Theme Park Experience

This week's edition is with Amber and David from local band, Somebody's Darling. I never imagined being inspired by the Judds, but definitely with My Morning Jacket.

During my interview with Mark Ryan from Mind Spiders, he asked why his music was now receiving all this national attention. As in, more attention than the Marked Men and more than when Mind Spiders' first record came out. I explained to him about the nature of how music critics don't want to be the dreaded last to cover a buzzed-about act. This happens every year, and it always creates this sense of something bigger than it really is. With my exposure to Mind Spiders, it started last fall when fellow writer Darryl Smyers raved about them to me. Claiming that Mark Ryan was a crazy frontman, I was curious. Fast forward to January and Audra and I kicked around ideas for upcoming features. I expressed an interest in writing one on Nervous Curtains, as I've seen the band develop over the years. Audra wanted to write a story on them, so she asked if I wanted to write a story on Mind Spiders. I said I was game, but I needed a crash course on them. I listened to Meltdown and had s...

I mention towards the end of my review of the "final" Annex House show that I play in a band with a member of one of the acts that night. Conflict of interest on the journalistic ethic end? Not to me, because Ben's band sounds much different than what we've cooked up with Sean. My review, like every review I write, is what I truly feel about a band's performance. Besides, when you play in bands around the area, the scene is small enough and you run into people as you meet new people and develop contacts. There's one band like Rocketarm for every thirty cover bands. So yes, I have a new band going. And I've recorded some new solo material for the first time in ten years. These are some of the most positive new developments in my life since I was laid off. My hope is that I can continue to make more positive developments in the months to come.

I love Mind Spiders. I hate driving on ice. I hope this comes through in my feature on the band. And as a bonus, I did another edition of My First Show with frontman Mark Ryan.

This week's edition is with Sealion, a band I saw open for Tim Kasher last year. Frontman Hunter and I share a lot in common with growing up in Houston and being into pop-punk.

One kind of literary criticism that still irks me is this line: "This needed an editor." I received that comment when Post came out, and I'm sure I'll hear it again with When We Were the Kids . Why it irks me is because I spend many weeks/months getting things ironed out with an editor. To make this claim is like saying the author wrote the book without any thought or organizational skills, and published it without reading it. What I must remind myself is how everyone gets that remark. Substitute "editor" with the "Everyone's a critic" phrase and you get the picture. But the Internet is a great place to be an armchair critic. Lampooning, ridiculing, and/or blasting someone's work is much, much easier than committing yourself to the writing/editing process. The thought of actually writing a book is beyond them. Ever since I co-edited Post , I tend to think like an editor when I read a book. This is especially true when I read Stephen King...

How's this for a curveball: I saw Chris Botti last night and gave a summary of things I overheard and saw. It was a great show, albeit much different than the kind of show I usually go to.