Ken Wohlrob's Blog
November 25, 2009
I've been on a big Saviours kick after seeing them open up for Saint Vitus and bowl the crowd over with a great live set. As I said in a previous post, they are one of the better American heavy bands I've heard in quite some time. The sound is very much rooted in old school NWOBHM, but played with the delivery of Slayer or High on Fire. Recently the band put out a trio of limited-edition 7″ singles that feature demo tracks for their new album, Accelerated Living. But unlike the album tracks, ...
November 23, 2009
It is a testament to Simenon's quirky way of crafting a novel that when reading The Strangers in the House, one finds the actual solving of the mystery as the least interesting part of the novel.
Simenon took an interesting approach to his novels to say the least. He would often start out by writing everything he knew about his main characters on the backs of envelopes. Simple things: where do they live, what do they do for a living, who is in their family. Case in point, Hector Loursat, the p...
November 18, 2009
When I was a kid, I would spend hours locked away in my bedroom listening to the vinyl audio-comic-books released by Power Records. Often created in conjunction with Marvel and DC Comics, these were comic books that came with a 45″ record that featured actors voicing dialogue and descriptions, as well as sound effects for extra punch. For a comics-obsessed kid from New Jersey this was gold. Often, well known comic artists, including Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, John Romita, and Neal Adams...
November 17, 2009
I have been wanting to post this one for a while now. I originally found this in the East Village during Record Store week back over the summer and still listen to tracks from it pretty regularly. What's not to love here? It's an comp of the first acts signed to Stiff Records in the late 70s, with most of the songs having a very raw and punchy feel. Favorites include a nice over-the-top version of "White Line Fever" by Motörhead, a stripped down rendition of "Less Than Zero" by Elvis...
November 12, 2009
Shrinebuilder: To hell with Them Crooked Vultures. This is the supergroup I've been waiting for. Wino (Obsessed, Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan), Dale Crover (The Melvins), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), and Al Cisneros (Sleep, OM). Very heavy, very groovy, moody, trippy, atmospheric, and just damn stellar.
Saviours — Accelerated Living: One of the best American heavy bands I've heard in a long while. I was lucky enough to see them open for Saint Vitus in Brooklyn and they stormed the place. Amazing...
November 11, 2009
November 10, 2009
It is a sad commentary on the state of the short story when a collection such as this is allowed to go out of print. After all, Dusk and Other Stories did win the PEN/Faulkner award when it was first released in 1989. And this collection did become a textbook for dedicated short story writers — maybe not as popular with the general reading public as Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, but more of an insider's pick, like the films of Sam Fuller. The sad fact is that I had to r...
November 8, 2009
331 pages, 60,643 words. Now comes the hard part: selling the blasted thing.
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November 4, 2009
November 3, 2009
I first discovered the concept of a "Graveyard of the Innocent" while living in Medina, Ohio. A local Catholic church, St. Francis Xavier, used to put up the display every Halloween (see the photo to the left). The crosses were supposed to represent the total number of fetuses killed in abortions in one week in the city of Akron. Needless to say, I'm glad I don't live in frickin' Medina, Ohio anymore.
That image of the mini-tombstones, so like the cover of Metallica's Master of Puppets...
