Tag Archives: Buddy Holly

Influential Albums – 1) Boink!!

Posted on June 1, 2020 by nathanielwms

To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. This was the second Replacements “album” I … Continue reading →

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Influential Albums – 3) The Complete Buddy Holly

Posted on May 30, 2020 by nathanielwms

To celebrate the upcoming publication of my short story, “The Record Collector,” I’m finally doing the “post an influential album each day for 10 days” thing that several friends challenged me to do. This was the first box set I … Continue reading →

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Songs My Old Band Covered (Music Nostalgia)

Posted on December 22, 2014 by nathanielwms

Every now and then, someone asks me “What did you old band sound like?”  I often answer this by listing a few of the bands we covered rather than trying to explain the music in words. So, here’s a personal … Continue reading →

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What is That Junk??

Posted on July 2, 2013 by nathanielwms

There’s a lot of junk in the photo at the top of the page.  It could be my own personal voodoo shrine.  Nope.  It’s a collection of pop culture items that I’ve accumulated over the years.  Tchotcskies.  Lagniappes.  Whate’er you … Continue reading →

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What Will We Be Nostalgic for in the Future?

Posted on June 19, 2013 by nathanielwms

The last writing assignment from my Topics in the Novel class asked a simple question that applied our discussion of books like Ragtime, …Kavalier and Clay, and Boneshaker: What part of our current culture will illicit nostalgia in the future? … Continue reading →

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Final Exam Questions: Steampunk, Nostalgia, SF Novels

Posted on June 12, 2013 by nathanielwms

Because it’s finals week at UC Davis, I thought I’d go ahead and publicly post the final exam questions from last quarter’s novels class on nostalgia and desiderium.  Here’s a taste of the questions I asked.  Students could write about … Continue reading →

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Buddy Holly, Woody Guthrie, and Alternate History SF

Posted on May 7, 2013 by nathanielwms

Quite possibly the best record review I ever read was an alternate history tale in disguise. I’ve spent a decent chunk of free time scouring the online archives of the great Americana magazine No Depression trying to find a reprint … Continue reading →

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Buddy Holly, Bradley Denton, and Bahktin

Posted on March 15, 2013 by nathanielwms

I’m almost reluctant to write about Brad Denton’s Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede because I’ll be talking about it in my Eaton Science Fiction Conference paper on retro-futurism and nostalgia.  Instead of covering that material here, I … Continue reading →

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A Kansas City Labrick in California, Part 3

Posted on February 27, 2013 by nathanielwms

It has been brought to my attention that the term “Kansas City Labrick” may in fact be a geo-social redundancy, akin to “pushy New Yorker” or “dumbass Texan”*. *Any offended Texans, please note that the last one comes directly from … Continue reading →

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Howard Waldrop Saves the Day!

Posted on February 25, 2013 by nathanielwms

If you know Howard Waldrop’s classic short story “Save a Place in the Lifeboat for Me,” (from his collection, Howard Who?) you know it pulls off a sci-fi/magical-realist blend of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the “Day the Music … Continue reading →

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February 3rd, 2009 – A First Draft

Posted on February 3, 2013 by nathanielwms

File this under “strange things music nostalgia will drive you to do.” Four years ago today, on the 50th anniversary of their deaths, I drove to Clear Lake, Iowa and walked to the crash site of the plane that carried … Continue reading →

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