It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.
In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.
After a hiatus, we are happy to have Christian D bringing the read/listen/drink series back into circulation. We were introduced to Christian through his performance this year at Couch by Couchwest… when I may or may not have flung my panties at the screen.
As lead of Christian D and the Hangovers, Christian lays down dark rockabilly with smolder and swagger, and it’s hard not to get caught up in the mood.
You can download some free songs at the various Christian D and the Hangovers outposts, listed at the end of this post, and they’re having a Bandcamp sale on digital downloads from now until Christmas.
Aside from being one sexy rock ‘n’ roll motherfucker, Christian is also a nice and thoughtful man whom I’ve had the pleasure of having some good conversations with on Twitter. So now I’m happy to hand the reins over to Mr. Christian D.
Good Read:
It seems like I read three things mainly, science fiction, music biographies and sprawling novels with convoluted stories of shady characters. Here’s something that combines all three: Bruce Sterling’s Zeitgeist.
Sleazy pop promoter Leggy Starlitz takes a rip-off Spice Girls-style band through Moslem Cyprus in an attempt to make it rich and pass unscathed through the Y2K scare, with his strange pre-teen daughter in tow.
There’s tech geekery, music biz fuckery, pop star deaths, a Turkish warlord and tonnes of weird con jobs going on. If I described it any more, or tried to lay out the plot, I’d probably wreck it for you. So to sum it up, it’s fascinating and entertaining with weird tangential goings on.
Good Listen:
I do listen to a lot of new stuff, but return to my personal classics constantly. There’s not a week that passes where I don’t listen to some Elvis, Stooges, the Cramps and Tom Waits. Another big one for me is Nick Cave. I still remember the first time I heard him, ear pressed against the speaker of a cheap radio, lighthouse flashing on my wall, as The Birthday Party’s Release the Bats tore down my conception of rock and roll.
From the early Bad Seeds period my current favourite is Your Funeral… My Trial, which seems to sum up his career to that point, and point the way to the future. From tender love songs, to crazed lusty gothic blues, this is a record I return to time and time again. It’s a dark obsessive tour through love, sex and death.
Good Drink:
While in literature and music I appreciate a certain complexity, in drinking I usually want simplicity. Most of the time I’m a beer drinker. My current favourite is Rolling Rock. It’s cheap and tasty.
Another thing I drink often is my take on Irish coffee. No need to bother with cream, whipped or not, or sugaring the rim. Make a strong cup of coffee. Add Scotch – you now have a Scots Coffee. It’ll get you through the night.
Christian D and the Hangovers Official Website