Recently, I re-vamped this beast with a gnarly, Zeppelin-esque guitar tone, layered in some organ for color, beefed up the mix, and now share the definitive version with you. It’s my first song where I feel like all the elements really gelled equally, from the lyrics and melody to the performance and production.

If that track does it for you, please check out other Winebox jams (originals and covers) via BandPage, ReverbNation, or SoundCloud, share them, and be sure to Like us on Facebook for updates.

Also visit my Music page right here on this site to listen and learn more about my other projects, or even take a studio tour.

Combining two of my favorite things into one of my favorite new podcasts. Sensing that some of their former guests (though entertaining and knowledgeable) had been far too sober given its namesake, for my appearance this week, I took it upon myself to lower my inhibitions, articulation, grammatical skill, and possibly good judgment by way of some very strong beer before, during, and after the recording. Did I pick a fight or get gropey with their sisters? Break down in blubbering, sniveling tears? You’ll just have to listen for yourself.

I can tell you that we covered lots of ground, both writerly and musical, including discussion of the jawbone as an instrument, the rise of transgressive fiction, performing cover songs, genre-hopping, and lapsed Catholicism. You’ll want to bookmark this site, as other/future guests include horror legend Jack Ketchum (The Girl Next Door), Lidia Yuknavitch (The Chronology of Water), and Patrick Wensink (Broken Piano for President), among so many talented others.

Thanks so much to the wonderful hosts Renee Asher Pickup, Dakota Taylor, and Jessica Taylor for having me on and carrying my inebriated ass out to that taxi, and a special fist-bump to the LitReactor community for helping put it together.

UPDATE: 382 listens … not bad!

Somewhere in between readings by Phil Jourdan, Caleb J Ross, Hollie Hayes, Hampton Stevens and Brandon Tietz, here’s what I had to say. First up, an experimental meta piece, then some microfiction, and finally my short story “Fry Girl.”

To see the other authors’ readings, check out my YouTube playlist for the event. Tell you what, I’m gonna go ahead and embed Caleb’s below, just because it was really funny.

Thanks to Chad Cogdill Photography and Brandon Tietz for the pics. Videos courtesy of myself.

In addition to whatever awesome slice(s) of storytellery I recite that night, several other authors will be trying to best me with their own. These include such characters as Phil Jourdan (author of Praise of Motherhood), and locals Caleb J Ross (I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin), Brandon Tietz (Out of Touch), Hampton Stevens (The Atlantic, Playboy), and Hollie Hayes.

Warming up your heart-cockles before all this literary lechery will be my acoustic duo, Winebox, performing singer-songwriter, rock, and pop music. This will likely be our first public show under that moniker, so Shannon and I are super excited about that. Maybe we’ll even bust out an ’80s tune or two in honor of ole Q-Bert up there.

It will be an evening of lies, fantasies, death, and a few laughs. Maybe some stories mixed in there as well. I realize the music starts pretty early for a weeknight, but I talked to your boss, and s/he said you could totally skip out early. Me, I’m taking the day off and making a long weekend out of the Memorial Day holiday. Why not do the same?

Click the image above to embiggen the flyer.


$@!# Authors Say (Facebook event page)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
5:00 – 7 pm   Winebox
7:00 – 9 pm   author readings

Czar Bar
1531 Grand Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64108



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Some of you remember my former band, Molly’s Crush: a regional ’80s tribute act (in which I was the guitarist) with Shannon Lipps on the mic. Winebox reunites the two of us musically. As exciting as the ‘Crush era was, we said the next time we convened, we wanted to strip things down, simplify, and frankly … just play the kind of music we wanted to hear ourselves.

The result is a mix of our favorite tunes from the last 30-odd years, much of it singer-songwriter material—and all of it soulful—with classic/modern rock, torch songs, and some jangly stuff. It’s acoustic, after all. Shannon handles the vocals and percussion, and I’ll be on guitar, piano, and harmonies. Listen for us to rock some originals in the same musical vein as well, with backing band tracks recorded in my home studio for a fuller sound.

Visit our official Winebox page on Facebook for the show calendar, pics, videos, etc. And of course, please “like” us, so we can keep you in the loop about news and events. Meanwhile, here are some brand new demos to tide you over, plus a few promo shots. If you lose track of this post, you can always find the same info up there under the Music menu. We’ll probably start off with some smaller shows and shared bills in late April or early May here in Kansas City, and we can’t wait to see everyone out there soon!

  Press Kit

The Sacred and Profane
Toasted (Last Call)
Stale Air
Barton Hollow (The Civil Wars)
In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
Shadowboxer (Fiona Apple)

To coincide with today’s release of Warmed and Bound: A Velvet Anthology, I created this promo. It’s composed of imagery inspired by stories in the collection, including original music from me. The intent is to evoke a feeling, a mood—ominous, violent, and redemptive—rather than paint specific settings or characterizations. Multi-plane animation (a.k.a. “2.5-D”) was used to breathe life into what are predominately still photos. I’m so proud to have a story included alongside so many talented and respected authors in what has to be one of the year’s best.

The paperback is available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com (both at $9.09 for a limited time), and Powell’s.com, with e-books coming very soon.

UPDATE: On its release day, the paperback was BN.com’s #4 best seller, trending #1 in hottest movers! (Click to embiggen.)

Van Buren
Steamland Cleaver
The Get-Down’s Syndrome
Egregious Philbin
BarbraStreiszende Neubauten
Broughammer
Asperger In Paradise
Afraid of Canadians
The Mars Travolta
The Dixie Chicks With Dicks
Sweaty Jeeves
The Honeymoon Stitches
Crucifiction
Steely Flan
Harry and the Andersons
Tienanmen Squaredance
Assassinine
Lithp
Citronella Holocaust
ASCII/DC
Autistic License
Banjovi
Preparation Heche
Nutbutter
See Thomas Howl
The Jodie Sweetining
Our Band Name is a Complete Sentence.
Fillet Show
Joe Buck Yourself
Fudge Duckling
Goodcop, Buttercup
Testiclops
Bruised Cockles
The Beef Wellingtones
The Ump-Teens
Chuck Chuck Bo-Buck and the Banana-Fanna Four
The Illegitimate Resentments
Purgatori Spelling
Squirrel Practice
Jefferson Slaveship
Snot Faucet
The Soggy Tacos

What makes this effort particularly amusing is that, because of Ben’s trademark irreverence and wit, these allegedly-bad songs actually fit nicely into the Folds oeuvre. Yes, the lyrics are frattishly narrow-minded, but taking on moronic points of view is a technique he often employs anyway. This of course begs the question: if the artist performed and recorded the music, how can it be fake? And if Weird Al parodies himself in the woods, does anyone hear it?