I’ve spent a lot of time researching the new Sandusky Review, reading up on the geography of the Delta, how the River used to move, what a cotton boll really looks like (I always think: fluffy exploding starfish), just what types of pistol an immortal Confederate deserter uses. That kind of junk.
These sketches were made at Lula’s, trying to get down the unusual shapes and shadows of a Colt pistol. Even by the late nineteenth century, the design was singular, a highly functional slab of wood and tooled metal sculpture.
I wrote the beginning of “Chopping Tulips” on the City of New Orleans heading back to Jackson, and like a lot of my work, it didn’t change too much from when it spilled out on the page. It’s been bouncing around in my head since early December of 2006, when we all went to see the Hold Steady in New Orleans. It was a screenplay, then, and started exactly as it did in the story, although it was called “Milemarker Nineteen.”
Everybody’s jibber-jabbin’ about the new My Morning Jacket record that’s coming out. I have to admit that I’m intrigued by the post-soul of “Evil Urges,” but I’m totally freaking out about the new Rhino deluxxe reissues of the Twin Tone-era Replacements albums. I recently read Jim Walsh’s enjoyable All Over But the Shouting, an oral history that had me yanking out Sorry Ma, which I really don’t do.
I’ve got most of the b-sides, &tc. on these ‘Mats reissues, but I gotta say: I covet having a bookshelf stuffed with the new ones.
Grab a copy of “Evil Urges” at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends.
Replacements – Perfectly Lethal (Let It Be outtake).