MCFIERCE

“Pry, To” by Pearl Jam from Vitalogy reversed: “Hey, Mr. Townshend, how you saved my life.”

<snore>

So here I am just watching a re-run of last night’s Daily Show while trying to motivate to finish grading my students’ final papers, and on comes an ad for the DVD/Blu-Ray release of “The Town.” As has become the custom now, the ad not only enjoins you to purchase said movie on the digital format of your choice, but also goes to great pains to point out that it’s not yet available on Netflix or Red Box. Which all just seems fascinating because it points out there’s really only two desires we as Americans have when it comes to our consumption: getting it faster or not having to do any work to get it. Netflix lets us open a webpage and click a box and then get a DVD in the mail without even really realizing we’ve done anything. But if you want to get “The Town,” that’s just not going to cut it. You have to go to a different webpage (Amazon, say) and pay more money but with the promise of getting it before other people who are lazy in a different way.

So pick your poison. Do you want things fast, or do you want things lazy?

Rereading Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man has me thinking about this. I love a good kiss.

3.

“He closed his eyes, surrendering himself to her, body and mind, conscious of nothing in the world but the dark pressure of her softly parting lips. They pressed upon his brain as upon his lips, as though they were the vehicle of vague speech; and between them he felt an unknown and timid pressure, darker than the swoon of sin, softer than sound or odour.”

—James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist

2.

‘Above,’ she said. This was one of the words we had been asked to practice for our preposition exam. ‘The pine cone,’ she said, ‘is above the leaves.’

‘Are you ready for that?’ I asked.

‘I think so,’ said Allison. ‘I’ll study some more tonight.’

The sun slipped briefly behind behind a cloud, and a blackbird shot past us with a sudden vabap of its wings.

I aimed my finger at the leaf arrangement. ‘Beneath,’ I said. ‘The leaves are beneath the pine cone.’

…

Her voice gave a trill. ‘Pretty clever.’ She folded her arms around me, clasping her hands at my shoulder.

‘And this,’ she said, ‘is around.’

A little hm of surprise escaped my throat. ‘About,’ I said—and holding tight, I repeated her gesture.

‘Toward,’ she said.

‘Beside,’ I said.

‘Across.’

‘Near.’

‘Against.’

The far side of the school hummed with the voices of parents and idling cars. My temple was pressed to Allison’s, my arms to her back, the turn of my face to the turn of her own. She shifted her weight, and her jackt rucked together at my side. She brought her teeth together, and I felt the motion of them against the pad of her cheek. When she blinked and drew toward me, parting her lips, my heart tumbled over inside me like an hourglass.

‘Betwixt,’ she said. 

—Kevin Brockmeier, “Apples”

1.

But now, waiting in the chair, and why worry about time, the meaning of her kissed had become all things to me. In the variety of the tone of her words, moods, hugs, kisses, brushes of the lips, and this night the upside-down kiss over the back of the chair with her dark eyes heavy hanging and her blushing cheeks full of sweet blood and sudden tenderness brooding like a hawk over the boy over the back, holding the chair on both sides, just an instant, the startling sudden sweet fall of all her hair over my face and the soft downward brush of her lips, a moment’s penetration of sweet lip flesh, a moment’s drowned in thinking and kissing in it and praying and hoping and in the mouth of life when life is young to burn cool skin eye-blinking joy—I held her captured upside down, also just for a second, and savored the kiss which first had surprised me like blind man’s bluff so I didn’t know really who was kissing me for the very first instant but now I knew and knew everything more than ever, as, grace-wise, she descended to me from the upper dark where I’d thought only cold could be and with all her heavy lips and breast in my neck and on my head and sudden fragrance of the night brought with her from the porch, of some 5 & 10 cheap perfumes of herself the little hungry scent of perspiration warm in her flesh like preciousness.

—Jack Kerouac, Maggie Cassidy

Seriously. That second sentence of the Kerouac is also one of my top ten favorite giant sentences ever.

Talking to some students at Woodbury High School yesterday, I got asked what kind of music I listen to when I’m writing. Here are my top five albums/artists to listen to when I’m really trying to get something done:

5. Mogwai :: Come On Die Young and Young Team

4. Sigur Ros :: Agaetis Byrjun

3. Miles Davis :: Bitches Brew

2. Fennesz :: Endless Summer & Black Sea

1. Tarentel :: Ghetto Beats on the Surface of the Sun

To celebrate the Fourth of July, Calley and I spent more time than was strictly necessary putting together this mix of 50 songs (well, 51 with Washington, D.C.) about the 50 states. Or rather, related to the 50 states. You get the point.

Alabama: “Stars Fell On Alabama” :: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Alaska: “Alaska” :: Dr. Dog
Arizona: “Hotel Arizona” :: Wilco
Arkansas: “Home” :: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (“Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my ma and pa …”)
California: “California Stars” :: Billy Bragg & Wilco
Colorado: “Colorado” :: Grizzly Bear
Connecticut: “Peace Frog” :: The Doors (“Blood in the streets / of the town of New Haven …”)
Delaware: “Is This Thing On?” :: The Promise Ring (“Delaware: Are you aware of Air Supply and Television …”)
District of Columbia: “Washington, D.C.” :: Magnetic Fields
Florida: “Florida” :: The Push Kings
Georgia: “Midnight Train to Georgia” :: Gladys Knight
Hawaii: “Hawaii” :: Haley Bonar
Idaho: “Private Idaho” :: The B-52s
Illinois: “They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!” :: Sufjan Stevens (“I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S …”)
Indiana: “Indiana Jones” :: Vermont
Iowa: “Iowa” :: Dar Williams
Kansas: “Train from Kansas City” :: Neko Case (We know, it’s probably Kansas City, MO)
Kentucky: “Bowling Green” :: The Everly Brothers
Louisiana: “Going Back to Louisiana” :: Bruce Channel
Maine: “Pink Chimneys” :: The Promise Ring (“Pink chimneys in Maine / couldn’t keep me away …”)
Maryland: “Baltimore” :: The Tamlins
Massachusetts: “Mass Pike” :: The Get Up Kids
Michigan: “I’ve Got a Girl in Kalamazoo” :: Tex Beneke
Minnesota: “Minnesota” :: The Dandy Warhols
Mississippi: “Mississippi Goddam” :: Nina Simone
Missouri: “Missouri” :: Low
Montana: “Big Sky Country” :: Chris Whitley
Nebraska: “Nebraska” :: Bruce Springsteen
Nevada: “Viva Las Vegas” :: Elvis Presley
New Hampshire: “New Hampshire” :: Matt Pond PA
New Jersey: “Jersey Shore” :: The Promise Ring
New Mexico: “New Mexico” :: Florida
New York: “New York, New York” :: Cat Power
North Carolina: “North Carolina” :: The Oranges Band
North Dakota: “Fargo” :: The Small Cities
Ohio: “Ohio” :: Damien Jurado
Oklahoma: “Oklahoma” :: Scud Mountain Boys
Oregon: “Oregon Girl” :: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Pennsylvania: “Freedom of ‘76” :: Ween
Rhode Island: “Rhode Island Is Famous For You” :: Blossom Dearie
South Carolina: “Oh Carolina” :: Shaggy
South Dakota: “Reno Dakota” :: Magnetic Fields
Tennessee: “Tennessee” :: Arrested Development
Texas: “The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton” :: The Mountain Goats
Utah: “The Great Salt Lake” :: Band of Horses
Vermont: “Moonlight In Vermont” :: Ella Fitzgerald
Virginia: “Virginia” :: Jeremy Messersmith
Washington: “Thrice All American” :: Neko Case (“Life goes by slow in Tacoma …”)
West Virginia: “Country Roads” :: John Denver
Wisconsin: “Wisconsin” :: Jamie Ness
Wyoming: “Wyoming and Me” :: The Black Crowes

Yes, some of these are a bigger reach than others. And some are a huge reach. Suggestions for improvements welcomed.
 

Justice :: “Genesis”
Steely Dan :: “Black Cow”
Big Sugar :: “Girl Watcher”
Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes :: “40 Day Dream”
Spoon :: “Written In Reverse”
The Beatles :: “The Word”
Erykah Badu :: “Window Seat”
The National :: “The Geese Of Beverly Road”
Goodie MoB feat. OutKast :: “Black Ice”
LL Cool J :: “Mama Said Knock You Out”
Soul Coughing :: “Screenwriter’s Blues”
Dire Straits :: “Romeo & Juliet”
Radiohead :: “True Love Waits”
Tom Waits :: “Hold On”
Wilco :: “Sunken Treasure”
Massive Attack :: “Protection”
The Rural Alberta Advantage :: “Drain The Blood”
Love-cars :: “CMS BFF”
Michael Jackson :: “Billie Jean”
French Kicks :: “Abandon”
Can :: “Vitamin C”
Bellwether :: “Sugar Moon”
The Band :: “Chest Fever”
Stealers Wheel :: “Stuck In The Middle With You”
Chuck Berry :: “Johnny B. Goode”
Urge Overkill :: ” Girl, You’ll Be Woman A Woman Soon”
Jay-Z vs. Death Cab For Cutie :: “Dirt Off Your Hotel Bed”
Diverse feat. Jean Grae :: “Under The Hammer”
T. Rex :: “Get It On”
Band of Horses :: “The Funeral”
Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys :: “Empire State Of Mind”
American Analog Set :: “The Postman (Styrofoam’s Just Like The Nineties Never Happened Mix)”
The Clientele :: “Since K Got Over Me”
The White Stripes vs. The Eurhythmics :: “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Seven Nation Army”
The xx :: “Islands”
Gayngs :: “Cry”
Mogwai :: “The Sun Smells Too Loud”
The Who vs. Mobb Deep :: “Shook Front, Pt II”
Helmet vs. Outkast :: “Unsung B.O.B.”
The Promise Ring :: “Jersey Shore”
Bill Withers :: “Ain’t No Sunshine”
Roy Ayers :: “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”
Atmosphere :: “Sunshine”
Coldplay :: “Swallowed In The Sea”
Weezer :: “El Scorcho”
Death Cab For Cutie :: “We Laugh Indoors”
Hum :: “Stars”

The Smiths :: “Panic” - Hang the DJ, y’all.
Dexy’s Midnight Runners :: “Come On Eileen”
The Outfield :: “Your Love”
The Clash :: “Rudie Can’t Fail”
Television :: “See No Evil”
The Real Kids :: “All Kindsa Girls”
The Clean :: “Tally Ho”
My Teenage Stride :: “To Live And Die In The Airport Lounge”
The Notwist :: “One With The Freaks”

… and good night and goodbye. It’s been a blast, seriously.

 

The Rolling Stones :: “Midnight Rambler”
The Kinks :: “You Really Got Me”
Norman Greenbaum :: “Spirit in the Sky”
The Zombies :: “She’s Not There”
Spirit :: “I Got A Line On You”
Steely Dan :: “Your Gold Teeth II”
Big Star :: “The Ballad of El Goodo”
Big Star :: “Life is White”
Big Star :: “September Gurls”
Sparklehorse :: “Someday I Will Treat You Good”
Guided By Voices :: “Girls of Wild Strawberrys”
Low :: “California”
The Hold Steady :: “Certain Songs”
Rage Against Machine :: “Bulls On Parade”
Jay-Z feat. Lenny Kravits :: “Guns & Roses”
The Beach Boys :: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
Pretenders :: “Brass in Pocket”
Heart :: “Barracuda”
M. Ward :: “To Go Home”
Weezer :: “In The Garage”
Nirvana :: “You Know You’re Right”

A pair of ’90s epics for you

Guns n’ Roses :: “November Rain”
Jane’s Addiction :: “Three Days”

Ted Leo :: “I’m A Ghost”
Papas Fritas :: “Way You Walk”
Catfish Blue :: “Banana Bread”
Pinback :: “Fortress”
Stars :: “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead”
The Postal Service :: “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”
k-os :: “Born To Run”
Jimi Hendrix :: “Wind Cries Mary”
Blur :: “Coffee & TV”
The La’s :: “I Can’t Sleep”
The Long Winters :: “Cinnamon”
The Heavy :: “Coleen”
Blackalicious :: “Deception”

A couple more ’90s epics for y’all:

Smashing Pumpkins :: “Silverfuck” - This just in: This song is horrible to play in a bar.
Temple of the Dog :: “Reach Down”

Land of Talk :: “Summer Special”
T. Rex :: “Cosmic Dancer”
Spoon :: “Well Alright”
The Outfield :: “Your Love”
Animal Collective :: “My Girls”
Herbie Hancock :: “Spank-A-Lee”
The Books :: “Smells Like Content”
Sun Kil Moon :: “Ocean Breathes Salty”
Matt Pond PA :: “Holiday Road”
Spoon :: “Who Makes Your Money”
Beach House :: “Norway”
Friends Like These :: “7th St. Queen”
The Plastic Constellations :: “Phantom Canyon”
Lookbook :: “Over And Over”
Zoo Animal :: “Hold Tongue”
The Alarmists :: “Some Things Never Stop”
French Kicks :: “Abandon”
Can :: “Vitamin C”
Bellwether :: “Sugar Moon”
Bon Iver :: “Blood Bank”

… and good night. It’s been a pleasure.

Friends Like These :: “7th St. Queen”
City on the Make :: “Howling At A Sliver Of The Moon”
Hockey Night :: “For Guys’ Eyes Only”
Low :: “Hatchet (Optimimi Version)”
Missing Numbers :: “Minor Cut”
Story of the Sea :: “I’d Like To Meet You”
The Plastic Constellations :: “Phantom Canyon”
Haley Bonar :: “Queen of Everything”
The Ashtray Hearts :: “Disaster”
Bob Dylan :: “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”
Bellwether :: “Afterthoughts”
James Buckley :: “Newer”
The Fantastic Merlins :: “Lenny”
Hymie’s Basement :: “21st Century Pop Song”
Halloween, Alaska :: “Drowned”
Olympic Hopefuls :: “Motobike”
Cloud Cult :: “What Comes At The End”
Dosh :: “Um, Circles and Squares”
Lateduster :: “Hospital No. 32”
Gospel Gossip :: “Home”
Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps :: “Lack of Height”
Zoo Animal :: “Hold Tongue”
Switzerlind :: “Prince Vince”
Now, Now Every Children :: “Headlights”
12 Rods :: “What Has Happened”
Lookbook :: “Over and Over”
Kid Dakota :: “Pilgrim”
Mason Jennings :: “Darkness Between The Fireflies”
Rob Skoro :: “2318”
Beight :: “Parallels”
Love-cars :: “Northwest Orient”
Discount Musical :: “‘81–’06”
Prince :: “Kiss”
Crescent Moon Is In Big Trouble :: “Hunting Season”
Ela :: “I Don’t Know If It’s Helping”
P.O.S. :: “I Play the Matador (Original Redo)”
Aphrill :: “Schoolyard Bullies”

Oliver Nelson :: “Stolen Moments”
John Coltrane :: “Mr. P.C.”
Grant Green :: “Patches”
Larry Young :: “Zoltan”
Menomena :: “The Pelican”
Sparklehorse :: “Sick of Goodbyes” - R.I.P. Mark Linkous. You will be missed.
Elbow :: “Any Day Now”
Jimmy Eat World :: “Lucky Denver Mint”
The Get Up Kids :: “Anne Arbour”
Braid :: “A Dozen Roses”
The Promise Ring :: “Best Looking Boys”
Jets to Brazil :: “Morning New Disease”
Sunny Day Real Estate :: “In Circles”
Dismemberment Plan :: “The Face of the Earth”
Dirty Projectors :: “Stillness is the Move”
The Swiss Army :: “About Freeways”
Field Guide :: “Windows”
Guns ‘n’ Roses :: “Sweet Child of Mine” - Question was: What was the only Best Picture nominee to have a slash in the title.
Vampire Weekend :: “Oxford Comma”
Caribou :: “Melody Day”
The Pixies :: “Where Is My Mind?”
Led Zeppelin :: “When the Levee Breaks”
Beastie Boys :: “Pass the Mic” - Samples the drums from “When the Levee Breaks”
Elastica :: “Stutter”
Wolf Parade :: “It’s A Curse”
Neal Hefti :: “The Odd Couple Theme”
Zoo Animal :: “Hold Tongue”
Grizzly Bear :: “On A Neck, On A Spit”
Band of Horses :: “Great Salt Lake”
Big George Webley :: “Handbags & Gladrags”
The Arcade Fire :: “Wake Up”
Broken Social Scene :: “Almost Crimes”
Gang Starr :: “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight”
Jay-Z :: “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)”
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg :: “The Next Episode”
Lupe Fiasco :: “Kick, Push”
The Who vs. Mobb Deep :: “Shook Front, Pt II”
Spoon vs. Wu-Tang Clan :: “Who Makes Your C.R.E.A.M.”
Roy Orbison :: “Oh, Pretty Woman”
WIlson Pickett :: “In The Midnight Hour”
Otis Redding :: “Satisfaction”
Marva Whitney :: “In the Middle”
Little Richard :: “Nuki Suki”
Dexy’s Midnight Runners :: “Come On Eileen”
Neneh Cherry :: “Buffalo Stance”
Talking Heads :: “Burning Down the House”
The Outfield :: “Your Love”
Charlotte Gainsbourg :: “Le Chat Du Cafe Des Artistes”
Steely Dan :: “The Fez”
Roy Ayers :: “We Live In Brooklyn, Baby”
David Axelrod :: “Song of Innocence”
Midlake :: “Young Bride”
George Harrison :: “I’d Have You Anytime”
Animal Collective :: “My Girls”
Sparklehorse :: “Painbirds”
The Beatles :: “Good Day Sunshine”
Bill Withers :: “Ain’t No Sunshine”
Roy Ayers :: “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”
Cream :: “Sunshine of Your Love”
The Clientele :: “These Days Nothing But Sunshine”

… and good night. It’s been a pleasure.