2014: St. Vincent, ST. VINCENT

Here’s what happened in my life in 2014: I decided to write myself a present. This was a crazy thing to do. Here’s what my schedule looked like for pretty much the entire time I was writing this: Monday: teaching improv class. Tuesday: improv player…

1999: Bis, SOCIAL DANCING

Seven Fun Facts About Bis! 1. It’s Pronounced To Rhyme With “Kiss” If Wikipedia is to be believed, the band’s name is an acronym from a The The lyric. This seems extraordinarily obscure to me, particularly since I can’t hear a trace of any The…

1996: Tori Amos, BOYS FOR PELE

In 1992, I started college. I listened to Little Earthquakes on repeat. I walked into a comic store for the first time in ages, leading me to pick up issue #5 of the “Brief Lives” storyline of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and buy it knowing nothing…

1988: Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, GLOBE OF FROGS

“Come and have a look at this, Chandlowe,” said the entomologist to the art detective. Chandlowe shuffled over to the library table and the circle of light from the one lightbulb that still worked on the fourth floor. Behind him, in the dimness, library patrons…

1984: The Smiths, HATFUL OF HOLLOW

Now it’s time to introduce you to one of the great loves of my life. Maybe not so much these days (I’m preoccupied by other things), and not in 1984 (I was too young), but somewhere maybe just after I hit puberty, the love hit…