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Mike Ward calls Killing Yourself To Live by Chuck Klosterman the funniest book he's ever read. This means a lot to me, so I just ordered it with a Barnes and Noble gift certificate that I had from Christmas. We'll see about this one, but I must admit excitement to give it a try. A seemingly good description of the book:
For 6,557 miles, Chuck Klosterman thought about dying. He drove a rental car from New York to Rhode Island to Georgia to Mississippi to Iowa to Minneapolis to Fargo to Seattle, and he chased death and rock 'n' roll all the way. Within the span of twenty-one days, Chuck had three relationships end -- one by choice, one by chance, and one by exhaustion. He snorted cocaine in a graveyard. He walked a half-mile through a bean field. A man in Dickinson, North Dakota, explained to him why we have fewer windmills than we used to. He listened to the KISS solo albums and the Rod Stewart box set. At one point, poisonous snakes became involved. The road is hard. From the Chelsea Hotel to the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane went down to the site where Kurt Cobain blew his head off, Chuck explored every brand of rock star demise. He wanted to know why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing...and what this means for the rest of us.
If the description interests you, there is a longish excerpt (I believe from the beginning of the book) RIGHT HERE! I could see how this guy's approach could annoy a number of readers over at Amazon that gave the book a bad review, but it seems right up my alley. Good call Mike Ward...looking forward to the rest.
On a side note, what do you all think of this Bon Iver guy? I'm listening to For Emma, Forever Ago at the recommendation of both TJ Huff and Mike Gittings. I think they hit it with this one. Real good so far. The first time I listened to it was in the car and the second time in some good headphones. This is a headphone album for sure.
Yet another recommends that I initially wrote off as not liking, and on repeat listening it grew on me and kept growing until I found myself listening to it all the time. This is a Mike Ward recommends, but it was recommended to me about 6 months ago by brother Eric when I joined emusic.com.
Okkervil River is often tagged indie folk, and it was the overly folky elements that needed some time to grow on me. They come to us from Austin, Texas which by many accounts is the biggest music town in the country, so it isn't a bad place for a band to be coming from. Part of what bothered me initially with this record was that a lot of the songs sounded very much the same, with really similar chord progressions. On repeat listenings the subtle differences in the songs began to emerge and I realized how well it worked together as a whole album, with an album sound. Stage Names was my introduction to the band, and although I really enjoy it I haven't checked out any of their other albums. I think the next one for me is going to be the most recent album The Stand Ins, and I'll take it from there. For anyone looking for late night driving music, Stage Names is an album to buy.
I was amazed to find out that the official release of Stage Names contains only 9 tracks, and ends with John Allyn Smith Sails, a great song that ends with an acoustic blowout of Sloop John B. The emusic download that I got has 10 tracks and ends with a song called Love To A Monster. Upon further investigation it seems that this is an emusic.com special track tagged on the end of the album. The problem for all of you is that this is my favorite track on the album! I've included it here for those of you who have the album but not the track, and also for those of you who want to hear what Okkervil River sounds like, because this is a good example. I like how this guy sounds like he's really struggling to sing, and at any given moment the next line just won't come out. Pretty good. Once again, you can't post mp3's to blogspot, so I had to make an iMovie. I included some monster pictures for your enjoyment:
This guy is definitely my kind of guy. In the past couple years we've become better friends through our involvment with the Baltimore-based glorified cover band the Egg Babies Orchestra. Mike is the keyboard wizard in the band, and we spend a lot of time in and out of rehearsals coming up with funny Davis scenarios. We also share an embarassing love of Saved By the Bell, which is not mentioned in his list. In addition to the Egg Babies, guy plays with Steve Hefter and the Friends, Friends, Friends, and does he also maybe play with Jason Dove? I'm not sure about that one, but I suspect. Regardless he plays a lot, and added keyboard work to Water School albums also, back when they were still a great band (a band at all).
Mike's approach to this list was similar to Todd's, but it's better that you read it in your own words:
In creating this list, I've looked over the other lists that exist so far, and realized many of them include things I love, so I tried to be different, if that's helpful at all. Also this list comprises of things that are more recent to me. Books I've read within the past 3 to 4 years that I really enjoyed, things I've discovered within the past 5 to 6 years in general (with a few exceptions). Also, if I were to say one of these things on the list is for you, it's absolutely the Chuck Klosterman book. If you haven't read it yet, do so. It's the funniest book I've ever read.
Will do, Mike! And now on to the Mike Ward list (all neatly organized in fives!):
Music: (five albums)
Okkervil River--Stage Names
The Zombies--Odessey and Oracle
Neko Case--Blacklisted
Ryan Adams--Cold Roses
The Shins--Chutes Too Narrow
Books: (five books)
Chuck Klosterman--Killing Yourself To Live
Yann Martel--The Life of Pi
John Hodgman--Areas of Expertise
Gabriel Garcia Marquez--One Hundred Years of Solitude
Steve Martin--Born Standing Up
Film: (five movies)
I think all of my faves have been named here already, so I've listed movies I discovered on a whim and really enjoy.
The Lives of Others
Bullets Over Broadway
Conversations With Other Women
Children of Men
The Prestige
TV Shows: (you guessed it, five TV shows)
Stella
Curb Your Enthusiasm--Season Six
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia--Season Three
Arrested Development
Extras--Season Two
