sunny quiet, old man reading, low cinderblock wall

by Nate

An older story of mine, Girl with Tangled Hair, was just published at The Northville Review. The other stories in this issue are super great. Check it out here; thanks Erin!

As mentioned in the previous post, I picked up Erick Lyle’s On the Lower Frequencies last week at Needles and Pens:

and I finished reading it a couple days ago.

The book comprises a few different types of writing: first, excerpts from Lyle’s Scam zine, including alternately hilarious and horrifying stories about organizing protests and illegal generator shows in the Mission, finding and developing squats/event-spaces in abandoned buildings, and generally living in the underground art/life/music activist/punk/traveler scene in SF.  There are also pieces of Lyle’s political writing, dealing mostly with tenant’s rights and homeless rights issues within the city, as well as a particularly interesting/inspiring section on getting the first needle exchange started in the Haight.  Finally, there are lots of interviews with artists, scene figures, activists/humanitarians, and even a short one with the former mayor of SF!

Lyle’s excellent writing carries you through these disparate topics with a storyteller voice, making each section exciting and interesting.  I think this book is definitely of special interest to folks living in SF [that have visited the many donut shops Lyle writes about], but would also be a fun and informative read for anyone interested in art/punk subcultures or activist/grass-roots politics.  Definitely recommended!

Wow that was a long review.  Anyway, just buy the book at N&P if you have a couple bucks!

I’ve been listening to weirdly less-heavy music lately… couple favorites:


Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why Their Are Mountains. Listened to this guy for about a week on repeat.

Japandroids – Post-Nothing.  Wanted to hate this for some reason, ended up loving it. Very fun.

Finally, I spent an-hour-plus the other day updated this old Myspace profile that I had set up like a year ago and then never used.  It is unclear to me why I’ve updated it, but, um, some things are just a mystery, I guess.