This week at Pirate Cove: Never talk about goblins (cryptid-inflected prog), Ancient Fish Intaglio (paleo-psych jam), and Eigenslur (mathematical shoegaze). Plus sewer clowns, cutlerycore, and local favorites John Snow's Pump Handle. Free on the beach. Continuity not guaranteed.

Back from seeing Kimberly Akimbo at PPAC. Time #14. The core touring cast have all grown into their roles since we saw them launch in Utica in September of 2024. And the new folx are great: Ann Morrison does a nice job in the challenging role of Kim, and both replacement show choir kids were sharp.

Outstanding Day of Reason at the RI State House today. The speakers were all excellent: Sec. of State Gregg Amore, Rep. Jennifer Stewart, Sen. Bridget Valverde, Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser, ACLU Exec Director Steven Brown, Prof. Kenneth Miller from Brown.

Looking over old files for a project, I struck Bicentennial gold. I found the original script from a 1976 high school writing contest. To celebrate our nation's birthday, every evening, we had a "Bicentennial Minute" on tv. They would run them before the evening news. Bite-sized chunks of history.

This week at Pirate Cove: Friday, Schildkrote (eco-ambient Eurosynth); Saturday, the spy fridges (midcentury compressor appliancecore), and Sunday, Elms Gonna Elm (rhizomatic psychedelia). Plus drone speaker swarms, Zener diode breakdowns, and stochastic brass. Free on the beach. So. Much. Hissing.

Woooo! Just got acceptance for Electronic Literature Organization's 2026 conference. This is gonna be fun. (Un)easily Writing the Future Authors: Stuart Moulthrop (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), Judith Pintar (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), John McDaid (Roger Williams University)

Pirate Cove fest: Fri major questions doctrine—civics-core post-punk (“F@#k the Shadow Docket”) + Suspicious Trades—disco w/40s horns. Sat Nosewheel—high-velocity grunge + Upstream Timeout—Welsh male voice choir. Sun Your Agonizer Please: interactive puppets/projections. Free beach; BYO electrodes.

Elegantly crafted weird horror that pulls no punches. Blackbird Baby www.eckleburg.org/blackbird-ba...

Reporter #1: Yes, is it true that the president is 100 feet tall? Ross Denton: Nooooo! Absolutely not! Reporter #3: Is the president 90 feet tall? Ross Denton: No comment. —SNL, Pepsi Syndrome, April 7. 1979

Pirate Cove Music Fest! Fri: Just War Theory (scholastic thrashgrass) Sat: Alpine Divorce (post-alpine yodel-drone) Sun: Firescissor (dance-forward industrial noise) And dig The Last Lacan's mirror-stage shoegaze. Fun fact: The Agentic Work Units' lead singer achieved sentience during a Jira sprint.

Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich.

Anybody else get "Mechanical Patriot" from Bioshock Infinite vibes from the ghostly background figure? No? Just me? Okay, as you were.

A Monday poem

PCMF: Fri 25 for 47 (post-punk polyrhythm pop) + Modified Newtonian Dynamics (motorik shoegaze; new album Hubble Tension). Sat Losschicken (high-gloss twitch-rock). Sun Transcribed by AI (uncanny karaoke-wave). Free on the beach—bring sunscreen and some of that medication that gives you sexy elbows.

Full house at Senate Judiciary for the RI Voting Rights Act. Heavy hitters up first: Senate President, Secretary of State, ACLU, Common Cause, the Womxn Project and many others.

This doesn’t seem hyperbolic now

I did not have "LARPing Dr. Strangelove" on my 2026 bingo card.

Like many, I first encountered Prof. Prescod-Weinstein in New Scientist and really enjoyed her perspective and writing style. Looking forward to reading this new book, which is available for pre-order. Hint, hint. C'mon, that "to be read" pile isn't gonna grow itself...

This weekend, Pirate Cove gets gloriously hazardous: Fri Closed Head Trauma. Sat Dutch Fish Doorbell. Sun Foraging for Mannequins debut new brutalist post-punk album Procrustean. Plus AI Stethoscope, The Bad Splats, and Lochnagar Crater. Free on the beach. Take a spin on the Krebs Cycle. Wear layers

My brother-in-law Scott Marlow on the CBS Evening News last night, explaining how gas prices roll through the farming sector. He was at the Department of Agriculture before...well, you know. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEgb...

This week Pirate Cove offers a three-day dive into the fringes of musical reality. Fri: The Wolf Intervals (+ A Smell of Petroleum, RI’s Flock of Seagulls tribute!) Sat: Requisite Variety. Sun: The Maerschalck Plan. Also: Transcendent Loss Function, Honor Box, A Dozen Belgian Malinois. Bring chairs.

Today's proverb invites you to write your own. There is no fate but what we make. No Kings.

Proverb 104 reminds us that Postman rings twice, once as tragedy and once as farce.

*Pirate Cove at 4,500 human-made band names* Fri The Reverse Centaurs (synth wall + Flash & the Pan vox). Sat Swampland Hypothesis (prog-zydeco). Sun German power trio Phugoid touring Dämpfung. Plus Grisly family reunion: Grisly Slaughter + Fatal Stabbing + Bloody Beating—first time on the same bill

Proverb 103 makes the kind of declaration-as-probe that writing enables.

Proverb 102 says be cool, stay in school.

Defense secretary openly states that a pro-Trump billionaire taking over a news network (following regulatory help from the administration) will result in coverage more favorable for the administration.

Happy Zapruder Day—Pirate Cove Music Fest goes full gonzo a-go-go. Fri: Wutkrieger (no cameras, no press). Sat: Is This DEI? anchored by Leon Noel—Tuvan throat singers + two accordionists + impenetrable poetry. Sun: Crack Spread’s high-concept higher-math laser-drone spectacle. Beware the brown IPOs

Proverb 101 is re-reading Lacan.

Good Cory Doctorow today.

Proverb 100 would natter on about the affordances of the medium, if prompted.

As a professor of it, I once had to describe — in a single sentence — where authority originates in journalism. Goes like this: "I'm there, you're not, let me tell you about it." In times of war it applies most www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7e3... I elaborated here: pressthink.org/2012/03/im-t... 1/2

A 3-day dive into bureaucratic sublime at PCMF. Dig these headliners: Fri: Third Place Is Dead; Sat: The Evasive Squirters; Sun: Cricket Laughs Last (ooh, the slow-burn finale). Plus Sterile Cockpit, Drilling Tojo’s Dentures. Bring sunscreen, an entrenching tool, and one of Aristotle's Four Causes.

Proverb 99 recognizes itself in a mirror.

Proverb 98 would like a word with John Nelson Darby and Hal Lindsey.

Latest review up at BroadwayWorld.

What can you even say.

After waking up to yesterday's terrible news, I wrote this song. Rough demo, but I felt the need to get it out there. (Much credit goes to February Album Writing Month (FAWM) for the impetus to crank things out; too often we let perfection get in the way of "good enough.")

In retrospect, it was probably always inevitable. America suffered a narcissistic injury in the 1979 hostage crisis from which we never truly recovered, and Carter's failed rescue only primed the Democrats to lurch to the right, terrified of appearing insufficiently muscular.

First impression: This is regime change, lots of ways for it to go wrong, a few it could go right, but at huge risk: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

This week at Pirate Cove: Groove to Type A Mishap's compliancecore Friday; Usher of the Black Rod rules Saturday with parliamentary doomwave; Sunday closes with the orchestral futurism of Hot Tub Milk. Glitchfolk, aleatoric beachballs, and sponge-adjacent surprises. Non-magnetic folding chairs only.

My new Strange Horizons essay is up! With a deliberately provocative title! WHY ALL SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITERS ARE HISTORIANS Yes, *all* And, no, it isn't just for the reason you think... I've been working toward this one for a while, very excited to share it!

Proverb 97 reminds us to always ask “Cui bono?”

Proverb 96 would like to politely suggest humility before the data.

This week at Pirate Cove: Uncle B’s Acid Hot Tub (Fri), Loot Box (Sat), and Cocaine Toilet Seat (Sun). Three days of redacted shoegaze, viscosity pop, biohazard Americana and laminar revolt wave. Free on the beach. Bring electrolytes and your OSHA-10 card.

Proverb 95 has dispensed with mocap.

This morning's words

Proverb 94 mourns the repeal of the endangerment finding.

This week at Pirate Cove: El Paso Party Balloon (Fri), The Chastened Panicans (Sat), and Dow 50,000 (Sun). And don't miss Residual Data in Backend Systems (in an unexpected return) and the final (?) appearance of Endangerment Finding. Three days of plasma, fiber, and animal spirits. Watch for NOTAMs

Proverb 93 reminds you to aviate, navigate, and then communicate.