The new Hold Steady album is out

It's called Teeth Dreams, and if you're a Hold Steady fan, you either already have it or know you need it.  If you love rock and roll but don't know the Hold Steady, you need both this album and the rest of their catalog, particularly their amazing debut CD, Boys and Girls in America.

If you don't love rock and roll, move along; this is not the blog entry you're looking for.

If you're still here, enjoy this cut from the new album.

An open letter to The Hold Steady: Hire a keyboard player!

It was great to see you guys the other night at the Cat's Cradle.  I really enjoyed the show, as did the others in my group.  The audience was into it, you guys seemed to be into it, and Craig Finn, man, you were working the house.

I can't help, though, but miss Franz Nicolay's keyboards on a lot of the music.  I understand Nicolay had his own good reasons for leaving, and I respect that.

The music, though, cries out for keyboards.

Let's start with what has to be perhaps your most perfect song, the magnificent "Stuck Between Stations."



I missed the piano so much when you played this one.

I felt the same way when you gave us this absolutely fabulous tune, "Sequestered In Memphis."



Yes, you performed them both well, but wow, how much better they would have been with someone laying down those piano tracks.

Think about it.  That's all I'm asking.  Think about it.

On the road again: Silicon Valley, day 2

Today was a very long work day of in-person and phone meetings, with way more time on the 101 than I would prefer. As usual, of course, I can't discuss any of it.

Dinner was at a local place where I've eaten many times over the years, Kincaid's. My entree was the halibut cheeks, which were absolutely delicious.

Because I'll be seeing them on August 31, here's a track from a great band. Enjoy.

Two new albums you should pre-order

I'm excited about both of these CDs, and I recommend you start planning now to listen to them.

The first is The Hold Steady's Heaven Is Whenever, which is due on May 4. I've praised this band before and seen them live twice; you don't want to miss them if they come near you. The little I've heard from this CD is wonderful.

For example, check out "Hurricane J," the first single from the album.



For Sarah's take on this album and band, go here.

The other upcoming must-have CD is The Gaslight Anthem's American Slang. You have to wait until June 15 for this one, but from the little I've heard, it'll be worth the wait.

Want a sample? Check out the title track.



I've never seen these guys live, but the first chance I get, I will.

Loud rock late at night. I'll always love it.

In case I forget later

please remind me, when the time is right, to give you the details on the following cool things:

* a nifty announcement about Children No More. I mentioned this one before, but it is, if I may say so myself, something genuinely good that you don't see every day.

* a cool new thing that will appear in Jump Gate Twist (and, no, I'm not just talking the introductions or the amazing John Picacio cover)

What, me tease?

Never.

In the meantime, because The Hold Steady is bringing out a new album in early May, I'm sure you'll want to join me in making sure we're current on all their music. There's no place like this song to start. Enjoy.

Connecting with joy

The Hold Steady were playing at The Cat's Cradle tonight, so of course we had to go see them. Sarah and I are both big fans of the group, and we'd seen them live once previously.

That earlier show was good. This one kicked its ass. The mix was one of the best I've experienced at a club, good enough that with or without earplugs you could understead lead singer Craig Finn's every word. With the storytelling style of their songs, that's vital. The band rocked hard for a total of about ninety minutes, with only a few minutes off between the main show and the long encore. The song selection was great, and everyone on stage and in the audience seemed to be having a great time.

Near the end of the encore, Finn said, as he did in the previous show, "There's a huge amount of joy in what we do up here, and we want to share it with you all." I know it's his standard closer, but I still believe he means it.

After the show ended, I was thinking about this concept in connection with both music and writing. The power of live music to let a group share joy is undeniable and vast; a great concert is an amazing experience.

As a writer, though, I sit alone in a room. When I nail something, when the story is alive in my mind and on the page, when I sit back and think, "Damn, that's actually what I wanted," I'm still alone. I know that thousands of people have purchased copies of One Jump Ahead (and I am grateful to each and every one of them), and I'm hoping that many more folks buy Slanted Jack and each successive book's sales grow, but the nature of the game is that I'll still be alone as I write. I think that if I could both believe I bring joy to others as they read the books and find a way to connect to that joy, I'd be a happier person.

Of course, that feels about as useful an observation as saying that if I could figure out how to grow a few more inches I'd be taller, but there you go; at least it feels like something that might one day help.

School concert, The Hold Steady, and a drunken jerk

Tonight was packed. I left work early (for me: 6:15) to head to a school concert. Sarah and Scott were violinists with the strings ensemble and the symphony orchestra, and I greatly enjoyed hearing them play. I also had a good time listening to the other groups that performed, but I can't help but be biased toward music my kids make. They're talented musicians, and I'm incredibly proud of them.

Immediately after the show ended, four of us--Sarah, her friend, Jennie, and I--headed to the Lincoln Theater to see The Hold Steady, a band whose most recent CD all of us have liked. The opening act, Art Brut, was better than I expected but not quite good enough to entice me to buy any of their albums.

After the usual club delays, The Hold Steady took the stage. Despite the typical club bad sound mix, I was having a good time listening to the music and shuffling my feet in place in what for me passes for dancing.

Then the problem began.

A drunken man in his twenties or thirties hit on all three of the women in succession. Jennie said she gave him a mean enough look that he moved right past her. Sarah looked away and didn't respond, and her friend did the same. The jerk unfortunately fixated on her friend and kept bumping into the girl. And we are talking a girl here, someone well under 18. I explained her age and asked the guy to stop it, but he kept finding little ways to be annoying, so we all moved to a position against the wall far away from him. First rule of conflict: walk away if you can.

That should have been the end of it.

But it wasn't. On his way to buy more beer, this idiot stopped to talk to Sarah's friend. I quickly put my body between the two of them. He explained he would always stop to talk to a sad face, and I explained that he would not, at least not this particular one. When he kept trying to get around me and would not listen to what I was saying, I used my body to move him a few yards away, where he continued arguing and started yelling at me. I told him to back off and leave the girl alone, but he persisted in moving toward her.

If you know me, you realize what a bad idea this was. If you don't know me, all you really need to understand is this: if someone is under my protection, I would die before I would let them get hurt--but first, I would do violence to any attacker. (If you think I'm being melodramatic, you don't know me.)

The jerk saw an overweight middle-aged man, so he pushed.

The next thing he saw was my arm squeezing his throat and jamming him against the wall. I explained to him, rather less calmly, that he would stay away, or I would hurt him a great deal more than I was already doing. He fussed for a moment, then went limp--his first smart move of the night. I released my grip, and he left.

A bit later, he approached her again. I intervened, and he immediately began apologizing. You might think this was his second smart move, but it wasn't, because to make the apology he again intruded on the girl's space.

Unfortunately, by this time, Sarah's friend was scared--she did not know she was safe with me, and she did not know the guy was apologizing--and went to the restroom in tears, Jennie and Sarah in fast pursuit. I followed them and waited, quivering from adrenaline, outside the restroom. What I wanted to do was pummel the jerk who made her cry, but I have enough self-control to stop myself from doing that.

We enjoyed the rest of the show from the upstairs balcony. The guy came up one time to use the bathroom, but he swerved around us and did not make eye contact--his second smart move.

Being a dad, I couldn't help but use the experience to impart some lessons to the girls on the drive home.

I hate that those lessons are necessary, but they are. Men can be jerks in many circumstances, but when they're drunk, the probability of bad behavior goes way up. So, too, does the likelihood of stupidity, because only a stupid man picks a confrontation with no data about his adversary.

I should end by noting that I'm not writing this because I'm proud of my behavior, nor because I enjoyed it. I'm writing it in part because I'm a writer and it's what I do, and in part because I'm still buzzed with adrenaline and draining some more of it from my system by relating the story is better than many of the alternatives. I couldn't communicate to that idiot that I would not let him hurt anyone with me, and I came perilously close to hurting him. I hate that I did, I hate that I ended up at a violent solution, and I hate that I'm paying for it, but words alone would not get him to stop bothering Sarah's friend, and letting him bug her was never an option. Yeah, we could have left the show, but we'd paid to attend, and we'd been enjoying ourselves, and frankly I'm simply not that good a pacifist.

Hitting the road

The next twelve days will be crazed. I'm heading to Balticon, then home for a few days, then off to BEA and from it straight to TechEd. I'm hoping to catch a few noteworthy meals along the way. Watch this space for reports from the various events--or what little I get to see of them.

Perhaps I should pack sometime soon.

Random note: If you haven't listened to The Hold Steady, check out their CD, Boys and Girls in America. It's good the first time, and it repays multiple listening.