Semi-Urban Cartography

When I started writing music reviews more than nine years ago, I received albums in CD form. Anywhere from five to thirty per week. They’d arrive in packages and padded mailers, filled with discs and lots of paper: label propaganda, clippings from other media outlets. Sometimes there would be stickers or other goodies to ostensibly [...]

I’m a terrific fan of the angry young man complex. The further I find myself in an inevitable egress from that trait as an element of my life, the more I seek to indulge in its musical trappings to keep it at least close enough to relate to. I’m thirty-three years old and I have [...]

I was sent a message from a friend last night. It was a short email at the end of a day of us bouncing them back and forth. Less than 100 characters, it amounted to a “Tweet” (a phenomenon that I’ve yet to indulge in and may never). He was reporting on his status from [...]

My first solo film-making production was the short “Too Many I’s” in 2004. Like so many writers who produce their own work, my first step ostensibly played out like an experiment. I had to answer significant questions.  Could I assemble a decent crew? Getting the right people to the church on time, until you’ve done [...]

In early June of 2009, I picked up on the Japandroids through their new release, Post Nothing. It feels like a date worthy of memorial. The album came immediately in a digital download form from Polyvinyl records followed a few months later by a 180 Gram LP (with a bevy of other posters, stickers, candy [...]