Author: zachary.hoskins@gmail.com

  • Jheri Curl June: Atlantic Starr’s “Love Me Down”

    In the first six years of Jheri Curl June, we’ve had occasion to cover two of what I like to call the “Three Stars” of Jheri Curl Music: Midnight Star and Starpoint. So, now that we’re on year seven, I think it’s past time that we gave Star #3, a.k.a. Atlantic Starr, their due. I’ll…

  • Jheri Curl June: Mystic Merlin’s “Mindreader”

    This track by Mystic Merlin is a great early Jheri Curl song: funky but still mellow, with a real horn section and a clear disco bent with its Nile Rodgers-esque guitar riff. Mystic Merlin was initially a novelty band who incorporated magician acts in their live shows. Their 1982 album Full Moon continues with the…

  • The Return of Jheri Curl June: Best Curls in the World

    So, let’s begin with the elephant in the room. As you might recall, last year the month of June began mere days after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which made the idea of a semi-irreverent celebration of dated Black music and hairstyles by two privileged White people feel… tone-deaf, to say the…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 9: Shrek 2

    Well, folks, it took us nine months, but our year-long immersion into the filmography of Mike Myers has finally broken us, as evidenced by the uncontrollable fit of laughter Callie breaks into over the thought of Shrek and Fiona driving around in a giant onion. Listen as the last vestiges of our sanity finally slip…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 8: The Cat in the Hat (Family Friendly Censored Version)

    For the very tiny subset of Dystopian Dance Party listeners who are also children and huge Mike Myers Cat in the Hat fans (i.e., literally just Zach’s son), here’s a family-friendly version of our most recent podcast. As an added bonus, by just bleeping out the curse words, we put exactly the same amount of…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 8: The Cat in the Hat

    After eight months, we’ve finally reached the film that started this whole ridiculous project in the first place… and now, jokes on us, we still have to watch three more Shrek movies. Join us as we discuss The Cat in the Hat, the infamous film that ended live-action adaptations of Dr. Seuss books and Mike…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 7: Austin Powers in Goldmember

    Since the very beginning of this ill-fated project, we’ve been dreading a rewatch of Austin Powers in Goldmember, and let’s just say it didn’t disappoint. Join us as we discuss how Goldmember makes Fat Bastard look like one of the great characters of literary history, and why we’re relieved that there’s still (knock on wood)…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 6: Shrek

    The wait is ogre! We’ve reached the halfway point of our 12-month series on the films of Mike Myers, and (sigh) the quarter-way point of the four goddamn Shrek movies we decided to include for some reason. Still, we had fun discussing what makes Shrek a Mike Myers character (spoiler alert: it’s mostly the Scottish…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 5: Austin Powers – The Spy Who Shagged Me

    Well, folks, we watched the second Austin Powers movie and lived to talk about it. Join us as we discuss infuriating anachronisms, the decline of Mike Myers’ side characters, and of course, the “Urkelization” of Dr. Evil. And then join us next month as we examine the first of… Jesus Christ, are we really watching…

  • 12 Months of Mike Month 4: Austin Powers – International Man of Mystery

    The bad news is, we’re a day late for Month 4 of our year-long deep dive into the cinematic oeuvre of Mike Myers; but the good news is, the movie we’re discussing may just be the best of the bunch. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery holds up surprisingly well, and feels in retrospect like…