Why It Matters

Blog: https://wimwords.com/
Profile: https://wimwords.com/author/jostaffordjr/
Homepage: http://jamesostafford.com

Throw Beck Thursday: Better Living Through Everybodyism

Enough with the -ism schism already. Let’s try including everybody by including everybody. We are drowning in a pool of -isms: liberalism, conservatism, feminism, veganism, capitalism, socialism. We view the world through our prisms of -isms, and then we wonder why no one else sees things as we do. Don’t get me wrong: Your -ism…
On Diffuser: The Roots of Indie — The Buzzcocks’ ‘Spiral Scratch”

Everything has a first. Often I wonder about the first guy to soak an olive in brine before eating it. Was he trying to win a bet? Was it a practical joke that turned out to be delicious? There was a first moment for pretty much anything that you can imagine (including imagining). When it…
Deep Cuts: Tattoo Songs

A thousand years ago when Jody and I were arguing over tattoos, they weren’t ubiquitous. Sailors had them, grandfathers, carnies — why a beautiful girl like Jody wanted one made no sense to me. Within a couple of years, the whole modern primitive thing exploded. Tattoos and body piercings became as common as earrings and…
On Diffuser: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Turns 48

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band isn’t my favorite Beatles album. Yes it is. No it isn’t. What time is it?
219. The Mid-Twenty Joys Around A Heart That’s Black and Blue

My next movie had a lot of buzz around it, which was strange. The unwritten rule of the film business was to downplay the movie one was working on, or downright call it a piece of garbage. “What am I doing? Oh, some stupid movie. I can’t remember the name — Gone With the Wind…
From The Stacks: Dale Jacobs – ‘Cobra’

Who knew that Canada was harboring a potential jazz fusion superstar?
On Diffuser: I Thought I Bought A Butcher Cover But I Really Bought An Obligation

Are you freaking kidding me? A butcher cover in my local record store?
Choose and Defend: The Million Dollar Decision

Once upon a time I had an online friend named Laura B. She was funny, smart, clever, and supportive. Laura was also a librarian, which doesn’t have anything to do with this story, but what a cool gig. Anyway, Laura ran a little blog, and her most popular recurring feature was “Choose and Defend Wednesday.”…
On Diffuser: The Roots of Indie: ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ Original Soundtrack

Man, what a great movie, and what an amazing soundtrack.
On Loudwire: The Sounds of Summer

I’ve done a few pieces for Loudwire over the last few months, but this is a whole new thing. Rather than concert coverage or an interview, the editors over there took a chance on the kind of essay that I write for Diffuser or here at Why It Matters.