Goodbye Brooklyn

For now.

Happy.
New.
Year.

Cover Star: Tillary right off of Flatbush
Headlining Band: Mister Wareham

Exhausted

Me, the year, another decade decayed.

Another dead visionary.

More fun in the new world - 2010.

Promise?

Cover Star: O'Hare International
Headlining Band: Mister Chesnutt, RIP

www.jamesmgraham.net

Year's End

Cover Star: Alexi
Headlining Band: Mister Smith

www.jamesmgraham.net

You've Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me...

Really?

Cover Star: Get Your Ass Out From Behind My Back
Headlining Band: Mister Dulli

www.jamesmgraham.net

Whatever You Do, Don't Tell Anyone...

They've already made up their minds about things that aren't their business anyway. They always do. It's part of the risk about putting yourself out there and knowing people. Or at least, running into them.

Opinions. Stories. Fallacies. And little tidbits of the "truth."

And the thing that makes me smile the most is this:

No matter how fertile their imagination is, their version pales in comparison to reality.

Swallow and chew...

Cover Star: My "Little German Girl"
Headlining Band: Mister Homme

www.jamesmgraham.net

Jumped Into The River

"Can you stay here next to me?
We'll just keep drivin'
Because of you I see a light..."

I don't know how to swim.

Cover Star: Alexis
Headlining Band: Mister Lanegan

www.jamesmgraham.net

For The Future Of The Past

I just want everything to be okay.
Will it be?
Hard to say...

But it does take two to Tango.

Dammit, I want a cigarette.

Cover Star: Ieva @ Marilyn
Headlining Band: Mister Cave

www.jamesmgraham.net

He Was Still Awake

And seeking out NOISE.
It's one of those nights where noise cleanses.
I hope.

Cover Star: Fujiroid
Headlining Band: Giant Sand w/ PJ covering X

www.jamesmgraham.net

What?

Cover Star: Bielefeld
Headlining Band:'Diohead

www.jamesmgraham.net

Feedback...

...is one of my favorite things in the world.

Electric guitar-wise. So is intelligent songwriting. That's feedback too.

And poignant photographs.

And a song about Nico.

Listen. Learn.

I wonder if anyone listened to the last post - "Store Front Display" by Howe Gelb.

"You poor old dump of wax
Limping socks full of tacks
You poor old out of whack
You poor old fucked up load
Crippled up on crumpled road
You don't show up without some flack
Here in the core of the crust
When your rust turns to dust
Here in the core of the crust
A store front display
Eyes that stare and don't turn away"

It's not just Howe's wonderful rhymey songwriting - it's the feedback. He's an unknown genius, but when you get to know him, he's undeniable. Turns out he played Hamburg while I was there. Fuck. The last time I saw him was on Broadway and Spring Street after a gig at the (old) Knitting Factory. He asked me for a good rice and beans place and then introduced me to Joey and John from Calexico like I didn't know who they were. Like a gentleman.

Go back and listen again. Do it. Loud. Twenty-five times. Then buy all of his and Giant Sand's records that you can find. There's like thirty of them...

Here.

But in the meantime, listen to Howe's little ode to the former dead lead singer of The Velvet Underground.

And get back to me.

Oddly enough, it's feedback-free...

Cover Star: Photoshop
Headlining Band: Howe

www.jamesmgraham.net

Days Flash Past

The world spins faster and faster. It spreads people all over the globe like some galactic centrifuge. What if for once, I held on, grabbed a belt loop or something and closed my eyes and held on real tight? Would I land somewhere in one piece? Would I be lucky to have landed at all?

Maybe just happy. But I don't think I'm dumb.

In the core of the crust, I don't want to end up some store front display...

I think I see a belt loop. Or something.

Cover Star: A
Headlining Band: Howe

www.jamesmgraham.net

Hunky Dory

Which means:

Happy. OK. Everything alright. Wonderful.

There will be a time. There will be a time.

Cover Stars: Kooks
Headlining Band: The Arcade Fire w/ Mr. Jones

www.jamesmgraham.net

For Bradley

Who I don't see enough, but we see Chelsea Sanitation work it all out, etc...
Who I pick up with like it was yesterday, Crusty jumping on the bed, etc...
Who makes me laugh, four hours here, four hours there, etc...
Who I love, etc...

My friend, I think you might like this photograph and this song.

Sleep tight and safe trip home.

Books coming your way soon...

Cover Star: Puss 'n' Boots
Headlining Band: The lovely Miss Alison, again.

www.jamesmgraham.net

The Lack Thereof

As I told my friend Brendan tonight:

"If I had enough money, you'd be sitting in this bar by yourself right now."

And this piece of paper would not exist.


And this would be playing:

On repeat.

Cover Star: Return ticket
Headlining Band: The lovely Miss Alison, again.

www.jamesmgraham.net

World, Do Your Worst

Q: Whose creative works inspire you, photographic, or otherwise?

A: Everything I see and experience inspires me. Either negatively or positively. It would be easy to list my favorite photographers, filmmakers, cinematographers, authors, poets, people, places and things, but really it's irrelevant. My various and emotional states hurl me towards taking photographs. For better or worse.

- From "Some Of This Is True"
© Luxxus Press

"I sat you down and told you how
the truest love that's ever found
Is for oneself
You pulled apart my theory
With a weary and disinterested sigh

So yes, I guess, I'm asking you
To back a horse that's good for glue
And nothing else
But find a man that's truer than
Find a man that needs you more than I

Sit with me a while
And let me listen to you talk about
your dreams and your obsessions
I'll be quiet and confessional..."

Cover Star: Monday Night In The Universe
Headlining Band: The joint in the middle or your arm

www.jamesmgraham.net

All I Wanted Was You To Take Me Out...High

Feet back on what feels like foreign soil. For now...

Everything is so much easier when you are in a surreal fantasy realm. Everything is so much nicer when no one really knows where you are. Everything is so much more beautiful when nothing else but the moment matters.

That said, one addiction down, several more to contemplate.

11 days and still clean...

Headlining Band: Alison Goldfrapp

www.jamesmgraham.net