Well waddaya know? Another year has come and gone, and here I am again
writing about it. If you remember how I did things last year, I made big
lists of everything (you can check it out by going <a
href="../96/96.html">here</a>) as well as completely rewriting every
aspect of my home page. The result? Countless hours spent working on
everything during my Christmas break and for the most part lukewarm
response from the newsgroups I advertised to (of course there was one
glowing exception, but I'll bring that up later). In 1997, things happened
differently than in the previous year. There were no clearcut lines as to
what the upper tier of a particular product was that came out this year
(anyway, how could I be a judge of what was "the best" without sampling
more than what was just familiar to me) and instead of trying to fake it
by making "definitive" lists, I think I'll just write in paragraph form.
It'll make it go down smoother and more compatible, and hopefully it won't
be as boring (did anyone besides myself actually read my obnoxious "good
and bad things" list?). I'm not going to try to up my counter by
announcing this page to appropriate newsgroups, because I have nothing to
really offer here besides personal reflections which would be of no
concern to anyone who's checking me out just because I namedropped
Stereolab or Adrian Tomine. So with all of this stated, I guess I'll
begin. I'm late writing all of this, but I hope I can get the job done,
and maybe later I can redo my page, since it's now on a new server and
all. Okay, let's begin.<br>
<center><b>Narcissism</b></center>
<i><center>"When I was 21, it was a very good year..."<br>
</i>-Frank Sinatra</center>
While I was going through the year, I thought of it as being mediocre. I
didn't believe much happened, my social status hadn't really changed, and
there weren't even any really cool records, comics, or movies that came
out. However, when I now look back over the past 365 days I realize that
'97 was a big year for me in numerous aspects. I performed very well in
school (except for the last quarter, but that was because I got burned
out), I travelled outside of the boundaries of the state of Georgia for
the first time (a spring break trip to New Orleans), and as I've noted
above, I turned 21. I really wasn't one of those kids who desparately
looked forward to turning legal, and it was strange thinking of myself as
being able to do just about anything now, but I'm glad it happened and a
lot of cool things came out of it. I finally saw the inside of the Star
Bar (which was good because I would have been really upset if I couldn't
have seen Link Wray), and I can occasionally have a drink if I want one as
well. It may have helped me out, as well as my gradse, with the feelings
of independence that I now have. It's nice to feel responsible, which is
an emotion that I have usually never had for one reason or another. Also,
I finally started working at WREK, my favorite radio station since high
school, because I got over my nervousness. I haven't gained any close
friends at the station, but it's cool to recognize people on campus for a
change, as well as hanging out with people at shows. And of course, the
music is great, too. When I walked into my first jazz shift, I was so
excited because they had all the CDs I wanted to hear, the ones that I had
read about but hadn't listened to. I've been turned on to so much by
working there, even moreso than when I just listened to them. And as I
mentioned before, I have made a couple of friends there, which proves that
I did meet some new people after all. In addition, I got to know some
casual acquaintances better, and I actually got mail about my web page
from a mondo cool lass in Australia by the name of Amber Carvan. I got a
relly great Lou Barlow CD and a lot of minicomics from hjer, in addition
to all of the wonderful conversation. In fact, she does a mini herself
entitled "Big Smoke", which included a story about my encounter with
Adrian Tomine (see my list of bad things in '96) in her latest issue (as I
know it to be). I also had some dumbass essay I wrote printed up in one of
Criminal Records' otherwise supercool newsletters, so I guess this year
was by big Warholian 15 minutes. Of course, not everything that happened
to me this year was good. I started off the year with a forced aversion to
sodium due to my attendance of a concert by the Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion with Atari Teenage Riot (once again, see my bad things list),
and in October, I got a kidney stone, supposedly from too much chocolate,
so I can't really have much of that anymore. But I can live with that. I'm
back to normal now, or at least as normal as I can get. Besides, those 2
incidents were perhaps the main bad things to occur, and in addition to
the numerous events I've described above, I can think of so many good
things to outweigh them: going to Memphis in September, hanging out at
DragonCon with Amy, Temple, Amy's workmate David, and Anthony Owsley (a
weekend I approached somewhat with indifference, but instead coming out
with the one of the best times of the year), attending the Scent-Surround
viewing of John Waters' "Polyester" with Kim and Paul (I can still smell
some of the odors, be they good or bad), etc. The list could go on and on,
but as I said I don't want to number things out like last year. Let's just
say that 1997 was a nice experience, and that Frank was right in that
song.<br>
<b><center>Music</center></b>
1997 was a year that saw me getting more involved with music from the
past. I guess this happened for several reasons: 1)my somewhat newfound
appreciation of jazz. Not to say that I've ever disliked it, or that I'm
brand new to it (although you could have safely said that 2 years ago). I
just got into buying jazz LPs. It could have been caused by the great
turntable I received from my parents for Christmas last year. In addition,
working at WREK let me listen to artists I had been intrigued by, which
led me to search out new albums. And of course, one of my reasons to go to
New Orleans was to soak up jazz culture. While the areas we were around
seemed to be content in exploiting stereotypes at their most shallow
level, I did run across a wonderful store where I spent $120 on jazz
albums, none really experimental except Ornette's <u>The Shape Of Jazz To
Come</u>. 2)my haunting of thrift stores. Not that that's going to put a
hole in my pocket (although it could, eventually), I simply became more
excited at times to scour the bins for artifacts rather than use the money
on a new CD. Of course, the story that must be mentioned is the time when
I found 26 albums for $8.91, records by R. Crumb, Patti Smith, Television,
R.E.M. bootlegs, etc. I was laughing while I was in the store, which
probably made me appear insane, and I was giddy at the cash register. I
told the checkout girl that it was the greatest day of my life. 3)put
simply, 1997 wasn't the best of musical years. I mean, some good albums
did come out, but I can honestly say that most didn't overwhelm me.
However, I can name off some of the ones that I really got into:
Sleater-Kinney, AMP, Future Bible Heroes, Stereolab, the Sonic Youth EPs,
and probably several others that I just can't think of at the moment. Of
course, the <u>Live At WREK</u> CD is great for the most part. Personally,
I could have thought of some better groups and think that several bands
could have been removed without any damage, but for the most part it's
really great, doing the job of the station by educating as well as
entertaining. Voice Crack, who I'd never heard before, blew me away with
their sonic capabilities, for example. It was also cool to see deserving
local bands on thre, which brings me to the local section of this. I feel
confused about the state of Atlanta music in 1997. It's true that most of
my favorites released music this year, but where's the new artists? And
where are the 7"s? It's sad to say, but I can't think of any new bands
that came out this year. As for singles, the Hal al Shedad continues to
put out several, but it sounds like they're treading water to me. Ra Ra, a
band I dug, put out a single at the beginning of the year, but they're
defunct now. Actually, there is a new label working with one of my
favorites that is putting out vinyl. The two labels are Samizdat and Old
Gold, and they released a single from quiet improvised band San Agustin,
which was okay but perhaps a little self-indulgent. But at least they're
doing somehting, and maybe we can keep an eye out for them. A couple of
good experimental LPs came out on Atlanta indies, the Andrew
Barker/Charles Waters Duo on Earmark, and Charlie Parker on Old Gold. Both
provide shocks to the system, but both are also about more than that.
Actually, the Charlie Parker makes perfect accompaniment to reading Poe's
"Descent Into the Maelstrom", I learned. As for the former, it was but one
in Charles and Andrew's mass production of the year. In addition to that
LP, their 4 appearances on WREK, and their big tours, they released 2 CDs,
<u>Downsizing</u> by their quartet The Gold Sparkle Band, and
<u>Hallelujah!</u> by their octet the Nuzion Big Band. Both Cds are
wonderful and represent the upper eschelon of this year's local releases.
Other  bands that released good CDs include Seely, Grace Braun, Pineal
Ventana, William Carlos Williams, Toenut, and Flap. I could write about
the individual merits of each one, but let me make it easier by just
saying that they're all really good. As for live shows, we had a few good
ones make it here. The first great show of the year was the Magnetic
Fields and Ben Lee. Holli loves the Magnetic Fields, and she got really
excited when she found out about the show. I really hadn't heard that much
from them, basically knowing they were on Merge and their record covers.
Well, after a really good set from Ben Lee (who got the best of 2
obnoxious girls in front of me and Holli trying to hit on him), the
Magnetic Fields got on stage and made a big impression on me. I didn't
know 98% of the songs they played, but they were all great. It's times
like that that I have to really thank Holli for introducing me to stuff
like this and the Future Bible Heroes. Let's see, other shows... Link Wray
put on a helluva show. I thought it might have been one of those "oldies"
shows where people see him more out of respect than musical ability, but I
was gladly proven wrong. Link can still play his guitar to death, and he
even played one of the speakers to death, literally. Other great shows I
can recall were Patti Smith and Smoke (the encore of "Rock And Roll
Nigger" was possibly the best performance of the year), Stereolab and the
High Llamas, Brainiac (R.I.P. Tim Taylor) and Pineal Ventana, Delarosa and
Windy & Carl (another band Holli turned me on to), William Carlos Williams
at their Criminal instore, the World Saxophone Quartet, Main, and several
others that I just can't recall. But the best album of the year as well as
the best live shows go without question to Yo La Tengo. <u>I Can Hear The
Heart Beating As One</u> could be their masterpiece (if only "Spec Bebop"
wasn't so long) and the back-to-back shows in June at the Point & 40 Watt
were among the most amazing I've ever seen. I was actually depressed the
next day after the Athens show because I couldn't see them that night, but
I got over it. In a year of undeserving bands and mediocre releases by big
names, Yo La Tengo easily towered over everyone, closely followed by
Stereolab. Long live rock.<br>
Finally, I'd like to mention how big of an impact Sun Ra had on me this
year. On January 1 at about 2 in the morning, I started off 1997 by
watching "Space Is The Place", Holli's Christmas present to me. When I got
to WREK, one of my initial ideas was to do a Sunday Special on Ra. While I
was considering it, I found out the Arkestra was coming to town on June
13. Taking that as a sign, I decided to do the show. I bought several Ra
albums I didn't have, and hosted a successful (people listened) show with
Amy, even if I could have played more appropriate music and practiced what
I was going to say over the air. I went to the Arkestra show (the last
day of finals; what a celebration!) and had a grand time. I purchased
several more Ra CDs throught the rest of the year. Ra was featured on the
<u>Live at WREK</u> CD. I ended the year by reading John Szwed's terrific
new bioraphy of Ra, <u>Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times Of Sun
Ra</u>. However, not all Ra occurrences weren't joyous: 1997 saw 2 members
of the Arkestra pass away, Samurai Celestial and longtime Arkestra member
James Jacson. To them, I'd like to say something that I read in the book
in rememberance of Ra: rest in space.<br>
<center><b>The quick end</b></center>
Okay, so I meant to write about more than just myself and music, but I
didn't. I guess it's as simple as that. I just haven't gotten the urge to
go on about it, but even if I did I wouldn't have much to say (there
weren't many comics that flipped me out this year: my vote goes to Dirty
Plotte #10). And I never saw a movie that was released in '97 (my 2 trips
to the big-time theaters were to see the Godfather and Polyester). So I
may as well just stop. If there's anything I haven't touched upon that
you're dying to know (and face it, there is), then you can e-mail me and
I'll expound at length on whatever it is you want to know. But for now,
I'm going to my room. Happy 1998.<br>