Bon Jovi’s new album is titled 2020; a simple idea for a simple record … in a complicated year. And Bon Jovi, who has always excelled at simplicity, could be what some people need right now. 2020 Bon Jovi Island Records, Oct. 2 6/10 But not everyone. Calling Bon…

Insert Foot vs. boyfriends and National Daughters Day. Social media told me Saturday was National Daughters Day, which I didn’t know existed. My first thought was to wonder if Iron Maiden celebrates “Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter” day. My second thought was to think my first thought was…

In this shitbag year of 2020 A.D. (Absolute Deception? Assembly of Dicks? All Duck?), a punk rocker with a brain fine-tuned to sweet melody, about to turn 60 all while still raking musical muck—is literally beautiful music to the ears. Not that anyone should expect anything else from Bob Mould.…

Insert Foot ignoring reality by doing some light reading. You want hope that 2020 will work itself out anytime soon? Sorry. This is where your dreams come to die today. Here’s how optimistic I am the virus-soaked coast will clear to emerge from our dark corner/mother’s basement/fire shelter made…

Insert Foot Loves The Boss. What happens when Bruce Springsteen is no longer around to scrape us from the pavement after life rips out our guts and smashes the rest into the ground? Excuse me if I just don’t see BTS or Cardi B coming to sooth our troubled…

Insert Foot and the Cave of Solitude. Photo: Alberto Loyo/Shutterstock. So, the plan is to write in Kanye West’s name when we all vote in November … right, you guys? Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. Guys? Why not? How is Kanye West not a viable candidate for president in 2020–the year…

Insert Foot Vs. Donald Trump. It’s just another Scrambled Sunday, when ideas for making an omelet frequently become trying to salvage messy eggs from a burned skillet. Another of my go-to phrases over the years has been “Irony can be so ironic.” I don’t remember where it came from;…

Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. If you’ve watched a lot of Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom—whatever, you’ve witnessed the time-lapse scenery progressions of the African watering hole, as the animals continue to show up despite the lake becoming a pond, then a puddle, then mud. Then the…

Insert Foot vs. risking your life at drive-in concerts. A RIFF editor recently asked me to cover an upcoming drive-in concert by Sublime with Rome at a local fairground, drive-in lot, or giant field of wheat in the middle of … somewhere. I was informed it’s one of the…

Insert Foot vs. the future, and the possible end of the old guard like Fleetwood Mac. Photo and rendering: Roman Gokhman/STAFF. People love to say something is “the end of an era.” Usually it’s someone older than you, trying to say they remember when things were better. Or, in…