Abstract Figure

*A LIST OF SOME BOOKS I'VE READ AND ENJOYED

2010-08-24T19:11:00.000-04:00

[Listed is in semi reverse-chronological order, starting with the most recent book I've read and going backwards from there.]

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota - Chuck Klosterman
Water Dogs - Lewis Robinson
Alternatives in Education - Edited by Mark and Helen Hegener
Better Than School - Nancy Wallace
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling - John Holt & Patrick Farenga
Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery - David H. Albert
The Unschooling Handbook - Mary Griffith
Motherless Brooklyn - Jonathan Lethem
Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby
The Homeschooling Book of Answers - Linda Dobson
The Fortress of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem
Homeschooling for Excellence - David & Micki Colfax
The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s - David Farber
Here's The Story - Maureen McCormick
Big Bad Love - Larry Brown
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Shopgirl - Steve Martin
The Moral Animal - Robert Wright
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
A Home at the End of the World - Michael Cunningham
Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean - Douglas Wolk
Thumbsucker - Walter Kirn
Lunar Park - Bret Easton Ellis [AUDIOBOOK]
Family Man: Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity - Scott Coltrane
Alternadad - Neal Pollack
Throwaway Dads - Ross Parke and Armin Brott
The Disappointment Artist (and other essays) - Jonathan Lethem
The Actual - Saul Bellow
Indecision - Benjamin Kunkel
Stoner & Spaz - Ron Koertge
The Pleasure of My Company - Steve Martin [AUDIOBOOK]
Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood - Jennifer Traig [AUDIOBOOK]
Little Children - Tom Perrotta
The Unprofessionals - Julie Hecht
Brokeback Mountain - Annie Proulx
Short Cuts - selected stories by Raymond Carver
Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman
Tomcat in Love - Tim O'Brien
In the Cut - Susanna Moore
The Undressed Art (Why We Draw) - Peter Steinhart
Wild Child - edited by Chelsea Cain
Choosing Simplicity - Linda Breen Pierce
Personal Velocity - Rebecca Miller
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
The Ice Storm - Rick Moody
Whirligig - Paul Fleischman
Blue Angel - Francine Prose
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
The Name of the World - Denis Johnson
Jesus Son - Denis Johnson
The Cabin - David Mamet
Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon
The Mysteries of Pittsburg - Michael Chabon
The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac
The Body Artist - Don DeLillo
White Noise - Don DeLillo
The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
How to be Good - Nick Hornby
A Giacometti Portrait - James Lord
What Really Matters - Tony Schwartz
Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman
Life After God - Douglas Coupland
Generation X - Douglas Coupland
Rule of the Bone - Russel Banks
Bad Haircut - Tom Perrotta
About a Boy - Nick Hornby
High Fidelity - Nick Hornby
Woody Allen on Woody Allen
Lynch on Lynch
Cronenberg on Cronenberg
Coming of Age in Mississippi - Anne Moody
The Stranger - Albert Camus
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
Growing Up Brady - Barry Williams
Miss America - Howard Stern
Private Parts - Howard Stern
What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character - Richard P. Feynman
Mefisto in Onyx - Harlan Ellison
Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
The Thief of Always - Clive Barker
Franny and Zooey - J. D. Salinger
The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
The Firm - John Grisham
The Client - John Grisham
Different Seasons - Stephen King
Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
The Burden of Proof - Scott Turow
Pleading Guilty - Scott Turow
The Bachman Books - Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo

*Favorite Albums of 2009

2010-01-10T17:13:00.008-05:00

The xx - xx
Steve Lehman Octet - Travail, Transformation, and Flow
Where The Wild Things Are - Motion Picture Soundtrack: Original Songs by Karen O and The Kids

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[below are some older albums I just "discovered", "re-discovered", or simply finally got around to listening to this year]

I'm Not There - Original Soundtrack
Annie - Original Broadway Cast Recording
The Sound Of Music - An Original Soundtrack Recording
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
Jay-Z - The Black Album
Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse - The Grey Album

Favorites of 2009 (Films, TV, Books, Comics)

2009-12-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

Watchmen (film @ theater + Director's Cut DVD, 2009)
Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith (trade paperback, 2009)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (novel, 2002)
Luba by Gilbert Hernandez (hard-cover graphic novel, 2009)
Babel #1 and #2 by David B. (comic, 2006)
Bottle Rocket (film, Criterion Collection DVD, 2008/1996)
American Elf: Book 3 by James Kochalka (graphic novel, 2008)
New Mutants Classic vol. 3 by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz (trade paperback, 2008)
Entourage: The Complete Fourth + Fifth Seasons (DVD, 2007 + 2008)
The Last Days of Disco (film, Criterion Collection DVD, 2009/1998)
Kramers Ergot #7 (over-sized hardcover comics anthology, 2008)
My Brain is Hanging Upside Down by David Heatley (graphic novel, 2008)
Where the Wild Things Are (film @ theater, 2009)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (video game, Nintendo DS, 2009)
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (graphic novel, 2009)
I Love You, Man (film on DVD, 2009)
True Blood: The Complete First Season (DVD, 2009)
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Third Season (DVD, 2002)
The Comics Journal # 300 (paperback, 2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (film @ theater, 2009)
Avatar (film @ IMAX 3-D theater, 2009)

Note: This is a list of things that I read/watched/listened to/discovered in 2009 that were released/published in 2009 or before. There are still several films released this year that I haven't seen that may make this list, such as Inglourious Basterds and Star Trek, to name a couple.

*[MOST OF] MY FAVORITE MOVIES

2009-11-03T22:11:00.001-05:00

[Listed in alphabetical order by director's last name, except where noted **]

"Play It Again, Sam" **
Bananas
Sleeper
Love and Death
Annie Hall
Interiors
Manhattan
Stardust Memories
Zelig
Broadway Danny Rose
Hannah and Her Sisters
Another Woman
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Alice
Shadows and Fog
Husbands and Wives
Manhattan Murder Mysteries
Everyone Says I Love You
Mighty Aphrodite
Deconstructing Harry
Celebrity
Sweet and Lowdown
Anything Else
Melinda and Melinda
Match Point
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Hamlet (2000)
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Punch-Drunk Love
Bottle Rocket
Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Life Aquatic
The Darjeeling Limited
Requiem for a Dream
The Squid and the Whale
Margot at the Wedding
The Dreamers
Garden State
Edward Scissorhands
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Ed Wood
Barton Fink
Fargo
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Big Lebowski
Apocalypse Now
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Bram Stoker's Dracula
The Virgin Suicides
Lost in Translation
Shivers
Naked Lunch
Crash (Cronenberg)
eXistenZ
A History of Violence
Children of Men
Almost Famous
The Man with One Red Shoe
Hellboy
Hellboy II
Amadeus
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fight Club
Buffalo 66
Time Bandits
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Brazil
The Fisher King
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Imaginary Heroes
I'm Not There
The Proposition
Rear Window
Down By Law
Ghost Dog
Broken Flowers
Wonder Boys
Adaptation
Where the Wild Things Are
The Delicatessen
The City of Lost Children
Amelie
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Henry & June
Donnie Darko
Gotcha
Your Friends & Neighbors
Ice Storm
Waking Life
A Scanner Darkly
The Original Star Wars Trilogy
Moulin Rouge
Eraserhead
Blue Velvet
Wild at Heart
Lost Highway
Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch
Mulholland Dr.
Charlie's Angels
V for Vendetta
American Beauty
Thumbsucker
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf
Midnight Cowboy
Closer
The Dark Knight
Young Man With a Horn
Straw Dogs
Dogtown & the Z-Boys
Dark City
Stand By Me
Spanking the Monkey
Flirting with Disaster
I Heart Huckabees
Ordinary People
From Dusk Till Dawn
Sin City
Planet Terror
Auto Focus
Kalifornia
Taxi Driver
Big Night
Blade Runner
The Hunger
True Romance
James and the Giant Peach
Superman Returns
Clerks
Mallrats
Chasing Amy
Watchmen
Sex Lies and Videotape
Kafka(?)
Out of Sight
Jaws
The Indiana Jones Trilogy
A.I.
Minority Report
Metropolitan
Barcelona
The Last Days of Disco
Natural Born Killers
Pulp Fiction
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill
Death Proof
Shopgirl
Drugstore Cowboy
My Own Private Idaho
The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded
Dead Poets Society
Fearless
Paris Texas
Wings of Desire
The Seven Year Itch
Crumb
Ghost World

The Sopranos**

Six Feet Under**

Deadwood**

*A FEW OF THE COMICS ON MY BOOKSHELF

2009-06-13T20:30:00.004-04:00

The Art of the Peanuts - Charles M. Schulz/Chip Kidd
The Complete Peanuts 1950 to 1952 - Charles M. Schulz
The Completer Peanuts 1953 to 1954 - Charles M. Schulz
Raw
Weirdo
R. Crumb Miettes
R. Crumb Sketchbooks
The R. Crumb Handbook
Rubber Blanket - David Mazzucchelli
Neon Lit: Paul Austers City of Glass - David Mazzucchelli

Asterios Polyp - David Mazzucchelli
Ed the Happy Clown - Chester Brown
The Playboy - Chester Brown
I Never Liked You - Chester Brown
The Little Man - Chester Brown
Louis Riel - Chester Brown
Eightball - Dan Clowes
Lout Rampage! - Dan Clowes
Orgy Bound - Dan Clowes
Pussey! - Dan Clowes
Ghost World - Dan Clowes
Caricature - Dan Clowes
Twentieth Century Eightball - Dan Clowes
Ice Haven - Dan Clowes
32 Stories - Adrian Tomine
Sleepwalk and other stories - Adrian Tomine
Summer Blonde - Adrian Tomine
Acme Novelty Comics - Chris Ware
The Acme Novelty Date Book - Chris Ware
Suckle - Dave Cooper
Crumple - Dave Cooper
Ripple - Dave Cooper
Weasel - Dave Cooper
Schizo - Dave Cooper
Underbelly - Dave Cooper
Overbite - Dave Cooper
My Brain Is Hanging Upsidedown - David Heatley
HAW! - Ivan Brunetti
HEE! - Ivan Brunetti
Misery Loves Comedy - Ivan Brunetti
My Most Secret Desires - Julie Doucet
The Madame Paul Affair - Julie Doucet
My New York Diaries - Julie Doucet
Its A Good Life If You Dont Weaken - Seth
Peep Show - Seth
The Poor Bastard - Joe Matt
Fair Weather - Joe Matt
Beg the Question - Bob Fingerman
SOF BOY - Archer Prewitt
Good-bye, Chunky Rice - Craig Thompson
Blankets - Craig Thompson
Carnet de Voyage - Craig Thompson
Cave-in - Brian Ralph
Climbing Out - Brian Ralph
Perfect Example - John Porcellino
Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man - John Porcellino
King-Cat Classix
Unlikely - Jeffrey Brown
Clumsy - Jeffrey Brown
Aeiou - Jeffrey Brown
I Am Going To Be Small - Jeffrey Brown
Paradise Sucks - James Kochalka
Quit Your Job - James Kochalka
Tiny Bubbles - James Kochalka
Kissers - James Kochalka
American Elf: The Collected Sketchbook Diaries of James Kochalka (Books 1, 2, and 3)
The CUTE Manifesto - James Kochalka
Conversations - James Kochalka
Super F*ckers - James Kochalka
Dogs and Water - Anders Nilsen
Epileptic - David B.
The Clouds Above - Jordan Crane
Spiral Bound - Aaron Renier
Cheap Novelties - Ben Katchor
Julius Knipl: Real Estate Photographer - Ben Katchor
Champs - Steven Weissman
Heartbreak Soup - Gilbert Hernandez
Human Diastrophism -Gilbert Hernandez
Beyond Palomar - Gilbert Hernandez
LUBA - Gilbert Hernandez
Gray Horses - Hope Larson
Top Shelf: Asks The Big Questions (anthology)
The Summer of Love - Debbie Dreschler
Fun Home - Alison Bechdel
MOME (all issues 2005-2008)
Best American Comics 2007
An Anthology of Graphic Fiction
Kramers Ergot 7
Bizarro Comics
Bizarro World
Breathtaker - Mark Wheatley/Marc Hempel
The Complete Bone Adventures Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 - Jeff Smith
Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume - Jeff Smith
SHAZAM! The Monster Society of Evil - Jeff Smith
Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond
Jack Cole and Plastic Man - Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Miller/Janson/Varley
Batman: Year One - Miller/Mazzucchelli
Daredevil: Born Again - Miller/Mazzucchelli
Elektra Assassin - Miller/Sienkiewicz
Batman Black and White
Justice League - Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire
Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown - Walter & Louise Simonson/Jon J. Muth/Kent Williams
Longshot - Art Adams
Madman - Mike Allred
Hellboy - Mike Mignola
New Mutants Classic Vol. 3 - Chris Claremont/Bill Sienkiewicz
Brought to Light - Bill Sienkiewicz
Daredevil: Love and War - Miller/Sienkiewicz
Elektra Lives Again - Frank Miller/Lynn Varley
Hard Boiled - Miller/Darrow
Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot - Miller/Darrow
Sin City - Frank Miller
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again - Frank Miller/Lynn Varley
Jack Kirby's New Gods
Batman-Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham - Grant/Wagner/Bisley
Arthur Adams X-Men Legends 3
Art Adams' Creature Features
Mythos - Jenkins/Rivera (Marvel)

*A LIST OF SOME GRAPHIC NOVELS I'VE READ AND ENJOYED (BORROWED FROM THE LIBRARY)

2009-05-22T22:25:00.001-04:00

Maus I and II - Art Spiegelman
Barefoot Gen - Keiji Nakazawa
Kingdom Come - Mark Waid/Alex Ross
Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China - Guy Delisle
We3 - Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted - Joss Whedon
Superman for All Seasons - Loeb/Sale
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - Alison Bechdel
Persepolis 2 - Marjane Satrapi
The New Avengers: Secrets & Lies vol. 3 - Brian Michael Bendis
Luba: Three Daughters - Gilbert Hernandez
The New Avengers: The Sentry vol. 2 - Brian Michael Bendis/Steve McNiven
Tricked - Alex Robinson
Garage Band - Gipi
American Born Chinese - Gene Yang
The Quitter - Harvey Pekar/Dean Haspiel
Black Hole - Charles Burns
Stop Forgetting to Remember - Peter Kuper
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea - Guy Delisle
Civil War - Millar/McNiven
Watchmen - Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons
Runaways Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - Brian K. Vaughn/Adrian Alphona+
Escape From "Special" - Miss Lasko-Gross
Wimbledon Green - Seth
Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Books 1 - 4
The Fate of the Artist - Eddie Campbell
The Salon - Nick Bertozzi
Shortcomings - Adrian Tomine
The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron - Daniel Clowes
Notes For A War Story - Gipi
But I Like It - Joe Sacco
Shutterbug Follies - Jason Little
Stuck In The Middle - edited by Ariel Schrag
Hamilton Sketchbook - David Collier
Need More Love - Aline Kominsky-Crumb
The Push Man and Other Stories - Yoshihiro Tatsumi
The Wipe Out - Grancesca Ghermandi
Palomar - Gilbert Hernandez
Alec: How To Be An Artist - Eddie Campbell
Lucky - Gabrielle Bell
The Three Paradoxes - Paul Hornschemeier
Batman: Year 100 - Paul Pope
All-Star Superman (volume 1) - Grant Morrison + Frank Quitely
Salamander Dreams - Hope Larson
The Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Kim Deitch
Three Shadows - Cyril Pedrosa

*A LIST OF SOME ARTISTS THAT INSPIRE ME

2009-03-24T23:05:00.005-04:00

Painters

Egon Schiele
Fairfield Porter
Richard Diebenkorn
R.B. Kitaj
David Hockney
Lucian Freud
Euan Uglow
Willem De Kooning
Philip Guston
Cy Twombly
Franz Kline
Nicholas de Stael
Francis Bacon
Frank Auerbach
Leon Kossof
Mark Rothko
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Vincent van Gogh
Pablo Picasso
Gustav Klimt
Susan Rothenberg
Georg Baselitz
Ed Ruscha
Jenny Saville
Nathan Oliviera
David Park
John Currin
Wes Mills
Paul Celli
Dan Bennette
Jason Gillis

Comic Artists

Chester Brown
Dave Cooper
James Kochalka
R. Crumb
Gilbert Hernandez
Jaime Hernandez
David B.
Chris Ware
Adrian Tomine
Sammy Harkham
Julie Doucet
John Porcellino
Daniel Clowes
Jeff Smith
J. Otto Seibold
David Mazzucchelli
Frank Miller
Bill Sienkiewicz
Geof Darrow
Art Adams
Michael Golden
Kevin Maguire
Jack Kirby

NEW FAVORITES:

Painters

Wassily Kandinsky?

Karel Appel

Comic Artists

Eleanor Davis (all her MOME contributions)

Jonathan Bennett (all his MOME contributions)

Robert Goodin (3 Legged Myrna & her 2 Lovers from MOME #5)

Joseph Lambert (his piece in AWESOME The ISR Anthology)

Gabrielle Bell

*[ALMOST] EVERY "CONCERT" I'VE BEEN TO

2009-02-19T23:18:00.042-05:00

Iron Maiden w/Frehley’s Comet (Ace Frehley) - July 20, 1988 - Providence Civic Center
Danzig – Oct. 27, 1990 - Derringer’s Brockton MA
Iron Maiden w/Anthrax – Jan. 25, 1991 – Providence Civic Center RI
Throwing Muses – April 26, 1991 – Campus Club, Providence RI
Morrissey – July 3, 1991 – Great Woods Perf. Arts Ctr., MA
Clash of the Titans (Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer w/Alice in Chains) – July 6 1991 – Great Woods Perf. Arts Ctr., MA
Lollapalooza (Jane’s Addiction, Living Color, Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T with Body Count, The Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band) – Aug. 9 or 10, 1991 – Great Woods Perf. Arts Ctr., MA
Anthrax / Public Enemy w/Primus – Sept. 25, 1991 – Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA
Metallica – Dec. 23, 1991 – Centrum in Worcester, MA
Pixies w/Pere Ubu - 1992? - Palladium at Rocky Point ?, Warwick RI
Earth Day concert (Violent Femmes, Fishbone, The Kinks, Midnight Oil, Robin Hitchcock, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, etc.) – Apr. 26, 1992 - Foxboro Stadium MA
Lou Reed - May 24, 1992 – Great Woods Perf. Arts Ctr., MA
Lollapalooza II (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ministry, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam, Lush) – Aug. 7 or 8, 1992 - Great Woods Perf. Arts Ctr. MA
Henry Rollins Band – Nov. 5, 1992 – The Channel, Boston MA
Chris Isaak - ? - Downtown Crossing "rooftop", Boston MA
Pantera – Mar. 4, 1993 – Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA
Anthrax – May 21, 1993 – Axis, 13 Lansdowne St. Boston MA
Neil Young with Booker T and the MGs w/Soundgarden and Blind Melon – Aug. 23, 1993 – Great Woods MA
Nirvana w/The Breeders – Nov. 12, 1993 – Wallace Civic Center, Fitchburg
Rage Against The Machine w/Cypress Hill – Dec. 7, 1993 – The Sting, New Britain CT
Morphine – summer 1994 – Middle East, Cambridge MA
Bob Dylan – Oct. 9, 1994 – Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA
Offspring w/ Quicksand – Feb. 28, 1995 – Worcester Memorial Auditorium
Fugazi – April 11, 1995 – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, Providence RI
R.E.M. - June 17, 1995 – Great Woods Perf. Arts Ctr., MA
Morphine – summer 1995 – Middle East, Cambridge MA
Rage Against The Machine – Aug. 6, 1996 – Wallace Civic Center, Fitchburg MA
Face to Face w/Suicide Machines – 1996 – The Paradise, Boston MA
John Cale w/Red House Painters – Oct. 1, 1996 – The Paradise, Boston
Pearl Jam w/The Fastbacks – Oct. 2, 1996 – Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford CT
The Smashing Pumpkins w/The Frogs – Nov. 6, 1996 – Centrum in Worcester MA
Morphine – Nov. 7, 1996 – Avalon, 15 Lansdowne St. Boston MA
Ani DiFranco – Nov. 24, 1996 – Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA
WBCN X-mas Rave (Tracy Bonham, Eels, Mazzy Star) – Dec. 3, 1996 – Avalon, 15 Lansdowne St. Boston MA
Lou Reed – Feb. 26, 1997 – Avalon, 15 Lansdowne St. Boston MA
Ani DiFranco – Mar. 15, 1997 – Providence Per. Arts Ctr. RI
Beck – Apr. 1, 1997 – Gosman Center Brandeis University MA
Ben Lee – June 1997 – Middle East, Cambridge MA
U2 PopMart Tour – July 1, 1997 – Foxboro Stadium MA
T-Model Ford w/20 Miles – fall (Oct.?) 1997 – Middle East, Cambridge MA
Papas Fritas – July 24, 1997 – The Paradise, Boston MA
H.O.R.D.E. Festival (Neil Young Crazy Horse, Beck, Primus) – Aug. 9, 1997 – Great Woods MA
Yo La Tengo – Aug. 29, 1997 – Middle East Café, Cambridge MA
Gus Gus – Nov. 18, 1997 – The Paradise, Boston MA
The Sundays – Nov. 29, 1997 – Avalon, 15 Lansdowne St. Boston MA
Frank Black – May 16, 1998 – Karma Club, 9 Lansdowne St. Boston MA
Yo La Tengo – spring 1998 – Tufts University, Somerville MA
Sonic Youth w/Tom Verlaine/Jimmy Ripp, Sean Lennon – Jun 6, 1998 – The Palladium Worcester MA
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Sept. 7, 1998 – The Roxy, Boston MA
Will Oldham / Calexico (?) - Oct. 12, 1998 - Middle East upstairs, Cambridge MA
Mark Kozelek – fall 1998 – Middle East upstairs, Cambridge MA
Elliot Smith – fall 1998 – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, Providence RI
Shellac w/Peer Group – Oct. 24, 1998 – a loft @ 84 Kingston St. Boston
The Boredoms - ? - Middle East, Cambridge MA ?
Wilco – Apr. 23, 1999 – Avalon Nightclub, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston MA
The Make-Up w/Bratmobile – Apr. 30, 1999 – Middle East downstairs, Cambridge MA
Tom Waits – Sep. 20, 1999 – Orpheum Theatre, Boston MA
Rachel’s – Sep. 17, 1999 – Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA
Fugazi – fall 1999 – Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel, Providence RI
Wilco – Nov. 11, 1999 – Avalon Ballroom 15 Lansdowne St., Boston MA
Guided By Voices w/The American Flag – Jan. 17, 2000 – Middle East downstairs, Cambridge MA
Old 97's - Feb. 12, 2000 - The Paradise Rock Club, Boston MA
Sonic Youth / Stereolab – Jun.15, 2000 – Avalon 15 Lansdowne St. Boston
Mark Kozelek – July 23, 2000 – Middle East Cambridge MA ?
John Cale – Dec. 2000 – Johnny D's, Somerville MA
Red House Painters – Jun. 18, 2001 – Middle East downstairs Cambridge
The Strokes – Oct. 1, 2002 – State Theater Portland ME
Shellac – Oct. 10, 2002 – The Skinny Portland ME
Wilco – Oct. 20, 2002 – State Theater Portland ME
Smog w/Brother JT3 & Herman Dune – Nov. 11, 2002 – The Skinny Portland ME
Seekonk w/Soltero – Jan. 25, 2003 – SPACE Portland ME
Seekonk & The Hot Dogs – Feb. 11, 2003 – The Skinny Portland ME
Godspeed You! Black Emperor w/Jackie-O Motherfucker – Apr. 7, 2003 – Space Gallery Portland
The Ponys – April 11, 2003 – SPACE Portland ME
Marilyn Manson w/Chevelle – Aug. 16, 2003 – Cumberland County Civic Center Portland ME
The White Stripes – Jul 20, 2003 – Tsongas Arena, Lowell MA
My Morning Jacket – Jan. 28, 2004 – SPACE Portland ME
Mates of State w/Hot Dogs – Feb. 27, 2004 – SPACE Portland ME
Bishop Allen – March 4, 2004 – SPACE Portland ME
Saturday Looks Good To Me - ? - SPACE Portland ME
The New Year w/Harpswell Sound – Jul. 8, 2004 – SPACE Portland ME
Wilco – Aug. 6, 2004 – State Theater Portland ME
The Ponys a.k.a. Phantom Buffalo - ? - SPACE Portland ME
Low / Pedro the Lion – Feb. 5, 2005 – Somerville Theatre, Somerville MA
Modest Mouse – Jun. 23, 2005 – State Theater Portland ME
Magnolia Electric Co. w/ Grand Buffet – Aug. 2005 – SPACE Portland ME
My Morning Jacket – Oct. 16, 2005 – State Theater Portland ME
Audioslave – Nov. 2, 2005 – Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland ME
Wilco w/My Morning Jacket – Jun. 24, 2005 – Agganis Arena at Boston University MA
Phantom Buffalo – Dec. 31, 2005/Jan. 1, 2006 – SPACE Portland ME
Dan Higgs – Mar. 11, 2006 – SPACE Portland ME
Mark Kozelek – May 26, 2006 – Museum of Fine Arts Boston MA
Zappa Plays Zappa – Jun. 13, 2006 – Orpheum Theater Boston MA
Bob Dylan & his band w/The Raconteurs – Nov. 9, 2006 – Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland ME
The Evens – Jun. 22, 2007 – SPACE Gallery Portland ME

*Favorite Films of 2008

2008-10-03T19:11:00.008-04:00

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Smart People
The Dark Knight
WALL-E
Hellboy II
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The Changeling (?)

(so far...still haven't seen Milk, The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, etc.)

Favorite Albums of 2008

2008-10-03T19:10:00.004-04:00

Fleet Foxes (self-titled debut full length album)
Cat Power - Juke Box
She & Him - Volume 1

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[below are some older albums I "discovered" this year]

Black Mountain (self-titled debut album)
Black Mountain - Druganaut (EP)

Favorite Films of 2007

2008-04-12T21:20:00.007-04:00

Margot at the Wedding
The Darjeeling Limited (w/ Hotel Chevalier)
Grindhouse (Death Proof / Planet Terror)
Zodiac
I'm Not There
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
No Country For Old Men
300
Into the Wild

*SOME POEMS I [ACTUALLY] LIKE

2008-02-14T11:00:00.002-05:00

[I've recently started getting into poetry....after years of having NO interest in it, what-so-ever. Here are some poems I found that I like.]

Elvis Moving a Small Cloud: The Desert Near Las Vegas, 1976 - David Wojahn

Self-Portrait at 28 - David Berman

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird - Wallace Stevens

Why the Hat - Jeff Tweedy

Laughs - Jeff Tweedy

[Elegy and Perisphere I-VII]

Silver Age - David Wojahn

After Montale - David Wojahn

Nite Shot Frm Italian Pavilion - David Wojahn

Superman's Mission for President Kennedy - David Wojahn

Panels - David Wojahn

Appraisal at Moondog's - David Wojahn

Invocation: The Muse of Memory and The Muse of History - David Wojahn

Rapture - Galway Kinnell

I, Too (Sing America) - Langston Hughes

Dream Song #14 - John Berryman

Some People Like Poetry - Wislawa Szymborska

In California - Margaret Levine

Snow Day - Billy Collins

Snow - David Berman

Tuesday 9:00 AM - Denver Butson

Reading Hemingway - James Cummins

Hell - Jeff Tweedy Muzzle - Jeff Tweedy

Pure Bug Beauty - Jeff Tweedy

Yachting?- Jeff Tweedy

Men at Forty - Donald Justice

Fog - Carl Sandburg

Choose - Carl Sandburg

Crimson - Carl Sandburg

Happiness - Carl Sandburg

Black Revolver - Jarret Keene

Coyote Blues - Jarret Keene

A Bright Future for Poets - Jarret Keene

Crowded Rooms - Jarret Keene

Not Waving but Drowning - Stevie Smith

I Am Going To Start Living Like A Mystic - Edward Hirsch

The Tunnel - Mark Strand

So I Said I Am Ezra - A. R. Ammons

To You - Kenneth Koch

What Denis Johnson Said When I Gave Him a Pair of X-Ray Specs - Jarret Keene

Sonnet 116 - William Shakespeare

Sonnet 18 - William Shakespeare

Sonnet 39 - Sir Philip Sidney

Song: To Celia - Ben Jonson

To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time - Robert Herrick

To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell

Saturday at the Canal - Gary Soto

Loafing - Raymond Carver

Black Dog - James DenBoer

Change - Tony Hoagland

This Is Just To Say - William Carlos Williams

Who Was That Man? - Paul Bussan

Unflushed Urinals - Donald Justice

Current - Stuart Dybek

Shakespearean Sonnet - R. S. Gwynn

Why It Often Rains in the Movies - Lawrence Raab

Snowbanks North of the House - Robert Bly

Famous - Naomi Shihab Nye

Favorite Albums of 2007

2008-01-14T21:23:00.003-05:00

Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
The White Stripes - Icky Thump
Daft Punk - Alive 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[below are some older albums I just "discovered" this year]

LCD Soundsystem (self-titled debut album w/2nd disc of singles)

Favorite "concerts"/shows of 2007

2008-01-14T21:20:00.007-05:00

The Evens at SPACE Gallery, Portland Maine 6-22-07

The "Our World is Not What it Seems" line of films

2007-04-10T22:36:00.001-04:00

Jacob's Ladder
Kafka
The Delicatessen
The Matrix
Fight Club
eXistenZ
Waking Life
Naked Lunch
Dark City
The Truman Show
The Game
Lost Highway
Memento
Vanilla Sky
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[NOTE: After making this list I came across Chuck Klosterman's essay "The Awe-Inspiring Beauty of Tom Cruise's Shattered, Troll-like Face" (featured in his book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs*) in which he discusses what he calls the the recent spat of "What is Reality" films. He includes a number of the above films in his article plus Mulholland Drive, Being John Malkovich, and Donnie Darko...but mostly he discusses Vanilla Sky, my least favorite of all these "types" of films.]

Films repeatedly viewed [by me] in early-mid 90s

2007-04-10T22:05:00.001-04:00

Amadeus
Fearless
Dead Poet's Society
Rear Window
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Fisher King
Le Femme Nikita
Leon/The Professional
Drugstore Cowboy
My Own Private Idaho
The Player
Glengarry GlenRoss
The Inner Circle
Cape Fear (dir. Martin Scorsese)
The Hunger
The Man with One Red Shoe
Gotcha

Favorite Films of 2006

2007-03-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

The Proposition
Superman Returns
The Science of Sleep
Little Miss Sunshine
Marie Antoinette
V For Vendetta
Children of Men
Friends with Money
Little Children
A Scanner Darkly

Favorite Albums of 2006

2007-03-31T12:24:00.000-04:00

Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
Loose Fur - Born Again in the U.S.A.
Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics
Mates of State - Bring it Back
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

"Classic Wrist Slashers"

2007-03-31T10:58:00.000-04:00

(10 Albums That Are Even Grimmer Than Neil Young's Doom Trilogy*)

1 John Cale - Music For A New Society
2 Lou Reed - Berlin
3 Nirvana - In Utero
4 Lisa Germano - Happiness
5 Red House Painters - Red House Painters
6 The Replacements - All Shook Down
7 Big Star - 3rd/Sister Lovers
8 Wilco - Being There
9 American Music Club - Everclear
10 Galaxie 500 - On Fire

* Neil Young's "Doom Trilogy"

Time Fades Away
On The Beach
Tonight's The Night

taken from the article The Edge of Darkness by Allan Jones
which appeared in the Sept. 1998 issue of Uncut magazine.

*SOME OF MY FAVORITE BANDS/MUSICIANS

2007-03-22T20:15:00.000-04:00

Wilco

Red House Painters

Low

Silver Jews

Bob Dylan

Tom Waits

The Velvet Underground

Pixies

Smog

Sufjan Stevens

My Morning Jacket

The Flaming Lips

The Beatles

The Magnetic Fields

Billy Bragg & Wilco

Lou Reed

Brad Mehldau

Shellac

The White Stripes

John Cale

Phantom Buffalo

Yoko Ono

The Black Keys

Built to Spill

Evan Dando

Johnny Cash

P J Harvey

Cat Power

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Tindersticks

Death Cab for Cutie

Frank Black and the Catholics

Edith Frost

Godspeed You! Black Emporer

Sun Kil Moon

The Folk Implosion

Uncle Tupelo

Iron & Wine

Frank Zappa

The Cure

Bright Eyes

The Polyphonic Spree

Sebadoh

Lungfish

Dirty Three

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Guided By Voices

Brian Wilson

Mark Kozelek

Magnolia Electric Co.

Jim ORourke

Roxy Music

The Walkmen

Loose Fur

Ray LaMontagne

Nico

Jonathan Richman

Bruce Springsteens Nebraska album

Ugly Casanova

Archer Prewitt

Hayden

Kimya Dawson

The Go-Betweens

The Comas

Neutral Milk Hotel

Steve Reich

Elliott Smith

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Modest Mouse

Jack Logan

Calexico

Yo La Tengo

AIR

Daft Punk

Miles Davis

John Coltrane

John Lennon

The New Year

Leadbelly

Mates of State

Lou Reed & John Cale

The Amps

The Postal Service

Sonic Youth

Public Enemy

Wire

Vincent Gallo

Neko Case

Richard Buckner

Spain

The Rentals

The Sonics

Damon & Naomi

Pajo

Beck

The Rolling Stones

Nirvana

Big Star

The Sea and Cake

Galaxie 500

Beat Happening

Palace Brothers

Nina Nastasia

The Breeders

The Raconteurs

Serge Gainsbourg

LCD Soundsystem

Nick Drake

Mazzy Star

Aeriel M

Chet Baker

Billie Holiday

Simon Joyner

The Shins

The Secret Stars

Papa M

Radiohead

Blondie

Ween

Pedro the Lion

James Kochalka

A Tribe Called Quest

Palace

Dump

Sally Timms

The Band

The Arcade Fire

The Evens

Township

Radar Eyes

lightning bolt

Peter Bjorn and John

Favorite Films of 2005

2006-03-31T12:22:00.000-05:00

Sin City
Melinda and Melinda
Broken Flowers
Me and You and Everyone We Know
History of Violence
Thumbsucker
Shopgirl
The Squid and The Whale
Brokeback Mountain
Match Point

Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

Favorite Albums of 2005

2006-03-31T12:08:00.000-05:00

My Morning Jacket - Z
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers
Low - Great Destroyer
Magnolia Electric Co. - What Comes After the Blues
Pajo - Pajo
The Evens - The Evens
Wilco - Kicking Television (Live in Chicago)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans

Bob Dylan - No Direction Home Bootleg Series Volume 7

Favorite Films of 2004

2005-03-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I Heart Huckabees
Kill Bill Vol. 2
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Sideways
Garden State
The Aviator
Napoleon Dynamite
Closer
Anchorman OR The Incredibles OR The Village

Favorite "concerts" of 2004

2005-03-31T12:12:00.000-05:00

My Morning Jacket at SPACE Gallery, Portland Maine 1-28-04

Mates of State at SPACE Gallery, Portland Maine 2-27-04

The New Year at SPACE Gallery, Portland Maine 7-08-04

Wilco at State Theater, Portland Maine 8-06-04

Favorite Albums of 2004

2005-03-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
Tom Waits - Real Gone
Low - A Lifetime of Temporary Relief box set
The New Year - The End is Near
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Magnetic Fields - i
Nirvana - With the Lights Out box set
The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
The Comas - Conductor
Kimya Dawson - Hidden Vagenda OR Mates of State - All Day EP

Favorite Albums of 2003

2004-03-31T11:56:00.000-05:00

Wilco - More Like the Moon EP
The Flaming Lips - Fight Test EP
The White Stripes - Elephant
Evan Dando - Baby I'm Bored
My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
The Rapture - Echoes
Cat Power - You Are Free
Lou Reed, John Cale, Nico - Le Bataclan '72
Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway
The Postal Service - Give Up