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Listen to me on Live From E Street Nation, Friday, 4/10

clr — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:52:03 +0000

I will be on E Street Radio later this week. The show is called Live From E Street Nation (please, try not to gag too hard). It runs Friday mornings from 10-12ET. I am co-hosting the show with Dave Marsh this Friday, 4/10.

If you do not already have satellite radio, you can sign up for a free online trial (that runs for three days) that will let you listen to the show online:

http://www.sirius.com/estreetradio

The link for the free trial is at the top of the page.

The call in number listed on the site is 1-877-70-BRUCE. I imagine that will also be the number for the call in show, but listen and find out. Tell your friends, call us and ask why in God’s name Bruce has “Outlaw Pete” second in the set.

which side are you on?

clr — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:07:46 +0000

I have a blog, and every day I’ve been writing up what happens on the picket lines. One of the things I never anticipated is how many non-WGA writers would be joining us. I like when they sign-in as “Future WGA.” Because they’re recognizing that what gets decided through this strike will be the contract they’re working under for the next 20 years. –John August

Solidarity Forever,
Future WGA

opening day 2007

clr — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 03:44:21 +0000

…and I have a short story in Hobart’s April web issue, which is their annual baseball issue. (Serendipitously, and completely without plan, I am joined in this issue by my dear friend, the fabulous Litsa Dremousis.)

Play ball!

ain’t it strange: patti smith on the hall of fame

clr — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:54:11 +0000

‘Rock ’n’ roll drew me from my mother’s hand and led me to experience. In the end it was my neighbors who put everything in perspective. An approving nod from the old Italian woman who sells me pasta. A high five from the postman. An embrace from the notary and his wife. And a shout from the sanitation man driving down my street: “Hey, Patti, Hall of Fame. One for us.”’

One for us, indeed.

33 1/3 madness

clr — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:09:09 +0000

WOWEE.
It’s kind of amusing how many people want to write about, say, Cheap Trick At Budokan. And kind of cliched that, out of all the albums in the Lou Reed canon, there are three proposals for Metal Machine Music and NOTHING ELSE.

That’s my proposal for Black Love on there. Dammit.

like punk never happened

clr — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:40:46 +0000

My debut entry over at This Ain’t The Summer Of Love — Like Punk Never Happened: Patti Smith and the Hall Of Fame.

this ain’t the summer of love

clr — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:49:03 +0000

While I’m still figuring out what this place is – or will be – because I’m a masochist and love a deadline, I joined b.markey’s new project, This Ain’t The Summer Of Love. Look for my debut post this weekend. (See? Deadline)

33 1/3 results are in

clr — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 22:54:18 +0000

The results are in, and no I did not make it (and yes, more on that after the jump). But, looking at who made the cut, the august company there makes me feel a little better about the rejection. The submission list was long and broad, too.

My choice?

Black Love by the Afghan Whigs.

My original vision was for something like The River or Quadrophenia, but I tried writing a proposal for the former and it turned out to be a short story and not a book, and the latter — well, my junior year thesis in high school was about Quadrophenia and when I went back over it, I realized I had pretty much said everything I would have wanted to say about it, plus it wasn’t an album I wanted to live with for a year.

I fell into Black Love when New Orleans flooded (even though it doesn’t specifically say it takes place there, in my mind’s eye, it always certainly could have) and I thought about the comment a writer-friend had made about the series, about how your choice should be an album you not only always come back to, but an album that, in effect, has never left you, and that changes like a chameleon as the years go by.

Thus, Black Love.

And of course, because I fucking love that record and think it is one of the most underrated records of all time.

I had thought about posting the proposal but it was a specific assignment and, well, who knows what the future might bring. But if you’re a writer who didn’t (or did) make the cut, or who thought about submitting but didn’t, and you want to take a look, drop me a line.

young neil on writing

clr — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 06:34:23 +0000

From Rolling Stone #992, interview by Alec Wilkinson (go buy it, this interview is worth it):

Then he turned the book over and showed me the lyrics, written in pen, with only a word here and there crossed out, and with the verses themselves not usually running below the top half of the page. “I might have two lines and use only one version of them,” he said. “Or a line or two not used. If you look, sometimes it’s three, four, one, two in terms of the order of verses, but usually it’s just as it came. It’s just a matter of where did I tap into it, what part of it. If I don’t question it, it comes together. If I question it, it can take months.”

I said something about how unusual it is to be able to write so fluently. Other writers don’t usually describe it, I said.

“Maybe they don’t let themselves,” Young said. “Maybe they let too many other things get in the way.”

He closed the book. “When you start writing,” he said, “don’t let other things bother you. Just keep going. It doesn’t take long. It isn’t long to be absent.”

Just leaves me awe-struck.

New Backstreets out

clr — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 08:03:53 +0000

Backstreets #83/84 is FINALLY out, praise the deities.

Inside from me: an interview with Alan Vega from Suicide, a sidebar with Jesse Malin, and something I thought was just *funny* — I interview the wizarding group Harry & The Potters, because “Harry” is an enormous Springsteen fan. (Disclaimer: at the time I suggested this story to my editor, the most recent Harry Potter was just about to come out and so it was, actually, timely. Now it just looks stupid, I realize this. But it was hardly intended to be the highest of high art.)