June 27, 2026
What I'm Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering This Week
Hey, we’re one week away from the 250th Birthday of the U.S. of A.! So let’s dive in with some content to get you ready to party. First, though, the Subscribe button…
Watching: The Changing Face of the Entertainment Industry, An Interview with Anthony Palomba, Ph.D.
I had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Anthony Palomba, a Ph.D. and professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, to talk about what exactly is happening with media. Fun interview for me, and there’s a lot here:
The success of movies like Obsession and Backrooms;
The changing landscape at CBS;
How advertising has gotten granular, and if it can go farther in that direction;
The future of late night programming;
And what he sees coming down the pike.
It’s the latest edition of The Vandy Program and you can check it out below:
Reading: When Money Destroys Nations by Philip Haslam (with Russell Lamberti)
Avid readers of this newsletter are familiar with this concept, as I suggested a similar book, When Money Dies by Adam Fergusson, and I seem to be drawn to books about hyperinflation. When Money Destroys Nations by Philip Haslam (with Russell Lamberti) is another such book; though it is from a more recent phenomenon.
This book studies Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation, the seeds of which were sown perhaps when the country became Zimbabwe in 1980 — the book, rather eerily, does not even mention that the country was known as Rhodesia and declared its independence from the United Kingdom in 1965 — and certainly beginning in 1999, when inflation was a mere 57%.
It got so bad that the country printed what was the largest denomination of any note ever: the $100 Trillion bill.
It’s a sobering read about what really happens in a country when there is zero confidence in the government and its finances.
Listening to: Three Songs I Heard on Taco Bell Radio’s 80s Station (PLUS BONUS MATERIAL!)
I realize that sounds like it could be the title of a Coen Brothers movie. Alas, in celebration of just how good the Taco Bell Radio 80s station is, here are three songs I heard back-to-back-to-back on my recent burrito run. (And there’s a bonus song following each.)
Bananarama, “Cruel Summer.” They may be better known for their only US #1 hit, “Venus” — which is a cover of a song originally done by a Dutch band called “Shocking Blue” — but this, to me, is peak Bananarama. Nothing says “it’s really hot out, plus I’m eating Taco Bell by myself” more than the song “Cruel Summer.”
BONUS: Here’s Shocking Blue with “Venus.”
The next song actually SHOCKED me, because I just shared it on socials within the last month.
The band Boys Don’t Cry named itself (we think) after a song by The Cure of the same name. (The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” came around in 1979, so it’s a likely story for a band to be formed four years later; the movie Boys Don’t Cry came around in 1999.)
In any event, “I Wanna Be A Cowboy” was kitchsy and fun and an immediate earworm for me; alas, most of the world forgot about it.
But not Taco Bell.
Here’s “I Wanna Be A Cowboy.”
BONUS: Here’s The Cure with the above-mentioned song.
What came after “I Wanna Be a Cowboy?”
38 Special, of course. Co-founder Donnie Van Zant is the younger brother of Ronnie Van Zant — the founder of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd — and 38 Special had a couple hits in the early 80s before catching fire with the next song on the Taco Bell playlist.
“Second Chance” was the band’s biggest hit in the US, going to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and all the way to #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
BONUS: Here’s “Simple Kind of Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Rediscovering: How ABC News Covered July 4, 1776
This should get you ready for next week’s party!
Part 1 is a setup, with coverage from across the country; Part 2 features the tall ships.
In Parts 3-5, we hear from President Gerald Ford and then it’s back to some tall ships.
Sprinkled throughout, the coverage is anchored by Harry Reasoner and you’ll see ads for ABC’s coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
There’s nothing political about this coverage, no whining about whether or not the correct kinds of people are present. Just full-throated patriotism.
Thanks, as always for reading. We’ll see you on July 4, 2026.
Dave