Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Yeremiah Bell: Strong Safety for the Miami Dolphins or martyred infant of Serena Butler, Priestess of the Jihad?
William Rentmeeser: Tackle for the San Francisco 49ers or Interplanetary Finance Minister?
When Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ appeared in 1965, little did the world know that it would become the best-selling Sci-fi novel of all time; nor that it would influence the naming of an entire generation of professional athletes.
All across America, football fans and Sci-Fi fans are debating into the wee hours over whether Sam Huff was (a) a Linebacker for the New York Giants or (b) the Emperor’s Truthsayer and mentor of Lady Jessica.
Still confused? Help set the universal record straight by taking the Fantasy or Football Quiz.
Then, try your luck at Part One, Part Two and Part Three.
Mayra Calvani, author of “The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing,” has written a nice little piece about OPERATION EMU.
“The dialogue is sharp and propels the story at a quick pace. The characters are offbeat and some of the ridiculous situations will make you laugh out loud. Author B. Brandon Barker has created a smart, funny parody of what it really means to be an ‘advanced’ homo sapien.”
Read the review here.
Pick up the book here.
I’ve checked out most of Paul Weller’s albums–all good–but none of them come close to Wild Wood (1993). The only thing that comes close to it–in the sense that it can’t be stopped after it’s started–is Who’s Next or Astral Weeks.
The Deluxe Edition, like most in this series (see Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On), offers some B-sides, some demos, some live tracks, some brilliant castoffs. It’s just a great experience all around. For a post-Mod artist, Paul Weller might be expected to have a punk-ish, annoying cockney tone, like the Clash, Sex Pistols or The Specials, but instead he has a deep, soulful voice. A real front-man sound.
You don’t hear about this record much, and maybe that’s a good thing. It’s best un-hyped.
Sometimes, but not often enough, one of my short stories gets published. “The Movie of Your Life,” which is about… well, just that, will appear in the Spring issue of Global City Review.
You can find Global City at most book stores that carry lit mags, or you can subscribe here.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My friend Simon Evans is having his first solo NY show, and it’s really spectacular. When I first met Simon, he was writing short stories–really brilliant ones, short, whimsical and funny. Years later, he began drawing and making collages, but he never really stopped writing, making his work fun to read as well as look at. Here are some words from the press release:
“Simon Evan’s delicate text-based works are collaged and assembled from prosaic materials including found paper, scotch tape, pencil shavings, colored pencil and white out. They describe a world poised between two poles of earnestness and irony. With his anxieties laid bare and his wry brand of melancholy, Evans presents us with a veritable laundry list of drawings that take the form of diagrams, charts, maps, lexicons, diary entries, inventories, cosmologies and epistolary entreaties that plunge the viewer into alternate states of pathos and hope.”
Among the works in this gallery (26th between 10th and 11th), are Everything I Have (pictured, a catalogue of his belongings), The Green City (a stunning pen-and-paper drawing of a mythical city) and One Hundred Mixed CDs for New York (exactly that, CD sleeves with mixed CDs inside).
This show is up until April 4.
Monday, February 23, 2009
From Pitchfork’s Bob Stanley:
“‘Lamplight’ doesn’t sound like a hit, truthfully. No matter. From its heavily thrummed acoustic intro and unintelligible echo-ridden opening verse to the massed harps and a storyline that alludes to lost love and candlelit Victoriana, it seems Robin is unsure of what he wants to say, yet knows exactly how to say it: loudly and tearfully. You get the feeling he wished he’d been born 50 years earlier. Both songs are ambitious, then, but you can understand the younger brother’s pique.”
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/148551-the-bee-gees-odessa
Friday, February 20, 2009
By A. J. Williams “song and dance man”
“Perception is always coloured by memory – some memories are vast imagined towns and cities through which you drive to reach your destination – some are open fields, cloudless skylines and straight roads. You see, you can’t listen in isolation to songs written through shared experience and expect there to be no hitchhikers from past travels. They catch lifts along your way, sometimes with further miles to travel, sometimes dropped off just blocks away from home, sometimes without a word – sometimes grateful for the ride.”
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2DL5RFOCT5R/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
To celebrate Heart Health Month, here’s a new article for WEtv.com called Healthy Mind, Healthy Heart.
I know, not very exciting. But, good news: Next month is Kidney Month.
