Let’s say you’re a youngmusician in the early 70’s with big rock star ambition. First, you need a schtick, a look, something glammy, something preposterous. Yeah, Cooper did the make-upthing, but you could go bigger, and you watch as some fellow musicians from neighboring New York Citygo the whole hogon the face-paint, so yougots toContinue reading “#597: A is for Angel”
Category Archives: Poetry
#596: A is for Anderson, the Laurie Variety
I “O Superman” might have beenthe strangest pop song I had ever heard in my lifeup to that point. I heard it for the first timethe year after I graduated from high schooland I bought the Big Science album.In ’87, in a fit of stupidity, obsessedover the hot new digital medium for music, I soldContinue reading “#596: A is for Anderson, the Laurie Variety”
#595: A is for American Football
Describing genre these daysis like naming every spider species–of which there are 50,000. Wikipedia calls American Footballan “emo” band. I find the term “emo”to be about as helpful in describingmusic as it would be to distinguishwhat you’re doing in the kitchen rightnow as “food cooking,” as if there are types of music out there deliberatelyContinue reading “#595: A is for American Football”
#594: A is for Alvin, as in Dave and Phil
Sometimes I forgethow certain records find their way into my collection. I may have mistakenDave Alvin for DaveAllen of Gang of Fourand Shriekback fame, but on second thought,I’m pretty sure this record was a bonusfor an order I made a long time agodirectly from Yep Roc,probably a freebee that came with a record by RobynContinue reading “#594: A is for Alvin, as in Dave and Phil”
#593: A is for A-ha
I I never leave the shrink wrap on an album I’ve purchased, but I left the plastic on this first A-ha album, purchased used within the last several years, because the original price tag was still there, $6.99 new at Tower Records, 1985.I did some thinking about thisrecently, about the price of a new recordContinue reading “#593: A is for A-ha”
#592: A is for Arooj Aftab
I go to a tequila bartonight, not for tequila, but for food, in part because it’s right behind the liquor store, where I reallywant to go, but also becauseI need something to eat. No kitchen. Everything on the food menu is preparedhere inside of an air fryer.I can easily go elsewhere,elsewhere, but for convenienceand economicsContinue reading “#592: A is for Arooj Aftab”
#591: A is for AC/DC
Bon Scott died about six monthsafter the release of Highway to Hell. I was fifteen years old. I loved him, his weirdness, his humor: I loved it when he pretended to keel over at the end of “ShotDown in Flames,” and I loved his rock-uncharacteristic nod to Mork and Mindy at the end of “NightContinue reading “#591: A is for AC/DC”
I’m Going to Listen to Everything, Redux
Nearly 100 poems ago, I wrote about the desire to listen to every record in my collection from A-Z. This is a bit of a pattern for me, as, more than twelve years ago now, I made a similar claim about my CD collection, that I would like to listen to at least a singleContinue reading “I’m Going to Listen to Everything, Redux”
#590: The Seldom Seen Kid, Redux (a song by Elbow)
I wrote a poem in April of 2024, about one of my favorite Elbow songs,a kind of music ekphrastic, an ode, or, a lyric explication disguised in verse, an exploration of a piece of music that moves me, mysteriously and profoundly, to the point where,even though I was not surewhat the song was about, attemptingContinue reading “#590: The Seldom Seen Kid, Redux (a song by Elbow)”
#589: Alena (just.this.thought)
Instagram has my number. I keep seeing videosfrom Alena. All of them shot identically, a close up of her entire face, the frame starts just belowher clavicle, the topof the frame just barelymisses the very topmostpoint of her head. Thelighting is always the same,and the backdrop, the same,minimalist, nothing detracts from her face.She wears veryContinue reading “#589: Alena (just.this.thought)”
michael jarmer 