What I'm Reading -- Grab on to Me Tightly as if I Knew the Way by Bryan Charles

The Unbiased Part: Bryan Charles follows new high school graduate Vim Sweeny as he tries to decide what to do with himself. Vim has plenty of Gen-X angst in Kalamazoo, MI circa 1992. He plays in a grunge band (very Pavement-like), is falling for a band mate’s girlfriend, wants to quit his dish-washing gig and is trying to avoid his father.

Initially, I found it quite interesting, but too disjointed. Then about halfway through the book, Vim heads to northern Michigan to hang out with his cool, rocker uncle. At this point, Vim’s decisions on how to live his life drive the book to its focused conclusions. The peripheral characters are also quite realistic and the hero of this book is really Vim’s hard-working, intelligent step-father. Once it hits it's stride, the concise writing style gives it a lyrical slant, which is very appropriate considering the important role that music takes in the novel. The cover art is also well designed and looks like it could be an album cover.

The Biased Part: Reading a book about ’92 Kalamazoo is fun. Charles writes about tons of hangouts, restaurants and areas of the city. I’m biased because I was around there at the time and the same age as Vim. Charles does a great job chronicling the city and the vibe among the Gen-X crowd.

I definitely think this book is a great complement to other novels about my generation like Douglas Coupland’s Generation X and Microserfs, Max Barry’s Syrup and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. Also, I need to figure out how to say "Grab on to me tightly as if I knew the way" in normal conversation because it sounds so cool.

Music Review -- It’s Never Been Like That by Phoenix

The French are not often thought of being creators of great rock, but Phoenix should change that. Their electronica-tinged rock is about as catchy as possible. The band excels in mid-tempo tunes driven by their jangly guitars. They also just rock out now and then like the opener Napoleon Says where they sing, “Look at what you look like /You know it suits you well/ Napoleon says to take off your coat/ Take off your long johns too…” The lyrics tend to be somewhat bizarre, but complement the music well. They sometimes sound like the Strokes, but Phoenix is more eclectic. They seem influenced somewhat by the synth heavy 80s bands, but it doesn’t dominate their sound like The Killers or The Bravery. So if you feel like some danceable, catchy, jangly, French rock, then this is for you.

2.60 out of 4.00 on the Vin Swanson Scale.

What I'm Reading -- The Big Happy by Scott Mebus

This is Mebus’ follow up to his debut novel Booty Nomad. It seems like the lad-lit moniker is already retired, but that is what Mebus does. Lad-lit attempts to be like Nick Hornby, but ends up creating the guy equivalents to chick-lit. This is actually a good thing because while they tend to be a bit shallow, the best writers of the genre (Mebus, Kyle Smith, Jonathan Tropper) are also very funny and somewhat insightful concerning the world of men.

In The Big Happy, Mebus continues to follow 30-something New Yorker David, who is trying to find his course in life after quitting his job and writing a novel that might not get published. His friends, also carried over from Booty Nomad, are also changing but the hardest on David is the transformation of Annie. David’s best friend has just moved back to NY, but returned with a fiancé who somewhat resembles a rat. David is also thrown off by a waitress he meets while performing as a wedding DJ. So, yeah, it is not the deepest book in the world. Still, while not as funny or enlightening as his debut, Mebus again does a decent job keeping his readers interested.

Music Review -- Soundtrack to Your Life by Ashley Parker Angel

At any point in my life, I am usually addicted to one embarrassing television show. Currently, it’s Rock Star: Supernova. Before that it was the first couple seasons of the O.C. Way before any of these, it was the original Making the Band. This hilarious show followed the creation of a boy band called O-Town. One of the first members was Ashley Parker Angel who has just released his first solo album.

Reviewers have actually been fairly kind to the album. APA has taken the rock route for this disc, though it is clearly made for the masses. A super slick pop-punk sound comparable to the All American Rejects permeates the album. There are a couple decent songs like the groovy Beautiful Lie, but most of the lyrics are completely sickly-sweet with cutesy titles like Let U Go and Crazy Beautiful. Despite finding this CD interesting because of the show and recognizing that APA definitely has some sincerity and talent, this is too overproduced to listen to.

1.50 out of 4.00 on the Vin Swanson Scale.

Music Review -- Simpatico by The Charlatans UK

The new CD by The Charlatans is a bit mixed up. They have always been a fun Brit-rock band sounding a bit like U2 or Oasis, but with more sonic tendencies. Here, The Charlatans have expanded their sound, revelaing influences beyond U2 to include Robbie Williams, the Rolling Stones, 80’s synth-rock and even ska. I think they work best when they mimic the bombastic, arena era U2, with tunes like Blackend Blue Eyes and Muddy Ground. While I appreciate a fairly eclectic album from a genre (Brit Pop/Rock) that does not generally allow for a lot of creativity, I would like them to stick closer to what they do best, which is buzzy guitar driven rock with soaring harmonies and hooky lyrics. Simpatico is an album that strives to be a great eclectic rock album, but unfortunately ends up quite mediocre.

1.90 out of 4.00 on the Vin Swanson Scale

New Discovery -- Boards of Canada

This is a band that is completely new to me. Boards of Canada are two Scottish musicians who have released three major label electronica collections since ’98. On Music Has the Right to Children, they use very simple and subtle hip hop beats. On The Campfire Headphase they add some electric guitar, but their signature is still the mid-tempo beats and light scratches. While their music is mostly ambient techno, the subtle combination of trip hop makes for some fun, laid back tunes. Check these guys out at boardsofcanada.com

What I’m Reading – Graphic Novels

Flight Vol. 2 is a short story collection in Graphic Novel form published by Image Comics. The volume collects mostly young authors with a couple of veterans, like Bone’s Jeff Smith thrown in. I found Flight to be incredible. The creativity is so strong it is intimidating. The stories range from typical short stories to collections of random thoughts to stories of robots. Each story has a completely different art style, most of which are brilliant.



Trailers, by Mark Kneece (story) and Julie Collins-Rousseau (art), is hilarious and haunting. Josh is a teen who is forced to put up with his unstable mother, who kills an abusive boyfriend at their trailer park. Josh is trying to hide the body, care for his brother and sister, date the girl he has a crush on and deal with his mom’s new scary boyfriends. The body he buried, however, keeps showing up in weird ways and Josh is unsure as how to handle everything. This is super good.




Brian K. Vaughan’s great series The Runaways continues with volume five. The character development continues to be impressive in these books. Vaughan also adds guest spots by a couple of New Avengers. My only complaint is that one interesting plotline at the beginning of volume five is introduced and dropped very quickly, though maybe it will resurface in the next collection.