tina f!

Winfield! So here's the deal

kate!

Noted. I have printed your post and put in the envelope with my ticket. I am camping in EXACTLY the same spot I was last year (way way back by the river next to the train tracks) w/exactly the same folks. (Sun gods willing. As of right this moment most of Walnut Valley including the Pecan Grove is flooded). I will for sure look for you at both your camp site and the library. I am not leaving Chicago until the 13th and I probably won't be at the campground until the night of the 14th at the earliest - but we shall meet up somehow!

I am so excited that it is so close but I can already feel the dread of knowing it's over and we have another year to wait...

C.I. - excellent Jandek review - I've never heard him but it sounds like it was quite an experience.

Michele - based on your post from a week or so ago I bought Bitter Melon Farm this weekend. I so heart John D.

And going back to that Frankenmix question I posted a while back. I finally settled on "Country Honk" for my song I'd play at every birthday party I'd throw for myself, but it's not quite right. I have to have this thing done by Labor Day and the birthday song is the first track - it's killing me!

In other music news, after telling myself I would never pay to see them again after they played (pretty poorly) for only 45 minutes the first time I saw them, I bought New Pornographers tickets this weekend. Me = Sucker.

Bitter Melon Farm! It has that cover of "The Sign" too, which he credits as "channeled through Ace of Base by God." Definite [heart]age.

Corwood, I am in awe of your Jandekosity. I like the idea of him as the indie Batman, too -- it seems to fit.

I just downloaded the Decemberists's "Five Songs" EP from eMusic, and in classic Decemberist form it is a six-song CD. I'm enjoying it, and it's a nice change of pace from Twin Cinema, which I have listened to like three times in the last two days, straight through.

I've never heard him but it sounds like it was quite an experience.

It was extraordinarily, thrillingly, wonderfully odd.

Corwood, I am in awe of your Jandekosity. I like the idea of him as the indie Batman, too -- it seems to fit.

Thanks! I just wish I'd thought of it. But no, it was my friend Joe (his review is here: [link]

I can't stop listening to "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" by Morrissey today. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing, but I am very thankful that my officemate is not in today, because the fervent lip-synching at my desk might be a little embarrassing. Not much, but a little.

My earworm of the day: "Can't Hardly Wait" by the Replacements. Good stuff.

I'm listening to Queen's Greatest Hits, Vol 1, 2 AND 3. I'm doomed for earworming, I tell you.

I can't stop listening to "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" by Morrissey today.

Coincidentally, "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" is stuck in MY head today.

My earworm of the day: "Can't Hardly Wait" by the Replacements. Good stuff.

I love that song.

Been listening to the Mekons all day, though.

If it ever went to a vote, mine would be "Talent is an Asset" by Sparks. The #1 earworm song.

I can't say this better than the brilliant Leonard Pierce on his LiveJournal:

Hey, writer-types, professional and otherwise!

We’re getting the band back together. That is, the editorial staff of the High Hat (of which I am privileged to be a part) is putting out a new issue. Issue #6, this will be, and if I have anything to say about it, it’ll be the boss jock issue of all time.

The High Hat, and if you don’t know ya betta ax somebody, is the best goddamn cultural studies/criticism ‘zine on the whole fuckin’ world wide web. It’s put out five issues since its inception in 2003, and they’ve been so good that if they were in paper format, you’d pay a hundred bucks for each one of them and be happy to do it please sir may I have another. Well, yes! You may! And at the low low cost of free.

What we need to make the next one even better is your help. If you’re interested in writing for the next issue of the High Hat, drop me a line (leonard at ludic kid dot com [or highhatmagazine at hotmail dot com works, too]) or post in comments – but only if you’re serious. We won’t take everything submitted, and even though we can’t pay you, we demand quality pieces, turned in on time, from people who really care about what they’re writing. From us you’ll get effusive praise, a deft editorial hand, and a well-read, swanky credit for your port-folio; from you we want sharp, insightful, funny (or dead serious) criticism, great prose, the best you got. This is for the love of the game, kids. If you haven’t read the Hat before, take a look, and if the excellent articles we’ve done in the past don’t convince you this is something you wanna be a part of, nothing will.

Deadline for application is Sept. 9th. Deadline for your completed piece is Sept. 30. Projected publication date is mid-October. Here’s what we need:

DETRITUS – the junk drawer. This is where the uncategorizable stuff goes: politics, general culture studies, games, technology, rants and raves.

MARGINALIA – our books section. Book reviews, literary criticism or theory, retrospectives on authors or genres, comics writing, state-of-fiction, whatever you got about the world on the page.

NITRATE -- film and video. Movie criticism, interviews with filmmakers, trends in cinema, video, stage and screen. If it moves, write about it.

POPS & CLICKS – our music section and general raison d’etre. Classical, rock, hip-hop, experimental, jazz, and everything before and after. Criticism, essays, laments, obituaries.

POTLATCH – every issue, we have a special themed section where we talk about one general subject or idea; in the past we’ve done potlatch pieces on Sam Peckinpah, our yearly Top Tens, democracy in popular culture, labor issues, and people who died. This time around, it’s “The Academy of the Underrated” – cultural artifacts, phenomena and trends that our writers think are criminally underappreciated by the critical consensus. Got an idea along these lines? Wanna write a piece about it? Hit us up.

STATIC – television, the drug of the nation, all hail grand pixelator. If it’s on the small screen, we wanna cover it: TV series, minis, foreign television, DVDs, anything. Smart writing wanted.

That’s it! Length is negotiable; should be at least a thousand words, though, and probably fewer than 50,000. Pay is non-negotiable: it will be zero. If you’re interested, send me your pitches in comments or via e-mail and I’ll run them past the other editors and let you know ASAP if you’re in. Thanks to everyone who wants to be part of this, and especially to everyone who already has.

(ETA: We're not just looking for writing! If you've got art, photographs, recordings, or anything else that seems relevant to the High Hat's outlook, by all means, we'd love to consider it. Note that we aren't looking for fiction or poetry, but we do occasionally run comics, games, and the like, as well as our usual essays, criticism, cult-stud and memoirish stuff.)