In other news-only-Pete-cares-about......

....What is Mandy Moore doing on the cover of my indie rock magazine? I've said it before, but rock journalism is getting pretty sucky. It looks like the cover of Seventeen!

In other Cormac McCarthy news....

The Coen Brothers (makers of my favorite movie ever and the best movie ever made: The Big Lebowski) have made a film version of McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men". I've blogged about "No Country" before. It's a good modern day western about a serial killer and a regular guy who happens upon the serial killer's money. And I'm super excited about the film!

Here's a clip:

"The Road"

Finished "The Road" a few days ago. The only Cormac McCarthy book I've read that has a happy ending. I'll tell you the happy ending, so avert your eyes now if you don't want it spoiled for you.

There's been a nuclear holocaust. A father and son head out south on foot to try to go where it's warmer. They trek for 200 pages through ash and try to avoid being canabalized by the occasional passerby. In the last two pages the dad dies and a futuristic-super-cowboy appears out of nowhere and takes the boy to a safe commune rather than being left to the elements.

Really good book. Really made me feel like I could imagine the world he was creating.

Cormac is definately the toughest author on Oprah's book list.

Best Cover Art Ever!

On the Road

I tried to start reading this book a couple years ago. I think it was a gift from Keith. I never got very far. I think I was avoiding it because I was afraid that I'd find some kind of grand adventures that I missed out on.

Turns out I've pretty much done it all. I've been on the road with friends, with my band, my wife, and by myself. Heck we traveled a lot as a kid with my parents, which is pretty dorky, but I love those memories and they were just as adventurous. I've been all over this country in a car, van. I don't envy the adventures/experiences in this acount. I feel like maybe I've had more. Or at least more valuable ones.

I also really related to Sal Paradise's (main character) relationship with his friend, Dean Moriarty. The book simply uses "the road" as a setting in which to examine Sal's friendship with Dean. Dean is "one of the mad ones." Kerouac says he feels drawn to the the people who are "mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved." I feel like in my late teens and early 20s I felt the same need to be around people like that as well. And in sort of creative/artsy circles, this makes male relationships very interesting. I can definately say that I've known several Dean Moriartys in my time and been close to them. Men who move so fast and live for art and creativity or phylosophy or something. Shoot, maybe I've even seemed like a Dean Moriarty to someone else. And those times seemed fun and fast and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but- like in the book- they end weird and sad.

Anyway, on a less serious note, I had fun thinking of psuedonyms for some friends' names (a lot of famous writers and people have other names in this book that kinda sound like theirs) if I wrote an autobiography. I decided Keith's name would be Ken Kalloway. Scott Lehman would be Socrates Lansing. And so on. I think I would be James Stanton. The way I chose mine was because someone once told me a good way to make an alias is to put your middle name with the street you grew up on. The other two I just made up.

Imortant Note: Another book that explores the same type of relationship (a straight-laced guy paired up with a driven, fantastic man) is "What Makes Sammy Run" by Budd Schulberg. It's great. "On the Road" seemed like a 50s era updated version of that.

Listening to: Paul Simon, Six Parts Seven "Casually Smashed to Pieces", Cat Power, Cat Power, and more Cat Power.

Paul Simon- Career in Review

When you look at an artist who has real longevity, you'll notice a lot of the time that their albums go in twos. Jill and I are big Paul Simon fans. I might go so far as to say that he is the musical embodiment of the true American spirit. WHile we spend a lot of car time listening to his Garfunkel years and his early solo stuff, we have recently discovered his recent work. And his recent work definately goes in couples.












2000's "You're the One" and 2006's "Surprise" are what I'm tlaking about. We've recently been digging on them. Both are sonically similar.They continue to traverse (in sort of a boring, generic way) the multiculturalism of "world music" that earlier albums explored so innocently. Songs are held together by rhythm rather than an instrument or a melody or a chord progression. And he talks and scats (litterally) over the music. Most tackle the theme of being middle-aged and the things that [might] come with that: body image, blended families, having babies late in life, mature marriage, etc. The highlights tend to be on "Surprise", his newest album, and they are the first and last tracks. One is about his baby but there is this weird electronic munchkin voice that sings in the background and really takes the song down a notch.

I'm not dissing these two records. I like them a lot. I'm just saying that stuff to prove a point. If you are looking to buy an album of someone with a big long career, like that of Paul Simon, you have to realize that the albums probably go in twos and that you shouldn't look toward the beginning of the career, nor toward the end. After all, Simon's early Garfunkel years have records that contain mostly crap. Start buying their records they did like ....three fifths into their career.










I'm talking here about "Graceland" and "Rhythm oif the Saints". It's his most brilliant work. The former blends what you'd expect from Simon with South African music. The latter does the same with Brazillian music/rhythms. You can listen to either of those and never get tired of them. True genius.

Post Script
Now. If you're looking to buy something from a band that was around for like 4 years (or will be around for only 4 years) then definately buy their first one first. That's a rule.

Bob Boilen

I've seen celebrity auctions on Ebay like, "Have tea with Nelson Mandela!" and I like to make up my own twists on that. I think if they had an auction where the winner gets to "Cuddle with Bob Boilen" then I would bid.

Bob is great and his NPR program, All Songs Considered is wonderful. Boilen introduces the listener to music of all kinds in way that people from any musical background can understand, but he gets in-depth and technical and personal and real. I wait all week for the podcast to download.

His voice has a quality that is authentic, yet authoritative and somehow adorable all at the same time. Love ya, Bob. I'm a big fan.

All in my home, there's music in the air.

Reading 4 books at once...

I just finally finished "Full of Life" by John Fante, one of my favorite authors. It's a 1950's autobiographical piece on when his wife was pregnant. I thought I would feel the same connection and validation with this book as I did when I read his coming of age books (when I was coming of age [?]). But it was mostly just about his Catholic guilt and his issues with his own father. Selfish/self-indulgent. Very disappointed.

So, even though I am a super slow and non-committal reader, somehow I've ended up reading 4 books at once. I am reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy about a father and son walking across the US after a nuclear holocaust (sort of a futuristic western!!!). I've also loaded the audio version of "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac on my iPod. To my advisory class (a.k.a. 25 wasted minutes) I am using the time to read "Fahrenheit 451" by Bradbury to them. Lastly, I am reading "The Expectant Father" by Armin A. Brott. It's terrific, but it's chronological (with the development of the pregnancy) so I'm all caught up right now and haven't been reading it really.

Top 5 Neil Young Albums

I'm on a post-barbershop-visit high and got motivated to do a Neil Young blog.

1. Rust Never Sleeps
This is like "Neil Young: for dummies". It introduced me to, and got me hooked on Neil Young. The first half is just Neil by himself. The second half is all Crazy Horse! This remains one of my favorite records to date. Lyrically, it really helped me get through a time of lost friendship in my life. Thanks Neil!

2. Harvest
C'mon, it's got some radio classics like "Old Man", "Heart of Gold", great stuff. And he howls "Are you ready for the country? Because it's time to go!" Go where? I don't know, but I am ready and I wanna go wherever the 'country' is when you put it like that.

3. After the Gold Rush
Just great. Reminds me of Scott Lehman when I hear it. Especially when Neil sings, "When you dance... oooh, oooh, I can really love."



4. Live at Massey Hall 1971
Got it a couple weeks ago and I'm arready wearing it out. Great version of "Ohio"- way better than the Crosby ,Stills, and Nash (yech!) version. It's just a flawless performance. I told you before, I had to pull over the car the first time I heard it. Truly moved.

5. Trans
Neil's synthesizer album. Ballsy. Lost a lot of fans on this one, but not me, Neil. I get lost in this album in a weird psychadelic way. I remember working on the house late during cold nights listening to this and Jay Farrar's synthesizer album called "Sebastapol". Arright.