A few months into my stay at the Shoebox and it became apparent that I was in the same exact situation I’d been in my freshman year in college back in 1989: no flipping idea what I was doing and no mentor or inspiration to set me off in the right direction, with very little money to do it with. A classic Gen-X situation at the time, really. So I did what I’d always done to date: make it up as I go along and see what inspires me and hope for the best.

I believe it was also around this time that I lost the job at DeLuca’s. The only job I’ve ever been fired from, basically because I’d called out one day to play hooky and visit a friend that I hadn’t seen in ages who was in town. My own damn fault, but the manager really was kind of a moody ass with a tendency to take the nuclear option when he got annoyed. Still — that meant I needed to find a new job VERY QUICKLY and found it a week or so later via the Havard Coop — a chain of book and clothes stores tied in with the university with stores around the Boston area. Somewhat better pay and the possibility of benefits after six months, even if the commute was slightly further away.

Meanwhile, I thought I’d try another attempt at the Infamous War Novel, only this time I thought I’d approach it slightly differently: I’d get rid of the aging Red Dawn influence and try writing something a lot colder and more visceral. Not one in the classic pulp style, but with an ironic nihilistic-yet-hopeful Gen-X touch.

It was at this time that I realized that with my movie rentals from Tower Records, I could finally catch up with my interest in Japanese animation that had been so hard to find in the past. There were some really fun selections — early Urusei Yatsura episodes, the Robotech series, The Venus Wars and Silent Mobius (which I’d seen at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square a few years previous and loved) — and a lot of duds (horror anime is really effed up, yo)…but it was a fun way to expand my interests and influences.

Then I stumbled upon Gall Force: Eternal Story. A feature-length film with a fascinating science fiction plot that intrigued me: it’s not just a human versus alien war story but one about finding a way to coexist. Despite the hate between the races there is hope. Then I realized — there were sequels to this movie! Several, in fact, but Tower only had the second: Gall Force 2: Destruction, which takes place years later with the two races almost near extinction, and yet there too lies hope.

As I sat there at my fold-out table (which was then in front of that one window) listening to music, drinking instant coffee and smoking my Newports, thinking about how much I enjoyed this series, I had a revelation: what if I rewrite the IWN as a science fiction novel? What if I take the characters and plot ideas I had for the IWN and its outtakes and aborted sequel and place them in a futuristic dystopian setting? And what if I expanded it into a multi-story universe? I really liked the idea: a lone rebel group trying to find peace and balance in time of war. I remembered the words of my scriptwriting teacher who thought the IWN idea was crap (well, it was, but he was also an artiste with one minor credit to his name who hated high concept stories)…and thought fuck his opinion, I’m going to go for it.

And so the Mendaihu Universe was born.

Meanwhile, my listening habits didn’t change much at all.

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The Wonder Stuff, Construction for the Modern Idiot, released 4 October 1993. This would be their last outing for several years as they went their separate ways, but they bowed out with a fun and energetic record with the great “Full of Life (Happy Now)” single.

The Afghan Whigs, Gentlemen, released 5 October 1993. I remember loving how angry and intense the title track was when I first heard it and picked up the cassette soon after. They’d become a fan and critic favorite for years afterwards.

Mazzy Star, So Tonight That I Might See, released 5 October 1993. You could not escape “Fade Into You” once it came out. It was on TV, in movies, and all over the radio. It’s a song I loved, hated, then loved again, though it’s worth checking out the rest of the record for more of their quiet and brooding sound.

Lloyd Cole, Bad Vibes, released 11 October 1993. I remember hearing “So You’d Like to Save the World” at the Coop job — they had these laserdisc-sized music carts they’d play and one of them had quite a quirky setlist including a track from New Fast Automatic Daffodils. He continues to be a great songwriter to this day.

The Lemonheads, Come On Feel the Lemonheads, 12 October 1993. Also ubiquitous on local radio was “Into Your Arms”, which is pretty much their other famous song that still gets radio play. This album isn’t quite as solid as It’s a Shame About Ray but it is their most radio friendly.

Julee Cruise, The Voice of Love, released 12 October 1993. The follow-up to the creepy-yet-beautiful Floating Into the Night, Cruise’s soft chanteuse voice features more David Lynch-adjacent dreampop.

Luscious Jackson, In Search of Manny EP, released 19 October 1993. Their rap/funk/rock hybrid debut release was so out of place with what was getting played on WFNX that they became fan favorites with “Life of Leisure”, “Let Yourself Get Down” and “Daughters of the Kaos”.

Pearl Jam, vs., released 19 October 1993. Their follow-up to the wildly popular Ten was a moody affair but it’s a brilliant record that shows they’ve evolved into a much tighter and more inspired band. This one’s my favorite of their early releases, and “Elderly Woman” is my top favorite track of theirs. I played this one a lot on my commute to the Coop.

Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstacy, released 22 October 1993. Her first major breakthrough, a few years before “Angel” and “Adia”, was a tense and gorgeous affair about pain and discomfort and trying to find inner peace.

Crash Test Dummies, God Shuffled His Feet, released 26 October 1993. Yes, that song with that bass-baritone voice. And yet it became a huge hit because of its weirdness. The rest of the record is great fun, though, full of offbeat humor and memorable songcraft. It’s definitely worth checking out the rest of the record!

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And to share one more picture, the first few important parts of the Mendaihu Universe came together here in the stuffy Charles Street Laundromat during this month. [The storefront has since become a high-end clothing boutique.] As I started playing around with this new approach to this writing project, I realized I could no longer let its universe evolve over time like it did in the past; this was going to need some world building, which was a new process to me. With Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing in hand (I felt that going to my personal source for the initial writing inspiration was the way to go) along with a steno notebook, I sat down while I waited for my loads to finish and started creating. It was also the first time where actively worked on my writing away from a desk or my own room, something that would also become a lifelong habit.

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Next Up: Cold winters, writing soundtracks and a new day job direction