PEN-CORE
You may or may not know this but few things excite the artist like a new fucking pen. There’s really nothing like it. Even if you have never used that kind of pen in your whole life, something will happen, or you’ll see another artist you admire using it and think to yourself “I sure could use another pen.” We can go on and on and on and on and on and on about pens. Such a thing recently happened to me.
It seems almost conspiratorial that the fountain pen has been showing up all over the interwebs for me. From being alerted of The Sneaky Artist and his around-town art practice, consisting mostly of fountain pens, to an interview on an Icelandic literary show where author Neil Gaiman talked about how he writes with fountain pens, is the algorithm so omnipresent and intrusive that it can focus it’s attack so directly? I don’t know but I bought a fucking fountain pen.
And I kind of love it. How fancy pants of me. I like it better for writing than for drawing but it’s not without it’s merits. The line, at least with the modestly priced, garish pink plastic pen I bought, doesn’t taper easily and it’s hard to change line widths. I’m not sure if that’s standard for a fountain pen or not, but I kind of like that about it.
For writing it feels like I’m doing some serious writing when using it. The kind of writing that would be done by candlelight on “parchment,” and sealed with a wax stamp, though, I doubt any such writing was done with pink plastic.
The lid, however, doesn’t fit on the bottom of the pen as there is a curious, bulbous, ball there, larger in diameter than the pen cap, which has to be the worst design feature to have on a pen. What the fuck am I supposed to do with the cap? Just put it on the table like a fucking psycho? So it can fall off and get whisked away to that same mysterious land that left socks go to, leaving my pen nib, or knob, or tip, or whatever, exposed for the world to see, unable to be meaningfully pocketed or stored otherwise?
No fucking thank you.
HOW I DISCOVERED PUNK ROCK
This week I exposed how I came to discover Punk Rock, surrounded by preteen boys at a slumber party awaiting the fabled unscrambled TV broadcast of the Playboy Channel one night in the nineteen ‘90s. In case you missed it you can read all about it now.
ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE’S TOP 500 ALBUMS
OF ALL TIME
I’m making my way through Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 500 albums off all time list. The journey continues:
489: Phil Spector - “Back to Mono 1958-1969” (1991)
This is supposedly a four-disc box set of all the best songs from all the best artists Phil work with. Supposedly because I could not find a way to listen to without purchasing the actual compact discs and this is supposed to be fun, not costly. Guess I’ll never know the majesty of the 489th spot on this list.
488: The Stooges - “The Stooges” (1969)
I told myself I wasn’t going to critique this list’s placements but this spot should go to “Raw Power,” by The Stooges, right? Like, that’s the one. There’s nothing wrong with this album. It’s fantastically rough and I’m sure blew more than a few hippies lackadaisical hair back, but Raw Power is just… raw and raucous, and aggressive, and a perfect culmination of The Stooges sound adding the bricks to the punk foundation they’d already set.
487: Black Flag - “Damaged” (1981)
All eras of Black Flag are vital and it just comes down to preference, mine being for the earlier, Keith Morris era, but Damaged IS an iconic album. There’s no arguing that. It ushered in the 80’s hardcore era and subsequent violence, features, likely, some of the most iconic punk rock songs of ever, and, of course, is Henry Rollins’ debut with the band.
486: Jon Mayer - “Continuum” (2006)
Did John Mayer get canceled by the hordes of Swifties for breaking Taylor’s heart? Did I just make that up? I don’t know, I’m trying to be positive with every album on this list so in that spirit I will say that this is certainly an album with music on it.
THINGS I’M LISTENING TO
Varathron - “The Crimson Temple”
Paradise Lost - “Icon 30”
Minor Threat - “Out of Step Outtakes”
Asphodelus - “Sculpting From Time”
Melissa - “II - EP”
LYRICS OF THE WEEK
I want to make great art that doesn't sell
Tell a couple of contemporaries to go to hell
I don't know how to save the planet
But complaining doesn't help
The Smith Street Band - “A Conversation with Billy Bragg About the Purpose of Art”