Come one, come all for some free e-books! Smashwords and Draft2Digital are having their Summer/Winter Sale! ALL SEVEN of my books are here for free for the entirety of July! You know you want ’em!
Yes, this includes: —A Division of Souls (The Bridgetown Trilogy, Book 1) [2015]** —The Persistence of Memories (The Bridgetown Trilogy, Book 2) [2016] —The Balance of Light (The Bridgetown Trilogy, Book 3) [2017] —Meet the Lidwells! A Rock ‘n’ Roll Family Memoir[2018] —In My Blue World [2019] —Diwa & Kaffi [2023] —Queen Ophelia’s War[2024]
** NEWS! A Division of Souls will be re-released in ‘Remastered’ form for its tenth anniversary in September!
—Do you love an epic metaphysical sci-fi adventure? Try the Bridgetown Trilogy! —A big fan of music memoirs? Meet the Lidwells is a fictional nod to one of my favorite genres! —Enjoy magical girls and time travel fantasy? Try out In My Blue World! —In the mood for a nice Ghibli-esque hopepunk story about best friends? You’ll love Diwa & Kaffi! —Looking for a fantasy story about self-discovery?Queen Ophelia’s War is for you!
And who knows, maybe I’ll finally get Theadia on this list, once I finally finish the dang thing! Heh.
I’ve been going through my music library for the year 2000 to revisit what I would be listening to in the Belfry, and I think I’ve figured out the point where I knew the HMV days were truly over and when the Belfry days kicked into high gear. It’s actually a surprisingly stark line that jives with when I was given the quit-or-be-fired ultimatum from my terrible boss. It’s August of 2000, and by the end of the month I’d be gone.
The Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, 1 August 2000. Although I’m almost certain I bought this in my final days at HMV and listened to it around that time, I want to say this was an album I spent more time listening to in the Belfry. I wasn’t even the biggest DW fan; by this point I’d heard their earlier hit “Not if You Were the Last Junkie On Earth” for the zillionth time on WFNX and did not like it to begin with, hearing “Godless” turned the tables for me. I remember listening to this one a lot during the summer evenings and weekends while figuring out what I wanted to do with The Phoenix Effect.
Between then and the end of the month, I did pick up a handful of CDs both from the record store and from Newbury Comics — by then my weekly comic book run had started to include a quick stop there to look for things my own store might not carry (or sell cheaper).
Goldfrapp, Felt Mountain, 11 September 2000. I’d left the record store by this point and was just starting at Yankee Candle — a westerly commute instead of an easterly one, and twenty miles shorter at that — but I really didn’t want to disconnect from my weekly accumulation of music. I could just as easily buy copies of my favorite music magazines, CMJ (College Music Journal) and ICE (an industry magazine featuring news on new releases) at Newbury Comics. I think this was one of the first that I bought there after starting the new job.
VAST, Music for People, 12 September 2000. I know I bought this one the same day as the Goldfrapp album (and the Barenaked Ladies album Maroon as well). I’d been a big fan of Jon Crosby’s first album under the VAST moniker and while this one felt slightly more upbeat and less steeped in Nine Inch Nails-esque gloom, it featured some amazing tracks that got a lot of play in the Belfry.
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I actually wouldn’t start writing A Division of Souls for another year and a half, maybe early 2002 after the frustrations brought about by The Phoenix Effect and its sequel The Mihari, which I was writing at the time. The two books do have a lot of similarities to A Division of Souls, however, and it was simply a decision to stop work on both TPE and TM and completely start over from scratch. [Very similar to what I’d done recently with Theadia, actually.]
The music that inspired the project, however, started around this time when I switched day jobs. It wasn’t a clean switch of course, as I actually worked second shift for my first couple of months (3 – 11pm or thereabouts) and wouldn’t move to first shift until sometime in November. It would be around that time when my writing sessions would truly become more stable and frequent, as would my weekly trips to Newbury to pick up new music.
Whew! Hard to believe I’ve hit ten volumes on this series! The first one was made waaay back in the summer of 1997 during the HMV Years when I first planned out The Phoenix Effect, with the next three following close behind later that year and the fourth (my favorite at the time) in the summer of 1998. Flash-forward twenty years and I start making them again in late 2018 when I was self-publishing the Bridgetown Trilogy. [There were a few related diversions in 2003-4 and 2015 during the writing/editing of it, though I consider them a separate series now.]
This one was started probably late 2023 as a way to revisit the Mendaihu Universe though that was soon put aside so I could prep Queen Ophelia’s War for release and finish off Theadia. Considering I’m almost done with the latter and once again returning to the MU, I felt it time to finish this one off and get it into my listening rotation.
I’m fascinated by how eclectic this one is. There’s a lot of shoegaze, sure, but we’ve also got some oddball electronics, a bit of jazz, a few tracks that I’m currently obsessing over (that GIFT album has become one of my favorites of the year) and more. Just like the previous mixes in this series, they’re supposed to evoke a bit of urban distraction in one way or another, whether it’s the feeling of displacement, the discomfort of a stressful situation, or the willingness of blissful disconnection.
Hope you enjoy!
SIDE ONE 1. Hooverphonic, “A Guiding Star at Night” 2. Phantogram, “It Wasn’t Meant to Be” 3. Jonathan Bree, “City Baby” 4. Kelly Lee Owens, “Love You Got” 5. Kamasi Washington, “Interstellar Peace (The Last Stance)” 6. Bodywash, “Perfect Blue” 7. Whitelands, “Cheer” 8. GIFT, “Later” 9. Corridor, “Jump Cut” 10. Iress, “Mercy”
SIDE TWO 1. Whitelands, “Born in Understanding” 2. Ride, “I Came to See the Wreck” 3. Coma, “Surrender” 4. M83, “Radar, Far, Gone” 5. GIFT, “Milestones” 6. The Chemical Brothers, “Feels Like I Am Dreaming” 7. Jenny O, “Pleasure in Function” 8. Jonathan Bree, “Steel and Glass” 9. Coldplay, “One World”
Today I’m thinking it’s time for me to get my brain back on track in terms of what day of the week it is.
Part of the issue is my Day Job schedule. The schedule itself is not the problem per se, it’s that it’s allowed me to lose track of my sense of time. I rarely work Sundays but I’ll often have a midweek day off, so the work week will be Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday with some of the hours varying, just for example.
There were also other personal reasons why I let a lot of that fall by the wayside, and I allowed it on purpose: when you’ve got IRL things going on, sometimes it’s best not to adhere to a strict schedule and just take it day by day. Which is what I’ve been doing for a while now.
Thing is, I’ve been doing that for a little longer than necessary. [And yes, it’s included hitting all the new music releases on Friday, which is why I’m posting it here. One byproduct of passively letting the days go by is that I lose focus on the new music I’ve been enjoying. And I’ve already blogged about that.]
So what to do about it?
One thing I need to do is follow my whiteboard schedule more often. Right now it’s more of a suggestion than an assignment board, and that’s by design, but I feel like I’m ready to take on those assignments again. And these are simple enough: daily words at 750words.com, update one of the blogs, and get some considerable work done on my main project (which at this time is Theadia). I’m not asking for much. I’m just looking to get moving again.
What will come of this? Who knows? They’re not Best Laid Plans heading straight for a crash and burn. It’s simply a tighter and more regular regimen, that’s all. And hopefully that will help me remember what day of the goldang week it is again!
Unfortunately I am falling behind on a lot of my writing work lately, so I’m going to be taking a few weeks off to catch up. It happens from time to time…whether it’s the Day Job sapping my energy or other non-writing things taking precedence now and again, I just run out of space on the schedule. It’s not my favorite feeling, to be honest, and sometimes I have to sacrifice things here and there. It’s not always to catch up, either…sometimes it’s just to give myself a mental and physical break to rest.
I was reading some random posts on Threads the other day and someone mentioned how when some people talk about ‘the 90s’ (specifically about music), a lot of what they mention really started in the 80s, like Jane’s Addiction and their amazing 1988 album Nothing’s Shocking.
To which I responded: “I always say the truly formative alt rock years were really ’84-’89. It just happened to reach wider popularity in ’91.”
Which of course made me think that I really need to get my act together and finally write and complete that Walk in Silence book project. I think at this point it would be less a historical book and more of a personal memoir in which I write about the important albums and singles that influenced and inspired me during that time. And I’ve kind of been doing a very abbreviated version of it with my daily 750Words, so perhaps I’m a bit further ahead on this than I think I am…?
Oh hey there! I’m going to be taking a short hiatus from the blogging to get some work done on Queen Ophelia’s War, as I’m falling behind and seriously need to get caught up. Not sure how long this will be, but hopefully not for too long. Maybe a month or so? At least until I’ve gotten myself into a better writing schedule for it.
I’m also limiting my footprint on the birdsite these days so if you want to find me online, I’ll most likely be popping up every now and again on BlueSky instead. [I have a few invite codes if anyone is not yet on there and might be interested!]
The Great Transcription Project was coming along quite nicely, because part of it was to get me used to sitting down in front of that computer and getting something done. That was the important part. Some days I’d do my older poetry, some days I’d do parts of the IWN or Belief in Fate or one of my other ancient projects that never got all that far. And this would inspire me to sit down and actually work on writing True Faith, even if it was a few paragraphs or a short scene.
Then I heard about the state film bureau’s screenplay contest! I’d known about this in the past via one of my siblings, but I figured, why the hell not? If anything would help me invest a considerable amount of time in this writing career I wanted, this would. And it would also give me a strict deadline: I had to get it done before July 31st. Which meant that I had exactly one month to write an entire screenplay. It just so happened that in all my juvenilia I was transcribing, I did in fact have one finished that I could revive and revise! It was One Step Closer to You, a John Hughes-esque enemies-to-lovers romp I’d written in 1987 right after finishing the IWN. And considering that I’d just gotten a college degree in this sort of thing, I dove in and worked on it every moment I wasn’t at the day job. And I got it done under deadline with three days to go! I spent that last weekend at my sister’s house, printed it out, and mailed it in that weekend.
Mind you, the end result isn’t exactly perfect and it definitely did not win any prizes, but it did prove a few things: a) I can definitely work under pressure with a deadline if I put my mind to it, b) I can definitely write every single day because it was something I love doing, and c) this proved that it wasn’t that I was a terrible student, it really was that unless I could hyperfocus on something I truly enjoyed, my patience and interest would wane considerably. [And as a side note, one of the revised scenes in the story had the main male character working at a local radio station, which I’d based on my time at WCAT…which I’d be returning to soon enough, though I obviously didn’t know that at the time.]
Yeah, this writing racket was definitely something I could see myself doing long term…
Foo Fighters, Foo Fighters, released 4 July 1995. When it was announced that the former Nirvana drummer was starting a band, most people weren’t expecting to hear wonderfully crafted and ridiculously catchy tunes that had only a distant passing similarity to the former group. Dave Grohl’s first record hit all the right buttons for several people and he’s been nailing it ever since.
Shaggy, Boombastic, released 11 July 1995. Proving that he wasn’t just a one hit wonder with “Oh Carolina”, he returned with one of his most popular songs that still gets play to this day. [Side note: when A and I went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe in London, Puck happened to burst into this song, causing Oberon to burst into laughter. It was a perfectly hilarious moment.]
Buffalo Tom, Sleepy Eyed, released 11 July 1995. The beloved Boston band returned with yet another great album. While it wasn’t as huge as Let Me Come Over or Red Letter Day (partly because they wanted to return to their more stripped-down roots), it’s nonetheless a fun album, and singles “Summer” and “Tangerine” were both radio favorites.
Ramones, ¡Adios Amigos!, released 18 July 1995. The kings of American punk — the band that inspired several UK punk bands — came to an end with this final album, and it was a hell of a great way to go as it’s one of their strongest later albums. They went on one final tour after this and I’m glad to say I was able to see them for it at Avalon in Boston. [And yes, every single song they performed started with the classic Ramone ‘1-2-3-4’ count-in.]
311, 311, released 25 July 1995. After two excellent albums that just couldn’t break through to the charts or even significant radio play, this third album smashed all expectations by being their best yet, with several songs getting major play on radio and on MTV. It’s still one of their biggest sellers, and it’s worth checking out.
The Presidents of the United States of America, The Presidents of the United States of America, released 25 July 1995. Meanwhile, these goofballs (who, by the way, opened up for Ramones on that show I just mentioned!) instantly reminded me of the Boston band Morphine: a trio of a drummer and two guys who played unconventional guitars. Only these three had their tongue firmly in cheek singing about Lumps, Peaches, Kitties, and Dune Buggies (and a nutty cover of the MC5 to top it off!) and giving themselves the most improbable name in alternative rock. It’s a bonkers debut full of silly humor and insanely catchy earworms. Definitely worth a listen.
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Up next: when all good (and not so good) things come to an end
A new year, a new focus: one way or another, I was going to get my shit together and make it work.
As it happened, those blurred months of job-hopping came to an end with not one but two offers: a part-time job working the media programming at the New England Aquarium, or a full-time job working at the Loew’s Theater in Somerville. Both were tempting, both paid about the same, and both had all but hired me by the middle of January…but out of financial desperation, I had to turn down the aquarium job and take the theater job instead. And the last thing I wanted was to hold down two different jobs to make ends meet, thus killing any writing time I might have.
It ended up being the best decision, actually. While I still remained relatively broke and in debt, there was a lot more job security, the commute wasn’t all that bad…and yeah, there was the fact that I could cop a free daily lunch or dinner out of it. I ate a hell of a lot of hot dogs, popcorn, soda and candy those months that I was there. Not exactly healthy…but it was better than skipping dinners and going hungry, right? And there was an added bonus: all the new release movies I could possibly watch, for free! I made it a point to see as many of the releases that I could on the pretense that I could tell our indecisive customers whether they’d like it or not, but primarily to get some heavy hands-on learning of visual and aural storytelling, the kind that I desperately needed if I was going to get my writing off the ground.
Meanwhile, I was still focusing on my writing True Faith. At this point I’d write some of it longhand and transcribe it later on when I had use of D’s computer whenever we got together. That gave me the impetus to not only write more, but to write consistently. Not just every once in a while, but as often as I possibly could. And I came up with a writing motto:
Just fucking DO it. Just shut the fuck up and WRITE.
If anyone could kick me in the arse and get me writing and get out of my habit of indecisiveness and distraction, it was going to have to be myself. I wrote this on two index cards, taped one of them above my desk, and taped the other one next to my bed. The two places I’d see them most.
Various Artists, This Is Fort Apache, released 3 January 1995. A compilation of bands that have recorded at the famed studio in Cambridge. This would include local favorites Cold Water Flat, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, and Juliana Hatfield, as well as international favorites like Billy Bragg and Radiohead. You’ll still see this one floating around in the discount bins, but it really is a great mix worth owning.
Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Rapture, released 14 January 1995. The band’s last album before breaking up was even more poppy and cheerful than 1991’s Superstition, but it’s definitely a positive way to close out a long and incredible career.
Morrissey, “Boxers” single, released 16 January 1995. His standalone singles by this point were becoming more infrequent and a bit less exciting, and while this one was a fan favorite, it failed to capture the interest of the US fans.
Silverchair, “Pure Massacre” single, released 16 January 1995. After their shockingly catchy and spirited debut single “Tomorrow” released late in 1994, this band of teenagers (singer Daniel Johns was 16 when this single dropped) surprised everyone by following through with yet another strong single that could equal all the other heavy alternative bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains.
Throwing Muses, University, released 16 January 1995. The newest Muses album may have been their last on Sire/Reprise in the States, but it’s one of their strongest and most consistent albums to that date. Despite high placement in the alternative charts, however, it would be their last on a major label.
The Wolfgang Press, Funky Little Demons, released 23 January 1995. Sadly, this 4AD band was also seeing the end of a label signing, as well as the end of their run. Granted, they’d been a band for over a decade and felt the need to go their separate ways. This album doesn’t quite hit the high points that the excellent Queer did in 1992/93, but it does reflect the same kind of quirky grooviness they’d evolved towards.
The The, “I Saw the Light” single, released 23 January 1995. Matt Johnson’s newest record since 1993’s moody Dusk was quite unexpected: an album of Hank Williams covers…? Sure, why not? The teaser single was a great rocking cover of “I Saw the Light” with an equally great and vertiginous video.
Leftfield, Leftism, released 30 January 1995. I first heard “Original” on WFNX on the T Orange Line up to Sullivan Square while heading up to the theater at the start of my new job. I was fascinated by the techno aspect of it, but I was really drawn to Toni Halliday’s voice, who I hadn’t heard since her Curve days. An album worth checking out.
So what happened during the summer of 1994? That’s a good question. Not too much excitement, really. Living day to day, working at Brigham’s slinging scoops and making frappes, and working on True Faith. One thing that comes to mind is that I started reading again.
As much as I loved hanging out in bookstores, I would usually only get magazines and music reference books. I was just too involved in the visual, renting and watching movies because of my college years, not to mention my lack of patience and focus in actually sitting down and reading. D suggested I start reading Stephen King’s The Stand since we’d watched the miniseries by this time (she’d taped it for later viewing). Yeah, I know…going from being a non-reader to investing time in a Giant Doorstop, and the Complete and Uncut Edition at that? But it was a great idea because King can be a very visual writer in his worldbuilding and prose style, and that was the same style I was trying to create. The Stand was an unexpected yet vital influence on the Mendaihu Universe in that respect; I was fascinated by how vast the story universe was, and that inspired me to do the same. I spent the next year or so devouring several of his novels, finally realizing how much I did enjoy reading once I allowed myself to.
Meanwhile, D and I had realized we both enjoyed parody songs and came up with our own, focusing on parodying alternative rock under the name Mercy Buckets. We even had an album cover idea: on the walk to her apartment, we’d pass by an alleyway that had a sign with the misspelled words “Do not throw any thrash here.” In stark black and white, we’d be captured pogoing and headbanging in front of it. Our proudest moment was a parody of Hole’s “Miss World” written about Dan Quayle running for president. Yes, we were nerds.
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The Smashing Pumpkins, “Rocket” single, released 1 July 1994. This wasn’t my favorite track off Siamese Dream, but this single featured a great b-side that WFNX picked up on: a live-in-studio cover of Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again”. The track would show up a few years later on the For the Masses DM tribute album, but this is where it first appeared.
The Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation, released 4 July 1994. A few years before the ubiquitous “Firestarter” song and video, this group was known then for their noisy yet exciting techno that always fired up the dance floor. This was their second album and “Voodoo People” would get minor airplay on WFNX during their weekend techno shows.
Hootie and the Blowfish, Cracked Rear View, released 5 July 1994. I know WFNX wouldn’t dare to touch this band at all, but WBCN played the hell out of them. I’d switch to that station when I was in the mood for more commercial rock stuff, and you couldn’t go an hour without hearing at least one or two tracks from this record. Terrible band name aside, this is actually a pretty decent album!
Des’ree, I Ain’t Movin’, released 5 July 1994. I would hear “You Gotta Be” everywhere I went that summer. And it really is a great track, full of lovely melody and positive and inspiring vibes. I’d also hear it a lot into the next year when I started the movie theater job as part of their in-between movie music.
311, Grassroots, released 12 July 1994. The band’s second album didn’t quite get all the attention it should have, but it did have a minor hit with “Homebrew” which would get play on WNFX and WBCN now and again.
Harry Connick Jr, She, released 12 July 1994. “(I Could Only) Whisper Your Name” was another pop gem that I’d hear everywhere. More known for his jazzy covers of old pop standards, this was an album of fresh new songs for him and was an unexpected success.
Seal, Seal (II), released 19 July 1994. I loved the first album (“Crazy” remains one of my all-time favorite songs of the 90s), but this second record is the one that pushed him further into the mainstream with its many great singles, including “Don’t Cry”, “Prayer for the Dying” and “Kiss from a Rose”, which would be used the following summer in the movie Batman Forever. This remains my favorite album of his and I highly recommend it.
Satchel, EDC, released 26 July 1994. Shawn Smith certainly got around in the 90s and 00s. He formed this band with a coworker from Tower Records, formed the band Brad with Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard soon after, formed Pigeonhed in the late 90s and had a minor hit with the remix of “Battleflag”, and showed up as a guest member on several albums and songs with bands from the Pacific Northwest. This one almost fell under the radar, but I’d heard a track or two from it and eventually found a used copy that I’d play during writing sessions now and again.
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Next up: Summer’s end, making future plans and planning future moves
Walk In Silence 