For a special friend

You know who you are. Hope this cheers you up.

“]

Here we go, yo.

L’il Hep?

Before I launch into a review of ‘Fables of the Reconstruction’ R.E.M.’s next (and I’m going to argue, 2nd best) record, I have a favor to ask of y’all.

As some of you may know, my friend and old roommate Luke and I are opening up a used bookstore, and it look like we’re set to go around June 1.

For the folks I work with, no I’m not leaving staff right now - I’m going to work at the store on the weekends, and Luke’s taking weekday responsibilities - but we need some help with the NAME of the place. There may be a poll coming up some time soon, but in the interim I’d thought I’d share a couple of contenders to see what y’all think, and if you have any ideas of your own.

Current ideas include :

Ampersand Books
Kilgore’s Books
Bananafish Books (Luke’s not as a big a fan….)
Dan and Luke’s Used Book and Comic Emporium Bursting with Goodness
Booksplosion (Will’s idea)
Bookgasm (Will’s other idea)
Bookotronic 5000 (why are we listening to Will?)

Anyway, let’s here it folks! And, if you come up with the winning name, you’ll get um, big thanks!

A handshake is worthy, it’s all that you got.

R.E.M.’s Reckoning.

I’ve been trying. I really have. But there is no fathomable way I can review this album objectively. I say before God and the blogosphere - though I don’t particularly believe in either - that this is my favorite album of all time.

From the opening guitar riff of ‘Harborcoat’ to the closing, ‘Jefferson, I think we’re lost’, of Little America, this is a note for note perfect record. I’ve loved this album since I discovered it as the flip side to the ‘Cream - Disraeli Gears’ tape my brother left for me.

Starting with Haarborcoat, a song ostensibly about the holocaust (R-E-A-C-T), going perfectly into 7 Chinese Brothers, a song where every instrument is in exactly the right place at the right time. Peter Buck hits every note the way it’s meant to be. Stipe’s voice is smooth and seductive, and you want to hug him. Mills drives along with simple melodic bass lines, and keeping it all together is Bill Berry, who has learned to drum within his abilities, and masters it.

Since I can’t give an honest assessment of the album, I’ll describe what each song means to me.

Harborcoat - My favorite song. Not just by REM, but ever. When my mom told me my parents were getting divorced, I put this song on. When my brothers went to war, I put this song on. As Stipe would later say, ‘A must.’

7 Chinese Brothers - This song is all Adam Kuklinski. That fucked up almost saint of my late childhood and early adulthood. Sitting in my house pouring over the Howard Finster cover, trying to decipher its meanings, and failing.

So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry) - This is riding the bus to school everyday, and thinking of my girlfriend Julie. Rivers of suggestion. There’s a girl without a dream. I’m not sure what I was sorry for, but I sang along anyway.

Pretty Persuasion - This is another Adam song. He liked it, I didn’t, but because of him it grew on me. Also, Stipe says ‘god damn your confusion’. True true.

Time After Time (Annelise) - This is a song where I got to be sad about things, and not certain why. Now I know why, and I was right back then. Still a beautiful song.

Second Guessing - Some joy after all the deep shit. Just a good rocking song where everything works, and fits right.

Letter Never Sent - Another Julie song. I wrote dozens of letters I never sent. I once feel by her bedside and didn’t know how to tell her.

Camera - When I listened to this tape the first time, over and over again, I was reading ‘Replay’ by Ken Grimwood. He went to Bard College, where I later went. He died from AIDS, which I do not have. But this song always makes me think of him. Alone in a crowd.

(Don’t Go Back To)Rockville - Sung by Adam, Julie, and I as Don’t Go Back to Earlville for obvious reasons. Later, the three of us would crash Adam’s dad car while this song was playing loud on the tape deck. Our biology teacher showed up at the accident, and none of us knew what to say. At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don’t care that you’re not hear with me.

Little America - Probably the greatest ‘throwaway’ song of all time.

Nostalgia aside, everything in this albums fits. The melodies are right, the lyrics, what you can decipher of them, are perfect. Every song is in exactly the right place on the album. The artwork is brilliant, the linear notes suburb, and the film ‘Left of Rockville’ (the album sides are ‘right’ and ‘left’) is a wonderful experience watching four young men playing in Rev. Finster’s yard.

If you don’t have this album, fucking get it. If you have it and love it like I do, put it on, and have a cocktail. Listen to it start to finish. When you’re done, get another cocktail. Repeat.

Interview Status Update

Ok, so I promised I wouldn’t piss and moan about this because, well, people don’t owe me anything. But, I have this sad little spread sheet where I track how long it’s been since I sent out interview questions to people. So going from least disappointing to most disappointing:

4.3 weeks ago sent to Damon & Naomi, Ringo Star, and Seth. I’m still holding out hope for these three.

9.0 weeks ago sent to Dave Eggers (second attempt), Jenna Fischer, and Steve Martin. Eggers, as many of you know, told me in person he’d do it. I’m still holding out a little hope for him. We’ll see.

29.3 weeks ago, I sent to Harvey Pekar, Daniel Clowes, and Jonathan Richman. Maybe?

30.3 weeks ago, Yo La Tengo. I’m holding out hopes for these guys, and I’m going to email them and ask them.

31.1 weeks ago Dave Eggers (see above), Garrison Keillor (another one who told me in person), and Michael Chabon. So much for writers!

31.9 weeks ago, Leia Bell (shocked she didn’t do it, but she has three kids, so who knows) and Mirah. Sad about Mirah

33.1 weeks ago, Miranda July, Doug Martsch, and Woody Allen. Sigh. I’m not shocked about Woody Allen, and MAYBE Ms. July just hasn’t gotten to it yet. But Doug? C’mon Doug. He agreed in person, and gave me his home address! I should rent a car and drive to Boise.

Really though, I’m not tremendously bummed - just a little bit - at all of these default rejections. And again, there’s still some hope, right? But the sad thing is, when so many don’t respond (last response I got was Peter Bagge back in Novemeber) I sort of feel like it’s futile, even though I love doing it. I might do some more tonight. We’ll see!

She’s loving him with that body, I just know it.

Ok, so my trip to Chicago got shit canned, and I’m a-ok with that because it means I get to play poker with the gang tonight. Also, I’ve decided that fifteen days without booze is just fine, so I’m going to rock a little seven and ginger tonight at the picnic table in the 65 degree sunshiny as fuck weather we’ve got here in Denver tonight.

As a parting gift, while driving around LA the other day in my $21 rented PT Cruiser, when a song came on the radio. A glorious wonderful song from the days of yore, and I’d like to share it with you, and wish you a wonderful weekend.

]

Oooh, you make me live.

I was going to write a lengthy post about ‘not drinking’, something I’ve been doing for a little while now. In my head it was a wonderful little essay about how I thought I’d do something to do - seemed healthy, etc., but now it’s a little weird because I feel like if I drink something it suddenly means I have a problem. And all night as I’ve sat here writing and wishing I had a glass of wine, I’ve thought, ‘Oh no, since I’m thinking about it so much, maybe I’ve got a PROBLEM’. Anyway, I didn’t have the glass of wine, but I did make this comic that I thought was pretty funny. Then again, my comix are always funnier (to me) after a few cocktails, so maybe I AM learning something.

Anyway, it’s just funny to me how people deal with drinking in our society. Enjoy.

I’ll teach my eyes to see

This has always been one of my favorite Springsteen songs, but christ, can you imagine if you were married to Bruce when he wrote this? That’d be a real self-esteem killer, huh? Happy Wednesday.

]

Could it be that one small voice doesn’t count?

Murmur. Great album title. Overall, though, this has never been my favorite REM album. I tried to ignore that as I listened to it over the last week or so. But, I think I stand by my assessment that this is an unever album where they try just a little too hard.

The first two songs - the sluggish slowed down version of Radio Free Europe and Pilgrimage get the album off to a rather dense start, and I could do with out them. Right when you’re ready to turn it off though, that bass line for laughing comes in, and they seem to redeem themselves. It’s a lighter song with a solid hook, and a great chorus. Then comes ‘Talk About the Passion’. It’s a great song, there’s no doubt, but one issue I’ve got is they way R.E.M. is so oblique, yet hits you over the head. Have you seen the video for this song? Sheesh, we get it. Not EVERYONE can carry the weight of the world - the subtext of course meaning that perhaps this band can.

The next half of the album, Moral Kiosk, Perfect Circle (heavy handed, but lovely) Catapult, and Sitting Still all hit their mark perfectly, and deliver on the hints of greatness from Chronic Town. There’s also less dicking around with weird intros and overdone reverb, which I appreciate.

9-9 is a funny one - sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. I think this is in the ‘trying to hard’ category. The speak song behind the guitar opening guitar riff (so artsy!) the crunchy guitar (so punk!). I don’t know, I just usually don’t care for it.

Now, I consider Shaking Through and We Walk to be crowning achievements on this album. Shaking through is light and poppy, but has a deeper meaning to the lyrics and a great piano riff that gets me every time. Stipe, as most of you know, had a penchant for slurring his words together on early albums. so the question was always, ‘what is he SAYING?’ and there are millions of versions of lyrics out there. The thing about Shaking Through is you actually care - you want to know what the lyrics are, vs. 9-9, where I could really give a shit. Conversatoin fear? Ok, fine.

We Walk, in addition to being one of the best canvassing songs ever (thanks Bobby - as an aside, whenever I’m canvassing I get ‘Reason to Believe’ stuck in my head, but that’s a different entry) is just such a fun bouncy song WITH THUNDERCLAPS! Kudos gentlemen.

West of the Fields always felt terribly tacked on to me - like they needed to make the album three minutes longer.

So, bottom line, I think Murmur should’ve been another EP. Laughing, Talk about the Passion, Moral Kiosk, Perfect Circle, Catapult, Sitting Still, Shaking Through, and We Walk. A long EP, but significantly better, I think, without Radio Free Europe, Pilgrimage and WOTF.

Overall Grade - B/B-

I would say, if you’re an REM fan you know this record. You’re all good. If you don’t know REM’s older stuff that well, don’t start with this one. The good songs are great, but the mediocre songs detract from the album for me. Next week : Reckoning, which to be fair, has been my favorite REM album since 1986.

It Was 19 Years Ago Today, Mr. Stipe Taught the Dan To Play

Too cheesy a title? Perhaps. Just a quick word that the review of Murmur is in fact coming out later today. Today being the 19th anniversary of the first time I saw R.E.M.

That’s right - April 11, 1989 at the Onondoga County War Memorial in Syracuse NY. I was in Row HH, seat 14. If I remember correctly, the rows went A, AA, B, BB, etc. so I’m pretty sure I was in the 16th row.

The setlist was :

set: Pop Song 89 / Exhuming McCarthy / Welcome To The Occupation / Pilgrimage / Turn You Inside-Out / Driver 8 / Orange Crush / Sitting Still / Feeling Gravitys Pull / Cuyahoga / World Leader Pretend / Begin The Begin / Pretty Persuasion / Low / Stony River / Tired Of Singing Trouble / I Believe / Get Up / Auctioneer (Another Engine) / It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
encore 1: Stand / With A Girl Like You / Dark Globe / You Are The Everything
encore 2: Finest Worksong / King Of Birds / See No Evil
encore 3: Harpers / Summertime / Crazy / Perfect Circle / After Hours

It was amazing. That’s all I can say for now.