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The anti-prophet

by Bryan Waterman

( Sounds and Words )

I wish I had time for this to be a proper and thorough-going appreciation for Dan Bejar (New Pornographers, Swan Lake, Hello Blue Roses) and his solo outfit, Destroyer, which E. Tan and I saw at Bowery Ballroom a couple weeks ago.

Alas, this being the end of the semester I’m afraid you’ll get little more […]

For National Poetry Month: Hart Crane’s “To Brooklyn Bridge”

by Bryan Waterman

( Words )

I miss Hart Crane this spring.

It’s not that I’m a particular fan of his poetry: sometimes I’m tempted to paraphrase Doctorow on Poe and call him our “best bad poet.” But for several spring semesters in a row I’ve included parts of The Bridge in my Writing New York class, and this year, for a […]

A few observations on Patti Smith’s “Rock n Roll Nigger”

by Bryan Waterman

( Conflict and Desire and Sounds and Words )

Or a few questions, at least. I’m curious about how you read (or hear) this song, performed last year by a 60-year-old singer generally regarded as the godmother of punk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjmsyhgotWY

If you don’t know the song, check out the lyrics here. It closes out side one of the 1978 album Easter, which also included the top […]

Vast conspiracies, old and new

by Bryan Waterman

( Politics and Sounds )

Part 1. Did anyone else see this piece in the NYRB a couple weeks ago? I thought it did a fantastic job parsing the Clintons’ double-tongued approach to Obama and race, the issue that more than anything has turned me from a one-time defender of the Clintons into someone who’d only be able to vote […]

Toughskins

by Bryan Waterman

( Geography and Life and Nature )

The mud-colored water of Silver Creek — The Creek, though we pronounced it “crick” — would turn your tightie-whities red, the color of Arizona red rocks, the color of pueblo clay. Stains that would never remove. And so you’d score points with your mother if you took them off and left them somewhere else while […]