Candy Jail

Consider this the end of Season 1. Thanks and stay tuned!

The final installment of our deep dive into the second Silver Jews album. David Berman recorded on Drag City records.

The second part of our deep dive into the 1996 Silver Jews album The Natural Bridge. Silver Jews recorded on Drag City records.

Part one of our deep dive into the 1996 Silver Jews album The Natural Bridge. Silver Jews recorded on Drag City records.

We discuss Christian Petzold’s 2014 film, Phoenix, in all of its preposterously implausible and emotionally poignant glory. We also explore the film’s explicit connections to Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary 1958 film, Vertigo. Intro and outro music: Candy Jail, by Silver Jews

This episode marks our first deep dive into Silver Jews’ first studio album, Starlite Walker.  Note: Due to technical issues (and apparently the fact that it’s no one’s favorite SJ song) there is no audio snippet for Tide to the Oceans. Silver Jews recorded on Drag City records.

Ahead of our first Silver Jews album breakdown, we turn our attention to the most un-Berman of bands. We discuss Phil Joanou’s 1988 documentary Rattle and Hum, and ponder superstardom, super fandom, and the role our favorite bands play in shaping identity. Come for the love, stay for the hate. Also mentioned: David Berman (holy shit didn't see that coming), Naomi Klein, Phil Elverum, Drive-By Truc...

What happens when a French philosopher writes about photography while grieving for his mother? Did you think that was the setup to a Freudian joke? What’s wrong with you? You people make us sick. The wonderful Helen Miller joins us to discuss Roland Barthes’ seminal photography text Camera Lucida. Also mentioned: John Berger, Giorgio Agamben, Aristotle, Georges Perec, Geoffrey Batchen, La Jetée, W...

After much procrastinating and shoegazing we peel ourselves away from the punch bowl to ask if you’d like to hear us talk about a man named David Berman. Also mentioned: U2, Guns n Roses, Tori Amos, Father John Misty, Lana Del Rey, Doseone, The Microphones, Dan Bejar David Berman recorded on Drag City Records.

Mr. Hallorann, what’s in Room 237? We watch Rodney Ascher’s 2012 documentary and ponder whether there really is such a thing as a harmless conspiracy theory. Also mentioned: The X-Files, NXIVM, When Prophecy Fails, Kurt Vonnegut, Inglourious Basterds, Vic Chesnutt. The pastor Brendan mentioned is Dan Barker. The cult expert is Stephen Hassan. Opening and closing theme: Silver Jews, Candy Jail

One of us reads Stephen King for the first time and we both revisit the familiar haunts of Stanley Kubrick's film. 

You may not be able to be neutral on a moving train, but you can certainly punch Nazis on one.  Why don’t franchises know when to die? Why, in spite of our trenchant trash talk, do we keep watching these movies? Is America’s unique denial of death expressing itself through these films? Also, Nazi punching.  Also mentioned: Steven Spielberg, Siegfried Kracauer, James Bond, Black Panther,...

Can reflecting upon the legacy of the Weather Underground help us today to develop strategies to change the world for the better? Book: Dan Berger's Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity.  (Available here .) Also mentioned: Underground (1976), The Weather Underground (2002), Jean Amery, CS Lewis, an imaginary version of King Lear Intro and Outro Music: Can...

Are all autobiographies bullshit? Can anyone really truly know themselves? Is there a "self" at all? We fumble for answers to these questions during our discussion of Edouard Levé's experimental (anti) memoir, Autoportrait.  Also mentioned: Jean Amery, Georges Perec, Fernando Pessoa, Ulysses Also existentially disturbing: the audio glitch around 8:05. Apologies. 

Who were the Symbionese Liberation Army, what did they want, and how do they fit into the histories (and legacies) of Leftist movements? Film: Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst (2004) available here . Also mentioned: The Weather Underground, A Raisin in the Sun Intro music: Silver Jews, Candy Jail Outro music: Jefferson Airplane, We Can Be Together

Why does inspiration arrive, where does it go when it leaves, and how do you get it to come back? We discuss Vladimir Nabokov’s 1972 essay “ On Inspiration .” Also mentioned: JD Salinger, Walt Whitman, Charles Bukowski, David Lynch, Keith Jarrett, Lana Del Rey, Saul Friedlander

One of us is shaken by, and the other skeptical of, Christian Tafdrup's 2022 film Speak No Evil.  Speak No Evil is available here . Also mentioned: Ikiru, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kafka, Raul Hillberg

What makes movies so special? Can art be “political” without being didactic? Are superhero movies fundamentally fascist? We discuss Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and A.O. Scott's decision to leave film criticism.