Pop Culture Affidavit – Two True Freaks

It’s the 40th anniversary of one of the biggest albums of the Eighties, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. Join me as I go through the album song by song, look at a few of my favorite B-sides, and talk about why it’s one of my favorite albums of all time.

In 1984, DC Comics published a Robotech miniseries as a tie-in with the Revell model company. But Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, Lynn Minmei, the SDF-1 or anything else we know and love from Robotech was nowhere to be seen. Titled Robotech Defenders, it was a three-part miniseries that became a two-part miniseries and that lack of success meant it faded into obscurity pretty quickly.

So what was Robotech Defenders?

Join me as I take a look at the Revell models, the DC Comics miniseries and what, if any, ties it has to the classic Harmony Gold-produced cartoon.

Maybe it’s a lyric. Or a guitar solo. Or the bridge. Whatever it may be, there’s always small parts to songs that you remember. Taking inspiration from a 2004 Retrocrush post, I’m giving you a list of some of my favorite song parts. From classic tunes of the 1960s and ’70s to R&B breakdowns of the ’90s, there a lot to listen to. Maybe you’ll think of some of your own!

Worlds lived. Worlds died. The universe was never the same. But it took a little while for that universe to never be the same, and in this episode, I take a look at the period between December 1985 and July 1986 where DC’s titles began their post-Crisis eras, wrapped up things leftover from before the Crisis, or ended their eras altogether. From the continuing adventures of the Titans to the Last Days of The Justice Society of America and finding out Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, it’s a curious bit of DC continuity.

It’s time once again to dive into The Uncollecting! In this year’s episode, I take a look at the PBS series Legacy List With Matt Paxton along with articles that explore the “legacies” of our generations’ past, like brown furniture and memorabilia collections that are left behind. I also give my own update on how this now long-running project has been going.

It’s episode 150 of the show, and for this episode, I revisit my series of episodes about America: its history, its people, and its culture. After talking about my interest in books about American “stories” (and the many books I’ve read over the years), I return to Peter Jenkins’ A Walk Across America by looking at its newly published “sequels”: Barbara Jenkins’ book So Long As It’s Wild and Jedediah Jenkins’ book Mother, Nature.

A corporation is blasting and drilling for oil and if they don’t find it at Site A, they’re going to dynamite a Site B and that means killing Santa! Take a trip back with me to North Pole City in 1984 as I review the TV movie The Night They Saved Christmas starring Jacklyn Smith and Art Carney.

Set at the end of the 1980s, Déjà View is a coming of age novel with a supernatural elements, and joining me for this episode is its author, Michael Thomas Perone. We sit down to talk about his novels Déjà View and Danger Peak and the inspirations behind them.

My trilogy of nostalgia-fueled movies comes to an end with a look at The Big Chill, Lawrence Kasdan’s iconic 1983 film that was a touchstone for the Baby Boomer generation. Along for the ride with me is Michael Bailey, who talks about the film and its impact on us as children of those Boomers as well as the movie’s best-selling soundtrack.

It’s that time of year again!

The Baltimore Comic-Con was held the weekend of September 8-10 and once again Tom and Brett were there. Join us as we talk about what we saw and what we bought; plus, interviews with Joe Staton and John K. Snyder III.

Music in this episode is “Retro Arcade” by Beat Mekanik and is used under Creative Commons via the Free Music Archive.