who Robert Pollard is and I’m glad that didn’t happen.

Continue reading “Robert Pollard-Mania! #105: TURN TO RED”

Julee Cruise
Floating Into the Night
1989, Warner Bros.

February is a miserable month, maybe even the worst month. By this point, I’m not just over winter, but I’m actively offended by it. My Texan body chemistry craves warmth. Any weather that makes me put on gloves and a scarf is an insult and I take it very personally. In February, I blame the cold for all of my problems.

Why is this article late? February, goddammit. It fucks me up. I’d be happy to sleep through it.

Sure, winters here aren’t too bad compared to other places. It’s not unusual to get a week or so of T-shirt weather while northerners are seeing blizzards. However, in February the threat of an Arctic blast always looms. The 65-degree days will become 25-degree days again, often overnight, and I’ll not only be shivering but feel seriously jerked around.

While I’m bitching, the Super Bowl can go to hell and I don’t think that anyone likes Valentine’s Day. Even February’s special traditions suck.

The only nice thing I have to say about February is that Twin Peaks music sounds extra good during this time of year. Perhaps it means something that the series begins in February (see Agent Cooper’s famous “11:30 AM, February 24th” monologue in the pilot).

In even Angelo Badalamenti’s most beautiful pieces of music for David Lynch’s film and television projects–and most of them are stunningly beautiful–there’s a disturbance in between the notes, a demon hiding in the silk. You can’t see her, but she’s there giving an eerie edge to these hushed and pretty pop songs. It’s this tension that makes Floating Into the Night a good fit for the unrest of February.

Continue reading “Things I Will Keep #27: JULEE CRUISE, Floating Into the Night”