We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Geese

I just don’t want to like them. Everybody loves Geese. Everybody loves their new album, Getting Killed. Everybody seems to be falling down stupid-in-love with their singer and principal songwriter, Cameron Winter. Even people whose opinions I trust and whose art I respect or love, St. Vincent and Marc Maron, as examples, are falling overContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk About Geese”

#635: B is for Bright Eyes

In the fine tradition of great bad singers, here is Conor Oberst, otherwise known as the band leader of Bright Eyes. His singing is imprecise, full of vibrato, a tentativetenor, except for when he’s screaming, which he does sometimes, even in quiet songs. He often soundslike he’s on the verge of crying or throwing aContinue reading “#635: B is for Bright Eyes”

#612: B is for Beauty Pill

I’ve got to get my alphabet shitback together. They say smoke follows Beauty but damn it, BECK follows Beauty too. And so here I am with another corrective, trying to write a poem-like-thing about an absolute favoritediscovery of the lastfew years, Beauty Pill. My friend Ericturned me on to this band a few years ago.Continue reading “#612: B is for Beauty Pill”

#566: Two Sonnets for Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacios by The Mars Volta

I I haven’t even listened to it yet, but I have looked at it with some surprise– precisely because there’s nothing to see.I will describe it from the inside out.Black vinyl, black label, on which tiny numbers indicate sides, inside black sleeves.An insert, the only art, a gray and tanindeterminate image, a map, orjust randomContinue reading “#566: Two Sonnets for Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacios by The Mars Volta”

On the Thirtieth Day of 2025…

…I’m thinking about having watched the Björk concert last night on Apple TV. Filmed, I think, within the last year, it was a live performance of mostly material from her Utopia album, the album preceding her most recent project, Fossora. It was a fascinating experience, and while it was not entirely pleasant, I could notContinue reading “On the Thirtieth Day of 2025…”

On the Sixteenth Day of 2025…

…you replace the batteries in your blood pressure machine and almost first thing in the morning, as everything is pretty much chill, you get the highest reading you have seen since that New Year’s Eve gig seven years ago when, against all common sense, you took a reading while you were fuming about how yourContinue reading “On the Sixteenth Day of 2025…”

On the Tenth Day of 2025. . .

. . .I was in the shower just long enough to lather up with soap when the entire shower fixture came apart and water sprayed everywhere and anywhere but from the shower head. The third visit from a plumber in as many weeks, from the last days of December up to today, we have hadContinue reading “On the Tenth Day of 2025. . .”

On the Ninth Day of 2025. . .

. . .I didn’t feel sad about my son having to fly back to Southern California today until about an hour after I got back home from the airport. Little things irk me. The dogs. The general questions about what to have for dinner. My wife’s questions about a mysterious charge to our bank accountContinue reading “On the Ninth Day of 2025. . .”

The Second Day of 2025. . .

. . . began early in the studio, recording some vocals for a SuperWave demo, a cover band I’ve been playing in over the last six months or so, a band that emerged from the ashes of another cover band that three of us had been with for quite some time–for one of us, nearlyContinue reading “The Second Day of 2025. . .”

On the Eighth Day of 2024: Mastering My Singles, Listening

I had a good night’s sleep, but I woke up early and couldn’t get back there–so I got up. I saw my son off to school, I was on the meditation cushion by 8:15, and after that I made myself a pretty decent breakfast. And no, I am not suddenly since yesterday a “single” man,Continue reading “On the Eighth Day of 2024: Mastering My Singles, Listening”