Starting this thread with Mike Mills’ book recommendations.
The content is found on the website of WUGA which broadcasts from the University of Georgia’s campus, where Mike Mills recommends a couple of books he’s currently reading. ”Like many readers, I read more than one book at a time”.
The first one is Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorised!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colourful Superstar by Alan Shipnuck, while the second is David Corn’s American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy.
Speaking of the latter book, he describes it as “a fascinating read”.
“I’ve known David for many years, he has a lot of knowledge about how politics works (…) when we get together he wants to talk rock n’ roll and I want to talk about politics”.
“I wish more people would be involved in politics because it affects everyone of us”, added Mr. Mills.
San Francisco singer-songwriter Matt Nathanson in a conversation with Ed Condran of Spokane-based The Spokesman Review, briefly discusses R.E.M.’s songwriting:
“(REM vocalist) Michael Stipe almost never used the word ‘love’ in a song,” Nathanson said. “Yes, he used it in ‘The One I Love,’ which is one of the darkest love songs ever, but aside from that, he didn’t use the word ‘love’ in R.E.M. songs. A producer once told me that he suggested that Stipe use the word ‘love’ in a particular R.E.M. song since it fit perfectly but Stipe declined.”
Thanks for that link. I used to listen to Matt N. a lot between around 2001-2008 or so. Dropped out of listening to him around then but I did just a few weeks ago end up kind of randomly listening to his new Boston Accent album and liked it. Good interview and nice random R.E.M. comment. (I remember back when I would see Matt in concert a lot in the early 00s he would sometimes throw in a few lines of “We Live As We Dream, Alone”, like Stipe used to do.)
Stumbled upon this article on the website of Portsmouth-based The News. There’s an interview with photographer Paul Windsor, who attended his first R.E.M. concert in 1984, his last in 2008. In that space of time, the band went from playing small local clubs (like the Carioca in Worthing) to filling stadiums and arenas of more than 20,000 seats.
The article does feature a few samples of Mr. Windsor’s work, plus he recounts an incident that took place during a 1989 gig where he was confronted by R.E.M. personnel.
There’s also this interview with Cuban-born and now Nashville, Tennessee resident, Héctor Téllez, Jr. whose debut album was produced by Barrett Martin. While Salsa beats predominated and reigned in his native country, he was playing blues, rock, classic rock, metal… “there was no reaction to my songs, people wanted to hear covers”, he says. He also recounts how the collaboration with Peter Buck and Krist Novoselic came to fruition.
I’ve not been able to post here. I’ve been busy at work, and as it’s been discussed in countless topics here, priorities change as we grow older. I’m pushing 51 and it all seems that decades just went by in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, I happened to listen to this Young Fresh Fellow feature, can’t remember if one or two weeks ago, but I highly recommend it. I’m looking forward to buying the 2CD version (I’m back into CD, just buying very little new vinyl, the format is cumbersome and unnecessarily pricey) while CDs are very convenient and great sounding, I suppose people on audio forums are perennially discussing this topic of which format is better.
Take the time to listen to this interesting feature, as McCaughey and a local journalist (or historian should I say) try to figure out the location of Egg studios in the 1980s, by using a combination of google maps and relying on fading memories they finally stumble upon the correct Seattle address.
It’s been announced that Mike Mills and Linda Pitmon will be appearing on the new album by Steve Wynn, scheduled to release in late August via Fire Records.
