Ep 419 - Party Like It's 1999 w/ Ross Benes

Here's our attempt to put Charlie Kirk's assassination in the context of the algorithmic dream world we inhabit, the queer libidinal dimensions of love and murder, and the larger politics of incompetent maniacs in the driver's seat of global power. This is a preview clip from a much longer and wider-ranging discussion, for Nostalgia Trap subscribers. Listen to the whole episode with a FREE 7-day trial of our Patreon Feed

Like many hip youngsters of my generation, at some point in my twenties I got Jazz-pilled by Beat literature, with writers like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg name-dropping bop-era musicians like Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and many more, sending me to Limewire to download mp3s of 1950s and 1960s Jazz. In recent years, my casual appreciation has turned into a more intense investigation of music history and practice, particularly after discovering “The Grape,” a Jazz club in my neighborhood that’s overflowing with colorful characters and musical adventure. My guest today is one of those characters: Monte Montgomery is a multi-instrumentalist, former touring funk guitarist, and all around hip music dude. In this conversation, he shares highlights from his decades in music, from playing funk with a group of Black GIs on a military base in Germany at the age of 17, to entertaining celebrities and insanely rich people on the Beverly Hills philanthropic event circuit, to his current gig holding court on piano, guitar, and drums every Tuesday night at The Grape. Check out my new ‘90s music podcast/video series with John Lombardo, 120 MONTHS: https://substack.com/@120months Listen to our special News Trap episode on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with Justin Rogers-Cooper: https://www.patreon.com/posts/news-trap-8-30-w-137726055  Subscribe to the Nostalgia Trap Patreon for FREE to get updates on all our podcasts, videos, and writing:  patreon.com/nostalgiatrap    

It's hard to believe, but today it's been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, a mega-event that, in hindsight, seems like a critical moment for understanding our current reality. This week Justin and I talk about Katrina as a wormhole into a dark present, as we reflect on several threads from the disaster in New Orleans, including climate capitalism, "organized abandonment," racialized brutality, human trafficking, privatized fascism, social media clout chasing, and more. Let's take a ride from Katrina to Gaza, and survey the architecture of history that bridges them. Listen to the full episode w a FREE 7 Day Trial of our Patreon 

NOTE: This is a cross-post of my new podcast, 120 MONTHS, all about '90s music. I think Nostalgia Trap listeners will dig it. Follow the links to keep up with all our episodes! --------- After listening and re-listening to the playlist for January 1990, I couldn’t stop thinking about The Sundays. Their album Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic stood out, not just as the best album of that month, but for producing an uncanny sense of nostalgia for the lost world of the pre-Internet 1990s. This week’s guest, David Humphries, a professor of English at Queensborough Community College in New York City, knows exactly what I’m talking about. Last year he co-edited an excellent project on ‘90s music, a collection of writing called Happy Nostalgia: Making Connections with the Music of the ‘90s. His own essay, “A Couple Centuries of Sundays,” reflects on the things that make The Sundays’ music so special, and he joins me on the podcast for a conversation about analog culture, lazy days on empty college campuses, the wider world of ‘90s music and, of course, the singular appeal of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. Subscribe to the 120 MONTHS Substack: https://substack.com/@120months Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/120_months/  

February 1990 was a wild month in music, with new album releases from Oingo Boingo, Everything But the Girl, The Cramps, Primus, The Highwaymen, Midnight Oil, and Guided By Voices.  All paying subscribers (at any level) of Nostalgia Trap get a full 120 Months Substack subscription: https://www.patreon.com/nostalgiatrap Listen to the February 1990 playlist:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7cJqeGIUsNXmVkWYWlGzee?si=V8rVdTEVRBucjSyfE76aQw Follow our Spotify for all our ‘90s playlists: https://open.spotify.com/user/parsonsdlp?si=1cd4dca3de484ac5 Substack: https://substack.com/@120months Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/120_months/  

Global capital is currently putting more resources into building AI infrastructure than any other mass project in human history, with little evidence that AI can ever turn the kind of profits needed to make it all worth it. Why? Justin Rogers-Cooper brings the data and the perspective to the AI masterplan, offering some ideas about what’s REALLY going on with the tech gambit, how the risk is being cleverly hidden, and why this moment foretells an economic and social crisis whose scale is unimaginable. Subscribe for a FREE 7 day trial and listen to the whole episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/news-trap-8-15-w-136575689 We also, of course, discuss 90s music. Speaking of which, here’s some links to check out my new podcast, 120 MONTHS. If you can spare a moment, I’d deeply appreciate some likes/follows/5 star reviews on Apple to help game the algorithm and launch this new project in style. Thanks! Substack: https://substack.com/@120months Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/120-months-podcast/id1833028709

I'm very excited to present the very first episode of my new podcast/YouTube channel/online content thing, 120 MONTHS. This is a project that I've been wanting to do for a very long time. Along with my good friend John Lombardo, I'm listening to all the major music releases of the 1990s, IN ORDER, month by precious nostalgic month, from January 1990 to December 1999. I know, it's A LOT. But what else is there for us anymore, beyond the endless pleasures and pain of retreating into the past? A bit about John: I first met him in 1995, when I was a nerdy high school kid and he was an extremely cool local celebrity. As the lead singer of an alternative rock band that toured with bands like Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and many more, John was tapped into scenes that I could only imagine. He has a ton of crazy stories, and a lot to say about how music evolved during the era. I'm very much looking forward to sharing the conversations we're having on the show. We're creating Spotify playlists so you can listen along to all the music we're tracking on the show, and we've got a Substack page where you can find all of our 90s music content along with extra goodies for paid subscribers. I would love if you'd follow us there. If you like Nostalgia Trap, I think you'll dig 120 MONTHS. I'll be sending out some special discount stuff for our Substack to anyone who follows/subscribes to the Trap Patreon, so keep an eye on your inbox. And below there are some links to find the whole 120 MONTHS universe. And don't worry: Nostalgia Trap isn't going anywhere. This is just a new space to talk in detail about a weird, wonderful moment in the history of American music. I hope you'll join us! Substack: https://substack.com/@120months YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@120Months Spotify (podcast): https://open.spotify.com/show/1V3dm0LthMG5xzZwTaSpjK?si=7539d40d3fc4403e Spotify (playlists): https://open.spotify.com/user/parsonsdlp?si=b1d40c1c852449e8 Apple (podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/120-months-podcast/id1833028709 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/120_months/  

Was 1999 the inflection point in American culture and politics? Writer Ross Benes joins me this week to talk about his book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times. Ross’s work connects the trashy Americana of Jerry Springer, pro wrestling, Insane Clown Posse, and a million other bits of carnival weirdness to the larger political economy of the late 90s, and in this conversation he offers his takes on why so-called “low culture” really matters. Support the show and access our giant library of bonus content on our Patreon page

The Jeffrey Epstein saga continues to have legs, and this week Justin and I talk about what makes the story so appealing and operative for so many Americans, as we interrogate the elements of storytelling, virality, sex, and power that control our attention and shape our reality. Along the way we've got takes on South Park, the Coldplay viral video, the Moscow Idaho murder trial, Tony Soprano, Zohran Mamdani's chances in NYC, Elon Musk's genocidal soul, Epstein's sexy painting of Bill Clinton, and lots more. Click here to listen to the whole episode 

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a towering figure in American cinema whose death in 2014 left a big gaping hole in the culture. I really think there has never been anyone really like him, before or since, on the screen. In this conversation, Justin Rogers-Cooper joins me to reflect on Hoffman’s body of work, the particular power he brought to his performances in a wide range of movies, and the profound legacy he occupies in our “cringe” era. Listen to the full episode