7.2.09 We'll be alright
During my University days (the salad days), I used to pal around with a guy named Bradley Adita. Bradley was the first real zinester I'd ever met and he lived the lifestyle (I even made a short documentary about him, now lost to the cruel gods of miniDV tape). His enthusiasm is both infectious and unbridled and it was out pure serendipity that I received a phone call from him (the first in years!) just the other night and discovered that he is working on new zines AND a new compilation CD project. I met Brad through his first CD, a handmade thing in a mylar sleeve that looked positively magical next to the other CDs (this is back when people actually lived-and-died for CDs). He went on to make another couple of compilations, one of which, the fabled Iowahardcore.com(pilation), is a true lost relic of my youth (and likely, most of the Iowa City scenesters of the early 2000's). Brad's new CD is for a higher cause this time, namely Global Warming. He's working with an organization called C350 and He's accepting submissions from musicians and bands. So please check out his site and if you're a musician or in a band, please consider submitting a song to him.
Also: Happy Birthday, Zac "Too Cool" Naughton
Also: How come none of you made me listen to The Replacements until now?
CURRENT JAM: The Replacements - "Can't Hardly Wait"
6.28.09 Please excuse my lengthy absence
I'd offer excuses, but really, does it matter? The main reason that updates have been slow-going is that I've been trying to implement a feed directly from my tumblr into this space with less than ideal results. Anyone who can offer me advice or assistance will be handsomely rewarded. Other exciting news: my dear friend, Bill Caperton, is hosting a new monthly poetry reading series in the Twin Cities called "Crash Course." So far there have been 2 sessions and things seem to be off to a solid start. I'll be reading new material at these things as will many of your favorite Twin Cities All Stars. Join us, won't you?
CURRENT JAM: Sonic Youth - "Schizophrenia"
5.22.09 Cannibals now for sale
So, my first chapbook, Cannibals is out and selling at a solid pace online and through the mail. I want to say thanks to those of you who have purchased a copy. I hope you enjoy it. For those of you who haven't what are you waiting for? You can get it at the STORE page. Or for those of you not PayPal inclined and living in the Twin Cities, you can find copies at Big Brain Comics in downtown Minneapolis. Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya!
CURRENT JAM: The Dears - "Disclaimer""
5.4.09 If You Want My Love...
Spring has sprung and I have been busy. To that end, you will find a number of additions to the site including a new ILLWILLCAST and a new STORE page. The big news, of course, though, is that my first chapbook, Cannibals, is now complete and available for purchase on the STORE page. This project has been in the works for nearly 6 (*gasp*) years and I'm so glad to have finally birthed it onto the world. I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think. More info about this item, which is also ILLWILL No. 3 for those keeping track at home, can be found on the updated WORK page. Work continues on my second chapbook, title TBA, with an anticipated release date of late summer/early Fall (but don't rush me). There are more irons-in-the-fire which are not ready to be announced yet but rest assured that I will keep you abreast via the usual channels. Now, go in peace to love and serve The Lord.
Two other random thoughts:
1. I just can't get enough of Depeche Mode (pun intended).
2. The Crow is a much better movie than I remember (R.I.P. Brandon Lee).
CURRENT JAM: Mouthful of Bees - "Please and Thank You"
4.24.09 All I want to know is...
...What's the saddest song Prince ever wrote?
CURRENT JAM: The Life and Times - "Que Sera Sera"
4.1.09 It always snows on April 1st
I lied. There is a new ILLWILLCAST and it's up NOW! So excited about this one and it only took me a few hours to go from concept to finished mixdown. Why is it snowing? This is bogus, dudes! ALSO: Someone give me a gangload of $$$. Back to the cave to finish this damn chapbook...
CURRENT JAM: Ela - "I Don't Know If It's Helping"
3.19.09 Check Engine/Phasma Ex Machina
I've been busy getting things done, including repairs to my car (neverending), joining twitter (stupefying) and finishing a chapbook (satisfying). Because I am a very important and busy person, there likely will not be as many updates and/or ILLWILLCASTS for awhile so that I can finish these things up. I promise that I'll get back into the groove once I start putting these dogs down.
My cousin, Matt, makes movies. He's completing an edit on his new feature length length supernatural thriller, Phasma Ex Machina and the trailer is online so I've posted it below.
Spooky, huh?
CURRENT JAM: Animal Collective - "My Girls"
2.28.09 Airwaves...
In college, I worked as a DJ for the University of Iowa radio station (89.7 KRUI). It was a rewarding, if frustrating experience. Now, my friend Christy is holding it down on the late shift (my old time slot) and it makes me feel like an OLD, OLD man (for the record, I'm not an old man). The memories of that gig, which I'm sure are as much fabricated by my own imagination as they are rooted in fact, invoke a sense of nostalgia in me that, frankly, I'm surprised that I feel (at least, so deeply). Then again, there is a version of my young voice drifting out to space from those days, so I guess there's some kind of eternal youth after all. [I'M AN EMOTIONAL SOUVABITCH, HUH?]
CURRENT JAM: Morissey - "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"
2.27.09 ILLWILLCAST 203/"Tool Academy"
ILLWILLCAST 203 is posted. Moving on. RE: "Tool Academy"- America is a cartoon wasteland. Seriously, who is at fault here? Is it the "dudes" on the show? Is it VH1 for making the thing and putting it on the air? Or is it me for watching it? I'd say all three, but honestly, I think the finger is pointed at me. Television, you are a strange and cruel mistress.
CURRENT JAM: Fleet Foxes - "Blue Ridge Mountains"
2.20.09 BODYWORLD
Spent the afternoon reading Dash Shaw's BODYWORLD. I cannot imagine a better way to have spent it. I'm left with the same feeling I had after reading Black Hole: small, illuminated and in awe. I've been considering picking up Shaw's book Bottomless Belly Button for awhile now and this has definitely sold me on it. If you like Charles Burns, Chris Ware or just good things in general, check it out.
CURRENT JAM: Sweep The Leg Johnny - "Transit Must Suffer"
2.11.09 Happy Birthday, Oliver Edwin Jones
This is for you and your daddy...
CURRENT JAM: Glasvegas - "Geraldine"
2.2.09 Show. Blow. Blog/ILLWILLCAST 202
TOO MANY COKED OUT ART SCHOOL KIDS WITH COOL SHOES AND TIGHT PANTS. I ache for the day when irony is not prized above all amongst my peergroup. Also, ILLWILLCAST 202 is posted. Dig it.
CURRENT JAM: Glasvegas - "Geraldine"
1.19.09 A kind of advent
As I'm writing this, there are about 30 hours left in the Bush presidency. I knew the inuaguration was coming up, I knew the date, knew the time. But until late tonight, it hadn't really set in that the reality of Obama as president was imminent. It's a comforting thought in a way, but it also feels like getting off of one rollercoaster just to get onto another. That's not to say I'm pessimistic about the future but my perception of the world seems to have been dominated by the Bush administration and the "reality" they've projected and fostered for more than 8 years that they've really been in power. I was in high school for the second half of Clinton's administration but those years, the easier years (my golden years?) of youth, are intangible through the murky forest of the last 8. Let's hope that Obama can be what we really need him to be: not the lantern, but the one who keeps it lit.
CURRENT JAM: Figurines - "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1"
1.10.09 In another world, I will become Green Lantern
I've posted the newest illwillcast to the appropriate page. This one, entitled "Alternatives," has been getting rave reviews so far, so I hope you like it. This mixcast will mark the beginning of "Season 2" of the ILLWILLCAST series, which I guess doesn't really mean anything at all but it sure sounds neat, huh? I've added a separate RSS feed on the ILLWILLCASTS page so you can subscribe to that if you like. You may also notice that I've reworked some of the navigation slightly and added some new images. Otherwise, busy busy busy working on lots of stuff. More later, I'm sure.
CURRENT JAM: Kevin Drew - "Age of Consent"
1.1.09 Dapper J Sez:
Courtesy of Bob Gudenkauf.
I went to church on Christmas Eve and all I could think about was sweet, little baby Jesus growing into Dapper J, the debonaire savior. And then a few days later, while on a drunken call to Dayna, I started thinking more about Damien Hirst. And suddenly Dapper J made even more sense than before! A part of me relishes the idea, no matter how atrocious, of a world obsessed with facades. Of course, to some extent, that's the world we already live in. I'm very much interested in this "shallow world;" the naivete, the vanity, the conceit and, conversely, the sublime sense of awe that such a world breeds. I guess, I have no real judgment as to the validity of such attitudes. Still, something to think on, I suppose...
HYPOTHETICAL PLANS FOR 2009:
Smile more
Drink more (but, ya know, in a good way)
Write a shitload
Draw an assload
Paint a thimbleload
Visit Madison
Visit Chicago
Visit New York
Visit Iowa (x4)
Eat my way through central Texas
Listen to more New Order (DUH!)
Find small ways to be happy. Repeat.
Generally, continue to dominate in all possible ways.
Anyway, here's to seriously killin' it in 2009. Love, always.
CURRENT JAM: Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)"