Autumn Souvenir

This afternoon I found out that my mother and stepfather bought a new house in Maryland. This news means that the home in which I was raised will offically leave the family. After my parents divorced in the mid-70s, I was essentially raised by my mother and stepfather in Allendale, New Jersey. For around 20 years, this white house, built in the late 19th century was my home. I grew up with my older brother, younger half-sister and I have thousands of memories from this three-bedroom house in the suburbs of Northern New Jersey. My memories of New Jersey are essentially mixed. That said, I'm ready to bid farewell to this home. And I'm ready to bid farewell to New Jersey. There's little question that the years spent in this home shaped who I am today. We had a fairly tight family, though all told, it was a pretty quiet household. Over the past few years, since leaving New Jersey, I've actually grown a lot closer to my mother, stepfather, and most recently, my sister. I thi

May 24, 2006 - In Washington the other day, I got a chance to tell Al Gore something I’d meant to say for a long time, which was that I thought his real strength, his real contribution, was as an observer—writer, explainer, outsider—and not as a politician. The new movie about him was evidence of that, I said. He gave me a blank, dismissive look, and an “umm” for a verbal response. I’ve known and covered Gore for decades, so maybe his reaction was inspired by Groucho Marx, who always said that he would never join a club that would have him as a member. But I think the brusque reply carried a different message: don’t assume that I’m ready to be put out to that pasture just yet. Gore has a certain aura of nobility about him these days—a mixture of rue, acceptance and lofty goals that makes him almost, well, endearing. As I talked to him at the East Coast premiere of the documentary film about him (“An Inconvenient Truth”), I wondered whether his newfound sense of peace and purpose meant

Good god was this band bad. I'd heard a bit of a buzz about these guys. I'd heard that they had a unique sound. I'd heard that they could be something special. What I witnessed tonight at the Great American Music Hall was everything that's bad about indie rock. I can't recall if there were ten members or fifteen or fifty. I just remember that there were too many. And their whole schtick about switching instuments, along with a silly horn section was just laughable. The songs sucked. The stage presence was high school marching band at best. The outfits just made the whole extavangandza even funnier. The cliche lead singer with the cool cap. Throw in the hippie bass player, or whatever the fuck he was playing. Add the fat girl on the keys and the cool dude banging whatever was in arms reach. Ugh. This was so bad that I'm getting tired typing about it. Shit, I was so bored by these guys that I don't even care about correcting my grammar. Ladies and gentleman, t

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gBTaa5_KHfQ&search=centro-matic

I've seen so few places in my life that it's downright embarassing. I guess I've seen a good portion of the United States. In addition to living in NYC, Boston, NJ and now San Francisco, here are a few cities I've visited that spring to mind: Austin (loved), LA (some good, some bad), Seattle (short stop but liked), Minneapolis (one of my favorite cities), Chicago (good time), Philadelphia (LOVE), Orlando (HATE), St. Louis (fun time), New Orleans (blast), Las Vegas (eh), Cincinnati (most underrated city in the US), Cleveland (yuck), Raleigh (pretty fun), Jacksonville (yawn), Providence (not bad), Myrtle Beach (rednecks), and some others that aren't springing to mind. Outside of the States, I have only been to Puerto Rico (blah), St. Thomas (I don't wear speedos), London (fun time but nothing extraordinary) and Amsterdam (absolutely beautiful). Over the next few years, I would like to visit the following stops: US: Joshua Tree, Portland, Albuquerque and somewhere

Seriously, does it get any more beautiful? When it comes to music, the unison of Gary Louris and Mark Olson elicits perhaps the most beautiful sounds on Earth. I've heard thousands of artists harmonize, but none blend like Louris and Olson. Tonight at the Great American Music Hall, after a decade apart, I was finally able to see these two vocal and songwriter masters together. They played just about everything imaginable from The Jayhawks catalogue: "Settled Down Like Rain", "Blue", "Ain't No End", "Nothing Left To Borrow"...oh man could this list go on. They looked happy. They looked inspired. They looked like two singer-songwriters who were meant to be playing side-by-side. It is damn near criminal that the room was only about half full. Dave Matthews Yawn and Coldplay can sell out Giants Stadium, yet two of the greatest singers and writers of the past 20 years can't fill a room that holds, what 600 people? I rarely get worked-up w

Back in 1995, while wading through my junior year in college, I was desperately trying to figure out what to do with my life. I was majoring in sociology, taking a lot of black studies courses, and thinking that my career would take me to a possible phd in sociology. Though I was passionate about this line of studies, there was something missing. I was looking for something that would take me to that next level. Something that would grab my soul and clear up my career uncertainty. Right around this time I saw Son Volt at the Mercury Lounge in New York City for the first time. After watching Jay Farrar, Jim Boquist, Dave Boquist and Mike Heidorn play one of the most inspiring rock n' roll shows I'd ever seen, I left the venue that night knowing what I'd do with my life. Music. Something, anything in music. I went on to spend the next decade spending countless nights out seeing live music. Wilco, Steve Earle, Springsteen, The Gourds, Slobberbone, Centro-matic, Elliott Smith,

The following review was sent by my good buddy, and New Orleans native, Michael Pemberton. I find this review to be unbelievably important on so many levels. I think of the power of music, the hope that still breaths throughout New Orleans and the responsibility we have as fellow-citizens to help bring back this wonderful city. I'm way beyond being objective about Springsteen, but this was truly one of the most fantastic shows I've ever seen by anybody. On any given night I'll put Bruce up against anyone in the world as a live performer, but give him something to prove and he's nothing short of phenomenal. Not only was he debuting a new band with a very different sound and a new set of songs, but he was doing it specifically for New Orleans, with all eyes on him. Most importantly, this was probably the first time in 30 years he was playing in front of a crowd that wasn't stamping at the bit to adore him. I really wondered how he would go over with the thousands