Hey folks!

I finally have some official announcements on stuff I should’ve figured out earlier. My apologies! (More IRL stuff in the way.)

First up: Nominations for the Best Album of 1988 will begin on October 21st (one week from today), and will stay open until the evening of November 11th. That’s three weeks plus this coming week for a total of four weeks to get all your 1988 listening in, and hype up all your favorite yet obscure greats. There will be more info and rules and whatnot later, of course, but if this is your first rodeo: there will be a Google Form in which to input every album you want to nominate. You can nominate an unlimited number of albums, and do not worry about eligibility in any way — we figure that out later.

Second: We have a date for the Virtual 1988 Nomination Cheerleader Party a.k.a. The Power Point Party! This will be on Sunday, November 8th, on Zoom. More details on that later, but I have a few right now:

• The idea is to cheerlead for the nomination of your favorite 1988 albums (you can do up to 3), by way of speech and/or multimedia presentation (i.e. PowerPoint). If you’ve read the various Designated Cheerleaders I’ve posted here and on Bluesky, I imagine something like that, only adapted for a live presentation.

• If you’re doing 3 albums, you have a 10 minute time limit. If you’re only doing one, aim for 5. Somewhere in between for 2? Like 7 minutes perhaps?

• Feel free to use video and audio clips in your presentation, as this is a private shindig. (I mean, for an album, you’d almost have to use them, right? I mean jesus I will.)

• If you do use video clips, please put a warning at the beginning for clips that have rapid movement, quick cuts, handheld/jittery camerawork, flashing lights, etc. Thanks!

Okay, this is the last big push to get through your 1988 listening! I hope you’ve attempted to listen outside your comfort zone, but if not, there’s still time. And if you’ve found something you think is great, shout it out loud! (That’s 1976 — Ed.) Let us know on Bluesky, or if you have to, send it to me at [email protected] and I’ll put it in the newsletter.

Happy listening!

Kent