02/10/2013
Critics Poll XXIII — My Ballot
so i will tell you why
because of the beats because of the rhymes because melody is radical because auto-tune is tasty because of sun high against the skyscrapers of miami in april and it’s forty two degrees back in newark and the world knows the single but i am hearing the album for the first time, just shaking hands with the year, the marlins have a new ballpark and traffic on the causeway is moving like we’re in one of those japanese future cities where the cars are all automated and the breeze smells like citrus and everything is swell because of may in the pine barrens, speeding through… MORE
02/04/2013
Critics Poll XXIII — Miscellaneous Categories
Before we dive into this annual madness, a few general observations. While there were no shortage of long comments and smart-aleck questions this year, the essay-length kvetching in the negative categories has dried up like the Aral Sea. A few of you even scolded me for keeping them on the Poll. Thing You Felt Cheapest About Liking drew the most blank stares. You are all shameless and regret nothing. I admire this.
Not everybody votes in every category, which is probably for the best. That would guarantee that I wouldn’t have this up on the site until April. The popularity of the categories has shifted over time, and it’s… MORE
01/31/2013
Critics Poll XXIII — The Singles
A man woke up one dismal day and the All-Music Guide had doubled its stars. Once there was a single column of red stars. Now, there’s a parallel column of stars in a puke terra-cotta. I am the man, by the way, and the dismal day wasn’t so long ago. Or maybe it was; I could be confusing it with other interchangeably dismal days on a dismal Internet where the sun never comes out anymore. I will take the gross booger color of the new stars as a tacit indication that All Music knows that it has made a dreadful mistake and undermined its own authority. I will take it… MORE
01/05/2013
Critics Poll XXIII
Who Are You? Your Namerequired! Emailrequired! Locationrequired! Album Of The Year Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6 Number 7 Number 8 Number 9 Number 10 Album Honorable Mention(s) Single Of The Year Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6 Number 7 Number 8 Number 9 Number 10 Single Honorable Mention(s) Individual Honors Best singer Best rapper Best guitar player Best piano or organ player Best synth player Best bassist Best drummer Best backing vox Best production Best lyricist Best songwriter Best live shows you saw in 2012 Miscellaneous Smartass Categories Best album cover Best album title Most welcome surprise… MORE
11/04/2012
We love Hoboken always forever
Like millions of people in the Jerz, we lost power, heat, and connectivity. The Hudson River flowed through our basement for awhile. But compared to our friends in Hoboken, we got off easy. Hoboken floods when it’s drizzling. And this time, Hoboken was swamped.
There are still many blocks in Hoboken without power. Traffic lights are out, stores are dark, it’s cold out, and there’s basement junk strewn all over the sidewalks. Another storm coming this Wednesday, and with many roads still closed, no PATH service, and gasoline in short supply, it’s tough to get out of town.
The city of Hoboken epitomizes much of the stuff that makes the… MORE
10/15/2012
Upcoming reading: Montclair, October 28
Reading number two won’t be at a bookstore. I’ll be at Alan Smith’s house for a pre-Hallowe’en party on Sunday, October 28. I’ll read from The Trespassers and sign copies of the book for anybody who wants one. For those of you who remember the old Cropduster parties in Hackensack, it’s going to be something like that. For those of you who don’t, well, it’s going to be fun.
The Porchistas and Thomas Wesley Stern are going to do sets, but Alan insists that the night is going to belong to The Trespassers. I’m not sure exactly when I’m reading yet, but it will probably be in the early evening. … MORE
10/15/2012
Interview with the Jersey City Independent
Jennifer Weiss, the editor of the Jersey City Independent, talked to me about The Trespassers for a feature interview. Jennifer met me at Made With Love on Jersey Avenue, and we both had a glass of nonalcoholic hibiscus sangria. Boy did I ever need mine: I’d been covering the Springsteen concert with the three-hour rain delay the night before. I’d staggered home from a New Jersey Transit odyssey around 4 in the morning. Luckily for me, Jennifer was a good sport.
I like this quote:
If somebody puts up a no trespassing sign, anytime you violate that you get excited because it just feels good. It doesn’t feel… MORE
10/15/2012
First reading: Jersey City
Thanks to everybody who came to the Tachair Bookshoppe in Jersey City to see my first reading and signing. I’m glad it went okay, and I’m glad we did it there. Tachair is the only bookstore in Jersey City, which is a pretty amazing thing — no matter what state print is currently in, you’d figure there’d be a few places to get books in a city of a quarter million.
Ed Fausty was nice enough to cover the walls of the store with his prints. We used two of them for the front and back covers of The Trespassers. There’s another on the cover… MORE
10/08/2012
Reading in Montclair, NJ on Oct. 28
Tris will be doing a reading on Oct. 28 in Montclair, NJ. More details soon.
