little surfer

Look at that cool shirt.

Here’s the ten records I would immediately need to replace if I suddenly found myself living safely outside America, in a small apartment containing a really nice turntable, but no records.

Now take away the turntable, because I don't think I'd take one, even if I had to move. But the core thought, ten records that are very important, resonated. And I wonder about more than just records. About books, comics and my newfound appreciation for ttrpg books. I have to seperate the practical from the feeling. Could I even name ten records that have that importance for me?

I've thought about this recently. Assume your home is lost. The necessary paperwork survives, you are still able to work and a citizen and whatnot. That part of your identity is intact. What things would I actually miss? What would my life be like with bare walls and no books in sight? Which books would I want to own again?

I feel tiny things when I look at my shelves. I see the Bug Boys and I feel a warmth. There are volumes of Dorohedoro and I think of dumplings and immense drawings. I get some sort of sad when I see This One Summer by the Tamakis. Motherlover makes me smile, both for the story and for buying the comic from the artist at the dyke march in Vancouver last year. Those memories would be gone and I don't know if I would miss them if I do not see them. I forget books I've read on the eReader and those on my shelves are remembered. Maybe that is why I still buy books and comics.

The quote on top is from Mike Monteiro. It leads into the description of ten records that makes me jealous. It shows that I never developed such a deep emotional appreciation for a thing as he seemingly has and that is a weird feeling. Either he is different because he can feel like that about something or I am because I can't. Or because I have a hard time articulating those feelings into any shape.

So here are some things that I looked at, had some feelings and would take with me in case of emergency.

There is my copy of The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. This is a book I can probably read any day of the week. It is comfortable, exciting and reminds me of the way people can be decent and good to each other.

Then I think of volume 1 of Bug Boys by Laura Knetzger. Stag-B and Rhino-B are best friends and these comics are as much about friendship as they are about big feelings and dreams. I love them to bits.

I want to say Dreams Underfoot by Charles De Lint. Whenever I see that book, it is in the front row of my shelf, it takes me back to my exchange year in the US. I don't quite know how I came upon the author, but I ordered the book online and read it on the porch. I remember sun, warmth, lemonade and just feeling really good while also a little bit lonely in that far away country. and this book of strange stories was with me.

Blood Pact by Dan Abnett is my favorite of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels. The way it splits up the characters, how it is a slow burn and how Abnett plays to the strengths of his characters is fun every time I take the book into my hands. This one and Only in Death are peak Tanith for me. So which one do I take?

I have a signed first edition copy of The Name of the Wind and while the story inside the book has lost some of its magic in the past few years the thing stayed important. There is a distinct memory of me picking it up at a library sale in Reno, NV. And then me handing it to Rothfuss to sign and him holding it up, showing it around and saying: “Look at that!” (Nobody did.) Anyhow all of that makes it quite a special book for me.

I was reading Hallie Bateman and remembered what Lynda Barries Syllabus did to me and my art making. What a wonderful set of books. Together with Making Comics you have two essential books for any creative pursuit. And I have drawn so much from them, excercises for classes, my own use of those kinds of notebooks, thoughts about “ugly drawings” and the will to continue even when things don't quite look how they may be supposed to.

Maybe I'll stop here. This has got me thinking. I used to say that book shelves are like a wine cellar. You don't drink every wine in your cellar do you? You save some until the right moment comes. But I also think a “library” needs to be curated. And sometimes it is quite alright to let go of items that don't fit anymore. Or quite simply items that are never going to fit.

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images from Tokyo these Days Vol. 1 & Vol. 3 by Taiyo Matsumoto (VIZ Media)

Wax Heads is a game by Patattie Games about selling and recommending records. Around that core loop you have a host of interesting and compelling characters. And of course there is a larger story full of music, commentary on the actual music industry and lots of rad art.

Once upon a time there was a famous band. The band disbanded in bad blood and one of the band members now has a record store called Repeater. You are the new kid at the store and learning the ropes. Surrounded by the typical record store oddballs you recommend vinyl to all kinds of people. Some want the newest record by some jazz band others something for their dad. Or they want to impress the women in line after them and only have a T-Shirt to go on. Typical situations that call for good recommendations. You find the records around the store. They have some simple info attached to them.

For example one customer wants a record for her dad. She knows he likes the stuff a certain critic recommends. So you look at the local music blog to find the critic and then at the available records to find a pull quote. The puzzles are engaging and simple enough, although possibly tiresome if the amount of information you have to retain grows too much. For me it brought back pleasant feelings of working in a bookshop, remembering random but helpful information about just the right book.

Add to that the amazing artwork, the cool music and the way all of this game just oozes cool and you are in for a good time. I am not good at keeping up with games, but I might just take another look when the game is released on the 5th of May.

Tonight I have watched the original Running Man and it was bad. Now I am watching Nobody and it is great. What I like most is two people who see the main guy and just say: “I am out, see ya.” One sees his tattoo and nopes out. The other is a hacker who sees his dossier and calls it a day. Smart goons are rare.

I also don't have subtitles. And some of it is in Russian. Gives the whole movie a different feeling.

EDIT: Nobody ended up being a solid and fun movie. Short, sweet and with all the extras cut. The kind of action movie I like a lot.

Once upon a time I got a request if I wanted to interview a band. It was quite short notice, right before their show in Berlin. It must have been around 2013/2014. I remember the guy at the promotion firm fondly. However I said yes and went out to “Wild at Heart” an excellent venue in Berlin. Here I interviewed two members of Larry and his Flask in the room next to the stairs, while all the other members were at a radio station. I don't know if I still have that interview lying around somewhere. I should check.

Anyhow their 2013 record By the Lamplight starts with a a song called Pandemonium. It always strikes me as funny to think of songs that get stuck and songs that leave the head after a while. I could probably sing along to a lot of By the Lamplight. But Pandemonium? That first line comes to me often in my work as a teacher.

I have seen them twice. Once at “Wild at Heart” and once years later at Cassiopeia. Both shows were sweaty affairs, fun and energizing. An amazing band.

I'll never forget how they offered me a joint in that room next to the stairs during the interview. Oh to be a rock star.

Here have some punky emo stuff full of feelings.

Or how about some desperate screams and a lot of feelings?

Or some angry men being rightfully angry.

Whatever floats your boat. It is out there and very good.

I like Low Island a bunch. I have interviewed the singer Carlos twice and both times were excellent conversations. Here is a look at how their record “bird” got made. And now I shall listen to it again. Still mad as heck, that I missed their Berlin show because I was sick.

When I search for “Drinking Song” in my music library I get two hits. One is The Divine Comedy with “A Drinking Song” which is an excellent ode to being a little bit drunk. It is much more joyful than the one by Abi Reinold, which is tagged #sadcore for a reason.

And then I find Keep Drinking by the Drinking Boys and Girls Choir which is amazing and fun, fast paced punk music from South Korea.

Three very very different tapes of music. All pretty great in my opinion. Enjoy.

OH they have a cover of Linda Linda! LOVE that song.

This morning I grabbed a comic I hadn't seen for a while from my shelves. It is called The Hchom Book and it is by Marian Churchland. I first read their work way back in the olden days, when Elephantmen still came out via image comics and she illustrated an issue. Then I lost sight, found the Hchom Book and it slipped out of my periphery again. Here we are then, I am a newly minted patron and excited to see more of Churchlands excellent drawings.

Aside from that I spent some time at the sea. It was cold and seeing the Baltic ocean actually somewhat frozen over was amazing. Almost slipping on every other walkways was less great, but all in all I recommend it.

I spent some money on good tunes! Bandcamp Friday called to me and I spent my budget on three albums/eps.

Power Snatch is a new band wit Hayley Williams of Paramore fame. a great little EP. The Cult Object record is fantastic. I am not yet completely convinced by the new Joyce Manor album. Will get some more spins.

Finally finished Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell):My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement by Jane McAlevey and Bob Ostertag. It was great to read about that particular set of struggles and it really gave me some excellent food for thought. These three quotes are separate.

Whole-worker organizing begins with the recognition that real people do not live two separate lives, one beginning when they arrive at work and punch the clock and another when they punch out at the end of their shift. The pressing concerns that bear down on them every day are not divided into two neat piles, only one of which is of concern to unions. At the end of each shift workers go home, through streets that are sometimes violent, past their kids’ crumbling schools, to their often substandard housing, where the tap water is likely unsafe.

John Gaventa who would repeat over and over, “Dogs get trained, Jane, people get educated”

Ultimately, this was where I got my ideas about what a union is and what it means to be antiracist. It’s where I learned that the truly poor deserve the dignity of housing in a nice neighborhood, that actions matter, that corporations should pay their fair share, that bucking the Democratic Party power structure is no big deal, that unions and environmentalists can work together and win, and that progressive social change cannot be made without a leadership ready to take risks.

Just a great book and a great jumping off point for me and my possible relation to my own union. From there I went to the latest episode of Heart Reacts with Kelly Hayes and started reading Let this radicalize You.

possibility is worth it.

Now I have one more day before school starts up again. And I don't quite feel prepared. But I have good music. I have good books. I am meeting a friend tomorrow and I had amazing dinner at my parents tonight. It'll go it's way. <3

There is an interview with Asha Lorenz from the band sorry. It sits on my recorder and I have not edited it. I am running away from it. She says some heavy stuff in there (at least that is how I remember it.). And maybe that is all bogus my mind made up listening to a person talking about the important role alcohol plays in her creative work. Cosplay is a great force of an album.

It has a lethargic bite that keeps it's teeth in. And sometimes it slaps you with a line and there is a feeling that stays. I like it a lot and I don't listen to it very often. I am listening to it right now.

So I guess I'll make it happen this week. I'll edit the damn interview. And maybe I was wrong. Maybe my head made much more out of it then it was. I hope so.

How is this song so very good?

EDIT: It was not so bad. Did the edit. Finishing it all until Monday. Comes out Wednesday next week.