Black Is The New Blood

Album of the year:

Jay-Z: American Gangster….I’m not a big Jay-Z fan….I usually like two or three songs per album, but this one hits all the right notes.

Honorable Mention: Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: Follow The Lights EP. Mostly reworkings of songs that have been out there for a while. Top to bottom, the best thing he has done since Heartbreaker

Early 2008 faves: Cat Power’s “Jukebox” and The Drive-By Trucker’s “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark.” And 2008 is the year I discovered the insanity that is Lil Wayne. If Jay-Z is hip-hops F. Scott Fitzgerald, than Lil Wayne is surely it’s James Joyce. Almost 20 years ago, when hip-hop started to raise it’s head, a friend and I discussed just how much of rap was freestyle. My opinion….very little. With Lil Wayne….this shit is so crazy it can’t be anything but a big fat blunt and then free association. Reskull yourself.  Track to check out is “Upgrade.”

There’s a lot of films I have yet to see from 2007. Of what I have seen, this is the best. I can’t quite describe why I love this film, I just do. Do yourself a favor…

trailer#2

Several years back, I used to go out a lot. I was a bit of a scenester. After a show one night, I was invited back to a girl’s apartment for after hour drinks with a few of her other friends. I ended up talking to a guy for a couple of hours, mostly about music. He invited me to a show he was doing the next night. Actually, he was just going to be playing between sets of a musician I knew very well, so I went. He only played 5 songs, but the last one was the most incredible, heart-wrenching version of Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.” This happened 6, maybe 7 years ago, but I remember it like it was today. It’s a musical moment I will cherish forever.

Carter Albrecht, member of The New Bohemians, member of Sorta, made this moment possible for me. Sadly, his life has been taken. RIP.

New Vollmann on the way.

So, I have the new Prince album. With the title Planet Earth, I guess I figured it would be Prince’s enviromental statement. Error #1.

At it’s worst, Planet Earth couldn’t be all that bad. Even bad Prince albums are usually reviewed with a tag line going something like this, “This isn’t a great Prince album, but it’s still better than ninety percent of what’s out there.” Error#2.

For the life of me, I can’t understand what went on here. Scroll back a few months to Prince’s Super Bowl appearance. I agree with the critics who say that at that moment, Prince finally made the slow transition from national pariah, to national treasure.

Less than a week ago, I heard a bootleg of Prince playing at the 3121 club in Las Vegas. Stunned was my reaction.  It still is. The master at the top of his game. I’ve heard a lot of Prince shows, and what I heard was top five. If the sound quality had been better, top two, second ony to Small Club.

So why this? The re-vamped version of “Guitar” is great.  The rest….is bad. Indescribably bad. It’s near torture to listen to. And I can’t understand why.

Sheila is having a garage sale.

Sorry….I’ve been bringing new progeny into the world.

I’ll start double parenting soon.

Until then, Easy, Tiger. I’ve got a Halloweenhead.

Evidence. (via Matt M.)

Terrance Wedin, who once sat next to Cho Seung-Hui in a fiction workshop, is blogging for Esquire. (via Maud).

Band Version:

(Much Better) Fan Version:

If these are the books that have left a legacy over the last 25 years, we are in more trouble than we thought. I will never read USA Today again.

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

-Albert Einstein

So what is happening to the bee population?

Kurt Vonnegut, RIP

and so is this

So I walked into Borders today, and was struck by a heap of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” as I walk in. Flags start going off in my head. I’ve been a manager at a big box bookstore, and thats not the type of book you hit customers with when they first walk in the door. And why is it in paperback? It hasn’t been in hardcover for six months. Then, I see it’s emblazoned with the scarlet letter. It’s got a big old fucking “O” on the cover.

Et tu, Cormac?

I am now beginning to think that the new Pynchon is 1100 pages solely because its over Oprah’s page limit.

Speaking of the new Pynchon….it’s been a week since I finished it. I’ll post a few thoughts soon.

If you think this is creepy…..

then watch this

Actually, the highlight of my 40th, was finishing Against The Day. More on this later.