Where do I go from here?

Living at home since school has been convenient, and I love my family very much. But I don't want to spend my entire life in Massachusetts. The year I lived in Maine doesn't count much because, well, I mean, it's upstate Maine. I need somewhere a little more stimulating.

Though I don't really want to end up renting in Boston, I've marked it with a black spot of possibility on my seismic map of the United States. Also marked are San Francisco, NYC and DC.

I just spent a few days in San Francisco and absolutely loved it. I could see myself there. I felt good wandering the streets and I couldn't stop myself from imagining a new life there. I want that place so bad.

But, I've also thought about moving to DC and NY, specifically Brooklyn. My past/future roommate would prefer NY, so that's probably the most likely contender.

DC is fun and I really appreciate their public transportation. But, it's a city full of Type A's. Compared to my other favorite cities, it's a bit stiff. But I know some really wonderful people in that area and that's always worth a lot.

I really want California though. That place just fit. It felt good. It felt familiar. It felt like home.

Seeing as we have no money, significant debt and dismal job opportunities, our options are limited. Or maybe they're unlimited. I'm willing to work any kind of terrible job so long as I can experience something new for a while. Anyone else?

To Be Well-Read

It has officially been a year since I completed college. I haven't had any homework, exams, professors or study groups in the last year. My senior year was an apocalyptic struggle due to a broken right foot, a sprained left ankle, the stomach flu and a few other unplanned unpleasantness, but despite all that, I've really missed school. I've missed being challenged, and educated, I guess.

Bank-tellering has been challenging. It's a completely different beast from what I've spent the last 8 or so years focusing my efforts on. Working in finance and counting all day has shown me that I'm more well-rounded than I had realized, and I'm proud of that. I feel like I can do any job well if I just shut my trap and suck it up. I've done that pretty well for a year, but I still miss the ole' book report and research paper now and then.

Grub Street, Inc helped satiate my need for literary sustenance for a few weeks, but now that's done and I have no one handing me assignments anymore, and I don't have to face the weekly pressure of reading a freshly-hatched short story in front of a room of strangers. It was a huge challenge, but it felt very good.

So, until I save up enough $$$ to sign up for another writing workshop, I've decided to challenge myself. In the pursuit of becoming "well-read" I will attempt to read all of the books listed on The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels. I've already read a few thanks to Framingham High School's exceptional Honors English curriculum (...) but can't remember much of them.

I've dusted off my library card and will being my "Well-Read Challenge of Summer 2009" tomorrow. My college roommate has just moved home and I plan on enlisting her as well, because 1) she's already read way more of these than I have and 2) we technically have a 2-person reading group that unofficially disbanded last fall when she became a slacker and stopped reading the books we picked (bitch) but I'll let it slide. She knows her shit, and I like that.

Here's to a summer of words.
Books already read in red. Ha!

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
   
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O'Hara
23. U.S.A. (trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster
26. THE WINGS OF THE DOVE by Henry James
27. THE AMBASSADORS by Henry James
28. TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. THE STUDS LONIGAN TRILOGY by James T. Farrell
30. THE GOOD SOLDIER by Ford Madox Ford
31. ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell
32. THE GOLDEN BOWL by Henry James
33. SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser
34. A HANDFUL OF DUST by Evelyn Waugh
35. AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner
36. ALL THE KING'S MEN by Robert Penn Warren
37. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder
38. HOWARDS END by E.M. Forster
39. GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN by James Baldwin
40. THE HEART OF THE MATTER by Graham Greene
41. LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding
42. DELIVERANCE by James Dickey
43. A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME (series) by Anthony Powell
44. POINT COUNTER POINT by Aldous Huxley
45. THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway
46. THE SECRET AGENT by Joseph Conrad
47. NOSTROMO by Joseph Conrad
48. THE RAINBOW by D.H. Lawrence
49. WOMEN IN LOVE by D.H. Lawrence
50. TROPIC OF CANCER by Henry Miller
51. THE NAKED AND THE DEAD by Norman Mailer
52. PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT by Philip Roth
53. PALE FIRE by Vladimir Nabokov
54. LIGHT IN AUGUST by William Faulkner
55. ON THE ROAD by Jack Kerouac
56. THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
57. PARADE'S END by Ford Madox Ford
58. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton
59. ZULEIKA DOBSON by Max Beerbohm
60. THE MOVIEGOER by Walker Percy
61. DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather
62. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by James Jones
63. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLES by John Cheever
64. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger
65. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess
66. OF HUMAN BONDAGE by W. Somerset Maugham
67. HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad
68. MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis
69. THE HOUSE OF MIRTH by Edith Wharton
70. THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET by Lawrence Durell
71. A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA by Richard Hughes
72. A HOUSE FOR MR BISWAS by V.S. Naipaul
73. THE DAY OF THE LOCUST by Nathanael West
74. A FAREWELL TO ARMS by Ernest Hemingway
75. SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
76. THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE by Muriel Spark
77. FINNEGANS WAKE by James Joyce
78. KIM by Rudyard Kipling
79. A ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forster
80. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED by Evelyn Waugh
81. THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow
82. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner
83. A BEND IN THE RIVER by V.S. Naipaul
84. THE DEATH OF THE HEART by Elizabeth Bowen
85. LORD JIM by Joseph Conrad
86. RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow
87. THE OLD WIVES' TALE by Arnold Bennett
88. THE CALL OF THE WILD by Jack London
89. LOVING by Henry Green
90. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
91. TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell
92. IRONWEED by William Kennedy
93. THE MAGUS by John Fowles
94. WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys
95. UNDER THE NET by Iris Murdoch
96. SOPHIE'S CHOICE by William Styron
97. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
98. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE by James M. Cain
99. THE GINGER MAN by J.P. Donleavy
100. THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS by Booth Tarkington

Shit. But this will feel good.

The Shins, The Boring.

I saw The Shins on 5/20 at The Orpheum. A friend invited me and I agreed to go because, 1) I missed the friend, and 2) I like going to shows. However, I'm not a huge fan of the band. I had a moment or two back when I was 18 during my freshman year of college, much like the tens of thousands of other college freshman who still fall victim to the band these days.

Ok, they're alright. I grew tired of the band about a week after buying Chutes Too Narrow. They still bore me, but their live set bored me something fierce.

I don't know many of their songs aside from those on that big album that came out around the same time as that little movie that helped their star to rise. I don't think that's the reason I didn't enjoy the show though. Rather, it was the fact that they played all of the slowest songs in their catalog and it was such a snooooozefest. Even my friend, who I'm pretty sure liked The Shins a lot more than I do because she bought the tickets, was yawning and fighting the urge to curl up in her seat and take a cat nap.

Oh yeah, and I don't like shows at The Orpheum. Rows of stationary chairs? Assigned seating? $10 beers? Three strikes, Orpheum. Three strikes.

So, case and point, The Shins are really boring live and I think their fame has worked against them. Maybe in a small club with no chairs and a large bar they would put on a good show, and I was in fact told that they do great in that kind of venue. But that show in Boston was a fail. A crowded, sleepy, steamy, expensive fail.

Newport Folk Festival: August 1st & 2nd

This might be a little early to write about, but I don't want to forget that it's happening.

First, the meat and taters:

General Admission: General Admission seating is first-come first-served on the lawn. Patrons may bring blankets and low-backed beach chairs. Adult: $ 69.00 in advance, $ 75.00 on festival weekend, if available.

Venue: Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI

What a dump, right?

Apparently, most people only buy tickets to one day of this 2 day festival. I will be one of those people. I plan to go August 1st, to see the following:

Pete Seeger, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, Gillian Welch, The Avett Brothers, Billy Bragg, Iron & Wine, Mavis Staples, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ben Kweller, The Low Anthem, Brett Dennen, Tift Merritt, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, Langhorne Slim.

The fucking Fleet Foxes. My beloved bearded baroque band of Washington state. They're the reason I'm really going, because it's the only scheduled show they're playing in the area.

Also, the venerable Iron & Wine. The closest I've come to seeing him live is watching an episode of Austin City Limits at 3am one morning. My fuzzy, crackly, horrible TV hardly distracted from the fact that it was an absolutely beautiful concert. His songs are mesmerizing.

My former/future roommate and I stayed up until 7am one night drinking wine and watching music videos. I kept playing this video over and over and over and over and over. We both swore to become flamenco dancers that night. These women are so sexy and graceful. They were the most strong, beautiful, confident, and amazingly sensual women I'd ever seen. And I said as much, over and over and over and over and over again that night.

Also, Tom Morello, of Rise Against the Machine, will be performing. At a folk festival. Who knew?

The legendary Pete Seeger is performing both days of the festival to continue celebrating his 90th birthday, which was May 3rd. HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY.

To help Pete celebrate, watch this video and buy a ticket to the festival here, because this land was made for you and me.

And not to be outdone by Pete Seeger, I am also going to celebrate my birthday. That's right, on August 2nd, I will become 23 years old. 90? Pfft. Whatever.

Update on Wild Light Show

I mentioned Wild Light 2 posts ago, and saw them in Northampton with Bodega Girls last Saturday.

The show was at Iron Horse, a literal hole in the wall on a side street that you wouldn't know was there unless you had already managed to stumble by it once before. There wasn't much of a crowd, but the crowd present was spirited and friendly.

Also, the bartender was fucking amazing. He reminded me of a saloon owner from the Wild West, complete with an oxford shirt under a dark vest and long scraggly hair. He recommended certain drinks to my friend and me, resulting in our quick intoxication.

Bodega Girls were amazing. The lead singer jumped off the stage and made good use of the ample space available to him on the empty dance floor. Well, empty except for my table on one side and the members of Wild Light propped up against the wall on the other. I thought they'd be hiding downstairs somewhere waiting for their set, seeing as they're becoming big wigs with all their big wig touring, but no. They were among the plebes the entire time. I was impressed, and drunk.

I'm pretty sure Wild Light played every song on their debut album, Adult Nights. The dance floor filled up quickly, and everyone who was previously unfamiliar with them picked up some of the lyrics and were singing along with the band.

After the show, the band hung around a bit and talked to friends. I pushed my way through and started telling them about my love for their album and how it's become a valuable writing tool for me. Which is totally true. But, I was drunk, and I'm pretty sure I said something like "from one artist to another...thank you!" They were so friendly, all shook my hand and introduced themselves and were very gracious. True gents.

But the fact that they tolerated my inebriated ramblings really makes me hope they'll "hit it big" or whatever it is bands wish for. I will definitely be seeing them with Doves at House of Blues in Boston next month.

Next time though, I think I'll lay off the sauce.

Sweden wins again: FIRST AID KIT

I've always been fond of female singer-songwriters. I had my hulking black boombox perched on my windowsill for most of the 90's cooing out everything from Jewel's Pieces of You, to the banshee anthems of Alanis Morisset's Jagged Little Pill, Fiona Apple's nightmare-inducing Extraordinay Machines, and a healthy side of prime R&B courtesy of Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of... in 1998.

This love for the empowered singer-songwriter femme fatale developed further into our current decade. It's morphed into something a bit more hipster and hokey, very unlike the broody tunes with which I entered adolescence in the 90's. Now, instead of Alanis and Fiona, it's Kate Nash, Regina Spektor and Kaki King.

The 2000's are nearing their end, and with the end of another developmentally complicated decade I feel I must continue my journey along the river of the female songstress with a new breed of talent. I present my latest obsession: First Aid Kit.

Meet Johanna and Klara Söderberg, two Swedish sisters who were still infants in their cribs when Alanis was singing to me about traffic jams and irony.

I accidentally found First Aid Kit on youtube while searching for Fleet Foxes, whom I was planning on writing about. Eventually I will write about Fleet Foxes, and the Newport Folk Festival, and camping, and the general appeal of bearded men. I serendipitously found a cover that these girls sang on a log in the woods of Sweden. Their voices gave me goosebumps that still are struggling to recede.

And they're so young! They are the same ages as my two little brothers. Which, naturally, leads me to wonder why the hell my little brothers haven't formed a melodic folk duo yet. I mean, what the hell? The only thing I've seen them perform together is "Albie the Racist Dragon" from Flight of the Conchords.

I'm going to try to adopt Johanna and Klara as the precious little Swedish sisters I've always wanted. I also want to take them camping, though I think they could kick my Yankee ass in that department. I mean, 1) they wear amazing flannels regularly, and 2) they film live performances in the woods. They win, I think.