Townes Van Zandt wrote a lot of super depressing songs. I mean, they’re great — they’re spectacular. But they are SUPER FANTASTIC DEPRESSING, some of them. Jeez, Townes. The Magnolia Collective covered “Waiting Around To Die” in the best version of that song I have heard in a long, long time; but nobody did “Pancho…
and the poets do push-ups
[Posted elsewhere as well; apologies.] Since the mid-nineties, Justin has been saying, ironically or not, that this is how your first entry of the new year should always be, and so it is.
worth getting up for: december
Worth getting up for in December: Trekky’s Christmas at the Cradle and the annual first-weekend-in-December American Aquarium Pour House show; $5 double tall Long Island night at the Pour House and pink shots at Motorco; hockey; Justin Townes Earle live; good bootleg recordings and my buddy Dan; dinners out with my folks; scripting tour diaries;…
the avett brothers @ cat’s cradle
The trouble is: I have been spoiled for all other Avett Brothers shows ever. I had never seen them live, after all. And tonight we could have driven to Asheville — but we didn’t; dinner with my parents — and seen them at the Civic Center with 7,000 other people, and it would have been…
top 25 albums of 2010
Some year I’m going to design an elaborate March Madness style bracket to determine my favorite album, but this was not that year. Instead, I listened to 1134 of 1516 tracks in my 2010 playlist, alphabetical by artist and album, between December 1 and, uh, right now, and I made a list: top 25 albums and the…
top tracks, eps and singles of 2010
Shorter and less obsessed-over (than tomorrow’s epic work of art top albums list) lists of great EPs and 7″s, and tracks I loved in 2010. (I totally made the first list so I could put Frank’s EP and the Graves’ EP on it.) Top EPs and 7″ Releases of 2010 Frank Turner — Rock and…
the difference betwen murder and homicide
The difference between f1.8 and f1.4 is miraculous. Also, it snowed. Muchas, muchas gracias to the parental units, who for the holidays upgraded my workhorse E-series manual 50mm to the new Nikkor 50mm with the focus motor in the body; it’s nearly as big as Six herself, and it is amazing. I can’t wait to…
peace on earth, y’all
Happy holidays from me and shep. and the cats here at the Alpha Site, to all y’all out there in the world.
top ten shows of 2010
Today kicks off a couple of year end lists; tomorrow you’ll get EPs and tracks, and next week, a massive list of albums the making of which may make me more insane than usual, but which will be thorough if nothing else. Today, though: today you get my Top 10 Live Shows of 2010. I…
christmas mix 2010: the right to use a word
I’ve been making what I call a Christmas mix — that is, not holiday songs but a mix made at the holidays — since 1997; first they were tapes, then for a few years cds, and finally, in the digital age, the last five years have been downloadable zip files, and this year is no…
brand new kind of photography 