We all scream for Japanther

Friend and well-wisher of Indichik Lauren Cerand, a leader and pioneer in literary publicity (think Roxana Robinson and Diana Balmori), is branching out into punk rock, and we here couldn't be more excited about it. Her first project is the latest album from Brooklyn tongue-in-cheek punks Japanther (who were, appropriately enough, one of the first genuine DIY shows I ever saw, shortly after moving to New York). And I'm not just saying this to make Lauren happy, those of you (like me) who have recently been disenchanted by a music scene increasingly full of bland indie poseurs doing more of the same nondescript, overly-mannered electronic shit. This is one of those rare albums you always sort of assumed existed ever since sometime in 1981, but it wasn't until you actually heard it that you realized that it didn't, until now. Please take a minute to get yourself excited about music again by checking out the Mp3 of "Alone in the Basement" below, then go live it up at the Mercury Lounge tomorrow night. I'll see you there.
Mp3 - Japanther - Alone in the Basement

Shakespeah made proud

Titus Andronicus: Titus Andronicus
(Yes, they have a song named after themselves. You don't?)

Titus Andronicus played like a million free shows in NYC this summer, and they were probably the one band I really wanted to see that I never got a chance to. (Come back from Jersey, guys! We miss you!) The rumor was that they put on a hell of a show, and listening to their first album, this doesn't surprise me. Poor me. Luckily, they're touring again:

Jan 15 Ottobar w/Los Campesinos! Baltimore, Maryland
Jan 16 Cat's Cradle w/Los Campesinos! Carrboro, North Carolina
Jan 17 The Earl w/Los Campesinos! Atlanta, Georgia
Jan 19 Jack Rabbits w/Los Campesinos! Jacksonville, Florida
Jan 21 Club Downunder w/Los Campesinos! Tallahassee, Florida
Jan 24 Exit-In w/Los Campesinos! Nashville, Tennessee
Jan 25 Hi Tone w/Los Campesinos! Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 27 One Eyed Jack's w/Los Campesinos! New Orleans, Louisiana
Jan 29 Walter's on Washington w/Los Campesinos! Houston, Texas
Jan 30 The Parish w/Los Campesinos! Austin, Texas
Jan 31 Club Dada w/Los Campesinos! Dallas, Texas
Feb 3 The Bottleneck w/Los Campesinos! Lawrence, Kansas
Feb 3 The Bottleneck w/Los Campesinos! Lawrence, Kansas
Feb 4 The Gargoyle w/Los Campesinos! St. Louis, Missouri
Feb 6 Der Rathskeller w/Los Campesinos! Madison, Wisconsin
Feb 7 Logan Square Auditorium w/Los Campesinos! Chicago, Illinois
Feb 10 Calvin College Ladies Literary Club w/Los Campesinos! Grand Rapids, Michigan
Feb 11 Wexner Center for the Arts w/Los Campesinos! Columbus, Ohio
Feb 12 Swarthmore College Olde Club w/Los Campesinos! Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Feb 13 Paradise Rock Club w/Los Campesinos! Boston, Massachusetts
Feb 14 Bowery Ballroom w/Los Campesinos! New York, New York
Feb 15 Bowery Ballroom w/Los Campesinos! New York, New York


The whole album, The Airing of Grievances, is pretty much what the title suggests, although thankfully it's not just a pack of angry young jerks screaming at you for 40 minutes (well, it is, but in the good Ramones way, and not in the bad Limp Bizkit way.) (BTW, the link above may be broken. I'm working on it, and it's Blogger, not me). It is, more than anything, instead of anger and hopelessness, a fuck-it-all celebration of anger and hopelessness, it that were possible: their are chimes, cowbells, harmonicas, and all in all, it resembles a kind of Biblical block party -- there are ancient references up the wazoo, a la the Thermals. Plus an excerpt from Camus. Holy crap, these guys read. I think I'm in love.



Titus Andronicus on Myspace

This recap is so punk rock

UPDATE: We've tracked down one photo (shout-out to Tim and Monica Marx). Unfortunately, it's of me.

Punk Rock Fiction is over, with a minimum of hitches, and I'm really not exaggerating here, considering I'd flown in from Minnesota only a little over 24 hours earlier, only to be dropping into the beehive which is the Curse of the Promoter. (I guess I'm a promoter now, and Jason Amos would know). It shows that I'm a first-timer, since it was only today that I realized I forgot to do two crucial things at the reading, basics which any shameless huckster worth her salt would have known: send around an e-mail list, and take pictures, which explains why the space above this post is a boring blank void of nothingness and I fail at life. People are visual learners, after all, and we musn't disappoint them. Arianna Huffington said it, not me.

It's a shame, too: I could have gotten some good ones of Jason lighting his novel manuscript on fire and stepping on it.If I track down one of my dutiful staff photographers, perhaps I'll have some to post after all.

There'll probably be another one, probably not for several months, and not until I stop hyperventilating over this one and make some progress on my own novel. But anyway, I'd like to send out one more blogospheric thank you to Jason, Marina Kaganova, Amy Dupcak and especially David Hollander, whose 8-minute alliterative masterpiece about the F train was a literary freak-out. I'm lucky to know you all.

She's such a punk

WARNING! Shameless self-promotion ahead:


Please join me, my closest friends, and a collection of the curious for my first curated literary event in New York City. Details below:


Claire Shefchik (Sarah Lawrence MFA '09) and Cornelia Street Cafe Present:

PUNK ROCK FICTION

Sunday, January 11, at 6:00 PM

Five young NYC writers will get all up in your face with their fresh, bold, funny and innovative prose. That's punk rock. That's Punk Rock Fiction.

Jason Amos (Sarah Lawrence MFA alum)
Amy Dupcak ((current New School MFA)
Marina Kaganova (current Columbia MFA)
Claire Shefchik (current Sarah Lawrence MFA)

and featuring:

David Hollander is the author of the novel, L.I.E. His short fiction has recently appeared in McSweeney's, Post Road, Swink, Unsaid, The Black Warrior Review, Sleeping Fish, and elsewhere; his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poets & Writers, and Gastronomica (and again, elsewhere). Hollander's work has been frequently anthologized, most recently in Best American Fantasy, 2007. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the writer Margaret Hundley Parker, and their daughter, Percy.

Detailed bios of all readers can be found here.

Doors open at 6. Admission is $7 and includes a free drink.

The Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia St.
NYC
212-989-9319

Directions:
A, C, E, B, D, F & V to W. 4th St.
1 & 9 to Sheridan Square
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com