My first . . .
This week's artist is Caterpillars, a band I've come in contact with in the last few weeks. Get me on the topic of post-hardcore/emo and I'll just blab away. Luckily these guys were game too. Read the whole thing here.
Alma Matters
As of last week, it's been fifteen years since I graduated high school. Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago, I went back to my alma mater to film a band concert for my father's company. Walking around the halls, there were parts I had not been around since I graduated. I saw the band hall I spent so much of my time in before school, during school, and on the weekends. And seeing the hallway between the hall and the auditorium (and the cafeteria next to it), lots of memories came back.
They were good memories, thankfully.
I remembered the spots in the cafeteria where I tried out for talent show. I remembered seeing flyers for bands who were playing at Numbers and Fitzgerald's. And I remembered all the times I was in the auditorium, whether it was playing trumpet in concert band, doing a drum solo/duet, or singing with a thrown-together band.
This is the kind of stuff that defined my high school experience, and that's what I'm trying to document in When We Were the Kids. I came back to Dallas with a couple of things to add to the manuscript (very small things, like the capacity of the school auditorium). Experiencing this, along with what I've experienced in the last eight months, I feel ready to share this story with anyone who wants to read it.
For the past nine years, I've been writing books. When I look ahead at what's possibly next, I'm not sure if I'll write another book for a while. I can't say I'm ruling the option out. If the drive and hunger is there in a story that I want to tell, then I'll make time to write it. I feel like I'm entering a new phase in my life, but I want to keep writing. If and when I have something to put together in book form, then this will be the first place you'll hear about it.
They were good memories, thankfully.
I remembered the spots in the cafeteria where I tried out for talent show. I remembered seeing flyers for bands who were playing at Numbers and Fitzgerald's. And I remembered all the times I was in the auditorium, whether it was playing trumpet in concert band, doing a drum solo/duet, or singing with a thrown-together band.
This is the kind of stuff that defined my high school experience, and that's what I'm trying to document in When We Were the Kids. I came back to Dallas with a couple of things to add to the manuscript (very small things, like the capacity of the school auditorium). Experiencing this, along with what I've experienced in the last eight months, I feel ready to share this story with anyone who wants to read it.
For the past nine years, I've been writing books. When I look ahead at what's possibly next, I'm not sure if I'll write another book for a while. I can't say I'm ruling the option out. If the drive and hunger is there in a story that I want to tell, then I'll make time to write it. I feel like I'm entering a new phase in my life, but I want to keep writing. If and when I have something to put together in book form, then this will be the first place you'll hear about it.
Phantoms
Rounding out a busy week of writing, I did an interview with Lauren from Ume. It's pretty obvious that I'm a fan and I was nervous talking with her. I've talked with her and Eric before, but I get nervous because I don't want to sound like a creepy fanboy.
Open My Heart
Sitting at my desk this afternoon, I got word of something pretty terrible: Dallas-based KKDA-AM laid off most of their on-air staff, including Bobby Patterson. Since I did traffic reports for him during my last year as a traffic reporter and had a burning desire to say something about this, I wrote a piece about on this matter for the Observer.
My first . . .
My First . . . is with local act Dead Flowers. Tried out a few new questions with these guys and got some great answers. Read the whole thing here.
Mouth for War
Last night, I hoped to hang out with my friend Seth and watch some enjoyably forgotten B-movie fare. When that didn't pan out, I received an e-mail from Audra asking if anyone wanted to chime in on Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power. Darryl also expressed interest, so I came up with an idea.
Spending an hour at Darryl's house last night, this is what we came up with. I was surprised to hear that not a lot of new metal bands cite Pantera as an influence. Also, I speak in defense of double-bass drumming with one word.
Spending an hour at Darryl's house last night, this is what we came up with. I was surprised to hear that not a lot of new metal bands cite Pantera as an influence. Also, I speak in defense of double-bass drumming with one word.
Start the Machine
Production shall begin on When We Were the Kids any day now. For the time being, I've done a mental inventory of the past five years getting to this point.
When I came up with the idea for the book, I was almost finished with Post. Since I wanted to concentrate on finishing my first book before getting to my second, I kept a black spiral notebook with story ideas. I jotted down things while keeping my head in finishing that difficult Dischord Records chapter.
The thing is, out of 200 pages in this notebook, only four pages were used. Not to sound pompous, but I filtered out a lot of ideas before they hit the page. When I started writing the book, I did more filtering and stopped writing things down in the notebook. If an idea stuck with me in my head for a few days, then it should be written in the book.
I'm not one of those writers who must write double the amount of material to get to a concise book. I can't write 50 pages in two days. I can't write 800 pages to get to 400 usable pages. That's just not in me. Since I spent a long time writing stuff that I cringed looking at afterwards (my high school and college years), there's definitely something to be said when I don't cringe. I'm glad I was let out of writer's block hell for a while.
A lot of good things came out of writing my first book. I hope the same happens with the second book. Once I have a release date and order info, this will be the place to hear about it.
When I came up with the idea for the book, I was almost finished with Post. Since I wanted to concentrate on finishing my first book before getting to my second, I kept a black spiral notebook with story ideas. I jotted down things while keeping my head in finishing that difficult Dischord Records chapter.
The thing is, out of 200 pages in this notebook, only four pages were used. Not to sound pompous, but I filtered out a lot of ideas before they hit the page. When I started writing the book, I did more filtering and stopped writing things down in the notebook. If an idea stuck with me in my head for a few days, then it should be written in the book.
I'm not one of those writers who must write double the amount of material to get to a concise book. I can't write 50 pages in two days. I can't write 800 pages to get to 400 usable pages. That's just not in me. Since I spent a long time writing stuff that I cringed looking at afterwards (my high school and college years), there's definitely something to be said when I don't cringe. I'm glad I was let out of writer's block hell for a while.
A lot of good things came out of writing my first book. I hope the same happens with the second book. Once I have a release date and order info, this will be the place to hear about it.
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