Popular Songs

Hey, people sometimes ask me what I’m listening to and I always forget until I get home, which is where I am now. So here’s a list.

1. Mayer Hawthorne – A Strange Arrangement. Perfect recreation of ‘60s Detroit soul by young white dude. (Playing the Rickshaw on 9/15)
2. Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs. Same as usual: couple great pop songs, couple pretty ballads, couple of boring jams.
3. The Box Elders – Alice & Friends. Awesomely catchy garage-pop from Omaha, band so young they used to play with their mom.
4. Timber Timbre – S/T. Seriously spooky noir-folk from Canada. (playing Rickshaw on 9/18)
5. Taken By Trees – East of Eden. Woman from the Concretes goes to Pakistan to record with locals, covers Animal Collective.
6. Posies – “I May Hate You Sometimes.” How did I miss this one the first time around?
7. Bobby Blue Bland – The Voice. Again, how come I haven’t been listening to him for like 20 years?
8. Those Darlins – S/T. Three country gals from Tenn make fun(ny) twangin’ tunes. (Playing Rickshaw on 10/20)
9. V/A – Not Given Lightly. Morr Music electro-pop folks cover ‘80s New Zealand acts like the Chills, Clean, and Bats.
10. Fruit Bats – “Singing Joy to the World.” Guy picks up waitress at Indian Casino, takes her to Three Dog Night concert – now, that’s good songwriting.

And over there on Facebook, Michelle asked what 15 books come to mind when I think of most influential for me. Here’s my list.

1. Nick Hornby - High Fidelity
2. Grace Paley - The Little Disturbances of Man
3. John Steinbeck - The Winter of Our Discontent
4. Kurt Vonnegut - Welcome to the Monkeyhouse
5. JD Salinger - Nine Stories
6. Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood
7. John Irving - Cider House Rules
8. Jeremy Jackson - In Summer
9. Robert Christgau - '70s and '80s Record Guides
10. Lorrie Moore - Like Life
11. Woodward & Bernstein - All the President's Men
12. Jonathan Franzen - The Corrections
13. Gay Talese - Thy Neighbor's Wife
14. Andre Dubus - We Don't Live Here Anymore
15. David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice

And, might I suggest you buy the very first issue of Afar Magazine, which is on better newsstands as we speak. Yes, April works there and yes I have something coming out in the first issue. But don’t you want us to both continue to get paid to do these things? Right, I thought so. Don’t worry, the first issue is damn interesting, with articles about Scottish bog snorkeling races and Japanese costume cafes. (The writer of the latter article also wrote about Japanese guys who really, really love their manga pillows for the NYT.)

In other news, I went and saw Ponyo, the latest by Spirited Away director Hayao Miyazaki. It was only pretty good – nonsensical plot, bad dialogue, weird English diction – but it had a hilarious final theme, screwed over by Miley Cyrus’s sister and a Jonas brother. Truly bizarre lyrics. Check it out here.