Is Gen X an Afterthought?

THE new issue of MOJO magazine has a cover story on the 25th anniversary of the Smiths' The Queen is Dead LP, an article on the 20th of Primal Scream's influential Screamadelica record, and another on a reunion tour by Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite.

It's a great issue, of course, of our favorite music magazine. But it also feels like the Gen X teenage years have now been fully commodified and sold back to us.

Perhaps the most rabid and persuasive generational warrior I know is SoCal-reared journalist Jeff Gordiner, who I've interviewed on subjects ranging from contemporary poetry to the Pavement reunion to the novels of Bret Eason Ellis.

Gordinier's book X Saves the World is well worth a look: HERE is my interview with Gordinier, who has recently stormed the New York Times Dining section with a batch of witty, intelligent stories including a memorable piece on veggie burgers.

Here's how my story begins:

These days, with a recession on the way, housing prices tanking, the Dow out of control and an unpopular war that won't seem to end, a lot of Americans are feeling uneasy and confused. Recent surveys show a majority think the nation is on what pollsters call "the wrong track."

For Jeff Gordinier, the author of the new book "X Saves the World" and an editor at large for Details magazine, it's actually kind of reassuring. "I find a strange degree of comfort in it," the writer said serenely at Pasadena's Pie 'n' Burger, a legendary diner near his hometown of San Marino. His Generation X origins, he said, make it hard for him to trust the good times.

And here is Jeff on his book:

The Return of Morrissey

Thursday night, Morrissey returns to LA for a show at the Gibson Amphitheater, and he just dropped a new collection of B-sides called "Swords" (including a short disc of songs from a Warsaw concert.) When Mozz played Coachella in the spring I wrote about the man and his influence HERE.

I am such a hardcore Smiths fan I ventured to the band's hometown -- Manchester -- and wrote this travel piece about an old industrial city -- the first in the world, in a sense -- reimagining itself. Of course, Manchester -- the setting of "24 Hour Party People" -- was also home to the Buzzcocks, Joy Division and the Stone Roses, and here is my sidebar on the 10 best albums from the city. (By sorta coincidence I also had the good fortune to be married on the man's 45th birthday.)

As for the Morrissey show, The Misread City hopes to see you there.

Monster of Folk: Bert Jansch

I'M not sure i can think of another musician who's been powerfully influential on both johnny marr of the smiths and zeppelin-era jimmy page. bert jansch, the british folk guitarist born on this day in 1943, has not only put his stamp on heavy metal and early indie rock -- not to mention his own generation of folk rockers -- he's a hero to freak-folk types like devendra banhart.

jansch was born in glasgow, scotland and came of age with the british folk-rock movement of the 60s: he helped found the band pentangle, like fairport convention dedicated to digging into the origins of british and celtic music and myth. his solo stuff is wonderful, if uneven, veering between acoustic and electric: it's best heard on the 2-cd compilation "the dazzling stranger." i love the way he bends the hell out of his notes and drones and tolls.

here is an old video clip of the solo acoustic "black waterslide," which zeppelin basically stole.

my favorite jansch, oddly, is his '06 record, "the black swan." not only are the songs strong from first to last, it includes delicious contributions from banhart and beth orton. mostly, this is a dark record that i play incessantly in the winter, alongside john fahey and bach's cello suites. "the black swan" was graham coxon of blur's record of the year in '06.

here are two songs from that record, with, alas, no video. the second, "when the sun comes up," has beth orton on lead vocals.

Jansch cancelled a US tour this summer because of illness, posting this on his website:

"Bert is very sorry to be missing the tour, and apologises to all the fans who were hoping to see him. He is looking forward to rescheduling as soon as possible.”

here we are looking forward to the return of this monster of folk. we'll toast a small glass of single-male scotch to you this evening.

Joe Pernice, Songwriter vs. Novelist

ANYONE who follows indie rock closely knows that songwriter joe pernice isnt kidding when he says, "coming up with melodies is a pretty easy thing for me to do. it doesnt take a lot to get me to do it."

songs like "penthouse in the woods," from '90s alt-country band the scud mountain boys, and "crestfallen," by chamber pop band the pernice brothers, have a melodic perfection that sounds effortless.

writing a novel ended up more daunting, even tho pernice had produced a smiths-inspired novella for 33 1/3 called "meat is murder," which wrapped '80s nuclear dread, catholic school, and adolescent angst into the same brief package.

his new novel, "it feels so good when i stop," is a black humor tale of gen x disorientation. set mostly in cape cod off season, it's one of the best glimpses at young men and their relationship to music since nick hornby's "high fidelity."

HERE is my LATimes story on pernice, for which i spent some time with the musician (in a bad airport hotel) and spoke to "little children" / "election" author tom perrotta.

pernice has also released a cd he calls a soundtrack: even though almost none of the songs are by him, it's my favorite work of his in years. he makes a case for songs which have lodged themselves in the collective unconscious without really becoming classics: sammy johns' "chevy van," tom t. hall's "that's how i got to memphis," del shannon's "i go to pieces."

Photo credits: joepernice.com

Who Put the 'M' in Manchester

DON'T know how i missed it, but friday was the 50th birthday of one of the key figures in british rock post-clash: 

stephen 

patrick morrissey. (the fact that the day was also my anniversary may explain why i am posting several days late.)

in any case, mozz celebrated his half-century with a concert in his hometown, manchester, UK, which was in some ways the capital of the industrial revolution as well as the capital of several waves of rock music, from joy division's post-punk to the "madchester" scene to acid house. cue "24 hour party people." 

it was partly my love of bands from manchester -- mozz's old group the smiths, buzzcocks, stone roses, joy division -- that sent me to visit the city not long ago. HERE is the travel piece that ensued, and here is a sidebar on music.

and to anyone who didnt see it, here's my piece, tied to last month's coachella performance, on morrissey and his influence.

Photo credit: SRT

The Legacy of Morrissey

THIS year's coachella festival is filled with all kinds of major historical figures -- not just paul mccartney but leonard cohen, the jam's paul weller and shoegaze pioneers my bloody valentine (who i had the ear-blasting pleasure to see play last fall in santa monica). 

one of the most influential is morrissey, the former smiths leader whose solo career finally started getting interesting a few years ago, and who has managed to generate a devoted latino fanbase  in the whitest of all musical genres.

all kinds of unlikely figures -- ryan adams, jk rowling, bono, outkast -- sing his praises.

HERE is my story in today's LAT on mozz and his influence. i hear him or the smiths everytime i hear the shins, the pains of being pure of heart, belle & sebastian, of montreal, the clientele, many others. and here is a live take of "first of the gang to die."

i had the fortune, or misfortune, to be in high school right in the middle of the '80s. tho i am neither gay nor latino nor a recovering catholic, the smiths spoke to me like no other contemporary band during that dreadful and jingoistic time. (okay, maybe r.e.m.) in college i would sometimes go to halloween parties dressed like him.

i am such a zealot i went to manchester, england -- one of the world's most important rock cities and mozz's hometown -- two years ago to walk in the footsteps of the smiths, buzzcocks, stone roses, etc. HERE is the ensuing travel piece, and here the top-10 manchester albums sidebar.

mozz celebrates his 50th birthday with a big concert in manchester on may 22... were it not my anniversary (that was an accident -- really) and were i not quasi-employed i would try to be there.

Photo credit: Flickr user gussifer