Everyone says I’m a liar and there is no such thing as a Shell-ony, a rare eyeless creature that is part conch shell and part miniature pony. Despite making countless life-like models of this creature, no on believes me. Save for my black and white pug, Oreo, and cockatiel, Pete, I am alone.  More

Arkansas Or Bust
After I passed the fifth stranded car, I began to get nervous. I had blown out of New Orleans at rush hour, and hit 55 north with an empty gas tank, like an idiot, just eager to get out of that stinkhole, and now the needle was 35 miles past E, on a raised concrete causeway, swamps as far as the eye can see. No exits. No signs. No access to the lane in the opposite direction.  More

Goth, metal, opera, Brian Eno, disco, fetish, German, silent movie… These are a few descriptions I’ve heard about the band Entertainment. I’m getting old and I hate descriptions. All I know is that their music reminds me of being a teenager in New York City in 1989. That’s a good thing. Nineteen was hands down my favorite age. I’ll just say they’re New Wave and it’s good.  More

My big brother took me to my first punk show almost 20 years ago. It was Fugazi, and hometown legends Trusty opened at Vino’s in Little Rock, Ark.

When I mentioned to him I would be interviewing Fugazi bassist-gone solo Joe Lally, he laughed and asked me how well I remembered my first Fugazi show, because beforehand, he and his jackass friends got me blind drunk in the parking lot.  More

Part IV: Pete’s Place (the Irish Channel)

I was full-blown drunk when we got to Pete’s, and, at first glance, I worried I might end up on the floor there.

Pete’s has the look of a dive that drinkers like to keep a secret.  More