Been a rough couple of weeks — happy to yack further, p2p, just drop me a line — so you get a photo.
Reading: Leonard Cohen Untold Stories: The Early Years. I am loving Michael Posner’s oral biography. It answers a ton of questions that every earlier biography has left me with. Just one example — Hydra: what the heck was up with that place? Posner lays it all out. I honestly can’t get enough and am thrilled to hear there are two(!) more volumes in the pipeline (A).
Re-reading: Chance by Kem Nunn. Seems like the novel of this particular epoch, in some significant ways. More to follow, I hope.
Also: Daredevil: Born Again, Hellboy: Seed of Destruction, John Constantine Hellblazer: Marks of Woe. Hm — bit of a devilish motif going on here.
Apropos of nothing: DIRE STRAITS: The Studio Albums: 1978-1991, recently released on this side of the pond by Rhino Records. It has been decades since I last listened to any of these albums. On Every Street (1991) has been the big surprise. Back in the day I gave it a “meh.” Today I’m wondering if it doesn’t rate as the band’s most accomplished studio album.
I might say more on the matter, but for now it’s worth noting what difficult competition this album was up against — Nirvana Nevermind, REM Out Of Time, Pearl Jam Ten, Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Dinosaur Jr Green Mind, Billy Bragg Don’t Try This At Home, Hole Pretty On The Inside, Soundgarden Badmotorfinger, plus some whopper albums from some whopper acts that don’t need any further nudging from anyone (especially not me). Thirty years later one wonders how Knopfler’s band, which was always somewhat stodgily at odds with radio playlists, even managed to get played at all.
1991 could count as its own Year of Egress, in some ways.
Also: this was a conversation worth dropping in on. Helped me chill out about a few things. And I know, I know: Andrew Sullivan, right? (Scott must be grinding his teeth.) But hey, true help often arrives via unexpected mediums.
More anon — be well.
2 comments:
Been meaning to ask: any particular reason for returning to start of the saga with Hellboy and crew?
I'm not sure I know. But a couple of years ago Mignola went on record to reassure, "Oh, it's all coming to an end." Of course, here we are several story-cycles later with no apparent end in sight. I wondered what the origins looked like, and how the writing was. Art and writing are good, but they've become much more accomplished over the years.
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