Why It Matters

Blog

wimwords.com/

Profile

wimwords.com/author/jostafford

Homepage

jamesostafford.com

  • Deep Cuts: The Best of Aftershock 2014

    I spent the past weekend like a blister in the sun at Sacramento’s Aftershock Festival. Sweet Gordon’s Gano was it hot. Also hot? Most of the 46 acts sprawled across Discovery Park’s four stages. I was running from stage to stage with the press folks, so I only managed to catch around 35 of the…

  • Aftershock 2014: The Crowd [Photos]

    “What the heck, James? Why photos of the crowd but not the bands?” Good question.

  • This Week On Paste: Best Damn Beer Road Trip-Route 66

    If we were talking right now, you’d hear a slight inflection disrupting my monotone. That’s the sound of tremendous excitement in James Land, and man am I excited about this.

  • 189. Long Legs and Burgundy Lips

    Months passed, and Jody’s and my relationship grew more platonic. She was beautiful and I was 21 years old: platonic was the last thing on my mind.

  • From The Stacks: Rock Out With Your Sac Out (Various Artists)

    Let’s not talk, okay? Let’s just hold hands and stare in wide-eyed wonder at our newest inductee into the Bad Album Cover Hall of Fame.

  • WIM Meets Diffuser.FM (Sort Of)

    Here’s hoping that this is the first of many pieces for the indie music site Diffuser. I really dig the site and the editorial staff over there is great, and they love good music. What’s not to love? My first piece for them is a back to school playlist. We’ve got the Smiths, the Replacements,…

  • Is U2’s New Album Worth Your Zero Dollars?

    Diffuser.fm asked me to put together a review of U2’s latest, and I said “yes please.”

  • From The Stacks: Stoneground (Self-Titled)

    Sometimes digging through the stacks is like discovering some alternate history, a sort of Da Vinci Code excursion in 4/4 time with more cowbell. Here’s an alternate version of early sixties pop, late sixties hippie rock, and seventies yacht rock, all courtesy of Stoneground.

  • Throw Beck Thursday: XI Lessons Learned From “Rocky”

    . Sylvester Stallone got it absolutely right with his 1976 tale of washed up “ham and egger” Rocky Balboa, leg breaker for the local loan shark who gets one last chance at redemption. What makes Rocky one of the greatest sports films of all time is that the Italian Stallion’s redemption occurs as much outside…

  • Deep Cuts: Fleetwood Mac Covers

    Recently I dug an album out of my stacks by Rockets that featured a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well.” Man, what a song. I started thinking of all the great Fleetwood Mac cuts recorded by other artists and, well, there you go. I’ve always felt a little sorry for Fleetwood Mac, which might sound…