"Daddy and the Wine" and "I Drink" were both featured back-to-back in a first-season episode of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour in May 2006. When I hear the songs now, bars, not people, come to mind: dusty, thin-carpeted rooms that are dark in the afternoon, a shaft of sunlight entering through one window, tipping its hat, and walking right back out through the front door.
The Blind Engineer Rides Again
I'll be playing as The Blind Engineer for the first time in a while this coming Friday, February 13 at the Mingo Town Music Happy Hour located at the Shrunken Head in Victorian Village. Showtime is 6pm-8pm, the cover is zero damn dollars.The terrific Eric Nassau will open the show. You can catch Eric in… Continue reading The Blind Engineer Rides Again
Go Read Ellen Willis
I'm reacquainting myself with Ellen Willis, the preeminent, vital rock critic and feminist who died in 2006. I've read a smattering of her work here and there, but for the first time I'm reading Out of the Vinyl Deeps, which collected her writings before last year's The Essential Ellen Willis. She's too often overlooked (and… Continue reading Go Read Ellen Willis
Tiny Sandwich
Here's a picture of our dining room table, which is rarely used for dinner. Instead, it's a work table where Jamie fixes up some of the clothes she sells on Etsy and where I type a bunch of words. The tiny sandwich is what I had for lunch the other day: ham and provolone on… Continue reading Tiny Sandwich
Super Bowl Halftime Isn’t For Old People?
Or so says USA Today in responding with its typical seventh-grade reading level to tonight's Katy Perry performance at the halftime show of the Super Bowl:"Perry is the world’s most followed Twitter user (64.3 million and counting) and a popular, energetic female pop star who sings songs with catchy hooks. She’s someone in the prime of… Continue reading Super Bowl Halftime Isn’t For Old People?
Extended Thoughts on Music as Event and Construction
My review essay about Greil Marcus' The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs is up at Public Books. Go there, read around; it's a great site with excellent contributors, and I'm pleased to have my work published there.
In the course of editing the original essay, which was 3600 words (ie. too long) when I first submitted it back in August, Stephen Twilley suggested the deletion of a major argument, one that drifted too far from the needs of the review. And he was right; the resulting review is stronger for the cut. I'm grateful to Stephen and also to Ed Winstead for their wise input.
But what good is having a blog if you can't wax poetic about outtakes?
The deleted argument centers on a question that's still important to me: Is music best understood as an event or a construction? Of course music is both a made thing, a constructed song of chords and words, and a performance that constitutes an event (including a boring event, like the time my friend Eric Nassau and I excitedly went to see Prisonshake, took heart that they seemed to be getting drunk before their set, and were shocked when they played too quietly…the only time I've ever experienced that: a rock band playing too quietly because they were thoroughly soused, but anyway….) So music is both, but do we get more out of music criticism that approaches music one way or another? One of the arguments I'm making in "Nothing Has Been Done Before" is that Marcus' book, and his entire viewpoint as a critic and cultural historian, emphasizes music-as-event while the majority viewpoint sees music as primarily a construction, which serves a consumerist culture incredibly well and strips away the humanity, the surprise, and the threat of music.
Thoughts on ICAF 2014
I had the great pleasure to be part of the International Comic Art Forum where all of these superb artists and scholars convened for three days of intense discussion about comics at (The) Ohio State University. It's one of those incredibly rare opportunities to hear Phoebe Gloeckner, Dash Shaw, Carol Tyler, Justin Green, Hanneriina Moisseinen, Jeff Smith, Nate Powell and Congressman John Lewis rivet audiences just after hearing academic talks on Rube Goldberg, the Hernandez Brothers, Y the Last Man, and comics about the Rwandan genocide. It was also a chance for me to catch up with some friends, make some new acquaintances, and be a small part of what might be a defining moment in the comics studies field's development: the founding of the Comics Studies Society, the first of its kind in America.
What follows are thoughts on the event as best as I can remember them based on my shaky memory and notes scribbled in handwriting which my students have described as "archaic" and "Paleolithic." (Okay, not that last one.) My recollections shouldn't be taken as more than recollections. If you want to follow an online thread about the week's events, search Twitter for #ICAF14.
And let's just say, right off the bat, that The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum was a generous host, and we owe that institution much thanks, as well as the indefatigable Jared Gardner and Bill Kartalopoulos, who held the weekend together as emcees. Any pictures below were taken by Jared unless otherwise noted. You can visit his Flikr album here.
Review of The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs
My review essay, "Nothing Has Been Done Before," about Greil Marcus' superb The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs has been published at Public Books.Here's a very brief excerpt: “The book’s goal is to de-organize and destabilize such neat and redemptive narrative structures and register a subtle protest against the reductive nostalgia upon… Continue reading Review of The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs
Review of Root Hog or Die
My review of the compelling documentary about cartoonist John Porcellino, Root Hog or Die, is up at The Comics Journal. I reviewed the screening held recently at The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.An excerpt: "I hope that Root Hog or Die is a demystifying punch in the gut for those who romanticize "nuts" and… Continue reading Review of Root Hog or Die
Rocktober
Hmm, no updates in a month. Must be teaching season.Today kicks off a busy couple of weeks. Up first, Marjane Satrapi visits CCAD this Tuesday. I've been teaching Persepolis since 2009, so I'm thrilled to meet her. On Thursday, Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky of Sex Criminals infamy visit the college for a lecture (sans… Continue reading Rocktober
Robert Loss 