beta blog

Here come the waterworks. As a rule, I bawl at weddings. The controls on the waterworks are sensitive, turning on with the slightest of stim...

First I have to give thanks to Mister Burns for getting me into the Jordi Savall concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Having only re...

The irony is not entirely lost upon me: handing in my article on Breathless femme fatale Jean Seberg for the upcoming Ex-Pat issue of Stop...

Simply put, aside from my own music-making , I have never had a greater bias towards an album than I do with Feist's The Reminder . The ...

This here is a copy of the paper I presented at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington this past weekend. "Is Anybody Goin...

Texas Monthly This month features a portrait of a (real) Texas Ranger who has the most-awesome name ever: Clete Buckaloo. Kevin Drumm Sheer ...

...think back to that fateful day, ensconced in my room as the cold front blew through, fearing for my life as I finished Cat's Cradle ,...

Deerhunter I didn't write about going to Pitchfork's party during SXSW. And I probably wouldn't have gotten in at all if I hadn...

Should you be in the market for obscure but crucial female folksingers, might I recommend the recent reissue of firebrand Anne Briggs, and h...

Snap, Crackle, Pop: Pole, The Field, and Panda Bear (NY Sun) Singles Going Steady: Remixes by Carl Craig, Ricardo Villalobos, EYE from Bore...

Shohei Imamura's The Pornographers is one of my all-time favorite films: voyeuristic, savage, frame-expanding, kinky, caustic in its wi...

Assumer Guide on Jandek, Air, Gruff Rhys, and the Eternals Assumer Guide on Gui Boratto, Adult., RTX, and Slim Thug Palace Brothers - There ...

You weren't invited, but then again, neither was I. Idolator's SXSW Outlaw Field Reports: SXSW Report 1 SXSW Report 2 SXSW Report 3...

Before I know it, I will be down in Texas for SXSW. It will be curious to return as a tourist to my old haunts. No doubt I will be daytrippi...

My Philosophy 3101 fails me now as I search in vain for who noted that laughter signifies the death of an emotion. And I'm not sure what...

I made two mixtapes recently, both concerned with jazz music. One was for a friend who knows little of the genre but wished to learn. Knowin...

By my count, I lost at least half-dozen editors last year. They all exacted a great toll ( such as the firing of Chuck Eddy ) but none was a...

Assumer Guide about monkeys, bugs, bears, and mud flap mammas The Charlie Louvin Baseball Fantasy Camp Love TVP, love remixes, love Black Di...

As I explained to someone recently, my days are being spent on My Blueberry Nights , my nights with a girl that baked me a blueberry cobbler...

I met Dennis Hopper last night, as part of a lecture series at NYU. When I mention a project I'm working on that I need to interview him...