Blog
Asking questions can lead you to new places. Writing helps bring you to answers. And more questions.
Here, I’ve collected writings on a number of topics. Sometimes they’ve been published elsewhere, and other times they’re just for this blog.
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Originally published on City Pages: Thursday, October 4, 2018 Good Night Gold Dust couldn’t see where they were going. Barely outside of Mankato, they were driving through a snowstorm on the way to a January 2016 show at Icehouse. Colin Scharf (guitar and vocals) had grown excitable about a defective wiper blade that left a…
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Originally published on City Pages: Friday, November 16, 2018 What would happen if we called BS on Elvis Costello? No one who attended his three-hour, double-encore performance with the Imposters at the Northrop last night could do this about his music. And they likely wouldn’t find fault with Costello’s stage presence—a timeworn distance, command, and…
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So many of us are staying at home to help limit the spread of COVID-19, and a lot of our to-read book piles are slowly shrinking. Quarantine is very important for flattening the curve, but it’s definitely rough on local bookshops, which must remain closed to the public in Minnesota for now. Since libraries are…
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Reflecting On: Brand New – The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
Originally posted on it's all dead: I wasn’t into Brand New before it was cool. But I did love the Long Island emo rockers before The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me landed on November 20, 2006. In fact, I was waiting for it. By that time, I knew what to expect—straightforward mid-aughts rock…
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Our Guarantee
The Any Tire Store™ 2-Hour Guarantee© makes us a leader in the industry. That’s right: We will make sure that you enjoy no less than a full 2 hours in our luxurious showroom…
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Midwestern Gothic
I talked to the good folks at Midwestern Gothic about life in middle America, Kurt Vonnegut, how to know when work is complete enough to send out, and taking showers. They interviewed me along with many other, better writers who contributed creative writing for Issue 22 of the literary journal, which came out in July…
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My essay on remodeling
The great folks at The Geeky Press have published my essay “Prodigal Remodeler” in their new anthology, Bad Jobs & Bullshit. The collection contains fiction, CNF, and poetry about those less than satisfying jobs that everyone has had to work. And, though I might be a little biased, there’s some great stuff. Mine talks about…
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‘Get hammered, write better…’
While working to survive the first year of grad school, I scribbled down some notable quotables in class, at events, wherever. Some good ones popped up as recently I flipped through my notes.
James Figy 