essay Archive
18 Mar 2010
Goodbye, Alex
I remember the first time I saw Alex Chilton. I was in college in Atlanta, and I had met this sort-of-weird couple (they were probably “on the drugs”) through, I […]
08 Mar 2010
Words Have Consequences
When a writer’s work gains a certain degree of visibility, an interesting thing sometimes happens. The artists getting reviewed and/or profiled often contact the writer to give feedback. This happens […]
26 Feb 2010
Busy Doin’ Nothing
Well, not really. Not at all. I’m busy with a bunch of interviews, and with giving critical listens/watches to a stack of cool stuff. Each will be detailed and recommended […]
03 Feb 2010
“Avant Garde is French for Bullshit.” — John Lennon
Like anyone who does what I do, I get sent a lot of music. MP3 files, CDs, and occasionally vinyl. Sometimes it takes me awhile, but I do listen to […]
24 Dec 2009
Essay: “My Brilliant Non-career” part 4
On the group’s 2004 full-length album release, Sun Greets the Dawn, I used the Roland RD-300s for piano sounds; the Emu Vintage Keys for Farfisa, Mellotron strings, Vox Continental, Hammond […]
23 Dec 2009
Essay: “My Brilliant Non-career” Part 3
ANYway, I digress. So I bought this thing, more or less expecting it to arrive and require a few hours of plug-and-play assembly. What I found instead was an “unstuffed” […]
22 Dec 2009
Essay: “My Brilliant Non-career” Part 2
The Poly 800 had lots of sounds, was relatively easy to reprogram with different sounds, allowed saving of the sounds, and weighed about 15 pounds. It had pegs at either […]
21 Dec 2009
Essay: “My Brilliant Non-career” Part 1
When I was little my parents had this toy of a keyboard called a Magnus Chord Organ. Most 1960s homes seemed to have one. It was a two-and-a-half-octave affair, with […]
05 Dec 2009
Essay: “Don’t Fret,” or, “I Write the Songs” Garage Style
For several years starting in 2002, I led a little ol’ cover band. We played much-loved and little-known garage-psych classics in reasonably faithful arrangements. Songs like “You’re Gonna Miss Me” […]
18 Nov 2009
What do you get when you cross the Yardbirds with German prog?
In or around 1980 I went into my friendly local record shop and purchased a new, shrink-wrapped 2LP set called Shapes of Things. It was a compilation of Yardbirds radio […]