whatever the case, they're an annoyance. as a result, i've structured my life so that i don't have to face them very often, for the most part. i'm even in the process of restructuring my so that all the content is developed on the fly, in real time, as it should be. i have literally hundreds of ideas for subject matter in my writing on a day to day basis that just get "lost", because, when it comes time to commit them to "paper", i've already heard them a thousand times or more in my head, or explained them to people verbally, and i'm sick of them before they see print. it's already "old news" to me. probably lost a ton of decent content that way. c'est la friggin' vie.
so why, you ask, do i agree to do a monthly column, of all things? it's certainly not the money, rest assured. there isn't some monster stash of collector times drugs that keeps me hanging around the CT mansion. i have no idea if there's any prestige attached to my position as a CT staffer, as i don't hang out on the r.a.c.* newsgroups, and haven't really associated much with comics fandom outside of that irc channel that we populate. i guess, in the final analysis, it's all part of some evil, sinister plot to marry the editor's daughter, or something. ;)
now onto some stuff. last month, i gave an early review of "the fraglie" by nine inch nails. i've finally made my mind up about the record. to sum up, any record capable of alienating two thirds of nine inch nails' listening audience is a good record. i think "the fragile" definitely accomplishes that. i still think it's too goddamned long, though. we'll give it a *** final score.
other news: my friend lisa isn't dead yet. that's good. called her on a whim yesterday after not hearing from her in a year, and she's still alive. always wonder about that stuff when i don't hear from someone. weird girl. nice, though. she should stop being so hard on herself, as she's cooler than she gives herself credit for.
saw the damned play at that wonderful place, in long branch, nj on the 29th. musically, they sounded better than i've ever heard them. of course, in this day and age, they kind of have to. it's simply not enough these days, when their musical output has been nearly nil for the better part of the decade, to come out onstage and be drunk and obnoxious, as they were the first 2 times i saw them, in '89 and '91, respectively. "not that it's a bad thing." the set covered a lot of ground, from "neat neat neat" to "eloise" and back, which was another thing atypical of the sets i've seen them play to date. (in the past, they didn't go any further forward than "machine gun etiquette"...). all in all, a decent show. only drawback: no rat scabies on drums. it just doesn't feel 100% like the damned without him behind the kit. i guess it's kind of good in one way that he wasn't there, though. i didn't have to make good on the rematch i still owe him from the drinking contest i won back in '91.
album you should all own right now, and probably don't:
iggy pop
"avenue b"
virgin records
this is an INCREDIBLE record. i say this as a huge iggy pop fan, but at the same time, this isn't a typical iggy pop record. it's mostly slow, dark, acoustic stuff. not a lot of fast paced, punky, electric stuff here. the record most closely recalls leonard cohen, and sinatra's "september of my years" album, with perhaps a small helping of tom waits on the side. subject matterwise, iggy talks a lot about his divorce, and the fact that at age 50, he's re-entered the dating pool. compelling stuff, delivered with the kind of honesty that few people are more capable of delivering than the man himself.
don was' production is tasteful, and at the same time, lush in a low-fi sort of way. a nice, dark wash of reverb seems to coat the entire record, perfectly appropriate to the confessional tone of the material. a definite improvement over the somewhat dated in retrospect production on "brick by brick", was' last collaboration with iggy.
obligatory, tacky, comparing this to other bands dept.: it's iggy. many have appeared in his wake, but none of them are him. anything he's done is worth at least one listen. as i mentioned above, leonard cohen, "september of my years" album, and tom waits are other reference points one could make, as well.
to sum up: this is definitely a strong contender for "album of the year", and overall, a fantastic effort by all involved.
final score: **** 1/2
finally: the yankees won again. yay, god. the way i'd best sum up their 1999 season is that i had supreme confidence in their ability to win ballgames throughout the season, and into the post-season. there were several points in the playoffs when their opposition would get an early lead, and my reaction was always the same: "don't worry. they'll come back." nearly without exception, they did. we won't count that game they played against pedro martinez and the boston red sox. pedro really wasn't human this season, having probably the most dominant pitching year since dwight gooden's 1985 tour of duty, but that's an entirely different subject for another day.
when a team like the yankees of the past few years comes along, or the chicago bulls teams of the 90's to cite another example, we should all take the time, as sports fans, and even just as human beings, to appreciate and admire just how special they are, because they don't come around too often in our lifetimes. individual performances like pedro's, or mark mcgwire's and sammy sosa's past few years certainly count as well.
to stretch the "sports" example a little further than a lot of supposed sports fans would probably agree with, i would definitely consider mick foley (best known as the world wrestling federation's "mankind") another example of this kind of excellence. mick's a person who, day in, day out, can get the most jaded among us to suspend our collective disbelief. he'll spare no expense to his well-being to make us believe, and, for this reason, he deserves every accolade he gets. there may not be another quite like him in our lifetimes, if ever.
what i'm trying to say here is this: any time you see anyone or anything that raises the bar a little bit, and makes you say "wow", especially in this day and age when we're so completely and thoroughly spoiled by sensory overload, make sure you take the time and effort to appreciate it, if it's at all possible. people often make the short-sighted mistake of "getting used to" greatness, assuming it'll be around forever. well, in most cases, it won't. never take anything amazing for granted, if you can help it. especially not me. :D
werd.
Scott Crawford can STILL be reached at sdcrawford@earthlink.net, or, if you're feeling especially daring and your mommy and daddy say it's ok, go to and visit his home on the web.
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