What does it mean for a band to “rock your socks off,” and is it still possible? Pearl Jam are sort of a hotly handled act — people tend to either love them or hate them. At least, this was the case in 2005, and earlier. The dearth of good new rock music, though, is clearly … Read more“Tracking Pearl Jam Economically and Culturally through Rock’s New Faux-Infrastructure”
Their house was the last one on the block, and their block was the last one in town. On the other side, a space lay, a pockmarked lot of derelict industry. Sometimes some black kids would be playing out there, biting each other, what have you, and the Jaspers would look away in shame, listening … Read more“I Went to Visit the Misanthropic”
A perfect island, There In space enamoring Pulls a moment From a sleeve, The dog Sniffing At the hip pocket.
Befallen of this life, We stretch receipt tapes out on the oaken table, Straining our eyes, And considering To cost the wearer Of frowns all he has, Crouched, Sunbathing under money.
I am jagged by this Lester Bangs blurb on Talking Heads’ album Fear of Music even upon rereading it, and I think the reason is that the statement he makes is incredibly clear. It’s indelibly sure (and probably full of anxiety, a state which he prizes within the piece). “These are mutant times,” he writes, … Read more“Fear of Music- A Pledge to a Simpler Time (When Everything Was Toxic and Deadly)”
After college I wanted go out west, Until I realized that was stupid Because there was a girl I liked not out west. . Something in me, though, Wanted me to take a trip, Take it all In things like canyons, fjords and bluffs, Tumbleweeds, coyotes, empty Bottles, cacti and the moon. . I tell … Read more“The Idle Cat in Stillness”
I almost went and listened to the new Gaslight Anthem album all over again, Get Hurt. At first listen I didn’t like it. But at first listen I didn’t like American Slang, and now it’s at 54 listens on my Dell’s iTunes alone, and I didn’t like Handwritten either upon first, but when I left … Read more“From Grinds to Pines- The Gaslight Anthem and Modest Mouse and Their Respective Geographical Coasts”
*”Our age is essentially a tragic one, so naturally, we refuse to take it as one” – D.H. Lawrence . I’m reading Ulysses right now, as I have been for the past three years or so. I’ll only pull it out on cloudy days in the fall. It was rated the #1 novel of the … Read more“On the Importance, or Prominence, of Nonsensical Gibberish”
Zelda Williams is an unquestionably beautiful young woman. This is how I, a heterosexual man, would at first view her. Of course, I never would VIEW her in the first place, she’d never come to South Bend, Indiana, and I’d never go to the yuppy places where she, through no fault of her own, would … Read more“Zelda Williams: One More Reason Not to Be into Celebrity Culture”
As much as I love the story of Frankenstien, it’s actually erroneous to stage it concurrent with Halloween; it defeats the entire purpose. Halloween was created the result of a ubiquitous violent, scary feeling among single men at the fact of their plight and of the upcoming seasonal inclement weather. Frankenstein’s monster, by comparison, is a being … Read more“Celebrators and Arbitrators: The Incompatibility of Frankenstein and Halloween”