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  • Dave Kendall, creator and host of MTV’s 120 Minutes, has passed away.

    The British-born Kendall conceived 120 Minutes after joining MTV as a producer, pitching the network a dedicated program for the punk, post-punk, goth, synth-pop, ska, and other underground sounds largely ignored by corporate rock radio. 120 Minutes debuted on March 10th, 1986, and Kendall later served as its host from 1989 through 1992. “By far the most important thing about 120 Minutes was that it acted as a distribution channel for organic musical produce, if you will,” Kendall told CONSEQUENCE in a 2016 interview. “The only other outlet for non-mainstream music at the time was a few local college radio stations.”

    Apparently, Kendall was the force behind getting the show greenlit. You know he must have had to push just to get a terrible time slot like 12am on a Sunday night. I think I learned how to program my VCR just so I could record 120 Minutes. It was a school night, after all.

    Matt Pinfield, the last to host the show, offered a tribute on Instagram.

  • Jay Peters reports for The Verge about the year-over-year rise in the number of CDs being purchased.

    The data suggests that “the CD has been recontextualized from a functional audio format into an affordable collectible,” Luminate says. “This behavior underscores that for younger generations, the act of buying physical music is as much about aesthetic ownership and direct financial support for the artist as it is listening to the music on the product itself.”

    The surprise here is that approximately half of the Gen Z and millennials buying CDs don’t even own a device on which to play them. It’s still about that connection, though. I admitted the other day that I sometimes listen to a CD even when I could just as easily (more easily even) stream the album.

  • Just updated my now page (birthdays edition).

  • A wood cassette shelf full of used Reba McEntire tapes.

    Found this impressive collection of used Reba McEntire cassettes.

    “Y’all can we not?”

    Fediverse reactions

  • I’ve had some problems with the plugin, but I’ve been really impressed with how aggressively the @wordpress.org team has been integrating the ATmosphere.

    Love the ability to @-mention users and have those users get notified.

    Fediverse reactions

  • I don’t think this is what St. Gregory Palamas used. At least some of the funds go to a good cause, though.

  • Qobuz finally added the one feature I was really missing: The ability to download songs while not in the app.

  • Brandon writes about having Reverse SAD — seasonal affective disorder that occurs during the summer instead of the winter.

    Research also suggests that high temperatures might play a role in reverse SAD. Notable differences between summer and winter SAD are that summer SAD individuals may typically feel manic, whereas those with winter SAD lack energy. Georgetown University psychiatrist and professor Norman Rosenthal, who first described and coined the term Seasonal Affective Disorder, notes that the drop in temperature can be calming for those people, who might otherwise find the summer heat oppressive and agitating.

    I am totally feeling this. When it’s 100 degrees actual temperature outside, like it was today, it’s easy to feel confined and isolated.

  • The Flag by Georgia O’Keeffe via The Internet Archive

    Trying to get into the Semisequicentennial spirit.

  • Psalm 52 by Seth T. Hahne