Posts

Bob Mould in K'zoo

Scratch Bob Mould off the list... It's embarrassing for me to say that, after almost 39 years of being a fan, I finally saw Bob Mould play live. I never saw Hüsker Dü because they broke up a year after I became a fan. I probably had multiple opportunities when Bob went solo or when he was in his band Sugar, but it wasn't high on my priority list. It wasn't until his recent career resurgence on Merge Records--and a further deepening of my HD fandom, that seeing Bob became a must.   I had tickets to see him in March 2020, but I don't need to tell you what global shit show caused that concert to be canceled. So, five years later, I finally caught him and his cracking band consisting of Jason Narducy (bass/vocals) and Jon Wurster (drums). Of course, Bob adds his slashing buzz saw guitar and anguished vocals to the mix. Since there is apparently a law that makes Lansing a live music black hole, we once again had to make the 1 1/2 hour drive to Bell's Eccentric Café in K...

Johnny Echols of Love with Baby Lemonade: the concert at Bell's Eccentric Cafe

On Tuesday, April 29, we saw Johnny Echols perform with the band Baby Lemonade (doing double duty as both themselves and the band Love) at Bell's Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo. (Because Lansing apparently isn't allowed to have cool shows like this--we have to drive an hour-and-a-half elsewhere. But I digress). I never saw Arthur Lee perform in his various 1990s/2000s tours and shows, so when I saw that Johnny Echols was venturing on a tour with Baby Lemonade--and that one of the stops was in Kalamazoo--I knew I absolutely had to go, or I might regret it for the rest of my life. A day before the show, I saw a Facebook post about the Echols tour from a "virtual friend" (writer Dan Epstein) who is "real life" friends with Baby Lemonade's guitarist Mike Randle. I mentioned in the post that I'd be at the Kalamazoo show and Mike replied that I should seek him out at the show and say "hello." I wasn't sure what the logistics of that would be, bu...

Paul Schrader's Oh, Canada and Blue Collar (updated)

On April 23, I watched Paul Schrader's most recent film, Oh, Canada. It was the first Schrader movie I'd seen since First Reformed , which I enjoyed (though "enjoy" is a relative term with many Schrader movies, since they tend to be so dark. Maybe the better term is "appreciate"). Richard Gere plays Leo Fife, an aging documentary filmmaker who is dying of cancer, and when I say dying, I mean he's at death's door. Former film students of his are in the process of filming their own documentary about Leo's life. Leo is interviewed on camera and we, the audience, are left to wonder how many of Leo's memories are real or imagined, and whether Leo was a filmmaker with leftist political principles or someone who was only perceived that way by others. We also see that Leo was a man of contradictions, like many of us are. Though the movie is based on a Russell Banks novel--and likely contains some autobiographical elements--it's impossible not to ...

The Name of This Band is R.E.M. (revisited)

I finally finished The Name of This Band is R.E.M. and I give it a solid four stars out of five. Perhaps even 4 1/2 stars. It was a breezy read. A sign of how consistent R.E.M. was during their recording career is that I found myself constantly thinking, "oh, he's gonna talk about Fables !" "Oh, he's gonna talk about Pageant !" "Oh, he's gonna talk about Document !" ...and on and on. With the exception of Around the Sun , the band never released a sub-par album, and I wanted to read what Peter Ames Carlin had to say about all of them. He's a good insightful writer. R.E.M. were, by and large, well-behaved lads and have rarely let their private lives go public. Consequently, there is little in the way of salaciousness that one would find in a book about, say, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, or--for that matter--R.E.M. contemporaries like--say--Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, or any number of hair metal bands. The craziest story is the time in 2001...

A Quick Check-In

I haven't written anything in here for a long time. So what's new? Muddling by day-to-day under the Trump regime, bracing myself with every bat shit crazy executive order he makes and every certifiably nutty word that comes out of his mouth. All while no other elected official has the guts to stand up to him. Sorry, I'm not gonna provide you with any deep and nuanced political commentary, just expressing my frustration with the state of the United States. Of course, none of this insanity happening now surprises me.  So when I'm not depressed about authoritarianism, how have I been spending my time this month? I have been reading The Name of This Band is R.E.M . : a Biography (by Peter Ames Carlin). I am enjoying it a lot, and am about halfway through. It's much, much less of a slog than the last book I read. R.E.M. was good when it came to self-mythologizing, or maybe just messing with interviewers. I wouldn't call them  liars-- that is much too strong ...

A Post for February

I should get at least one post in for February. I haven't felt like writing lately. The one time I had the urge (Monday the 17th), the inspiation disappeared quicker than a drop of water in the Sahara. I was set to write about the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary show, but that flame blew out quickly. Maybe I'll tackle it again at some point. So, what else is new? The U.S. is still a shit show and Trump and his gangsters are ruling as authoritarians with no regard to checks and balances. All the creaks, gaps, and inadequacies of our Constitution have been exposed and exploited. Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress are essentially too afraid to stand up to Trump. So we're fucked. Listen, I know that is a very reductive assessment of our current state of affairs in the United States...or is it? I can't remember if I mentioned reading Beyond Belief: a Chronicle of Murder and its Detection by Emlyn Williams. It's allegedly the book that Morrissey used as inspira...

One week into Trump, Part II

I write this shortly after learning that Pete Hegseth: racist, alcoholic, domestic abuser, and philanderer who isn't qualified to be your local dog catcher, was confirmed as Secretary of Defense. We live in hell. I was silly enough to believe that, on January 20, 2021, Donald Trump's political career was over. After the horrors of January 6 and selling out his supporters, I thought for sure we were done with him. Surely, the failures of his presidency would be clear and the Republican Party would cut the cancer out and move on. How little did I know. Instead, he is back. His vengeance is at an extreme level. All of his executive orders designed to inflict as much pain as possible. He has made it clear that anyone who did not vote for him is the enemy, and nobody is safe. I curse everybody who voted for him, and save even more anger towards anyone who willingly sat out this election and didn't bother to vote. I have a hearty "fuck you" for all of you. So where do w...