Joe Bonomo
@joebonomo.bsky.social
essays and rock & roll | sound and sense
I write books and NO SUCH THING AS WAS, a music newsletter: https://joebonomo.substack.com/
Open 24/7: https://linktr.ee/joebonomo
it's buh-NOH-moh
I write books and NO SUCH THING AS WAS, a music newsletter: https://joebonomo.substack.com/
Open 24/7: https://linktr.ee/joebonomo
it's buh-NOH-moh
Pinned
“Everyone needs to realize why am I here? It comes in everyone’s life; you ask why am I here? What am I doing? Once you are able to answer that question for yourself honestly, you have smooth sailing.”
RIP Jimmy Cliff
📷: Etolane
RIP Jimmy Cliff
📷: Etolane
November 24, 2025 at 4:14 PM
“Everyone needs to realize why am I here? It comes in everyone’s life; you ask why am I here? What am I doing? Once you are able to answer that question for yourself honestly, you have smooth sailing.”
RIP Jimmy Cliff
📷: Etolane
RIP Jimmy Cliff
📷: Etolane
ICYMI at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: Edwin Starr, George Harrison, and James Baldwin. #Repost
joebonomo.substack.com/p/how-much-t...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/how-much-t...
November 24, 2025 at 3:26 PM
ICYMI at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: Edwin Starr, George Harrison, and James Baldwin. #Repost
joebonomo.substack.com/p/how-much-t...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/how-much-t...
Deadlines are still chirping, so until I can get back in the NO SUCH THING AS WAS saddle, here’s another from the archives.
How much time will it take?
As the 1970s dawned, the great Edwin Starr got to the heart of wanting and waiting
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Deadlines are still chirping, so until I can get back in the NO SUCH THING AS WAS saddle, here’s another from the archives.
November 21, 2025 at 5:19 PM
John: "We'd like some Cokes, Mal."
Paul: "Cannabis resin too!"
J: "Yeah, if you got any cannabis send it in."
[pause]
P: "We've got *that* tape for the High Court tomorrow."
Paul: "Cannabis resin too!"
J: "Yeah, if you got any cannabis send it in."
[pause]
P: "We've got *that* tape for the High Court tomorrow."
Baby, You're A Rich Man (Takes 11 And 12)
YouTube video by The Beatles - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:36 PM
John: "We'd like some Cokes, Mal."
Paul: "Cannabis resin too!"
J: "Yeah, if you got any cannabis send it in."
[pause]
P: "We've got *that* tape for the High Court tomorrow."
Paul: "Cannabis resin too!"
J: "Yeah, if you got any cannabis send it in."
[pause]
P: "We've got *that* tape for the High Court tomorrow."
ICYMI: I reposted my review of Paolo Hewitt's The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology at NU SUCH THING AS WAS.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
November 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
ICYMI: I reposted my review of Paolo Hewitt's The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology at NU SUCH THING AS WAS.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
I’m currently reading Paul “Smiler” Anderson’s engrossing Mod Art, a history of music, graphics, fashion, art, and mod design from the 1950s through the ‘90s. Highly recommended. 1/2
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
The appeal and the limits of Mod
On Paolo Hewitt’s The Sharper Word: A Mod Anthology
joebonomo.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I’m currently reading Paul “Smiler” Anderson’s engrossing Mod Art, a history of music, graphics, fashion, art, and mod design from the 1950s through the ‘90s. Highly recommended. 1/2
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/the-appeal...
University Press of Mississippi is rocking a Welcome 2026 Holiday Website Sale through November 19. All books on the website will be $20.26 each, including the hardback and paperback of my interviews collection with Greil Marcus.
shorturl.at/Rliuo
shorturl.at/Rliuo
Conversations with Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus once said to an interviewer, “There is an infinite amount of meaning about anything, and I free associate.” For more than four decades, Marcus has explored the connections among figures, ...
shorturl.at
November 17, 2025 at 4:10 PM
University Press of Mississippi is rocking a Welcome 2026 Holiday Website Sale through November 19. All books on the website will be $20.26 each, including the hardback and paperback of my interviews collection with Greil Marcus.
shorturl.at/Rliuo
shorturl.at/Rliuo
How does it feel to perform songs that you wrote and recorded a half century earlier, to get back inside of them to see if they, or you, still fit? I’ll never know, but I thought about it at the Saints 73-78 show, watching Ed Kuepper clutch his guitar like a lifeline.
shorturl.at/Kxk2X
shorturl.at/Kxk2X
November 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
How does it feel to perform songs that you wrote and recorded a half century earlier, to get back inside of them to see if they, or you, still fit? I’ll never know, but I thought about it at the Saints 73-78 show, watching Ed Kuepper clutch his guitar like a lifeline.
shorturl.at/Kxk2X
shorturl.at/Kxk2X
For my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I caught up with the Saints 73-78 who are catching up with their past.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/got-no-tim...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/got-no-tim...
Got no time to waste
Ed Kuepper and the Saints 73-78 are turning up the volume on their past
joebonomo.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:57 PM
For my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I caught up with the Saints 73-78 who are catching up with their past.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/got-no-tim...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/got-no-tim...
We rode straight from the airport to here
November 7, 2025 at 1:33 AM
We rode straight from the airport to here
ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I reviewed the new Hives album, and pulled wide to talk about five of their great songs.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
November 4, 2025 at 2:38 PM
ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I reviewed the new Hives album, and pulled wide to talk about five of their great songs.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
At my latest NO SUCH THING AS WAS I review the terrific new Hives album, and select five of my favorite songs of theirs from the last 25 years.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
This time with feeling
The new Hives album loudly argues that the Swedish band has only gotten started
joebonomo.substack.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:18 PM
At my latest NO SUCH THING AS WAS I review the terrific new Hives album, and select five of my favorite songs of theirs from the last 25 years.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/this-time-...
Reposted by Joe Bonomo
I wish that Roger Angell were around to write about Shohei.
October 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I wish that Roger Angell were around to write about Shohei.
ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: the Kundalini Genie, psychedelic music, and getting inside and out.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
October 28, 2025 at 2:33 PM
ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS: the Kundalini Genie, psychedelic music, and getting inside and out.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
Reposted by Joe Bonomo
That Will Smith ball not going out is like when a character in an enchanted house walks out of a room but ends up in the same room. We're trapped, friends.
October 28, 2025 at 5:27 AM
That Will Smith ball not going out is like when a character in an enchanted house walks out of a room but ends up in the same room. We're trapped, friends.
Reposted by Joe Bonomo
This game is like I got caught smoking a baseball and now I have to smoke a whole pack of baseball
October 28, 2025 at 5:01 AM
This game is like I got caught smoking a baseball and now I have to smoke a whole pack of baseball
In my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I write about how I've been listening to more psychedelic music these days, for the ways it can elevate, the ways it can dissolve the environment around me. The Kundalini Genie's 2020 album 1111 delivers.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
Time will go and you're free
The Kundalini Genie invite us along on the journey
joebonomo.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
In my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I write about how I've been listening to more psychedelic music these days, for the ways it can elevate, the ways it can dissolve the environment around me. The Kundalini Genie's 2020 album 1111 delivers.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/time-will-...
Last weekend, I flew to Maryland and spent Sat helping my sibs continue to clean out my folks' place. Then my brother John and I rented a van and drove to Pittsburgh to drop some stuff off at his son's, and then to my bro's place an hour+ north. 1/3
October 25, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Last weekend, I flew to Maryland and spent Sat helping my sibs continue to clean out my folks' place. Then my brother John and I rented a van and drove to Pittsburgh to drop some stuff off at his son's, and then to my bro's place an hour+ north. 1/3
October 23, 2025 at 10:34 PM
At my latest NO SUCH THING AS WAS, so long Ace Frehley, wherever you’re rocketing
joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-the-s...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-the-s...
From the start he wanted to fly
So long to Ace Frehley (1951-2025), the Spaceman guitarist extraordinaire
joebonomo.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
At my latest NO SUCH THING AS WAS, so long Ace Frehley, wherever you’re rocketing
joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-the-s...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/from-the-s...
ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I wrote about how the Bo Beat was revisited in the late '60s.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
October 17, 2025 at 1:09 PM
ICYM my latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS, I wrote about how the Bo Beat was revisited in the late '60s.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
"It's always good to walk in a room and know everybody kind of looks up to you because I guess I've earned it."
Rest in Power, Spaceman
Rest in Power, Spaceman
October 16, 2025 at 11:35 PM
"It's always good to walk in a room and know everybody kind of looks up to you because I guess I've earned it."
Rest in Power, Spaceman
Rest in Power, Spaceman
Sure, the Bo Beat is eternal, but it received some update patches near the end of the tumultuous 1960s. My latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
Bo Diddley and cosmic minds
The eternal Bo Beat received update patches near the end of the tumultuous 1960s
joebonomo.substack.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Sure, the Bo Beat is eternal, but it received some update patches near the end of the tumultuous 1960s. My latest at NO SUCH THING AS WAS.
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...
joebonomo.substack.com/p/bo-diddley...