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Thursday, September 14, 2006
EVERYBODY KNOWS
O.V. Wright
If It's Only For Tonight
Back Beat : 1965
Available on: The Soul of O.V. Wright
MCA : 1992
[Buy It]
Readers of Moistworks, O.V. Wright is playing over the headphones and I'm about to pack it in. Moistworks, I mean, though it's not really mine to fold or bestow. James Morris (he of the masterly post the other day) started and designed this site, and ran it singlehandedly for a year or so. Our bloggerly quirks, and brave disregard for nuances of spelling and punctuation, divine from him. But we've been at it a long time and sometimes over burgers, James and I will talk about pulling up stakes.
I'M AGAINST IT
Groucho Marx
Horse Feathers
I usually come out against it. I mean, if Moistworks is more ambitious (or whatever) than it might be, it's because there are (at the least) four of us, and because one of us (at the very least) seems to have writer's block for a living. MW has good stuff on tap: Osvaldo Golijov, John Doe, Craig Finn, Country Joe, Juan Maclean, James Murphy, John Darnielle, Jason Moran (can we get our Amen yet?!?)and - we hope - Nina Nastasia in our first musicians' week or two. After that, another well-wrought writer's week. Megan and I are doing a two-day exchange on black power, or the lack thereof. James Morris will write more posts about his childhood homes and Brian Howe will write posts consisting entirely of poetry. Brian's a good poet, people.
REVERSE STATUS
Chris Mars
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Polygram : 1992 (out of print)
[Buy It]
I always liked this record - bought it, lost it, bought it again and lost it one night. Got it again the other day and you know what? For the rest of September, it's best solo record any Replacement put out. Sometimes, when I think about America, I remember that Chris Mars and Frank Black have less syllables in their names, combined, than I do - this makes their music sound very American to me - and one thing I like about Moistworks is that, while it's black, white, Russian, Australian, American, and Southern, Moistworks is pretty much American. I noticed that people were reading us in Beirut during the bombing. Mecca, too, tunes in. My favorite backstage page is the one telling us what countries you're coming from, and that helps make it worthwhile. Another thing is, the bar is so high! Soul-Sides is a true player; the Lightnin' Rod of West Coast audioblogs. Locust St.'s Chris O'Leary is writing a Tristram Shandy of sorts, working chronologically through all sorts of canons in great and (we hope not) obsessive depth. Recently, he's branched out into primary colors. The whole thing's fantastic, and half dozen other blogs are, most of the time, inspiring. Not to mention that MW got me in to see Jason Moran tonight and - goodness me.
LOST AND LOOKING
Sam Cooke
Night Beat
RCA : 1963
[Buy It]
Still, what is really the point? I notice, sometimes, that people will introduce me/James/Megan/Brian/Joannna as as "s/he does Moistworks?" This always draws blank stares and silence. We all know that there are, out there, brilliant, sensitive, powerful people who would sleep with us simply for filling their iPods so brilliantly. Why else would four guys, four dudes - sorry, M & J, four men and women - get together and form a rock blog? But we'll never meet them, those people, and if we did they (& it) would be weird. That said, we'd love to ask them & you for money. ((If more or less all of you sent us a buck a week, we'd more or less make the rent.) (Don't do it, though: Send kevlar to Iraq. Write your Congressmanorwoman about Darfur. Send stuff that will actually keep people from dying (click one of the links to your left).))
Personally, I find the idea of "having" a blog a bit embarrassing, and hope that MW belongs to you as much as it does to us. When that fails, I blame the feeling on James.
FOUR BITCHES IS WHAT I GOT
Lightin' Rod
Hustler's Convention
Celluloid Records : 1972
[Buy It]
Am I bitching? I don't mean to bitch. I don't even know how Brian feels - I missed his last time in New York, and North Carolina is a long time away. Megan, too, is far away in Chicago. James and I live in Brooklyn and Queens and have lunch once a week or so in Manhattan - Island Burger & Shakes, over on 9th Avenue. That's how Moistworks works.Labels: alex, soul
posted by Alex
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