Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 622 )

• Songs of '78: "Fool (If You Think It's Over)"

  

  Chris Rea, an English musician who has had a long and productive career in the United Kingdom and throughout western Europe, released his debut album, Whatever... Read more

  Posted on 07 July 2018 SOCIETY

• What Do Farmers Want?

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]The obvious response to the title of this post is: I don't know; why don't you ask one? Well, Richard Wuthnow and his... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78: "Driver's Seat"

  

  Pop radio and the music industry which enabled and profited from it was a mystery 40 years ago--at least from the excruciatingly well-documented,... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2018 SOCIETY

• Getting Political in Response to Wichita's Problems

  

  [This is an expanded and more contextualized version of the editorial which appeared in the Wichita Eagle this morning.]James Chung is a business analyst and... Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78: "Hot Child in the City"

  

  Forty years ago today "Hot Child in the City," the first and only single off Nick Gilder's album City Nights, was released. Three quick points: 1) Don't even... Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78: "Far Awar Eyes" and "Just My Imagination"

  

  I said the Rolling Stones' Some Girls was the big one, as far as my memories of 1978 are concerned, and I wasn't kidding. "Miss You" was just the beginning;... Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78: "Copacabana"

  

  Yes, there were the Cars, and the Rolling Stones, and Joe Walsh, and Van Halen, and Cheap Trick, and Eric Clapton, and more. But it was still, you know, the... Read more

  Posted on 01 June 2018 SOCIETY

• Mid-Sized Meditations #15: Naftzger Park, Planning, and the Problem of "Growth"

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]Naftzger Memorial Park was a small, pleasantly run-down city block of trees, grass, and benches, near the center of... Read more

  Posted on 31 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78: "Just What I Needed"

  

  Forty years ago today, "Just What I Needed," the first single off of the Cars's first album (also titled The Cars), hit the airwaves. What were the Cars? Punk? Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Nature, Wisdom, Spirit, Mother

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]This is an expanded and re-written version of a Mother's Day sermon I gave in church last week, on May 13, 2018. Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78: "Sultans of Swing"

  

  Dire Straits is one of those bands that crept into my consciousness, with me only realizing years afterward that I'd been listening to them for a long time.... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs of '78:"Life's Been Good"

  

  I've never smoked, never consumed any kind of alcoholic beverage, never taken any drug that wasn't an over-the-counter painkiller or something prescribed by a... Read more

  Posted on 16 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Miss You"

  

  This is the big one, folks--or at least, the beginning of the biggest, the first single from the band and the album that looms larger in my mind than almost... Read more

  Posted on 10 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Runnin' with the Devil"

  

  No tricks here, folks: Van Halen's second single, "Runnin' with the Devil," released 40 years ago today off of their debut album, Van Halen, was the first... Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Cocaine"

  

  More cheating. Eric Clapton's version of "Cocaine," a deliriously ambiguous rock song by J.J. Cale--a song that Clapton has insisted is "cleverly... Read more

  Posted on 30 April 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "I Want You To Want Me" and "Surrender"

  

  I'm cheating here (not for the first time, nor for the last). As much as possible, I'm focusing on just one single, memorable pop and rock track each from... Read more

  Posted on 28 April 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "King Tut"

  

  Yes, my focus here is on all the great pop and rock that laid foundation for my radio addiction, 40 years ago. But why not include a joke song like Steve... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2018 SOCIETY

• What Wendell Berry's Brush Teaches Us About Capitalism, Community, and...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]The Art of Loading Brush: New Agrarian Writings, the latest collection of writings by Wendell Berry, isn't a perfect... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "Roxanne"

  

  "Roxanne," The Police's "signature tune according to their bassist, Andy Summers--and he's right; the only song of theirs which might challenge that judgment is... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2018 SOCIETY

• Songs from '78: "With a Little Luck"

  

  Did I know who The Beatles were in 1978? I'm not sure. I have a vague recollection of having seen Yellow Submarine on television at some point as a child (I... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2018 SOCIETY