JULY DECLARED MUSIC BOOK MONTH

I hereby declare the month of July as my music book month, since I’m enjoying Now You’re One Of Us - The Incredible Story of Redd Kross so very very very much. (A Christmas present from Cleo).

Books in the queue include:

Stranded - Australian Independent Music, 1976-1992 by Clinton Walker (a birthday gift from my pal Jeff)

I, Shithead - A Life In Punk by Joe Keithley (a birthday gift for my pal Mark that he kindly loaned me back)

Corporate Rock Sucks - The Rise and Fall of SST Records by Jim Ruhland (on loan from my pal Steve)

I’m also digging into The Vinyl Guide, a podcast by Nate Goyer. I’ve listened to a couple dozen of these recently. Seriously geeking out.

It has been four months since my brother died after a long illness and during that time it has been hard to feel much zippity-doo-dah about much of anything. Workmanlike efforts at songwriting, the dumber the better…gigs that are fun but feel a few degrees removed from where my spirit is at. Not as many postcards as I typically write, and not much visual art. Building shelves in the garage was satisfying; doing things with my hands is always crucial. Being on a team at work that does cool things is also grounding and a big practical every day part of the grief process.

So—listening to geeks like me talk about records on a podcast like The Vinyl Guide or You Don’t Know Mojack is something I’m real grateful for right now. Listening to vinyl instead of doom-scrolling about authoritarian takeover or ruminating about my brother’s mysterious year of poorly diagnosed illness—I’m grateful. The big risk here is me dropping a few hundred on records when I should be saving for me and Cleo’s retirement in 2098.

ChatGPT mispelled vinyl while converting this photo from our living room! Jeez!