Russellarbenfox
MY BLOGS
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In Medias Res
http://inmedias.blogspot.com/
Essays, notes, and fragments--personal, political, and philosophical--from the midst of things
LATEST ARTICLES ( 588 )
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Putting the Demos on a Pedestal
[Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] In the preface to Why Liberalism Failed, the manuscript of which “was completed three weeks before the 2016 presidential... Read more
Posted on 06 June 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Every Breath You Take"
This is the big one, folks, or at least one of the very biggest. Go back to this very week, 40 years ago, and the summer of Synchronicity--the fifth, last, and... Read more
Posted on 05 June 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"
I was never a big fan of The Human League, whose second American hit, "(Keep Feeling) Fascination," started to climb up the Billboard charts 40 years ago this... Read more
Posted on 29 May 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
Here it is, folks--the Eurythmics's Annie Lennox, wearing a business suit, leather gloves, and a buzz-cut, swinging a dominatrix's cane and singing "Sweet Dream... Read more
Posted on 22 May 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Come Dancing"
There is probably no other song that I'll be featuring in this series this year that has less to do with my overall thesis about 1983 than The Kinks's "Come... Read more
Posted on 15 May 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Our House"
Ska! I'm sure I didn't know the word when I first heard this delightfully bonkers song by the great two-tone band Madness on the radio sometime in 1983 (it firs... Read more
Posted on 08 May 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Mornin'"
What better song from my memories and the Billboard charts of 1983 could I pull out for today, May 1, May Day, Beltane, etc., than this one? I can't imagine. Read more
Posted on 01 May 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83 Special: "I Melt With You"
This series is based on the Top 40 Billbord charts of 1983, and my memories of what I heard on the radio that year, and not much else. But for "I Melt With You,... Read more
Posted on 29 April 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Too Shy"
Another classic one-hit wonder of the 1980s, at least insofar as American radio is concerned. I've already featured four so far, and there are many more to come... Read more
Posted on 24 April 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Electric Avenue"
Eddy Grant actually encapsulates so much of what my whole thesis regarding 1983 is all about, except that what he encapsulates--the racially mixed bands and... Read more
Posted on 17 April 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "She's a Beauty"
I wrote earlier that I have a fondness for every song in this series. Well, let me qualify that a little bit, because "She's a Beauty"--the biggest radio hit... Read more
Posted on 10 April 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Rio"
Ah, Duran Duran. A hugely successful New Wave band that I can remember somehow not taking fully seriously even back when I was cranking up the radio to listen... Read more
Posted on 03 April 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Let's Dance"
"Let's Dance," the lead single of David Bowie's album of the same title, entered the Billboard charts 40 years ago this week. I have a fondness for every old... Read more
Posted on 27 March 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Always Something There to Remind Me"
It wasn't until I grew older, and I came to really appreciate the complex beauty of Burt Bacharch's smooth orchestral pop sounds, that I realized what an... Read more
Posted on 20 March 2023 SOCIETY -
On Latimer, Localism, Liberalism, and Democracy
[Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic] Trevor Latimer’s Small Isn’t Beautiful: The Case Against Localism deeply engaged me, but not in a positive way, at least... Read more
Posted on 15 March 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Photograph"
Def Leppard was one of the major bands of the second wave of British heavy metal--meaning post-Led Zeppelin, post-Deep Purple, and post all the changes which... Read more
Posted on 13 March 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Your Love is Driving Me Crazy"
The week after Prince's defining, outrageous, brilliantly sexualized combination of the classic car and classic one-night-stand song, "Little Red Corvette,"... Read more
Posted on 06 March 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "Little Red Corvette"
Forty years ago this week, Prince's "Little Red Corvette" (not his greatest song, nor my favorite, but quite arguably his single most iconic and best... Read more
Posted on 27 February 2023 SOCIETY -
Songs of '83: "She Blinded Me with Science"
Yet another one-hit wonder! (And still not the last.) Thomas Dolby recorded and released this song in the UK in 1982 (where it was a complete flop), after havin... Read more
Posted on 20 February 2023 SOCIETY -
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back for Kansas Republicans
Last weekend Mike Brown, a former Johnson County commissioner and a failed primary candidate for GOP Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s job, and someone who has... Read more
Posted on 17 February 2023 SOCIETY