Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Recommended Reading


when i was in college i had a job repairing architectural drawings in the basement of the architecture library at columbia. i sat at the big table in the dark tearing rice paper into tiny strips and listening to my walkman, often playing On Fire by Galaxie 500 over and over again. "Snowstorm"and "When Will You Come Home" killed me then and they kill me now. after Galaxie 500 broke up i didn't follow Luna as closely though Superchunk played a show at Vassar with Luna that was really good, or as good as an outdoor college show can be. Dean Wareham has written a book called Black Postcards about his time treading the boards in indie rock world and i read it on two plane flights, and i think it's great. lots of details that are especially great if you were also in that world at that time, an era in music that can not, for lots of reasons, happen again. all the crappy clubs, the long drives, the interband relationships, it inspires a combination of nostalgia and relief. plus it's drily funny and entertaining even if you never had to use the toilet at Club Le Jimmy in Bordeaux. after finishing it on the plane i was relieved to find that i had On Fire in my ipod.

8 Comments:

Blogger wifi wizard said...

That is a book I'll definitely have to check out. I love how our iPods have so much storage that we're no longer certain of what we own.

-Molly

2:34 PM  
Blogger Mac said...

well, with me it's more because my ipod got stolen and i couldn't remember what i had had time to put on the new one!

4:34 PM  
Blogger wifi wizard said...

Ugh that sucks. My first ever iPod got stolen in high school. Definitely not fun. Sure as hell taught me to back up my music.

I have to say, I've been listening nonstop to all of Be Still Please for the past 3 months and I just can't get over it. Between this album and Bright Ideas, honestly some of the best music I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of it in my short time. Song of the week is "Like a Pearl." Incredible.

11:39 PM  
Blogger Poplar House said...

I've never talked to you about my love of Galaxy 500 ! I had no idea you were such a fan too. buying the book asap. hope you are well xo S

1:44 AM  
Blogger Eric Grubbs said...

I dug Black Postcards. Dean has a very interesting perspective coming from not one, but two, critically-acclaimed bands who never really broke through to a mainstream audience. His memoirs were quite funny and insightful.

4:03 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Tell Me Do You Miss Me, The documentary about Luna's last tour is a nicely poetic film about a continually struggling indie-rock band touring shitty clubs with shitty toilets and the sacrifices they make in their lives to accommodate those shitty tours.

I've been meaning to read this book since reading Julie Cafritz's review on Pitchfork, which was mostly: "Oh my God, the Drugs" And maybe that's why the local library refuses get a copy.

3:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I much rather read the Damon and Naomi book....

4:04 PM  
Blogger JK said...

I just got this book out of my local library. Had to get it shipped over from another branch. They had this, but they didn't have "Lexicon Devil"-the oral history of Darby Crash. Anyways, I wrote a pretty long review with questionable excerpts on my blog if interested. Thanks for the rec, Mac!

PS I don't know if you remember meeting me but I went to a Portastatic show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago (about three years ago now) and told you about how the bartender told me stop drinking so many leinenkugels--it was an honor to get "bright ideas" from you in person--what an awesome album! i'll be getting some small history once i get another job.

3:24 PM  

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