Evan

self-help

Bouncing back creatively is part of the job. Bouncing back personally is an art form.

The most important trait a creative person has is their resiliency. This is true for copywriters, art directors, artists, musicians, actors, photographers and novelists. No matter what your creative discipline is, bouncing back is the key to success. You have to handle the creative block, let rejection roll off your

Coming soon...

Marcel The Drunkard

There was a study published a few years back that stated we stop listening to new music around age 33 [https://skynetandebert.com/2015/04/22/music-was-better-back-then-when-do-we-stop-keeping-up-with-popular-music/] . I think for anyone who really loves new music, this is complete horse shit. In a recent reddit AMA, George Clinton was asked

Neil Young's music and the continuing conflict of streaming

"The thing is, I want the sound of music to come back — and it’s gone,” Young, 72, said while seated in a large, rustic chair in the front room of the Calabasas home of his longtime manager, Elliot Roberts. “CDs have less than 20% of the quality that

The genius of John Lydon

There are a lot of stupid listicle videos out there on The YouTubes, suggesting moments where culture predicted the future. As in, "Twenty times The Simpsons predicted the future!" Or some bullshit. But in light of my post yesterday about Damon Krukowski's [https://asidesandbsides.ghost.io/

Damon Krukowski's solution to streaming by giving music away is interesting if not flawed.

There's a very interesting article written by Galaxie 500/Damon & Naomi drummer and singer Damon Krukowski called "How to Be a Responsible Music Fan in the Age of Streaming." [https://pitchfork.com/features/oped/how-to-be-a-responsible-music-fan-in-the-age-of-streaming/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video] It's a lengthy read with many

XTC: This is Pop

So that cold I was staving off turned to the flu that has pretty much ravaged the entire country at this point. Blargh. Finally better and pleased that the documentary I'd been anticipating since it was released in the UK finally had a debut here on Showtime. XTC:

What's next in 2018

This is a short update as I've had the past week off and am now staving off a cold. In terms of creative growth, 2017 was a fantastic year for me. A-Sides and B-Sides did better than expected in terms of people actually bothering to purchase and read

On the subject of T Rex and Milo Yiannopoulos

I've just started reading Shock and Awe:Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the Twenty-first Century [https://www.amazon.com/Shock-Awe-Seventies-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0062279807] by Simon Reynolds. Or I should say listening to, as it's one of my audio books for the daily exercise

Robert Pollard has a Biography coming out

That's right. Robert Pollard has a biography coming out called Closer You Are, written by a friend named Matthew Cutter. You can pre-order it now [https://www.amazon.com/Closer-You-Are-Robert-Pollard/dp/0306825767] but it won't be coming out until August of next year which means Pollard

Story #14 "Punk Rock Girl"-- The Dead Milkmen

The Dead Milkmen [http://www.deadmilkmen.com/] were my first live show. Depeche mode was my second. I don't think you could get more diametrically opposed. One is a pretentious British electronic band (I mean that in the best sense of the word) and the other was comprised

writing

Story #12 "God Loves Us"-- Guided By Voices

We are living proof that God loves us I hadn't planned on doing more than one song title by a band when I started writing "A-Sides and B-Sides." [https://www.amazon.com/Sides-B-Evan-Brown-ebook/dp/B076DMJTYQ] Actually, that's not quite accurate. I thought about doing

Donate to Scott McCaughey's Go Fund Me

Scott McCaughey's been blessed to have two amazing parts to his career. First as the front man and guitarist for Seattle's finest, the Young Fresh Fellows [https://www.amazon.com/Think-This-Young-Fresh-Fellows/dp/B002B2ZNSY/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=] and then

Story #11 "I'd rather be right here"-- Adrian Belew

Cause I see enough; now I'm willing to be out of touch Put my head in the sand I wanna sit right down and take a stand I don't need to be a traveling man; I'd rather be right here In a previous post

Story # 10: "You and Oblivion" -Robyn Hitchcock

Something about you...you and oblivion For some reason I skipped ahead two stories so I'm doubling back with this one today. Some memories are long and involved, others are snapshots. My snapshot memories are just as important and preserved in amber in a museum inside my head

Story #13: "Space is the place" -- Sun Ra

*Outer Space Is a pleasant place. A place that's really free, There's no limit to the things That you can do. Space is the place. * Let's begin by saying Sun Ra is to jazz what abstract expressionism is to art, or Sgt Pepper is

writing

Captain Beefheart

A lot of people in my social feeds have been mocking a Vox article about Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica," called "Why this awful sounding album is a masterpiece." Music is completely subjective and sites that thrive on clickbait say stupid things all the

george clinton

Story #9 "If You Don’t Like The Effects, Don’t Produce The Cause”-- Funkadelic

"You picket this and protest that, and eat yourself fat. Ain't you deep, in your semi-first class seat." Funkadelic (and by extension, Parliament and George Clinton) do not get enough credit for their politics which is a shame because the best kind of message is the

the church

Story #8 "Electric Lash" -- The Church

"I turn to leave as if in a cameo..." I first started listening to independent radio stations when I was thirteen. In that first year alone, I received a comprehensive crash course in music that I imagine is akin to working in a record store. From Friday night

Camper Van Beethoven

Story #7 "Eye of Fatima" -- Camper Van Beethoven

"He's got the Eye of Fatima on the wall of his room" I don't understand people who say they just listen to "whatever's on the radio," when it comes to music. As if they had no choice in the matter.

luna

Story #6 "Superfreaky Memories" -- Luna

"Now the years are rolling by and you don't get any wiser And the years are rolling on but you're going round and round And these superfreaky memories have put me in my place But my superfreaky memories are gone without a trace." At

tricky

Story #5 "Feed me" - Tricky

"Feed me when I'm hungry, drink me 'til I'm dry. The dream of yesterday becomes another lie." Trip hop had this moment in the 90's that started in Bristol and made its way across the pond and gave birth to such

guided by voices

Story #4 "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows" - Guided By Voices

"Buzzards and dreadful crows. A necessary evil, I suppose. There's something in this deal for everyone. Did you really think, that you were the only one?" True story--For about a week after I came up with the concept of writing short stories based on song titles,

woolen men

Story #3 "Land of Laughs" -- The Woolen Men

"When I was young I used to think that I could change the world make it a better place for every boy and girl....it's a childish game." The sheer wistfulness of this song by The Woolen Men [https://woolenmen.bandcamp.com/track/land-of-laughs-2] is amazing.

mercury rev

Story #2 "The dark is rising" - Mercury Rev

"And now the dark is rising And a brand new moon is born" Mercury Rev were one of those bands who were always on my periphery, but a band that I didn't really get into until I'd been working in advertising for a few