PERMANENT RECORDS: CRY LIKE A CHILD, THOUGH THESE YEARS MAKE ME OLDER

Permanent Records is a year-long project. Each Friday (or thereabouts), I will post a new entry about one specific album, chosen due to its significance to myself as a fan. Though the list is numbered, a particular record's placement should not be considered a ranking. There will be 52 albums in all.

This endeavor is based on a concept started by Chris Tamarri at Crisis/Boring Change. It has since been expanded as a concept, as Neal Shaffer takes on a study of album covers over at Leftwich.

16. JOY DIVISION - CLOSER (1980)
Personnel: Ian Curtis, vocals; Bernard Sumner; guitar & synthesizers; Peter Hook, bass; Stephen Morris, drums
Producers: Martin Hannett & Joy Division / Label: Factory

When I was sixteen, I got a new car. I had made a deal with my father that if he bought a new car as opposed to a used one, I would go to college, the logic being that a new one would last me all the way through. At the time, it's what I thought I wanted. By the time I was eighteen and out of high school, the car had three dents in it--one from a screw-up in our expansive backyard while practicing shifting, one from a parking lot accident, the other from a time when I kicked it. I know you probably think you can't kick a dent in a car, because they are big and hard and you are small and soft, but trust me, you can. My desire to go to college had taken a couple of dents by then, too.

Writing was what I wanted to do, and I had picked up some romantic notions of what that meant. The car ironically figured into my plans to ditch out of school. I was dreaming of getting in it and driving, just going wherever the highway took me and stopping to make money where necessary. I'm not sure how I cooked up this plan, because if there was anyone who was ever more ill-suited for that kind of life than I was, I am not sure who that would be.

The car almost became the catalyst for my taking off in another way. The summer between high school and university, I went to the San Diego Comic Con (before it was international) for my fourth time. I drove myself and my friends down there. Parking in the hotel garage, I had to angle into a pretty tight spot next to a fat pole. I thought the guy in the passenger seat was watching the pole for me, which he was--he was just a little slow on pointing out that I was going to collide with it. I recall hearing the crinkling of metal a second before I heard him say, "Pole."

My car's fourth dent.

That dent haunted me the entire weekend. I kept imagining getting home, having my father see it, and hearing the lecture about how stupid it was that my car was in the shape that it was now in. I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to face it.

Sure, that sounds trivial in and of itself, but that dent became something larger. It represented all the things I didn't want to deal with, the decision I didn't want to face. Going home and taking the lecture, it meant committing once and for all to college, to locking myself away at school for several more years. If I chose to avoid facing my father's scorn, I could avoid everything else. Just run away, and leave it all behind.

I drove my friends back from the convention with this on my mind. They lived in a different town than I did, so I had to go there first, and then there would be some more driving before I would be home. There would be a further delay because I had tickets for the House of Love and Peter Murphy show at the Universal Amphitheatre that night. The plan on that Sunday was to take my friends home, go to the show, and then from there, who knew?

The show was good. An attractive girl came down to fill the empty seat next to me because her friend had gotten too drunk before the show and was too sick to come in. She was all by herself and the guys in her row were lame. She was very friendly, a kind of average Southern California girl--tan, with maybe a trace of Hispanic blood in her; long brown hair. We had a good time, but when it was all over, we just said good-bye, that was it. Why had I let her leave without getting more information? Why had I not suggested doing something else?

But then, this was indicative of my whole problem. I could see it. This indecision, this refusal to reach for something more.

I got in my car and drove out to the beach. I had a boom box with me and I took it and sat on the lifeguard station and listened to my tape of Joy Division's Closer. I don't think that it had been selected for any other reason than me being sad and looking for something to fit that. I can't recall there being any greater meaning than that, nor do I think the record's part in my decision boiled down to anything like an epiphany. I didn't hear a lyric and think, "Now I know what I must do."

Rather, I think Closer provided a momentary oasis, a place of heavy thought where I could be alone with my own heavy thoughts. It wasn't so much what Ian Curtis said, but the sound of his voice, the desolation and the loss, the loneliness. His deep tones provided the atmosphere, while the music provided the landscape. The weighty sounds of Peter Hook's fat bass lines, the smooth roll back of Bernard Sumner's guitars: these things built a safety area. There on the beach in the middle of the night, I could remove myself from the rest of the world for a while.

If I did try to point to one song, it would probably be my favorite on the album, "The Eternal."

Procession moves on, the shouting is over
Praise to the glory of loved ones now gone
Talking aloud as they sit round their tables
Scattering flowers washed down by the rain

Stood by the gate at the foot of the garden
Watching them pass like clouds in the sky
Try to cry out in the heat of the moment
Possessed by a fury that burns from inside

Cry like a child though these years make me older
With children my time is so wastefully spent
Burden to keep, though their inner communion
Accept like a curse an unlucky deal

Laid by the gate at the foot of the garden
My view stretches out from the fence to the wall
No words could explain, no actions determine
Just watching the trees and the leaves as they fall

Even if these words did not directly influence what happened, they definitely form an accurate reflection of what I was feeling at the time. I was standing in between two stages of life, feeling separate and helpless, looking at things I could not have and a dark fate that might be waiting for me. In whatever capacity, I found the comfort I needed to decide what I would do.

No surprise, I went home. I waited long enough so that I would not arrive until my dad had gone to work, so I could get some sleep before confronting the awful new dent. My reasoning for sticking to the plan was both not wanting to screw him and also realizing I probably wasn't ready to take the leap I had envisioned. Something like that, altering your trajectory in such a drastic way, is not a move one should agonize over. If it's right, you know.

As for the dent, I had blown it all out of proportion, of course. My dad saw it and just chuckled. "What's one more, I suppose?" he said. "Three or four, what does it matter?" I had gotten myself worked up over nothing. At least in that aspect of it.

That fall I would get my fifth dent, some guy named Homer Simpson (I kid you not) rear-ended me at a stop light. It didn't seem like such a big deal when it happened. I couldn't even tell you what was on the radio when the impact occurred. If it wasn't significant enough to have a marker like that, I guess it's pretty clear I had settled into my decision and was ensconced enough by that point not to be knocked out of it.

#26 #25 #24 #23 #22 #21 #20 #19 #18 #17
(The first 26) (Permanent Records iMix 1)

Reminder: As always, this post is full of links to Amazon. Click on any one of them when shopping, and Amazon will shave a few pennies off their take to give to me. So, if my reviews make you all hot and bothered and you just have to own one of the things I'm talking about, use my link and contribute to buying me more stuff to review. (Those reading a Live Journal feed will likely have to click to the actual blog page first before heading over to Amazon, though.) Either way, thanks for reading.

Current Soundtrack: "Just Shoot Me"

Current Mood: relieved

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

NO LOVE LOST

It's official. 12 Reasons Why I Love Her is on the list for the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut Comic. The Beat has the list here. Our category is the last one, and it's the award voted on by Small Press Expo attendees for books that are available for the very first time at SPX. This means, yes, I am attending the show, which takes place in Baltimore on October 13 and 14. Read more about SPX here. My flight is booked. I'll be there. Sadly for all of you, Joëlle will not be. (I know that'll be the first question out of everyone's mouth at the con. "Is Joëlle here?" My experience having been a Chynna wrangler for many years tells me this.)

That also means 12 Reasons went to the printer yesterday. I didn't want to make my attendance official out of fear I'd jinx our wrapping it up, and so now that our gorgeous little sweetheart has headed off to get her hair done for the prom, I can exhale and unclench. Big thanks to James Lucas Jones and Douglas E. Sherwood at Oni Press and Steven Birch at Servo Graphics for their tireless efforts on Tuesday to pull everything together. Here is Steve's final cover design:

I can't wait to see what that will look like printed. The whole book is beautiful. It was a really special experience when I received the lettering. I probably haven't read the script since last August, just before Joëlle and I met for the first time. It was September 1, 2005, so it only took a year to finish it off, but long enough for me to forget a lot of things about the book. Seeing the words again, but this time without the panel descriptions and married to the art, turned me into a reader, and I was able to laugh and cry and get angry just like you will. Joëlle's acting ability really brought the story home.

Here is a page that amuses me:

The SPX debut means the book will most likely be on stands the following Wednesday, October 18. Expect a marketing blitz to begin. In fact, if you're a reviewer or comic book journalist, please drop me a line with who you are and what you write for, and I can hook you up with a pdf (that's golightly at confessions123.com). Ditto for comic book retailers.

Cheers to The Comics Reporter for adding my interview at Broken Frontier to his list of links today.

Current Soundtrack: The Rifles, No Love Lost

Current Mood: productive

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

WHAT WOULD THE LOVED ONES SAY?

Things are gearing up for the reading tomorrow.

Dave Walker, the man behind Bad Azz Mofo and the Longbaugh Film Festival, wrote a very positive review of The Everlasting.

EXCERPT: "Using various voices and jumping around in time, The Everlasting reads like a combination personal diary, screenplay and detached narrative observation of the life and times of Lance Scott. If this were a movie, it would be shot using various media--film, digital video, maybe even puppets--with Lance often looking right into the camera to address the audience. As a work of fiction, jumping around so much is not something to be ventured into lightly. But to his credit, Rich, for the most part, is up to the task. " Read the rest here.

Regular supporter Mason West also wrote up the event over on his blog, as did Robert Fortney over on his. Thanks, guys!

I am going over what I want to read, and I can't decide what Lance selection. I've got "Toys for Boys," one of the deleted scenes from The Everlasting, as well as the printed chapters "Laughing Boy" (page 238) and "Actually It's Darkness" (page 275). I was also considering parts X & XI from "Romeo May be Bleeding, but Mercutio is Dead." Any of you Lance Scott fans out there have an opinion?

I think I am definitely going to try an experiment and read from the 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and there is still a possibility I will give a preview of Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?.

So many decisions...

Current Soundtrack: The Orb, Okie Dokie, It's the Orb on Kompakt

Current Mood: confused

THE MACK, AND HOW TO SWING IT

Comics creator David Mack, who has been very supportive of 12 Reasons (and is quoted on the back cover), sends this notice along:

Hi, Jamie,

A site promoting some of my work being auctioned for an MS Chartiy event.
At this link:
http://davidmackguide.com/news/2006/09/08.shtml

Feel welcome to forward it to your mailing list.

Best!

So, go and look, and spread the word. Good art for a good cause.

Current Soundtrack: Luke Haines is Dead

Current Mood: pensive

HEY, YOU! I'M LOOKING AT YOU...

This week is packed. There's been lots going on, including the amazing response to the preview of 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. Thanks to the guys at the Newsarama blog for picking up the story and adding it to their wire.

Meanwhile, Love the Way You Love vol. 2 was sent to the printer yesterday and will be in your hands at the end of the month. The theme song was also uploaded to Lara Michell's MySpace page. So, I'm posting some awesome non-spoiler images from Love the Way You Love vol. 3, which Marc is pretty well ahead on (and I've written 4 & 5). In between the pages, you will find the press release for the song.

FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE - SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

JAMIE S. RICH & LARA MICHELL RECORD COMIC BOOK THEME SONG

On July 6, 2006, in a studio in Portland, Oregon, musician Lara Michell entered the studio to record "Love the Way You Love," a song featured in LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE, a comic book written by author Jamie S. Rich and drawn by Marc Ellerby. The comic is published every three months by Oni Press, and the second issue is due at the end of September. In it, the fictional band Like A Dog performs "Love the Way You Love" for the first time, and now readers can download a version of the song and listen to it while they read--a unique experience in the world of comic books.

Lara Michell sings and plays guitar on the track. It was produced by John Askew, head of FILMguerrero records and the man behind Tracker, who previously stepped into similar territory by creating the ambient soundtrack to the Blankets graphic novel. While that was a background score, "Love the Way You Love" is part of the story being told on paper. On "Love The Way You Love," Askew played bass and Michael Schorr (formerly of Death Cab For Cutie and The Long Winters) played drums. The final product is available in advance of the comic, and can be downloaded at www.myspace.com/laramichell.

"Writing a comic book about a rock band presents an interesting challenge," Rich said, "as there are less opportunities to describe how the music sounds than there are in prose. When I got the idea of writing a title song for LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE, Lara was the first person I thought of."

Lara Michell is a well-known performer in Portland. She has released three solo albums and was the guitarist for the popular group Carmina Piranha. Currently, she is part of two different bands: 1930s swing jazz sextet The Stolen Sweets and pop/rock band Dirty Martini, where she teams up with two other songwriters, McKinley and Stephanie Schneiderman.

"Jamie sent me some lyrics that he was working on for his script," Michell explained, "and from there I came up with some chord progressions and musical transitions, and we worked on the melody together and finished it off. The concept was that this would be my cover of the song that LIKE A DOG would have recorded in the early '90s. The fictional band is inspired by British music like the Smiths and Ride, but maybe with an ear towards '90s radio. So, this became my take on that."

LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE is a comic book soap opera that was spun out of Rich's prose fiction, including CUT MY HAIR and his latest novel, THE EVERLASTING. For more information on LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE, visit http://www.onipress.com/graphicnovels/gn.php?id=145

For more on John Askew and FILMguerrero, visit www.filmg.com

Lara Michell can be contacted at elfpunch@aol.com

Current Soundtrack: TV

Current Mood: busy

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

TENDER IS THE NIGHT/LOVE IS THE GREATEST THING

Several links to post today, but the one I am most excited about is the interview and preview of 12 Reasons Why I Love Her that went up at Broken Frontier this morning. The interview is conducted by Adrian f. Zettlemoyer, and the site is running the complete chapter 2 in order to entice people to buy the book.

So, what are you waiting for? Go to Broken Frontier and read the second of 12 Reasons Why I Love Her.

Then go to whatver comic book retailer or bookseller you usually frequent and tell them to order this book for you. Give your comic book store the Diamond Order Code: AUG06 3489.

ISBN: 1-932664-51-3

And for you online shoppers, might I suggest Amazon for 12 Reasons Why I Love Her?

By the way, the above version of the cover was colored by the awesome Lee Loughridge.

* * *

Elsewhere...

Been waiting for that second inked page from Andi Watson? Here it is.

Want to know what one of the first people to read my next novel, Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, thinks of it? Look no further.

Current Soundtrack: Justin Timberlake; Jane Birkin, Fictions

Current Mood: giggly

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

REVIEWING THE SITUATION

This week's movie reviews:

In Theatres:
* Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, one of Zhang Yimou's latest

On DVD:
* Hammer Fim Noir vols. 1-3, a collection of British noir
* Sorry, Haters starring Robin Wright Penn, a strange and divisive indie drama

And what's the deal with this country? Did anybody else watch the Elton John special "Fashion Rocks" that aired on CBS this past Friday? During Christina Aguilera's performance of "Candy Man," they dropped the word "panties" out of the song. Now, I'm not surprised they didn't want her to say "he makes my cherry pop," but "makin' panties drop" is bad, too? I do it every day, I must be a criminal! But seriously, we're too sensitive for that to be said on TV, but yet it's okay for ABC to air a film about 9/11 they know alters facts and claim it's based on reality? I'm not one for censorship, they can air whatever they want, but they shouldn't be distorting the truth of something so important. We hear all this crap about how the airwaves are supposed to belong to us, the public, so should the people we "entrust" with our intangible frequencies be lying to us?

Unrelated, but I'm predicting the return of prog rock. We should all shudder. Hints of it have been creeping up all year. There are some definite overtones of Yes on the upcoming Decemberists album, but we've also gotten recent singles from Muse ("Knights of Cydonia") and My Chemical Romance ("Welcome to the Black Parade") that skitter dangerously near the bloat of prog. Thankfully, those two songs owe more to Queen than Jethro Tull, but if you start hearing bands namedrop Rush in interviews, it's time to head for the hills.

Current Soundtrack: Beyoncé, B'Day

Current Mood: bitchy

JAMIE S. RICH RETURNS FOR READING AT TWENTY-THIRD AVE BOOKS

In celebration of the release of his second novel, The Everlasting, Twenty-Third Avenue Books and Portland-based publisher Oni Press will be hosting a reading by author Jamie S. Rich. The event is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on September 14. Admission is free.

This reading follows exactly a year to the day of Rich’s reading to a full house at Twenty-Third Avenue, when he shared from his novella I Was Someone Dead and previewed the then-unpublished The Everlasting. This time around, he promises the same combination of available material and a sneak peek at what’s to come.

Jamie S. Rich has been a Portland-based writer for over a decade. His work has appeared in many of the city’s arts periodicals, including Willamette Week, The Portland Mercury, and The Rocket. He came to the city in 1994 as an editor for Dark Horse Comics and then was editor in chief of Oni Press from 1998 to 2004. Rich released his first novel, Cut My Hair, in 2000, and it has since become a perennial item. The literary website Bookslut picked it as an essential rock-and-roll novel, calling it “beloved by those lucky enough to have heard about it.” Additionally, Cut My Hair was taught at the University of Wisconsin as part of a class studying rock music themes in literature during their Winter 2005 term.

The Everlasting is Rich’s second full-length novel, and the long-awaited follow-up to Cut My Hair. It takes an entertaining look at a boy obsessed with music. Lance Scott is a 25-year-old mod looking for love. Set in Portland, he trolls rock clubs and used record shops, eventually meeting three distinct women. The narrative follows his many foibles as he tries to reconcile youthful ideals about romance with the reality of relationships.

Beyond the prose, Rich has expanded his bibliography to include comic books. His first effort is the ongoing series Love the Way You Love. Illustrated by Marc Ellerby, it shares characters with his prose work, forming a bridge between the two novels. Recently, he teamed up with local musician Lara Michell (the Stolen Sweets, Dirty Martini) to write and record the title track for the comic. When the second issue of Love the Way You Love is released in September, the song will be available on Michell’s website and MySpace page. Rich will follow this in October with his first full length graphic novel. 12 Reasons Why I Love Her was done in collaboration with another Portland artist, Joëlle Jones. Both will be appearing at the Stumptown Comics Festival to promote the release.

In the meantime, catch Jamie S. Rich at Twenty-Third Avenue Books and get a taste of his unique literary world.

Twenty-Third Avenue Books is located at 1015 NW 23RD Avenue, Portland, Oregon. Phone number: (503) 224-5097.

Current Soundtrack: Muse, Black Holes & Revelations

Current Mood: irritated

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

PERMANENT RECORDS: GIVE ME A STORY & GIVE ME A BED

Permanent Records is a year-long project. Each Friday (or thereabouts), I will post a new entry about one specific album, chosen due to its significance to myself as a fan. Though the list is numbered, a particular record's placement should not be considered a ranking. There will be 52 albums in all.

This endeavor is based on a concept started by Chris Tamarri at Crisis/Boring Change. It has since been expanded as a concept, as Neal Shaffer takes on a study of album covers over at Leftwich.

17. THE SUNDAYS - READING, WRITING AND ARITHMETIC (1989)
Personnel: Harriet Wheeler, vocals; David Gavurin, guitar; Paul Brindley, bass; Patrick Hannan, drums
Producers: The Sundays & Ray Shulman / Label: DGC/Rough Trade

Have you ever had this happen to you? A new band comes out, and everyone says they sound like another band you really love, and when you get the album in question, you just can't hear it. Like how several years ago there were two or three "new Radioheads" every month, and none of them really sounded like Radiohead, they just had guys with soft voices that could go very high who were likely just aping either Tim and/or Jeff Buckley as much as Thom Yorke was?

So it was for the Sundays, who in 1989 were being billed as the new Smiths. It probably didn't help that they had signed to Rough Trade in the UK, the old indie label of Morrissey and Marr, but outside that and both bands being British, I didn't really see the connection.

Rumors actually went around that David Gavurin was really Johnny Marr. His guitar playing style was apparently the lead factor in the comparisons. Sure, they share an occasional strum or a chiming sound, but that probably only means they have the same kinds of guitars in their collections. Marr was always a pop beast, like a live-action precursor to sampling. He went through rock history and picked out riffs he liked, a chameleon who could change his melodic colors from song to song, and in his way actually making it a lot harder to pin down a quintessential Smiths sound. Gavurin wasn't quite so history-based. Take "Hideous Towns." There are times when the noodling sounds like he's tuned his axe based on Elvis' session man from "His Latest Flame," something Marr also did for "Rusholme Ruffians" back in the day; the difference is Gavurin follows it up with a frenzied banging before dropping out for a few bars and plucking out only a base rhythm. Marr is much more structured than Gavurin; he picks a path and he stays there. The Sundays guitarist, on the other hand, feels a little more open to improvisation.

Which doesn't mean he can't concoct a killer three-minute melody. "I Kicked a Boy" is one of my all-time favorite songs (and it's only two minutes, sixteen seconds), and Gavurin kicks through with multiple riffs, a deep and almost country sounding line on his electric guitar, and a steady diet of acoustic fiber making sure all the notes scoot through. Then, of course, there's also the famous single, "Here's Where the Story Ends," which rivals the top hits of the Smiths for durability. There's almost a rapturous call to it, like Gavurin is rousing us out of bed to take us to heaven.

I think that's it, really. Gavurin is heavenly while Johnny Marr is earthly. Think of the big washes on "My Finest Hour," how they hang and swirl and sound like they're from someplace nowhere near where we're standing.

David Gavurin has to go up high because it's where Harriet Wheeler is waiting. Her voice is as big as all the Sundays--and I mean the actual days--of recorded time laced together, and everything she sings doesn't necessarily sound like a hymn, but the way her chords vibrate, like whiskey with a candied brim (reference the growl on "Skin & Bones"), it is like she is calling out to some higher power. She couldn't have been a new Morrissey, because Morrissey is too self-contained. Much in the same way his writing partner armored himself in classic pop structures, Morrissey sang from within the confines of his own personal experience, about a space that only extended a few feet in any direction from his body.

Which isn't to say Harriet Wheeler's lyrics weren't personal. I can hear the lines "if I could have anything in the world for free, I wouldn't share it with anyone else but me" in Moz's cracked falsetto, circa Album #1. "Here's Where the Story Ends" references books being read and standing outside the teeming masses, while "Hideous Towns" has several Morrissey-like sentiments. And let's not forget "England my country the home of the free, such miserable weather."

And yet, Wheeler never seems as bogged down by it as Morrissey. While listening to the Smiths can be a liberating experience, causing one to feel like they are breaking the tethers of modern life, one never gets the sense that the Sundays have ever been caught, that the rope has ever been wrapped around their ankle. Only those who are truly free can decry desire as "a terrible thing" ("Can't Be Sure") or write a song as cynical as "Joy" and still call it "Joy."

The ironic thing is this freedom that sounds like a product of divinity is really about the devil and his details. If you don't stop and really listen, it's all angelic soaring on Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, but when you pick at the parts, there's so much more. The almost Buddhist renunciation of material things on "Can't Be Sure" may sound like nirvana, but the truth is that it's those things that are important to an every-day reality. Nowhere is this more evident than in "My Finest Hour," where the instance being singled out is merely the time Harriet Wheeler found a dollar bill on the subway. True love is sharing a cup of tea, it's not throwing your skinny body down on the rocks below. While Morrissey chuckles about "writing frightening verse to a bucktoothed girl in Luxembourg," Wheeler is writing real letters and finding a transcendence by just being human. That's that paradox that makes her stories sound so open: if these foolish desires aren't all that important, then they are everything, and we can find some kind of comfort in it. Rather than let it bind us, let go and just be with it.

So, for all the easy comparisons between the Sundays and the Smiths, it seems the more they are the same, they more they are different. It's why comparisons are usually so lame. It's a lazy route to description. I don't have to come up with new ways to say what it's like if I can just point you at what you already know. Which is stupid when it comes to something so far out on its own as Reading, Writing and Arithmetic has remained for the last seventeen years.

NOTABLE B-SIDE: "Don't Tell Your Mother" appeared on the flip of "Can't Be Sure," and itt stands apart from a lot of the album tracks because of a faster tempo and a heavier reliance on drums. Patrick Hannan is at the head of the song, keeping a steady tap, while David Gavurin pulls and tugs at a near-skiffle sounding melody. All in all, it's a much more raucous party, with even Harriet Wheeler cutting loose like it's the weekend and she's had enough of being arch and pretty. Fun stuff.

#26 #25 #24 #23 #22 #21 #20 #19 #18
(The first 26) (Permanent Records iMix 1)

Reminder: As always, this post is full of links to Amazon. Click on any one of them when shopping, and Amazon will shave a few pennies off their take to give to me. So, if my reviews make you all hot and bothered and you just have to own one of the things I'm talking about, use my link and contribute to buying me more stuff to review. (Those reading a Live Journal feed will likely have to click to the actual blog page first before heading over to Amazon, though.) Either way, thanks for reading.

Current Soundtrack: Jim Noir, Tower of Love

Current Mood: worried

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

TO ME YOU ARE A WORK OF ART

Are people keeping an eye on Andi Watson's journal? Because he's one of comics' best illustrators and he posts a piece of art practically every day. I've already notified you to his two pencilled pages this week, but for fans of seeing the process, it continues. Today he posted the first page of inks.

This two-page strip I think will be out by the end of the year.

Current Soundtrack: Bruce Springsteen, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions; The Duels, "Animal/Potential Futures (Music6 Versions)"

Current Mood: desirous

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

DIVING IN THE DEEP END, THE WATER OFFERS CHANGES

Water is a rare movie that succeeds in being many things at the same time. It's a love story, and it's political; it has aspects of coming-of-age drama while also exploring the gaps between generations; there is poetry in both language and vision; it feels at times like a fantasy, but one achieved through realism, through the rare opportunity to peer into a world most of us would never have the opportunity to see.

Written and directed by Deepa Mehta, Water is the third in her "elemental trilogy," having been preceded by Earth and Fire. I had seen neither before watching the DVD of Water, so don't worry, you don't need to know the other stories to know what's happening in this one. You're probably going to want to go back and watch the others just because Water was so good, though. I know I have put them at the top of my rental queue.

Water is set in India during the 1930s. Gandhi is starting to gain notoriety and his progressive ideas are sweeping over a nation that has spent too much time under foreign rule. That is merely a backdrop, however, an indication of a larger social milieu. The real story is in an ashram where widows live the remainder of their lives in a state of denial, compelled by Hinduism to abandon the material world at the same time their husbands did. Only, since they are still alive, they have to do so by renouncing their very existence. Heads shaved, allowed only one meal a day, and forbidden from any extended contact with men, they live a meager existence together in their own pocket culture.

The film opens when eight-year-old Chuyia (played by Sarala) is informed that her husband has died. Not even old enough to realize that she had been married, Chuyia is in a state of confusion when she is shuffled off to the widows' ashram. She rebels and fantasizes about escaping. Eventually, she settles in, befriending the beautiful Kalyani (Lisa Ray), who has been forced into prostitution by the rotund ruler of the house, Madhumati (Manorama), in order to provide for the needs of the other widows. Chuyia and Madhumati clash instantly, and it's only thanks to intervention of the calm Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) that the young girl escapes a beating.

The injustice of how the widows live is quite obvious, and Mehta doesn't have to overdo it to make us see her point. She deliberately sets the movie at a time of cultural change in India, because it gives her a convenient platform to illustrate this bizarre situation. The three generations of women--Chuyia, Kalyani, and Shakuntala--represent three tiers of belief. The youngest does not yet know what is in store for her, whereas the older is completely resigned to her fate. It's only the middle woman, Kalyani, who is aware of both sides, and who can temper the hope of the child with the wisdom of age. The handsome and sensitive Narayan (John Abraham) represents the progressive mind of India. He is willing to buck his mother's desires for him to marry within his class, smitten as he is with Kalyani. A student of Gandhi, Narayan is also an aficionado of romantic poetry, imagining himself as a warrior in an epic battle for love. He's going to marry Kalyani, and he's not afraid of the consequences.

Naturally, changes of this kind do come with consequences, and none of the women are unaffected. Shakuntala is goes through the deepest transformation, and the fate of the child is placed on her back. All the actors are great, but Biswas has the most work to do. The gradual erosion of her resolve could have been overwrought, but she makes the inner conflict feel real. It's largely down to her that the ending works. Once again, in less capable hands, the final scenes could have been schmaltzy, but Mehta is not interested in a complete triumph. She has written a story where good things happen, but with the appropriate price.

Just as complex as the social issues is Mehta's approach to the various images of water in the movie. She is not content to establish one metaphor for the element, but to look at all of its uses. It might be cleansing and life giving, but it can also take away. It can ferry us to a new life or to our own destruction. The most romantic use of water imagery, however, is when Narayan is alone with Kalyani and he recites a verse about how rain clouds are the messengers of the heavens. Thus, his failure to see an oncoming storm also becomes all the more ironic.

Even if Water didn't have such an involving story, it would be worth watching just to look at it. Mehta and her director of photography, Giles Nuttgens (Young Adam), are clearly enamored of India. The city streets are lovingly shot, the details of the people and their surroundings orchestrated down to the smallest detail. This means they also don't shy away from the squalor, which provides an excellent contrast to the gorgeous nature shots. The ones centered around water are particularly beautiful.

Water isn't just an exceptional movie, but it's also an exceptional DVD. In addition to a commentary by Deepa Mehta, there are two featurettes on the making of the movie. A lot of preparation went into getting the historical and cultural details of the movie correct, but there was also a behind-the-scenes struggle to get the movie made that is just as interesting as the final product. Faced with opposition from religious fundamentalists who misconstrued Mehta's intentions, the production was shut down before it started, and it took Mehta several years to get it going again. When she did, she had to shoot in Sri Lanka instead of India. For a film about the gradual change of religious politics set over sixty years ago, the battle against Water is a grim reminder that we're still faced with such problems today.

Current Mood: contemplative

WHAT'S THAT RIGHT THERE?

Andi Watson has posted the second of our two-pager. If you look close, there may be hints as to what it's for.

And the promotion continues...Yup, that's me you can hear on Fanboy Radio today. I love Scott Hinze, because the dude just digs comics. Click the graphic I yoinked from their site to go to their site, or read the press release underneath it, as it gives you the skinny on the rest of the guests and all of your listening options.

FANBOY RADIO HOSTS COMIC-SAVVY AUTHORS

Bummed about comics being pushed back a day? Fanboy Radio delivers a new episode to help ease the painful 24-hour wait. Today’s episode features conversations with three novelists with ties to comic book culture. Up first, Barry Lyga discusses his book The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl which will be released October 2nd. Then, host Scott Hinze speaks with Tom De Haven who penned It’s Superman, the paperback hit bookstores last week. The show ends on Jamie Rich of The Everlasting, in stores now, and multiple romance comics out of Oni Press.

“Lyga and Rich are two good friends that I have been eager to have back on” says Scott. “Barry has come from working at Diamond Comics and Jamie from Dark Horse and Oni – they can’t help but infuse comic-y goodness into their work. Mr. De Haven is a veteran-novelist, contributor to The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly and is definitely helping to expand awareness of the return of quality comics to the general public. His book takes the Superman mythos very seriously and really brings the character into the real world in an interesting, original way. During my summer vacation, I had a chance to read all of their work and I’m really excited about promoting these fanboy-friendly novels.”

Tune in for Fanboy Radio #330 today, Wednesday, September 06, for Fanboy Radio with Fanboy-Friendly Novelists at 1pm Central (2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific)

Fanboy Radio broadcasts from http://www.fanboyradio.com , streams the latest episodes from http://www.myspace.com/fanboyradio and offers exclusive podcasts from http://www.fbrpc.com

Fanboy Radio is a live comedy radio show about the world of comic books and pop culture hosted by Scott Hinze and Oliver Tull. The hour of interviews, humor and information airs from the KTCU studios in Fort Worth, Texas on KTCU 88.7 FM - The Choice, online via internet - KTCU streaming audio and is syndicated across the United States and Canada. Fanboy Radio is made possible by Dallas/Fort Worth area comic book retailer, Y2Komics, the online comic book retailer, ComicHole.com, and the animation distributor, FUNimation Entertainment.

Current Soundtrack: Kelis, Kelis Was Here

Current Mood: famous

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

PULL SHAPES

FIRST, Andi Watson is sharing the pencils of the first of a two-page strip we are doing. I am not sure if we're supposed to say what it's for, so I'll stick with Andi's tight-lipped secrecy. He's done an amazing job taking a packed script and making it come alive. He always amazes.

SECOND, I got up at 8:00 a.m. this morning because I wanted to deliver the final 26 pages of 12 Reasons Why I Love Her to the Oni offices. That's right, it's all done!

It's impossible for me to contextualize this, to consider I only met Joëlle Jones a year ago. It was September 1, 2005 that we got together for coffee and she showed me her portfolio and I gave her a copy of the script. I tried to emphasize I was auditioning for her as much as she was for me. And now, here we are, done with our first original graphic novel.

It looks good that I'll be attending SPX. We were trying to make a deadline that would allow us to participate in the Ignatz Outstanding Debut Comic Award, and I think we managed to pull it off.

Current Soundtrack: Method Man, 4:21...the Day After

Current Mood: I love love.

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

AUTUMN LOVE/SET THE MOOD

On Friday, the Comics Reporter blog asked for readers to send in a list of up to five comics or comic-related books that they are looking forward to this fall. Read the list here.

Life of the Party Mason West submitted 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. Amusingly, I knocked my own book out of the pole position with my list, so 12 Reasons dropped to #2 in the alphabetical rundown.

The books I recommended:
* 12 Days by June Kim (Tokyopop)
* Fashion High Graphic Novel (Breaking Up) by Aimee Friedman & Christine Norrie (Scholastic/Graphix)
* PulpHope: The Art of Paul Pope by Paul Pope (AdHouse)
* Shenanigans by Ian Shaughnessy & Mike Holmes (Oni)
* SideScrollers by Matthew Loux (Oni)

There are a lot of good things on there. I definitely second the nods to Casanova by Matt Fraction & Gabriel Ba and The Damned by Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt. Did you read The Damned preview?

Current Soundtrack: The Simpsons: The Complete Eighth Season

Current Mood: hot

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

PLUG IN, BABY

The Saturday, September 2, 2006, edtion of The Oregonian ran this article on romance comics. Though they quote my publisher, Joe Nozemack, and list several Oni titles, none of mine are mentioned. That is more than made up for, however, given that the jpeg below is a scan of the second page of the feature:

Not bad, eh? Love the Way You Love Vol. 2 is about to go to the printer and is scheduled to be out at the end of the month. I'll keep you updated.

Current Soundtrack: Lily Allen, Alright Still

Current Mood: tipsy

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich

IF I WROTE YOU A SYMPHONY, JUST TO SAY HOW MUCH YOU MEAN TO ME

The best thing about not having cable is that when something like the Video Music Awards is on, I no longer have to waste three hours of my life watching flash-in-the-pans like James Blunt get awards. I can just go to YouTube and see the performances I want. I wish I were Justin Timberlake. (Ian Shaughnesy would be my Timbaland.) And, really, can I be more in love with Christina Aguilera?

For those of you looking to go to the movies today, might I recommend:
* The Quiet starring Elisha Cuthbert & Camilla Belle, dir. Jamie Babbit
* This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a documentary about how films get rated, dir. Kirby Dick

If you are going to the video store, do rent Kicking and Screaming, Criterion's release of Noah Baumbach's mid-90s post-college angst-fest. Do not rent Radioland Murders, the absolute flop of a screwball comedy "from the mind of George Lucas."

Current Soundtrack: Christina, Shakira, Justin, and does anybody have a link to the Killers?

Current Mood: hungry

PERMANENT RECORDS: IF GROWN UPS COULD LAUGH THIS SLOW

Permanent Records is a year-long project. Each Friday (or thereabouts), I will post a new entry about one specific album, chosen due to its significance to myself as a fan. Though the list is numbered, a particular record's placement should not be considered a ranking. There will be 52 albums in all.

This endeavor is based on a concept started by Chris Tamarri at Crisis/Boring Change. It has since been expanded as a concept, as Neal Shaffer takes on a study of album covers over at Leftwich.

18. RICKIE LEE JONES - RICKIE LEE JONES (1979)
Personnel: Jones performs vocals, as well as some guitars, piano, and percussion; special guests include Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) on piano, Randy Newman on synthesizer, Jeffrey Porcaro (from Toto) on drums, Tom Scott on horns, and too many session musicians to list here
Producers: Lenny Waronker & Russ Titelman / Label: Warner Bros.

Rickie Lee Jones is one of those artists I discovered because of a girlfriend. The fact that she survived that relationship makes her a rare beast. It means I actually liked her music, as opposed to feigning interest in order to keep the peace.

This information is important only because I don't know that I would have become a Rickie Lee Jones fan otherwise. Her kind of bohemian singer-songwriter pop isn't really in my usual area of interest. To toss a music journalist comparison at you, she's like a warmer version of Joni Mitchell but with a Tom Waits bebop sensibility. While her production is more mainstream than Waits would ever indulge in, her freeform narratives wouldn't be out of place on Nighthawks at the Diner, or other early café ramblings from the man. While in retrospect Jones' beret-wearing, brown-cigarette smoking, street-gypsy image might feel contrived, from what I can tell, she came by it honestly. There are certainly moments of finger-snapping jazz on her self-titled debut, like the jitterbug of "Danny's All-Star Joint," and she can hold her own with that kind of arrangement (see her album of standards, Pop Pop, for further evidence). Judging from most public records, she's a bit spacey, a bit in her own universe, which is probably why she fit so well in the Orb's ultraworld soundscapes. That's her being used without her permission on "Little Fluffy Clouds."

The most famous song off of Rickie Lee Jones is "Chuck E.'s in Love." It's a summertime lovesong, a bit of a verbal jest. Chuck E. is the layabout everyone likes to taunt, and no one expected him to ever be in a relationship. The lyrics are an extended expression of disbelief. Chuck E. is acting all crazy, cleaning up his act, all in the name of romance. Of course, the twist is that he's in love "with the little girl who's singin' this song...with me."

"Chuck E.'s in Love" stands on a laid-back guitar riff. There is a little noodling, but all the instrumentation hangs back on this one, doing less work in order to create a greater effect. A lot of the percussion is just snapping, and the horns only blast through at the crescendo. There is a nice moment midway through where there is almost a complete musical pause as Jones searches around for the missing Chuck E. As many first singles are, it's kind of the quintessential Rickie Lee Jones number. "Chuck E.'s in Love" reveals her penchant for storytelling, as well as her unique approach to language. She writes in conversational rhythms, clipping her words in ways that a child might, or that you might hear on a city street. "He learn all of his lines/ And every time, he don't stutter when he talk." Jones' voice is suited for this kind of syntax. She has a low register that smells like warm bread, but she can also go high and get the sweetness of a sugared pastry. It's the club-worn, experienced woman vs. the little girl.

That kind of struggle to maintain a sense of youth as life advances is particularly in evidence on the second cut, "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963." A piano ballad, it steps slowly, its feet heavy with melancholy, but also lingering out of a sense of nostalgia. If she can loiter a while longer, she can hang on to a time when secrets were possible, when she could just spend the day watching the snow fall. The song is sad and knowing, but oddly winning.

Not that everything is all good feeling and love-bead happiness. There is a dangerous foreboding at play in "Coolsville." The deep rumble of drums, brass like sirens, and the caterwaul of guitar come straight out of lost weekends and too many sunrises seen for the wrong reasons. What I like about "Coolsville" is its ambiguity. Jones never says explicitly what she and her dark cohorts, guys with pulp fiction names like Bragger and Junior Lee, have been getting up to. She uses gambling imagery ("Decked out like aces/ We'd beat anybody's bet"), but it's tame next to the suggestiveness of "You stick it here/ You stick it over there/ It never fits/ And now the hungry night wants more and more." Drugs, sex, just another score of any kind--it's the criminal unease, an outlaw malaise. The lure is never ending. If you get out, change locations, you'll just find replacements for whatever monkey is on your back, and pretty soon every place is "Coolsville." The song remains a staple of Jones' live act, its dirty spaces open to new exploration.

Jones has a fascination with city living of all kinds, be it the back alleys or the main streets. "Easy Money" is another story of people looking for an easy way out, an almost noir-ish narrative with bad boys and fast women. The gambling and schemes once more aren't grounded in exact detail, and the money everyone is after could just as easily be taken as a metaphor for love. That's certainly the feeling of "Young Blood." The urban landscape is cold and harsh, but people can find warmth and comfort with each other. "They say the city will make you dirty/ But you look alright/ You feel pretty when he's holding you tight." The concrete streets always have something happening on them, providing an escape from the ennui. If nothing else, you don't have to be alone.

Rickie Lee also appears to be building a larger mythos. "Young Blood" is another track where Beggar makes an appearance, lending the album the air of being its own story. It's not just about the individual songs, but the whole package. The two markers for this tale are probably "Danny's All-Star Joint" (track #7) and the album closer "After Hours (Twelve Bars Past Goodnight)" (track #11). "Danny's" is an up-tempo number, bouncing on the sound of a stand-up bass, a juke-joint piano. It's the portrait of a music club, an equalizing experience. Everyone can come out and listen to the music. If you're broke, the place will spot you a drink. The guy running it, Cecil, may give you a hard time, but he'll fill your cup. "He can talk about your people in a wonderful way," we're told as an explanation of his true nature, "He can talk about your people 'til your hair turns gray."

And yet, where are these people in "After Hours"? Short and quiet, mainly piano with subtle snatches of orchestral washes in the background, it's the singer by herself after the rest of "the gang" has cleared out. The post-last call doldrums of a girl alone with her dreams. It's really the only acceptable finale for a work as personal as Rickie Lee Jones. When it comes right down to it, that's all the record really is: a girl and her dreams. Be they stories about a boy in love or the cop-shoot-cop of a life of addiction, all the songs are fantasies of one mind. Compare her to Joni Mitchell or Tom Waits or whoever else, and they will only be comparisons. She's still just Rickie Lee Jones, standing on a corner all alone.

#26 #25 #24 #23 #22 #21 #20 #19
(The first 26) (Permanent Records iMix 1)

Reminder: As always, this post is full of links to Amazon. Click on any one of them when shopping, and Amazon will shave a few pennies off their take to give to me. So, if my reviews make you all hot and bothered and you just have to own one of the things I'm talking about, use my link and contribute to buying me more stuff to review. (Those reading a Live Journal feed will likely have to click to the actual blog page first before heading over to Amazon, though.) Either way, thanks for reading.

Current Soundtrack: The Decemberists, The Crane Wife

Current Mood: interrupted

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication * My Corporate-Owned Space * The Blog Roll * "Can You Picture That?" * DVDTalk reviews * My Books On Amazon

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2006 Jamie S. Rich