From @dapowell.bsky.social’s exquisitely saucy new chapbook “Tricks”: www.cutbankonline.org/2026-chapbooks #smallpoemsunday @tomsnarsky.bsky.social

This 4-year-old episode had 600+ downloads this weekend. Maybe Merve is up to something on one of those other sites. It’s a great convo with her & @annakornbluh.bsky.social. It makes me cringe to think how bad the mix might be. I was learning sound design on the fly!

Hello, load-bearing ball knowers

Upon re-read this is really The One, for the first time his different modes and milieus come together and by the end he’s throwing classic shapes. Every conversation is cool and funny.

That Lunchbox and that Telephone Numbers 👀

Martinez: "[I] sat in federal court and watched from 20 feet away as the border patrol agent who attempted to kill me testified at a hearing. Agent Charles Exum—Charles Exum, my attempted executioner was Charles Exum—I hope the government does not consider my use of his name here to be...doxxing."

Imagine being a yuppie in '89, you've been listening to Henley's End of the Innocence all summer on the coast, then Billy's Storm Front drops in the fall, LIFE CHANGING

Bay area media's lack of public interest interest on Oakland's budget leads to some of its most permanently misinformatory reporting. FY 24-25 closed with a $16 MM surplus even civilian layoffs. Every dept underspent but OFD and OPD-the surplus would have been $41 MM otherwise.

$1 Pick up

I've fixed R.E.M.'s 2002 album Reveal with this one weird trick: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEPy...

A note perfect tribute to Perec’s “Things”

Episode 490: "Bells" Camellia Boutros, Dylan Tidyman-Jones, Rusty Santos(LA), Hectorine, Wyatt Ramos, Gumby's Junk, Diletantes, Whine, Luke Sweeney, LUCKY, Good Friends, Country Risqué, Nimsins, Christina's Trip, Aphids as Lovers(Sac), Piss Mist, Don't Ask bff.fm/broadcasts/5...

the gentle comforts of distant auto tune

"finding things on their way to collapse was much easier than finding the next bargain" is really the whole thing writ large by someone who would know

In advance of their show together in San Francisco Friday 99 Records alumni @bushtetras.bsky.social and ESG chop it up for @talkhouse.bsky.social!

You might enjoy my little essay on Greatness in Art in the age of AI, AKA, "Sinners is Great, actually, but greatness doesn't exist, also." www.oaklandreviewofbooks.org/sinners-one-...

10am sharp on @bff.fm !

Tonight, on a very special CBS Evening News,

Imagine what’s happening in the camps.

ICYMI: I spoke with Perry Ruhland about my novel 'The Veldt Institute', the interview is up at X-R-A-Y! xraylitmag.com/samuel-m-mos...

Cut through the noise on AI data centers by joining experts, including myself, today at 11:30am for a webinar on their impacts. I will present on the energy, sustainability, and affordability impacts of the 49 AI data centers proposed in Indiana, based on our research.

All new music episode! This was a good one. bro.e, the Goods, Magic Fig, Sonny & the Sunsets, the Letterwriters, Sacramento, Suver, The Reds Pinks & Purples, Brown Dog, Xay Cole, Origin Stories, Joel Cusumano, Left Tracks, Fog Lamp, Blue Zero, Hannah Lew, and Julian Never bff.fm/broadcasts/5...

Just picked up Lucy Corin's Everyday Psychokillers fc2.org/authors/corin/

We launched Oakland Review of Books in 2025, starting with an events calendar and vibe reports and, as we've gone on, more and more blogs and reviews and even a few full-on bangers. (And The Oakland syllabus!) We've actually done a lot. But 2026 is going to be The Year of ORB!

If this happened to a right-wing activist - every single Republican elected officials (along with the right wing media machine ie Bari would have her on 60 mins by this Sunday) would make her a hero. Where are the Democrats?

Nicely engaged review of Daydreamers by James Baron, writing for Taipei Times. "Flaubert’s aphorism that truth is essentially perception, neatly captures the essence of this novel—a work of ideas that, as with so much great art, leaves us with more questions than answers."

Backlisted has introduced me to so many great writers, but none continue to amaze me across their work like Annie Dillard. I’ve only just started The Writing Life yet I’m already swooning; her ecstatic register doesn’t hesitate to pack a punch. Here she is, talking about ditching one’s first draft:

I remember the phrase "they can't be allowed to melt back into society" re: the de-Baathification of Iraq after the war there. Like everything about that experience, the attempt was cynical, stupid, and botched. But there really should be a plan about what we do with guys like these in the future.

Thread of my favorite reads 2025: Henry James, The Ambassador (1903)

Merve Emre in Granta on her year in reading. "I mostly avoided contemporary fiction. The American exceptions were Makenna Goodman’s hallucinatory closet drama, Helen of Nowhere...." Thanks Merve! grantamag.substack.com/p/a-year-in-...

On this page you'll find nine clearly AI James Gandolfini biographies that were published after mine. It's absolute madness and authors have no power. Don't buy books from Amazon. Buy them from @mzspress.bsky.social or @bookshop.org or your local bookstore or even fucking B&N but not goddamn Amazon

Over at @coyotemedia.org my colleagues and I are trying to build a new, worker-owned outlet in the Bay Area. We've already broken stories and had impact. To continue that work we need more members, plain and simple. And now you can get a discount! 🎁 Use COYOTE2026 for 15% off an annual membership.

Tuesday at the Makeout Room, come see me read from my unpublished novel FLASH IT TO THE BEAT ! I'm part of the 5-reader lineup for Happy Endings, the Bay's liveliest monthly read. Other readers are Sailor Galaviz, Rebecca Pierce, Owen Karlsen, and Jen Hu. Showtime is 7:30. The Makeout is forever.

Super psyched to see Lunchbox’s “Evolver” on this great list! “Each play reveals another gem from the innocence of DIY recording, blending jangle, electronic, ambient, and dub into something imperfect and genuine. Bravo!”

WPA everything but particularly the arts and journalism

10am sharp on @bff.fm ! I Luv Mondays' Hits of the Bay pt 2! bff.fm/shows/i-luv-...

I'll be talking calendar compiling, possibly Gertrude Stein, possibly stories of ancestors born in West Oakland or working out of its port. Come drink wine, eat cheese, and bring East Bay ephemera to exchange at the @oaklandreviewofbooks.org holiday party! www.thelocaleconomy.com/events/oakla...

TONIGHT! SF! Join us at Casements in the Mission for food, drinks, a live DJ set from @bff.fm, priceless gossip with journalists and indie music folks, tote bags… what more could you want, truly luma.com/f2jy4dho?tk=...

EAST BAY FOLKS! I'm gonna be in this show at Rock Paper Scissors Collective in Oakland next week! come out and say hi and see my piece (and a lot of other cool art too!)

10am sharp on @bff.fm I Luv Mondays' HITS OF THE BAY 2025 pt 1 ! All my favorite songs, all the songs that saved me. Follow along here for the tracklist:

BREAKING: According to a recent investigation by NYC's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Starbucks illegally violated workers' protection laws in NYC 500,000 times since 2021. Over $35.5 million will be paid in restitution to Starbucks workers! gothamist.com/news/starbuc...

If you love a small press, check out these 100 notable small press books from 2025!

I'm reading from my novel FLASH IT TO THE BEAT at the Makeout Room on Tuesday December 9th for Happy Endings, that lit monthly that serves

PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS! gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book! www.versobooks.com/products/303...

San Francisco! Come hang with @coyotemedia.org worker-owners and @bff.fm DJs on Tues December 2nd at Casements in the Mission. Drinks, swag, the satisfaction of knowing you're supporting indie media instead of outlets funded by shady billionaires, what more could you want luma.com/f2jy4dho?tk=...

1) Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres 2) Spirit of Radio 3) Tom Sawyer 4) SUBDIVISIONS 5) The Big Money

Rest in Power to Mother Viola Ford Fletcher. 111 years, the oldest survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. She never got the justice she deserved www.fox23.com/news/mother-...