in Music on with 4 Comments by Jodi Chromey

RiotFest Diaries: I Saw The Replacements & am Still Trying to Find the Words

Where do I even begin? So I saw The Replacements, my very favorite band on Earth, and I didn’t die. At least not for very long. During “Androgynous” when Paul Westerberg asked “Hey did you see Joan Jett the other night?” My heart stopped. My soul shot from my body and exploded over the muddy field in Chicago, and if a doctor had been nearby I’m sure I would have been declared clinically dead. Cause of death: Joy. But I…

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in Music on by Jodi Chromey

RiotFest Diaries: The Ballad of Rose Penis

When I was in college my friends and I were convinced that if there were a weirdo in a 10-foot radius, he would come hit on me. Way, way, way after college (a few years ago) my friend Wan said weirdos talk to us (it happens to her too) because we smile a lot, even when we don’t mean to smile. Some people have a bitchy rest face. I just fucking smile my fool head off. However, it was not…

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in Books on with 4 Comments by Jodi Chromey

This book is Fritos. I prefer Cheetos.

This was my first Dan Brown experience, brought about by a member of my Rock & Roll Bookclub who has spent much time studying Dante’s Divine Comedy, the book at the middle of Inferno. With any luck this will be my last Dan Brown experience because listening to this book (I couldn’t bring myself to read it) tried all my patience, a virtue I do not have much of. I’ve also come to the conclusion, after reading this book, that…

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in Misc. on with 2 Comments by Jodi Chromey

RiotFest Diaries: Chicago doesn’t seem tired at all, but I am

Twelve hours after leaving my house, I collapsed into our temporary hotel room in Chicago. Apparently it’s temporary because the blinds are broken and they can’t move us until tomorrow. I don’t care about the blinds. However, if they want to give me a few free breakfasts and coffees for the trouble, I will take them. Traveling is expensive. My traveling companion is fourteen-years-old. He is the child of my second sister. It’s Maxwell. I would show you pictures of…

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in Books on with 2 Comments by Jodi Chromey

Not so easy to dismiss

I was pretty tempted to dismiss Adelle Waldman’s The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. as one of those annoying, pointless books steeped in its own Brooklynness and thus published because if there’s anything Brooklyn writers like to read and heap with effusive praise, it’s a book about Brooklyn. Barf. As a citizen of the Internet and an avid-reader, I’ve made a conscious choice to actively avoid the whole Brooklyn-literati thing. It’s entirely too twee and self-congratulatory for my midwest sensibilities….

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in Dreams Music on by Jodi Chromey

Back to Backlash: Wherein I dream the ‘Mats are once again a garage band

As the title states, I am back to watching the “Backlash” video on repeat. I have watched this video so many times since Thanksgiving that I have every single thing memorize. Every flip of Joan Jett’s perfect jet-black 90s bob, the way the shadows fall on Paul Westerberg’s face, the hip-shake at 1:16, and at what point Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Pete Townshend pop-up on the screen behind the band. You can watch it in case you don’t have…

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