1.04.2006
Back from break
A quick post here to show some signs of life. The holiday break turned into a much longer layoff as we welcomed a new son to our family. As I balance work, (lack of sleep) and other pursuits, I'll resume posting again. In the meantime, a few links to things of note:
Sad news out of Richmond, Va., about the brutal murder of House of Freaks leader Bryan Harvey and his family. Oddly enough, I bought my first House of Freaks disc just a few months ago after reading something on the net about the lost gem that was Tantilla. It hasn't earned a lot of spins, but it's quality makes me wonder how I could have spent so much time with Guadalcanal Diary in the early 1990s while missing out on House of Freaks.
"Syriana," the last movie we saw in a theater before our new arrival, was an entertaining, complex political thriller that left me with more questions than answers. It's the type of film that will reward repeat viewings (which will be limited to DVD for me, it seems). In the meantime, Warner Brothers has made the entire script available for viewing online.
I'll be busy in January with PopMatters-related work. I'll interview former Belle and Sebastian member Isobel Campbell about her improbably good collaboration with Screaming Trees leader Mark Lanegan on a forthcoming disc, and hope to chat with Robert Pollard about his fantastic new solo disc, From a Compound Eye coming later this month on Merge. I'm trying to get my thoughts together for a review of the Nels Cline/Wally Shoup/Chris Corsano free jazz disc Immolation/Immersion. It's a wild disc centering on the wide-ranging 29-minute title track, and it's taking all I've got to find ways to describe it.
Sad news out of Richmond, Va., about the brutal murder of House of Freaks leader Bryan Harvey and his family. Oddly enough, I bought my first House of Freaks disc just a few months ago after reading something on the net about the lost gem that was Tantilla. It hasn't earned a lot of spins, but it's quality makes me wonder how I could have spent so much time with Guadalcanal Diary in the early 1990s while missing out on House of Freaks.
"Syriana," the last movie we saw in a theater before our new arrival, was an entertaining, complex political thriller that left me with more questions than answers. It's the type of film that will reward repeat viewings (which will be limited to DVD for me, it seems). In the meantime, Warner Brothers has made the entire script available for viewing online.
I'll be busy in January with PopMatters-related work. I'll interview former Belle and Sebastian member Isobel Campbell about her improbably good collaboration with Screaming Trees leader Mark Lanegan on a forthcoming disc, and hope to chat with Robert Pollard about his fantastic new solo disc, From a Compound Eye coming later this month on Merge. I'm trying to get my thoughts together for a review of the Nels Cline/Wally Shoup/Chris Corsano free jazz disc Immolation/Immersion. It's a wild disc centering on the wide-ranging 29-minute title track, and it's taking all I've got to find ways to describe it.
