The Walk Slow

I've been meaning to post this for a couple weeks now. MAN! When you're a musician there's nothing like the love and joy that can come from being in a band. You sling it out with three or four other guys, saddle all your hopes and dreams together and try to shoot an arrow into the side of the world that actually sticks. It's hard; it takes a level of commitment and determination that is not easy and can drive some folks apart. But other folks, well, it makes you bond as strong or stronger than family. That's always been the case with the guys I slung it out with my former bands in Chicago. I've known Sonny Vee since forever. He was in Wink Lombardi and the Constellations with me ("which one'a youse guys is Wink?") on through the short-lived Second Attention, he slung it out for a while in Infinite Vision and that's where we met and added Joe Grez to the cabal of maniacs - which included Mr. Brown and Monsieur Viderstrom - who ended up forming Schlitz Family Robinson. Anyway, that was a long time ago. More recently, and I use that word loosely here for sure, Joe and Sonny and I were in The Yellow House. We came pretty close to... something. But the industry was kicking and screaming as the internet, MP3s and Napster all took over and in just a little over a year and a half (fact check Joe - I'm bad at quantifying the passage of time) that slipped away too. But not before we recorded and self-released one full length and two e.p., all of which I am still enormously proud of. Anyway, Joe and Sonny are back in a new band, The Walk Slow and hearing them, seeing this video, it makes me so incredibly happy that I just can barely even think straight. These guys are the real deal - back in '01 Grez used to say, "next to no one in music knows how to be cool anymore" and sometimes I feel like that too. But when I hear something like this, well, I know that's just the scarred side of the otherwise brilliant coin.

ANT MAN!!!

Much more invested now. Michael Douglas, I first fell in love with you as an actor when I saw Romancing the Stone as a child (it was that, Ghostbusters and Predator on a regular rotation for years. Just ask my Dad). I am very happy you are still here and doing what you do best sir!

Let's Talk Valiant Comics

Valiant comes in general and the unbelievably awesome Rai: Welcome to New Japan specifically are the topics of discussion in this week's edition of Thee Comic Column over on Joup.

Oliver Nelson

My wife writing about one of the greatest jazz records ever in this week's edition of The Joup Friday Album. Awesome!

True Detective Season 2 Trailer

Mr. Brown just sent this to me. I had chills watching it. Can't wait for June 21st!

Peter V. Brett's The Skull Throne

Whoah! I've been so immersed in writing my own book for so long that I have seriously fallen out of any semblance of contact with what my favorite authors are doing. First, a week or two ago I realized that Irvine Welsh has another novel coming out in in the U.K. next week* and now I see via a message on Goodreads that the forth book in Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle hit the stands on March 31st!

WHAT???

Crap - after wolfing down book three, The Daylight War back... oh my, was that two years ago already? - I swore before the next one fell into my hands I would re-read the entire series to refresh myself.  Well, that did not happen and I have been once again caught unprepared and unaware. That however, will soon be remedied.

I talk about how I met Mr. Brett here - he actually gave me a copy of the first book in this series, The Warded Man and I am forever grateful to him for it.

.............

*I still haven't read his last one! I have never been this behind on Mr. Welsh's novels

The Unseen Twin Peaks...

I caught wind of this a few hours ago and took to FB and twitter right away. Wanted to post here as well, as this is pretty much the running record of the parts of my brain that consume and have a relationship with media. 

David Lynch has officially left the Twin Peaks revival because Showtime will not provide the budget he feels the show will require to do properly. I'm normally weary of hashtags but I'm taking to social media with a few to voice my displeasure (read: abject sorrow) and try to goad showtime into righting their wrong. I would greatly appreciate anyone who could reiterate these tags on FB, twitter, Instagram... wherever.
‪#‎fuckshowtime‬ ‪#‎givelynchthemoney‬ ‪#‎savetwinpeaks‬

OR... a couple years ago the head of Netflix voiced interest in bringing this - among a lot of other shows - back. They did with Arrested Development and incurred quite a bit of good will doing so, showing they're superior attitude to major terrestrial television networks (things of the past). So how about Netflix swoops in and takes Twin Peaks and Lynch away from showtime? That'd give them another huge boost in good will and show their superiority to cable networks as well.