Snobbin: Beautiful Trash in the Pop Culture Gutter

Film Twenty Six: Zebrahead (1992). Anthony Drazan's first film documents the relationship between two teenagers: a Jewish DJ Zack (Michael Rappaport) and a black girl Nikki (N'Bushe Wright) at a high school in Detroit. Somewhat of a Romeo and Juliet story, the film quickly establishes friction, stemming from how others view their relationship. Solid performances and an interesting soundtrack do not help the film's success. Zebrahead is an enjoyable film that could be better if it tied up the loose plotlines and actually developed the relationship between Zack and Nikki instead of attempting to comment on inner-city violence, infidelity, and other social issues.

While listening to Green Day's recent BBC Sessions  recordings, I rediscovered several of Warning's best tracks, including the profound "Church on Sunday," a song that feels like a panacea after Insomnia and much of Nimrod . Many people focus on the negativity and anger of Green Day's music, but even in the most negative songs, Billie Joe's lyrics engage through humor and hopefulness. At first, musically, the song feels like just another three-chord Green Day anthem of defeat and broken relationships. The version on the BBC Sessions includes a plaintive saxophone line that underscores, yet rebuts the challenge in Billie Joe's voice and breaks into full euphoric swing during later choruses. The call-and-response aptly resembles the tug and pull of aging relationships.   "Church on Sunday" maintains its analysis of enduring relationships that grow despite stress and change. Compromise is key to success in most life connections, and Billie Joe apt...

Austin Lucas' "Splinters" is one of those songs that sends chills up my spine. Lucas' knowing vocals and his well-chosen lyrics anchor a song of uncompromising beauty and pain. The picking alone at the beginning is enough to nominate it for one of my favorite songs of last year. If I would have paid more attention to the record, it would have certainly made my top ten. I first encountered Lucas on the record that he did with Chuck Ragan, Bristle Ridge, a few years back. I lost track of him until romeosidvicious posted a review of his new record, Stay Reckless on one of my favorite blogs, Nine Bullets, which seems to be all too infrequently updated these days; it's a shame because they always turn me on to great records. Lucas comes on like a bluegrass southern-fried version of Damien Jurado, crafting personal character studies in his songs. "Splinters" speaks to faith, romantic relationships, and the self-doubt that comes with living in this world....