Category: Uncategorized

mazie dying

I’m in Rayne. Mazie is dying. She’s lying unresponsive in her recliner. The last 72 hours have been a sleepless hell. Feel free to send whatever positive vibes/prayers/what have you her way.
FYI, if you need to reach me, my cell phone has picked an excellent time to decide Rayne is out of its usable range. So if you need to reach me, the home number here is 337-334-5475. But since it’s the only phone in the house — and since, in her true neo-Luddite style, Mazie never got call waiting installed — there’s a good chance you’ll get a busy signal.

travis covers ludacris

Pitchfork takes a big crap on Travis Morrison’s newest online-only track — a cover of Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy.”
But hell, I dig it. Unlike most of the white-boy-with-acoustic-guitar-covering-rap-songs microgenre, this one’s clearly coming from a place of love.
For Travis’ previous movement in this direction, check out his version of LL Cool J’s “Around the Way Girl,” taken from this KEXP in-studio. (That one made it onto the January 2003 CD Mix of the Month.)
In other news, the new Tahiti 80 mini-album is aces. Aces, brother. Overpriced (at $14.99 for eight songs, although it does come with a bonus DVD), so you may want to grab it at eMusic.

taks fifth grade story

Here’s my story from today’s front page, on the increasing perils of being a Texas fifth-grader.
(In the print edition, this story accompanies a full-page chart with the TAKS test results for 54 of our area districts. This chart has been the bane of my existence for some time. It is complete. Hosanna, hosanna!)

chip kidd

Last month, when I was in San Francisco for work, I borrowed friend Lisa’s car for a day and drove up to Santa Rosa, home of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. (I am not ashamed to admit I kept tearing up as I walked the halls. I mean, seriously, dude died hours before his last strip ran! I’m such a softie.)
Anyway, in the gift shop, I picked up a copy of Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, Chip Kidd’s gorgeous collection of strips. It made for great reading on the flight back to Dallas — it’s one of those books you want to treat as a work of art in itself.
I didn’t know at the time who Chip Kidd was, but he’s probably the top book-cover designer in the world, along with being perhaps the world’s top patron of the graphic novel. (He edited Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and Daniel Clowes’ David Boring.)
Here’s an interview with Kidd in this week’s Onion AV Club.
Here’s a book about Kidd, by Veronique Vienne.
Here’s a blog devoted to the art of book-cover design.

perry farrell, jeremy kahn

It must be tough being Perry A. Farrell, Detroit Free Press sports writer. Your Pistons are going to the NBA finals, but everybody still thinks you’re the nutcase ex-Jane’s Addiction singer.
Plus, the Freep’s P.F. should, by all rights, have dibs to the name — the singer was born Peretz Bernstein. (Which would explain why he DJs under the moniker DJ Peretz.)
Which reminds me of my all-time favorite Explainer on Slate: Is there any relation between Marty Peretz and the Meretz Party?
Which reminds me to congratulate Friend of Crabwalk.com Jeremy Kahn, who was recently named managing editor of Peretz’s The New Republic.

amc update

News alert: American Music Club’s new album is done. (This according to an email update from the band — I can’t find any other mention of the momentous event online.) Sez the band:
Mark [Eitzel] and Tim [Mooney] spent the past couple of weeks in Denton, TX mixing with Matt Pence (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel) at his Echo Lab studio. Final mixes are in and ready for mastering…Still don’t know the title of the record.
Eitzel’s been in Denton and he didn’t even look me up? Me, who named his damned web site for an AMC song? Harrumph.
Anyway, the album is due out on Merge October 12.