submissions still welcome!!


and also some cover songs and DIY videos are up now: here. [sadyoungcardinals.blogspot.com]

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

So I took a peek at these essays when they came out and then was looking through them again today when I found WC's on You're in Maya. WC...did you just do what I think you did??? Because JD says he's the narrator of that song. In which case, this short story is about JD as if he were a fictional character. If so, that is SO BADASS!!! I love stuff like that. Short stories are such an awesome vehicle for creativity. I'm thinking I might have to write a submission myself But it would most likely be about one of JD's more fictional characters I'm thinking probably Orange Ball of Pain. I really don't like that song much but I always wonder about the character in it. I pretty much create short stories about a lot of JD's songs in my mind anyways
ETA: Also really liked Jack & Faye which I have been puzzling through a lot lately. I thought your ideas on Raid on Entebbe were very interesting. I always thought that the song took place in an African country (not sure which) where the govenmental power shifts a lot because of the line "they were shifting the power again." Also the fact that it mentions, "the shores of a lake named after a late queen of england" which I took to be Lake Victoria which I thought was somewhere in Africa but I'm pretty bad at geography. But I really like what you said about how the song relates to the title. The whole hostage situation makes a lot of sense if there's a strong conflict between the mother and the sister. My favorite lines in this song have always been
"they were shifting the power again.
they always do this when i come home."
which takes an a really interesting meaning if you apply your metaphor
ETA2: Lake Victoria IS in Africa!!!! Yay! I'm not loosing my mind. It's in Uganda,Tanzania, and Kenya. But that doesn't of course mean that the narrator isn't in the US. He could just feel he's in Uganda.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2011 05:21PM by Eidyia.

I've been toying around with the idea of doing a short piece on "Golden Boy".

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Why's everyone in this thread a f***ing Mountain Goats fan?!

Kirkeby Kritikk • Kvitter

Evil E: I would be so very happy if you did that. It can be as long or as short as you want.

anybody else, please feel free to send something in. It has been a while and i would love to put some more people's stuff up.

Eidya, please submit something on Orange Ball of Pain, I am sure it will be fantastic.

And thank you for your kind words about those essays/short stories, whatever you want to call them. As for You're in Maya, I don't think I would say it is a fictionalization of JD's experience, though I guess you could look at it that way if you want. That song and Tetrapod are extremely special for me, because both of them eerily parallel experiences in my own younger life. so, the story/essay called you're in maya is a work of fiction, but really a weird mixture of what this song means to me along with my kind of twisted, not-quite-right recollections of some pretty intense parts of my life.

anyways, submit yo' shit!!

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/2011 10:18PM by Wild Creature.

if the glove don't fit.....



SUBMIT YO SHIT

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don't clap between movements

cool new cover of sax rohmer # 1 as a violin quartet, up on sad young cardinals, here: [sadyoungcardinals.blogspot.com]

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

hey everybody. just a reminder in the new year. have something interesting to say about an album, song or show of the mountain goats? submit it to sadyoungcardinals.com and we'll put it up on the interwebs. also, this year i will be doing a limited edition trade paperback of a selection of these essays (with each writer's permission of course)with copies going to a bunch of libraries, and only a few that will be put up for sale, all proceeds going to an appropriately goat-ish cause. but, i need more essays. send one in, short, long, stylish, mundane, spastic, gassy, pukey, brilliant, genius, gut-wrenching, simple, joyceian, dickensian. send one written in norwegian or tagalog. whatever! just contribute that shit.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

oh, and if you can't think of something to write about, here's a subject:

Why naming every song on LotWtC after a bible quote made the album suck.

Alternatively,

Why naming every song on LotWtC after a bible quote made the album brilliant.

Alternatively,

Why naming every song on LotWtC after a bible quote is completely irrelevant to my take on the album.

Would love to publish one, two or all 3.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

I just glanced at your list, and it seemed as though Heretic Pride didn't have an essay of its own— is that right, WC?

Still have that short piece sort of about "Golden Boy" I should try working on, but I don't think it's anything too special. At least not yet.

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Why's everyone in this thread a f***ing Mountain Goats fan?!

Kirkeby Kritikk • Kvitter

This sounds like a really good idea. I think I'll think about what to sign up with over the next few days.

Quote
AKMA
I just glanced at your list, and it seemed as though Heretic Pride didn't have an essay of its own— is that right, WC?

that's right, AKMA. It does not. I'd love for you to do one if you want.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

Quote
EvilEivind
Still have that short piece sort of about "Golden Boy" I should try working on, but I don't think it's anything too special. At least not yet.

Evil E. I have edited a few of the essays, and if you want a second set of eyes, I would be happy to read whatever you wrote and make comments/notes. but not if it's in norwegian (not in any bigoted way, i just can't read norwegian).

p.s., i promise if you send me something to edit, i will give my full comments and will not publish anything without your consent.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2012 11:56AM by Wild Creature.

Quote
What Rough Beasts
This sounds like a really good idea. I think I'll think about what to sign up with over the next few days.

that would be great. would love to see something from you.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

I'll see if I can rationalise it as 'warming up' to writing bigger projects; I'm under pressure to finish two other things this winter. But c'mon, Heretic Pride....

Regarding Raid on Entebbe, i always thought it was a story about some guy struggling to settle back into a life, probably at home, maybe after he's just come out of prison or back from college. The Raid on Entebbe references are real-life, and have the historical conflict context, so i just thinks it's a vehicle/metaphor for JD to use that suggests his situation is akin to the hostage situation in Entebbe.

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

one reason to think Raid on Entebbe is at least partially inspired by the film is the last line, "if you'll just put your hand in mine,we're gonna leave all our troubles behind." that line is kind of similar to the hebrew hymn Hine Ma Tov, which was a recurring them in the film Raid on Entebbe. The refrain of the hymn chorus translates literally into something like "how good it could be if brethren could sit together in unity." which is based on some bible quote. and the whole song is kind of about living together under one roof in unity -- which is why it is ironic that it is sung in Raid on Entebbe by the commandos as they dive into battle to try to rescue the hostages, and why it might be a nice reference for the family in the song, trying to live under one roof in unity.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

Good knowledge - those are all things i didn't know.

I like, when discussing lyrics, that if i ever think "that may be true, but there's no way JD would know that, right?"

i have to correct myself and think: "actually, he would know that. the reference sponge that he is!"

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let's get dressed up in costumes and dance by the bar.

'Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when brothers live together in unity!'

Psalm 133:1

(fulfilling my function in tMG life)

Quote
Wild Creature
"if you'll just put your hand in mine,we're gonna leave all our troubles behind."

[www.youtube.com]

don't look back, by the temptations. written by smokey robinson and ronald white.

Quote

If it's love that you're running from, there's no hiding place.
(You can't run, you can't hide, you can't run, you can't hide)
Love has problems I know but they're problems, we'll just have to face.
Oh yeah, yeah.
If you just put your hand in mine,
We're gonna leave all our troubles behind.
Keep on walkin', don't look back. (Don't look back)
And don't look back. Oh yeah, yeah.
And don't look back, baby. (Don't look back)
(The past is behind you, let nothing remind you.)

If your first lover broke your heart,
There's something that can be done.
(You don't run, you don't hide, you don't run, you don't hide)
Don't end your faith in love because of what he's done.
So if you just put your hand in mine,
We're gonna leave all our troubles behind.
Keep on walking, don't look back. (don't look back)
Forget about the past now.
Don't look back, baby. (don't look back)
Keep on walking and don't look back. Hmmm (don't look back)
(The past is behind you, let nothing remind you)

[Instrumental]

Love can be a beautiful thing.
Though your first love let you down.
Oh yeah, yeah
'Cause I know we can make love bloom, baby.
The second time around.
Oh yeah, yeah
So if you just put your hand in mine,
We're gonna leave all our troubles behind.
Keep on pushing and don't look back. (don't look back)
Now, till I say, we won't look back, girl. (don't look back)
Keep on walking and won't look back. (don't look back)
Forget about the past now, baby.
And don't look back.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, don't look back.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2012 03:44PM by mike10k.

wow, mike!!

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

when you put that line in writing it was hard not to hear the temptations in my head.

Hey,

I recently wrote some highfalutin stuff about All Eternals. Criticism welcome, sock it to me plz:

[afterallitcouldbeworse.blogspot.com]

in a last ditch effort to get people to submit essays, i added an old one that wrote a while back about the Sir Arne's Treasure show at the Castro Theater. You can read it here. [sadyoungcardinals.blogspot.com]

you can also submit essays on that page. please do. if we get enough essays, my micro-press will be putting out a hard copy of them, which would be a cool thing.

self-plug over.

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis

New posting on Sad Young Cardinals by Chris Jamieson on John Vanderslice and John Darnielle's wonderful "Emerging" on Moon Colony Bloodbath. Check it out.

Sad Young Cardinals

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The first thing that distinguishes a writer is that he is most alive when alone. - Martin Amis



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2012 12:53PM by Wild Creature.