My author website can be found at billelenbark.com and the new version of the VAGUE SPACE blog can be found there as well, or more specifically here. Thanks to all my continued readers and please enjoy the new content. This site will remain up as an archive for the Vague Space posts from 2005 to 2013.
November 27, 2015
September 23, 2015
September 21, 2015
September 14, 2015
January 07, 2014
Super Sad True Love Story
I took a fiction writing class this fall semester at The New School and we were assigned five novels to read during the class. I completed a grand total of one of those novels, Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story, and I didn't finish it until recently, weeks after the class had concluded. It wasn't that I didn't care for the novels the professor had selected -- admittedly, they did seem to skew in the French romance direction, unsurprising since our professor was French and wrote romance novels I believe -- but it was merely a lack of time to read. This entire 2013 in fact, I haven't had time to read. Or to breathe. And it's been one of the best years of my life.
A year ago, I was still suffering with unbearable toe pain -- a mystery result of a botched surgery that multiple doctors in multiple fields had tried multiple methods to no avail to alleviate the pain, the wrenching debilitating pain in my big toe on my right foot. I couldn't wear a shoe without pain, couldn't wear a sock without pain, couldn't use my right foot to brake in my car, couldn't even wear a shoe while driving. I'd taken to wearing sandals everywhere, even in the winter, or one sandal and one shoe. I was regularly taking 1600-mg of neurontin per day, which isn't a pain reliever per say, but a nerve drug used for epileptics that helped people with RSD (which is what the doctors had diagnosed my pain as) and it did help me, particularly at night when it got worse and I needed to sleep. I was off the heavier drugs like Percocet and Vicodin that had gotten me through the first half of 2012, but I was still drinking heavily to help with the pain (and likely, my depression), I wasn't able to exercise at all -- well, maybe 10 minutes on a stationary bike if it was a particularly good day -- and I'd ballooned up to 190 pounds, my highest since the 1990s. Not good times.
January 06, 2014
December 27, 2013
2013 Year in Concerts
Having moved to Hoboken in May, I'm much closer to the hub of indie rock concert activity -- NYC -- only a 10 minute train ride away. Of course, I'm now much further from Philly, where I used to go frequently, but all in all the exchange allowed me to see a grand total of 34 concerts this year. Unfortunately, I had tickets to probably 50 shows but due to work and other responsibilities I was not able to attend them, leaving me short of my goal of 40 shows this year. Also, the legendary Maxwell's in Hoboken, which is only a 10 minute WALK away, closed down in July, just after I moved here, so I didn't get to feast very long on the amazing feeling of walking to a concert and then walking home. So it's been a bit of a mixed bag. But this has been a pretty great year of concerts that was quite difficult to cull down to a top 20 list. Interestingly my least favorite indie rock venue - Webster Hall - was the one I saw the most shows at this year (5), followed by the Bowery Ballroom and Brooklyn's Knitting Factory with 4 each, then the Mercury Lounge, Maxwell's, and Le Poisson Rouge with 3 each. Of course, even more surprising, my top 2 favorite shows this year took place outside of the NYC area.
1. The National at the Mann Center in Philadelphia (June)
2. Yo La Tengo at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles (May)
3. Superchunk at the Bowery Ballroom (1st night) in Manhattan (September)
4. Pixies at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (September)
5. Caspian / 65daysofstatic / The World Is at the Bowery Ballroom (November)
6. Desaparecidos / Joyce Manor at Webster Hall in Manhattan (February)
7. Sigur Ros at MSG in Manhattan (March)
8. Superchunk at the Bowery Ballroom (2nd night) (September)
9. The Antlers at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan (April)
10. Belle and Sebastien / Yo La Tengo at The Mann Center (July)
11. The So So Glos at Mercury Lounge in Manhattan (July)
12. Titus Andronicus at Maxwell's (1st night) in Hoboken (July)
13. Young Galaxy at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn (October)
14. The Mountain Goats at Maxwell's (where I met John Darnielle afterwards!!) (June)
15. The So So Glos at the Knitting Factory (June)
16. Desaparecidos / Joyce Manor at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ (February)
17. The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park (August)
18. CHVRCHES at Union Transfer in Philadelphia (August)
19. The Octopus Project at Mercury Lounge (September)
20. Yo La Tengo at the Bell House in Brooklyn (December)
December 23, 2013
Album of the Year 2013
Welcome to the final album of the year countdown for Vague Space. Because this blog is dying soon. Sadly. But I outlasted elbo.ws So that's something. Anyway, this year was quite a year for music. Due to my move to the NYC area, I've seen more concerts this year than any year in my history, and I've been exposed to way more new music from new bands than I've ever been in a single year. Plus, there's been a ton of new albums from some of my favorite bands of all time -- in fact, if you look at my list of top 20 favorite "active" bands ever (eliminating bands that have broken up like Pavement and The Smiths), fully 60% (12 of them) released new albums this year: Superchunk, The Arcade Fire, Okkervil River, Destroyer (a 5 song EP at least), The National, Sigur Ros, Yo La Tengo, Explosions in the Sky (a split album / movie soundtrack), Moonface, Sebadoh (in a surprise return to recording!), Frog Eyes (post-cancer for Carey!), and Low. So there were a shit-ton of albums that were competing -- new bands, old bands, returning bands, 3 of my top 5 all-time favorites within weeks of each other this fall (Superchunk, Arcade Fire, Okkervil River). And yet, oddly, at least at the very top, I didn't feel like this year had any truly seminal and unforgettable records. I wasn't truly blown away by any of the collections, particularly from my favorites. Some were downright disappointing even (Arcade cough Fire cough). There were a shit-ton of really good albums, close to great, but at the very top, I had trouble separating out one that I truly thought was best. Well other than the one that I've refused to anoint to try to keep some semblance of indie cred.
In the end, it came down to two all-time favorite veterans -- Okkervil River and The National -- against the upstart emo band with the way-too-young fandom but a truly special album (The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die) and one wildcard who came on like wildfire this December and threatened to make this a truly special final list... the one and only Spencer Krug, whose latest Moonface release Julia With Blue Jeans On was a solo piano-only experience that I didn't really care for at all at first but that grew on me in leaps and bounds, and pushed itself into the conversation (that I guess I was having with myself) for Vague Space album of the year. Again.
You see, this blog has been around since 2005, so there have been 8 years of albums of the year (this is the 9th) and in each year, a Spencer Krug band has been in the top 2 albums of the year. And #1 for the past 6 years in a row. It should pretty much be called the Spencer Krug Album of the Year:
2005 #1 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (not related to Spencer)
#2 Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary (Spencer)
2006 #1 Mogwai - Mr. Beast (not related to Spencer)
#2 Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming (Spencer)
2007 #1 Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover (Spencer)
2008 #1 Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer (Spencer)
2009 #1 Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer (Spencer)
2010 #1 Wolf Parade - Expo 86 (Spencer)
2011 #1 Moonface - Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped (Spencer)
2012 #1 Moonface with Sinaii - Heartbreaking Bravery (Spencer)
So here we are in the final album countdown for Vague Space ever, and can Julia with Blue Jeans On pull it off? Can it put Spencer on top one more time?
December 02, 2013
Bill's Indie Cred
So there's this band called "The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die". And yes they are as "emo" as their name. But without labels or knowing anything about them, I discovered their album this summer and loved it. It's in the running for my favorite album of the year and the closing song "Getting Sodas" is almost definitely my favorite song.
I saw them at a show at a bowling alley a couple months ago where the average age of the crowd was about 16. I was a little disturbed. I've also been approached on three separate occasions wearing their shirt by teenagers who like them. This band is apparently cool among the "just discovering decent music" male teen demo and at least one of the teens who talked to me about them name checked "Brand New", which is a popular emo band.
I'm not averse to emo, necessarily -- hell, I went through a huge Bright Eyes phase, but that was over a decade ago and I'm definitely "too cool" to be into angst-ridden emo bands that appeal to teens. I thought. My love of this band is therefore a little disturbing. Am I no longer on the cutting edge of cool?
November 07, 2013
Youth is Wasted on the Young
There's a line you wrote
A long time ago
It goes something like this:
"I wouldn't mind dying at all
If it weren't for the songs I'd miss"
Youth is wasted on the young.
I saw Young Galaxy last night at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. It's been a super stressful last couple weeks for me, as my company unexpectedly closed my whole division leaving me without a job. But still working, oddly, on an unfinished project. I also got called at the exact same time to do side work for a former boss, work I needed to take since I suddenly was -- sort of -- out of a job. So I was working two job ("was" is not really appropriate because it's still happening) and looking for a new position, in my limited spare time. But I didn't really look because a really good opportunity came to me, I interviewed all day one day two weeks ago, and it seemed like they would hire me so I stopped looking, I wasn't really looking anyway, but I been too busy with the two jobs and my life to look. And I won't even get into the whole existential "I have probably 25 more years of working, do I really want to stay in this career that whole time?" but I haven't had the opportunity (time) to truly explore all that. So. Stress. I did get the official offer this week and I accepted it and I may be flying across the country on Sunday to start work on a project for them. So I have to wrap my other two jobs pretty much today. And I shouldn't be writing this.
But I never write on here anymore. Those who used to be regular readers probably have noticed.
I would love to talk about Young Galaxy. I'd love to write about the songs. I'd love to have the time that I had when I was younger. But it's not just work. The move to Hoboken has afforded me a wealth of social opportunities that were missing all these years writing this blog. Plus I've been unexpectedly in a surprisingly serious relationship this year and that's... well... a huge amount of time in my life. Great, wonderfully great, but yes, time.
This is not the last blog post for Vague Space. I will still do my year-end recaps and songs of the year. But after that? I'm not sure. It's unlikely that I will ever have the time to write here like I used to. But Young Galaxy were amazing last night.
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