Some fun Projects
A portrait of me through music
I recently found a stack of old burned CD's that were pivotal in my growth as both a music fan and creative entity. Titled 'The Chesire Mixes' (after my soon-to-be production company/record label that, even as a teenager {apparently}I dreamed of: Chesire Productions), these are my mix-tapes—starting when my brother got his first CD burner and stretching to as recent as two or three years back, they're a decent chronology of my musical interests.
As a treat (mostly for me, but also for you, dear reader), I thought I'd start listening to them and transcribing them into track-lists to see what pops up. I'll post one a week for the next few months (at least that's what I figure right now). A lot of the stuff is obviously dated; I think I may have been in the 7th grade when the first one was burned, and the last one is dated 2003.
I'm missing quite a few (if any of my friends from those years are reading this and have copies of any of the discs, drop me a line.), but we're still looking at 21 mixes, 1996(?)-2003 (ages 12-19). If possible, I'll link up some MP3's for y'all. I may need your help identifying some songs.
After identifying the tracks and giving a rundown of the discs, I'll be making a mix of songs that are important to me now that were released the year the original mixes were; a compendium that I wish I could send back to myself in those days. These new mixes will be posted the day after the originals, and will feature only songs released in the year the originals were made (discounting any songs that were on the original mix). I think that, doing this, I can both get a firmer grasp on my history (my memory is shit) and a firmer grasp on the musical time line, et al.
And, damn, this will be embarrassing. Keep posted—I'll begin in the new year.
Some cool publishers to check out
Being a writer on the internet is, quite possibly, the most depressing experience in the world. Online poetry is often limited to either horrendous scams or goth freshman-girl-poetry that is both trite and pointless. It's refreshing when you run into a pinnacle of good creative writing amongst so many pot-holes. Here are several such pinnacles.
Future Tense is a small press that has captivated me for years—run by writer Kevin Sempsell, the company has released some gems (most famously Zoe Trope's Please Don't Kill The Freshman, which was later republished, extended and edited, by Harper Collins sub-company, Harper Tempest, a youth-lit outlet), including books by Sempsell himself; the books are small, cheap, and good times.
Speaking of Kevin Sempsell-by-way-of-lead-in, I just discovered Word Riot, which is not only an online literary journal but also a small press, which recently released Sempsell's Beautiful Blemish. The site has some fantastic minifictions (titled 'flash-fiction' by the editors), which I've read a few of. They aren't bad. Neither is a lot of the poetry. So far, I'm completely impressed; no artist's work has really rang false and all the pieces seem completely earnest and well-written.
And, of course, there's always Nerve, who have released several anthologies of their fiction, not to mention an interesting looking book that hasn't been released.
I'm still waiting for some of my writer buddies to start blogging; when they do you'll be sure to garner a link from me—I've been writing and creating/collaborating with several fantastic poets and novelists (From designer Jeremy (#2) Wilkins and filmmaker Megan Robinson-Atkinson to print-maker Bill Lindmier and magical realist Chris Boat) that, if you were lucky enough to get the few issues printed, you'd recognize for their help in forming the '. . . And Stuff' 'zines.
'. . . And Stuff' has been away too long—both in print and in spirit. I've recently been discussing a possible online version of the 'zine with. . . well, myself. But #2 and I were considering purchasing some webspace for such a project. If there's anyone reading who knows of cheaper/better and/or free web-servers, tell me.
I recently found a stack of old burned CD's that were pivotal in my growth as both a music fan and creative entity. Titled 'The Chesire Mixes' (after my soon-to-be production company/record label that, even as a teenager {apparently}I dreamed of: Chesire Productions), these are my mix-tapes—starting when my brother got his first CD burner and stretching to as recent as two or three years back, they're a decent chronology of my musical interests.
As a treat (mostly for me, but also for you, dear reader), I thought I'd start listening to them and transcribing them into track-lists to see what pops up. I'll post one a week for the next few months (at least that's what I figure right now). A lot of the stuff is obviously dated; I think I may have been in the 7th grade when the first one was burned, and the last one is dated 2003.
I'm missing quite a few (if any of my friends from those years are reading this and have copies of any of the discs, drop me a line.), but we're still looking at 21 mixes, 1996(?)-2003 (ages 12-19). If possible, I'll link up some MP3's for y'all. I may need your help identifying some songs.
After identifying the tracks and giving a rundown of the discs, I'll be making a mix of songs that are important to me now that were released the year the original mixes were; a compendium that I wish I could send back to myself in those days. These new mixes will be posted the day after the originals, and will feature only songs released in the year the originals were made (discounting any songs that were on the original mix). I think that, doing this, I can both get a firmer grasp on my history (my memory is shit) and a firmer grasp on the musical time line, et al.
And, damn, this will be embarrassing. Keep posted—I'll begin in the new year.
Some cool publishers to check out
Being a writer on the internet is, quite possibly, the most depressing experience in the world. Online poetry is often limited to either horrendous scams or goth freshman-girl-poetry that is both trite and pointless. It's refreshing when you run into a pinnacle of good creative writing amongst so many pot-holes. Here are several such pinnacles.
Future Tense is a small press that has captivated me for years—run by writer Kevin Sempsell, the company has released some gems (most famously Zoe Trope's Please Don't Kill The Freshman, which was later republished, extended and edited, by Harper Collins sub-company, Harper Tempest, a youth-lit outlet), including books by Sempsell himself; the books are small, cheap, and good times.
Speaking of Kevin Sempsell-by-way-of-lead-in, I just discovered Word Riot, which is not only an online literary journal but also a small press, which recently released Sempsell's Beautiful Blemish. The site has some fantastic minifictions (titled 'flash-fiction' by the editors), which I've read a few of. They aren't bad. Neither is a lot of the poetry. So far, I'm completely impressed; no artist's work has really rang false and all the pieces seem completely earnest and well-written.
And, of course, there's always Nerve, who have released several anthologies of their fiction, not to mention an interesting looking book that hasn't been released.
I'm still waiting for some of my writer buddies to start blogging; when they do you'll be sure to garner a link from me—I've been writing and creating/collaborating with several fantastic poets and novelists (From designer Jeremy (#2) Wilkins and filmmaker Megan Robinson-Atkinson to print-maker Bill Lindmier and magical realist Chris Boat) that, if you were lucky enough to get the few issues printed, you'd recognize for their help in forming the '. . . And Stuff' 'zines.
'. . . And Stuff' has been away too long—both in print and in spirit. I've recently been discussing a possible online version of the 'zine with. . . well, myself. But #2 and I were considering purchasing some webspace for such a project. If there's anyone reading who knows of cheaper/better and/or free web-servers, tell me.
posted by Colin Reed Moon at 12/23/2005
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home