You can listen to or download Episode 5 here . Hot? Because it was nice and toasty inside the office when I recorded this episode, and turning on the air conditioning would have resulted in a background noise even more annoying than listening to this hour-long monologue. Bothered? Maybe not so much. I was a little annoyed, but the show turned out to be less obnoxious or rude than I intended for it to be. Some things and people just aren’t […]
R.I.P.
R.I.P. Gary Coleman
I was trying really hard not to kick off Memorial Day weekend on a sad note. Gary Coleman, most famous for playing Arnold on the TV series “Diff’rent Strokes” in the late Seventies and Eighties, passed away yesterday due to a brain hemorrhage sustained during a fall at his home. He was 42 years old. My first thought is, geez, how tragic. 42 years old is way too young for anyone to go. Not only that, but by most accounts […]
Blerd Radio Episode 4: Dude, You're in My Seat
Blerd Radio celebrates a milestone this week! Well, no we don’t. But I couldn’t think of a more dramatic way to introduce Episode 4 . On this episode, I am joined once again by my boy +LB, who was awakened out of peaceful slumber by a text from yours truly saying “Dude! The show starts in ten minutes!”. I am also joined by Jay, who hosts the much more professional (and funnier, and more drunken) Brink of Sanity Podcast . Not only is +LB my first […]
R.I.P. Lena Horne
There are very few living ties to the older era of black entertainment-a time when our people struggled for respect and equal pay instead of getting locked up every three days and degrading ourselves with lyrical filth. We just lost one of those ties with the passing of Miss Lena Horne at the age of 92. She was an actress, a singer and an activist, boldly jeopardizing the advancement of her career in order to bring attention to the political […]
Saturday Backspin: "Trust Me"
It doesn’t make sense to have a hip-hop segment to this blog and not take the time to acknowledge Guru. Stepping away from Gang Starr for a second, Guru should be recognized for two things in particular. One is being the ambassador for hip-hop in Boston. How many other popular rappers have come out of Beantown? Ed O.G. was moderately successful, but never had the sales or critical respect that Gang Starr had. After that, there’s…Marky Mark? So, yeah-pretty easy […]
Hip-Hop Loses One of It's Most Unique Voices: R.I.P. Guru
Over the weekend, it struck me that I hadn’t heard any news on the condition of Keith Elam AKA Guru. Guru-1/2 of legendary hip-hop duo Gang Starr as well as a solo artist-suffered a heart attack and had slipped into a coma a month or so ago. I woke up this morning to the sad news that Guru had passed away. Not only was Guru almost solely responsible for putting Boston on the hip-hop map, but he’s also one of […]
Blerd Appreciation: Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren, who passed away today, is best known for managing The Sex Pistols. He was pretty much one of the creators of the Seventies punk image. Although I find “Never Mind the Bollocks…” virtually unlistenable, there’s no way that I would deny the impact it had on music and pop culture in general. McLaren also discovered Bow Wow Wow and Boy George, thus being an integral part of the “second British invasion” in the Eighties. However, I hear the […]
R.I.P. Corey Haim
So I’m thinking back to 1986 and 1987. At the time, I was in the midst of a three year stretch living in Michigan with my mom and stepdad. I would spend summers at my grandparents’ place in Brooklyn (where I lived before and after that three-year stretch) along with various other relatives, including one cousin who was totally into the teenage pop culture of the time (I was a couple of years younger). In addition to the magazines I […]
Blerd Appreciation: B.I.G. Forever
A lot of things go into making a great emcee. You’ve got to have a great delivery, a unique voice, a strong vocabulary, the ability to create an impactful punchline or a memorable verse, emotional resonance (or just plain old heart), charisma, and you’ve got to have good narrative skills. A truly legendary emcee possesses all of those traits, and there are only a handful of rappers who can rate near the top of all of those categories: The Notorious […]