Category: Rupert Holmes

Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part III

In June and September of 2021, I wrote the first two essays in a series on the evolution of the methods I use to rank my favorite tracks (a term I prefer to “songs”). These essays presented the history of the 309 individual “mix” cassettes, videocassettes and CDs I constructed between August 1981 and August … Continue reading Measuring the Unmeasurable: Ranking One’s Favorite Music, Part III →

Matt Berger Data collection, Depression, Duke Ellington, Epistemology, Genesis, Gordon Lightfoot, Jazz, Jerry Goldsmith, L.A. Confidential, Measurement, Miles Davis, Music, My life, New Wave, Rupert Holmes, Stan Ridgway, Statistical reasonsing, The Smiths, The Waterboys 3 Comments March 31, 2022March 31, 2022 12 Minutes

Crafting the “Soundtrack” to my Interrogating Memory book

In 2005, Rupert Holmes published his second novel, a murder mystery called Swing. Being, well, Rupert Holmes, he also wrote and recorded an accompanying seven-track CD of swing-inflected music; both are well worth finding. The combination, meanwhile, led him to quip, “I’ve been singing songs from my new book.” In the past month, I received … Continue reading Crafting the “Soundtrack” to my Interrogating Memory book →

Matt Berger Bee Gees, Charlie Chan, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, David Lynch, Fiddler on the Roof, Film Noir, Genesis, George Gershwin, Hammett, History, Interrogating Memory, Jazz, Jerry Goldsmith, Jesus Christ Superstar, Judaism, L.A. Confidential, Mark Isham, Miles Davis, Music, My life, Neo Noir, New Wave, Noir City Film Festival, Pale of Settlement, Peter Gabriel, Philadelphia, Robert Hazard and the Heroes, Romance, Roxy Music, Rupert Holmes, Talking Heads, The Beatles, The Cars, The Hooters, The Public Eye, Times Square, Twin Peaks, Yale University 9 Comments January 22, 2022March 25, 2022 26 Minutes

Moving, Non-Publication…and Dada?

I rarely break the fourth wall here: personal stories I tell are usually contextualized within some larger theme, like interrogating memory. Today, however, I speak directly to you – to explain why, after 16 posts in 3½ months, I have not posted since June 25. I will not, however, explain why I did not post … Continue reading Moving, Non-Publication…and Dada? →