Sick of It All: Yours Truly Ten Years On

There was another album released recently, with this title. They are very different works.

For my money, though, this is the best Sick of It All Album,

It has nothing to do with the fact that this was the album that they were out touring to support when I first saw them live. They were touring with the Dropkick Murphys, at the time one of my favorite bands. They stole the show from Dropkick. I was in the pit and did the wall of death and was too worn out to really pay attention to the Murphy’s set.

I bought the shirt at the merch table and went and bough the album and listened to it a bunch. I started buying the other albums, but this was the best one. It was more melodic, and better produced than some of the earlier records – a black mark for some fans, but it worked for me.

                I don’t know what happened, but music slipped out of my life for a while, until I started learning how to play bass and guitar a couple of years ago. It was even later when I heard that Sick of It All was back on tour with a new album. The new album is good, but I wanted to relive my past. Sadly, I have no idea what happened with my old version of this album, so I had to buy it again. It had been ten years or so, and I remembered the words and the breakdowns. From start to finish, it still holds up, with some great songs that make you want to punch the floor. Except for that last track, it just doesn’t fit.

Phillip K. Dick's Ubik: What a Ride. Read. Repeat.

Here's the thing about Phillip K. Dick.

He was the guy that everyone else was ripping off for their stuff to seem original. But for whatever reason he was never mainstream. But he made sci-fi craziness so that he could be mediated through hacks and made safe.

So, when reading Ubik, don't think of the bad predecessors that had more money and recognition than Dick. Ignore all the matrices that exist.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Stories to Treasure, and a Book to Pass Along: Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning

First off, I am a big fan of Neil Gaiman. So I’m just going to call him Neil from here on out.

Neil is one of those writers, that if they were dead, you would say, “Man, I wish he were still alive”. I feel that way about Orwell and Camus. Thankfully, Neil is still alive and making art. We are lucky for that.

This collection is a continuance of Neil’s awesomeness. I have read his other two collections – both Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things – and loved them. Fragile things was one of the first presents I got for my wife when we were first dating. I waited for her to finish then I asked to borrow it. It is now part of our combined collection. Thanks, Neil.

That said, I have a quibble. The title of this collection sounds too de mode. It is brought of current discourse in the left. In 20 years, the title will have to be explained to new fans. “Oh, a Trigger Warning was a way of saying…”. Other than that, these stories are awesome. Neil has a way of creating an atmosphere that is just creepy, but in a good way. There’s no exposition dump, or if there is it doesn’t stand out. That’s good, because the format is made for immediacy, and quick intimacy. You have to know who the character are, and live in them right away.

The problem with short stories by Neil is that they are too short. I want a new book by  Neil, I want to fully live in a world that he creates. Thankfully, some of the stories are long enough for you to stretch out your legs in, and you’re not confined by the page count. There is a nice selection here – the good long stories are Lovecraftian, Grimmish, and Whovian. The best, most haunting story is just a few pages.

Somewhere Neil once said that adults need fairy tales too. Thankfully he’s still giving them to us. I’ll now hand this book to my wife, glad that I had a chance to read it first when she wants to talk about the stories.