I started drifting away from R.E.M. after Berry left the band in ‘97, but revisiting their final album COLLAPSE INTO NOW (2011) has given me new appreciation for what a banger it is. All the pop and flow of the band’s best work, tempered with the bittersweet awareness of the end of it all. A must!

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

Issues 21 & 22 are at the printer!! If you want to help keep a lit mag that pays & prints & prices fairly & ships quickly going strong (or at least, going) your pre-orders of one or both of these music-themed issues would be rad. They're fantastic. Stanchionzine.com/shop

Chomsky: really putting the “sin” and the “ick” in syntactic structures

This is going to be good! STANCHION is one of the coolest literary presses around, and they are putting out a "double album" of music-themed stories. A piece of mine, "Las Máquinas del Amor," will appear on album #1 (Issue 21). 1/4

Jesus is on Newsweek, MLK is on What If, my story is in the current issue of Analog, and we’re all hanging out in the periodicals section of Barnes & Noble. Join us!

⚡️Starman⚡️

It's a huge honor to have my work included in Charlie Mehrhoff's podcast, BEFORE THE PAGE, among some freaking TITANS of the written word like Rilke, Emerson, Mary Oliver and Charlie himself. Charlie's reading/speaking voice is hypnotic, and serves the work beautifully.

5)The Starworthy Slip by @ackoch.bsky.social: heist on Jupiter moon gets-almost-sidetracked when one accomplice falls for beautiful local identity mixer. Slick, smooth

It’s happening! The Chef André Show has been rescheduled for this Thursday, Nov. 20, 7 pm at Mutiny Information Cafe. Brace yourselves, gird your loins, and wear your best shoes.

Have to postpone this show due to illness. Watch this space for a new date

Attention Earthlings: I’m playing a bunch of new songs next Friday, Nov. 7 at Mutiny Cafe in Denver, but it won’t mean anything if you aren’t there. Let’s do this thing. 7 p.m., no charge. Wear your best shoes.

I’ll be playing songs from my new studio album, ASK THE MOON, at Mutiny Information Cafe on Friday, Nov. 7, if that’s okay with you. There are some songs about shipwrecks, haunted stuffed animals, a Spanish mambo, and a love song about a Japanese fountain pen. Show probably starts at 7 pm.

Chef André will play songs from his new studio album, ASK THE MOON, at Mutiny Information Cafe on Friday, Nov. 7, if that’s okay with you. There are some songs about shipwrecks, haunted stuffed animals, a Spanish mambo, and a love song about a Japanese fountain pen. Show probably starts at 7 pm.

Friends! I’ll be reading from some new stories this evening at Fort Greene as part of the Reading Den series. Hope to see you there!

I’m just a boy Standing in front of the Universe Asking it to let me watch MICHAEL CLAYTON (2007) for the first time again.

Our trip through R.E.M.'s discography reckons with "Reckoning." Was "Time After Time" our least favorite song? spectrumculture.com/2025/08/28/d...

The penultimate list is up! We're ranking all of U2's 259 songs. Here's #20-11!

Happy 3-Week Anniversary to my submission to Clarkesworld still not being rejected yet 👀👀👀

The beautiful FF#26 cover by @evelynepark.bsky.social is here! In a few months, you'll get to read stories by @thesuiway.bsky.social, @slharris.bsky.social, @straith.ca, @leokaaolive.bsky.social, @eggandcressida.bsky.social, @nkereuwxm.bsky.social, Emma Russell-Trione, and Nana Afadua Ofori-Atta!

Happy One-Minute Anniversary to my realization that the words to Stone Roses’ amazing song “I Wanna Be Adored” are NOT “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”

Happy One-Minute Anniversary to my realization that the words to Stone Roses’ amazing song “I Want to Be Adored” are NOT “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”

Happy Two Weeks Since I Submitted to Clarkesworld and Have Yet to Receive a Rejection to all who celebrate! 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

I caught an advance screening of Ari Aster’s new film EDDINGTON, and when the organizer asked me for a quote afterwards I said, “Nuts!” She looked a little worried. “Good nuts or bad nuts?” she wanted to know. To find out, read my review (in the comments).

Thanks so much for reposting!

FFer Read of the Day: "One for Babette" by @ackoch.bsky.social in Cagibi cagibilit.com/one-for-babe...

Fear not for Death is a door and New friends are knocking

For the past two weeks, I’ve been at a writers retreat in New York Mills, Minnesota, Otter Tail County. I’ve been reading, visiting diners, riding country roads, writing new stories and recording new songs. It’s been great and I’ve gotten a lot done, but man, I need some Mexican food.

You don’t have to choose between the Beatles and Radiohead or whatever dichotomy you’ve concocted—you can like them all, YOU CAN LIKE THEM ALL

Don’t you know that George Saunders is Pooh Bear?

Today’s forecast:

What’s the best way to get around in Mexico City? Lyft? Uber? Taxi?

Is this anything?

I think I speak for us all when I say [*howls with the cacophony of 7 billion voices].

My story “Contigo” is in the new issue of StorySouth—two sisters who become each other’s imaginary friends after their family breaks up, and all the music that becomes their bond. Image: detail from "The Misses Vickers" by John Singer Sargent

Music marks us in childhood, and sets the tone for the rest of our lives. Here's a story about 2 sisters and the music that has followed them from toddlerhood into middle age: CONTIGO. It was just published in StorySouth! I love these women I made up! Have a read! (Link in comments)

Divine Ephemerality vs. Hip-Hoptual Permanence: How the Pope No Longer Wears a Funny Hat but My Man MCA Still Has a Beard Like a Billy Goat. In this essay I will

It was such a pleasure to write about THE FABELMANS to conclude @spectrumculture.bsky.social’s Spielberg Oeuvre series. It’s the director’s most personal and, in many ways, most satisfying film. spectrumculture.com/2025/04/24/o...

The Pinch just published a short piece of mine, "Falcon Storm Song." My first published short story ("My Rockstar Life") appeared in the same journa back when it was called River City in 2000. It's good to be back home. Have a peek! @pinchjournal.bsky.social

Who are five writers currently making you think about how you write? Roberto Bolaño Tana French Lauren Groff Kurt Vonnegut Lori Ostlund

I joined the other opinion-havers @spectrumculture.bsky.social to write a comprehensive discography ranking every U2 song ever recorded. The bottom of the barrel is pretty bleak, you guys, but it gets better as we move up the list. Which songs would top your list? spectrumculture.com/2025/01/09/e...

An actor who nailed a role so hard that nobody else will ever be able to live up to it… GIFS ONLY.

How it started/How it’s going: A couple years ago I started writing a rock’n’roll story, and called it “Automatic Cloudy Day” (after one of my own songs). Two years later, I retitled it “One for Babette,” and it’s in the current issue of @cagibilit. You’ve come a long way, baby!

My favorite genres are: 5. Haunted bog murder lullaby 4. Is it my imagination, or is this (cat/magpie/stuffed animal) about to (mastermind/commit/foil) a crime? 3. Corvair roadtrip 2. Oops, I wrote an opera 1. Clean and sexy modern feeling now

We're now 2 thirds of the way to hitting our Kickstarter goal but with less than 3 days to go, we're all a little nervous. Proceeds go towards publishing original prose, poetry, non-fiction and art. www.kickstarter.com/projects/uto...

Thynge shullen begynne to happe unto me now.

California: Tell Gov. Newsom now ys NOT the tyme to cut fundinge from the UC and CSU public higher ed communityes. Yn a tyme when knowledge itself ys at risk, California must be a beacon and an ynspiration. Public higher ed ys hope for a bettir worlde. Governor Newsom: keep hope alive.

Don't worry, everyone. I've come up with a solution...

Hey! I’m ecstatic to have a story in Cagibi issue #24. It was inspired by my adventures touring with a rock band, and all the kick-ass rock'n'roll women I've known and admired. It's also about space, time and quantum entanglement, naturally. I hope you read and enjoy! cagibilit.com/one-for-babe...

I’m Old, man