2009 Recommendations:

To scope out last year's recommendations click here.  For 2007 click here.  For 2006 recommendations click here.

May (2nd Week)

Wow, I just hit the Jack Klatt show I've been dying to see-- he certainly didn't disappoint AND his opener, Gabe Barnett, was just as enthralling.  If you haven't checked out Jack Klatt yet, scroll down to my earlier post about him... and also, give Gabe Barnett a listen HERE.

May (1st Week)

The National's new song "Vanderlylle Cry Baby" is a bit of a departure for them.  Hmmm, I like it, but in a different way... can't wait for the new album regardless.

The National's - Vanderlylle Cry Baby (live)

April (4th Week)

From the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, John Singer Sargent's "The Birthday Party": click here to see it (you can zoom way in with the new MIA website). click here to see it I've always walked past this one to get to "Blank," but further inspection of the father's visage has brought something new to the painting for me.  I'm excited to get back and see it again.

April (3rd Week)

And once again, a hearty "Thank You" to Bob Dylan.  Check out my favorite track from his lovely new album:

Bob Dylan - I Feel a Change Comin' On

April (2nd Week)

If you have a chance to see Morrissey live, do it (be careful, it rocks hard):

April (1st Week)

For those of you with a 20 ft. x 30 ft. monitor, you should be able to see this image in it's natural size.  The rest of us will just have to appreciate it as is.  Jenny Saville's Rosetta 2:

March (4th Week)

From Bob Dylan's Interview with Robert Shelton in 1966:

"I've been through people.  A lot of times you get strung out with people.  They are just like junk...  The same thing, no more, no less.  They kill you the same way...  They rot you in the same way..."  I [R. Shelton] suggested it reminded me [him] of the line in Sarte's No Exit: "Hell is other people."  Dylan joked: "Whatever it is, man.  I don't know Sarte.  He's cross-eyed, that's all I know about him.  Anybody cross-eyed can't be all bad..."

March (3rd Week)

To scratch my current itch for the cowboy image, a Gordon McConnell:

March (2nd Week)

I don't have my finger on the Hollywood pulse by any means, but I think even cloister monks are weighing in on the whole Joaquin Phoenix thing.  I'll sum up my feelings on the situation by saying I think this photo is dynamite:

March (1st Week)

It's time for Folk, it's time for Blues, it's time for Jack Klatt.  This local kid sounds like he's been to the proverbial crossroads and sold his soul for a honey voice and a mean harmonica.  Visit his music page for your dates and to sample his music.

February (4th Week)

This week's recommendation: Gerunds.  Okay, consider the present progressive: "The bird is flying."  Now if you consider "flying" a gerund instead, it changes the entire meaning of the sentence.  Now it's not telling what the bird is doing, it's telling what the bird is.  We are no longer talking about a bird flying about, we are talking about a bird that embodies the concept of flight.  The bird is flying.  The man is painting.  He sums up all that there is to know about painting and displays it at once before our eyes.  All this occurred to me in my sleep last night, and I've been going around all day thinking: "Oh my god, the earth is spinning," and "Wow, I am writing!"  I don't know about you, but my mind is shattering.

February (3rd Week)

Here's a taste of good things to come-- I've been working with the talented and enthusiastic illustrator, Chris Beck on my story Flakes Bloom.  Here's the very first taste of Flakes Bloom in graphic novel form (click on the image to view it at a larger size):

February (2nd Week)

Bob Dylan, The Boss, Neil Young... when you think of great musicians who are still out there giving it all even though they could be living life on a sandy beach in Fiji, put Levon Helm on the list.  His most recent album, Dirt Farmer, is as good as any folk/rock out there right now.  He's still playing with the authenticity and fervor he had with The Band.  Here's the title track-- as always, right click and chose 'save as' to download:

(Levon Helm) - Dirt Farmer

February (1st Week)

Talk about compelling... I started reading "Y the Last Man" on a recommendation and I can't get enough!  The gist of the story is that every man in the world dies at one particular second and women are left to run the world.  Of course one man survives and his journey is a treacherous one.  If you're into graphic novels at all, I recommend this one.

Y the Last Man

January (4th Week)

Sometimes old Walt leaves me speechless:

Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances by Walt Whitman

Of the terrible doubt of appearances,
Of the uncertainty after all, that we may be deluded,
That may-be reliance and hope are but speculations after all,
That may-be identity beyond the grave is a beautiful fable
     only,
May-be the things I perceive, the animals, plants, men, hills,
     shining and flowing waters,
The skies of day and night, colors, densities, forms, may-be
     these are (as doubtless they are) only apparitions, and
     the real something has yet to be known,
(How often they dart out of themselves as if to confound me
     and mock me!
How often I think neither I know, nor any man knows,
     aught of them,)
May-be seeming to me what they are (as doubtless they
     indeed but seem) as from my present point of view, and
     might prove (as of course they would) nought of what
     they appear, or nought anyhow, from entirely changed
     points of view;
To me these and the like of these are curiously answer'd by
     my lovers, my dear friends,
When he whom I love travels with me or sits a long while
     holding me by the hand,
When the subtle air, the impalpable, the sense that words and
     reason hold not, surround us and pervade us,
Then I am charged with untold and untellable wisdom, I am
     silent, I require nothing further,
I cannot answer the question of appearances or that of
     identity beyond the grave,
But I walk or sit indifferent, I am satisfied,
He ahold of my hand has completely satisfied me.

January (3rd Week)

I'm not always the biggest Alex Katz fan, but this one speaks to me:

January (2nd Week)

Thank you, still cameras-- for the sepia pictures of hoses on main street.  Thank you, television-- for footage of teenagers tearing down the wall.  And thank you, tape recorders-- for this:

(Jimi Hendrix) - 01 - 1983... (jimi by himself)

(Jimi Hendrix) - 02 - Angel (jimi by himself)

(Jimi Hendrix) - 03 - Cherokee Jam (jimi by himself)

(Jimi Hendrix) - 04 - Hear My Train Coming (jimi by himself)

(Jimi Hendrix) - 05 - Voodoo Chile (jimi by himself)

(Jimi Hendrix) - 06 - Gypsy Eyes (jimi by himself)

disclaimer:  I'm not about posting albums on my webpage, but these are taken from an old Jimi Hendrix box set that has been discontinued for quite sometime.  If you know of a way these can be purchased, let me know and I'll take these links down.

January (1st Week)

Did you know that Van Gogh always kept a box of brightly colored yarn by his side while painting?  He would take the yarn out before painting and sight up some of the colors he wished to use, hold them next to each other, weave them together loosely.  It makes you wonder how much of his style was influenced by that one inexpensive tool.    It's a good reminder that we're influenced by the great many things we chose to surround ourselves with-- music, art, quotations, dirty laundry, books.  So the next time someone complements your work, be sure to give your fridge magnets a little credit for once.  (The box pictured below is van Gogh's actual box, now on display at the van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.)