The Wrong Side of the Sunrise

Songs for seeing daybreak. 

The eeriest part about staying up all night–whether because you couldn’t sleep or because you were out exploring the world or because that’s just how you roll–is that moment when the sun starts to rise before you are really ready for it. These are the songs that I always seem to come back to as I fall asleep just as the light starts to dawn.

Going the Distance

Books about the journey.

On the Road
Jack Kerouac
1959, Viking Compassha
This is Kerouac’s completely enchanting chronicle of a young adulthood spent fascinated with the “mad to live” individuals he encounters during his explorations, whom he glorifies as creative saints. There’s a sense of melancholy in Kerouac’s language that hints at the “forlorn rags of growing old,” but he and his friends are fully delving into the highs of being young. Kerouac sought not only adventure, but also the unknown, mysterious, and wild aspects of humanity. His soulful and exhilarating account is a testament to the emotional and spiritual foundation of the Beat generation, always searching the universe for answers. On the Road is Kerouac’s everlasting quest to dig life and get his kicks, but also to uncover the holiness of being on a journey.


Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich
1984, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston
I’ve read this book so many times I’ve lost count. The prose is gorgeous and the characters are perfectly rendered—I feel I know them as well as they will let me. The novel is made up of linked stories, each told by a different narrator connected to either the Kashpaw or Lamartine families, all of them Chippewa, from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota. This is one of those sweeping, multigenerational stories where you piece together family history–the love triangles, the affairs, the running away, and the homecomings–like a puzzle. All together it is a portrait of real life. While the stories paint a larger picture, they also stand alone. The one I re-read most constantly is “The Red Convertible,” a tale of two brothers and the fabulous times they had before one of them is drafted into the Vietnam War.


Assassination Vacation
Sarah Vowell
2005, Simon & Schuster
They should make posters of Sarah Vowell’s face and hang them in every social studies and history classroom  with the caption “She makes learning fun!” Because she does. I know embarrassingly little about  history (seriously, no quizzes, please), but this book made me feel like a smarty-pants. Vowell takes a road trip to places where presidents and politicians were murdered. Doesn’t that sound like fun? She is hilarious, and so smart, and the book will make you feel like you could go on Jeopardy


It Chooses You
Miranda July
2011, McSweeney’s
This might sound weird, but I was never a huge Miranda July fan before this year. I mean, I respected the hell out of her as a person and an artist, but I never felt a deep connection to her work–that is, until The Future found its way on movie2k (and subsequently into my heart). This book is an accompaniment to that movie. July, who is having trouble finishing her screenplay, answers classified ads in the PennySaver. She goes to the homes of various people in Los Angeles, interviewing them about the histories behind the objects they are selling. A few reviews that I’ve read of this book were critical of the way July would always relate her interview subjects to her own experiences and, subsequently, her difficulties in writing her script. I had the opposite reaction–I loved the insight into her artistic and creative process, and the significant influence of interacting with strangers.  

Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism
Nona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee
 Bernstein 2009, Seal Press
In 2007, friends Nona Willis Aronowitz and Emma Bee Bernstein set off on a road trip across America to speak to young women about their relationship with feminism. The resulting book is both a diary of their trip and an archive of their findings, with brief portraits and interviews with more than a hundred different women. What’s especially fascinating to read about are all the different connections that girls had with the word feminism. Some enthusiastically claimed the title, others felt alienated by the feminist movement’s tendency to privilege certain voices, and to many, it was a completely foreign concept. Aronowitz and Bernstein’s travels felt honest, and I appreciated their attempt to expand the conversation beyond women who may already be entrenched in the discourse of social justice 

Into the Wild
Jon Krakauer
1997, First Anchor
Jon Krakauer is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. There’s nothing dry and boring here–it reads, as all of his books do, as briskly and vividly as a novel. Into the Wild is the true story of a privileged college grad, Christopher McCandless, who gives away all of his money, burns the rest, and hitchhikes to Alaska to live off the land. The book is heartbreaking and tragic (and it will make you appreciate the grocery store on your corner). There is romance here, the romance of wilderness and nature and possibility, but it’s also a sobering look at youthful idealism. 

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Cheryl Strayed
2012, Alfred A. Knopf
Cheryl Strayed is a badass. When she was in her 20s, she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail by herself. That’s 1,100 miles. All her toenails fell off, and she was divorced and mourning her mother, and she just kept going. This memoir details Strayed’s entire journey–including what happened prior to the hike that made her do it in the first place. It’s a searing, honest read–she doesn’t always come off well, and that seems to be the point, because the truth isn’t always flattering. With this book, as well as her Dear Sugar advice column for The Rumpus, Strayed has earned my trust forever.  

Random Thought

Sometimes I recall a memory in which I find it hard to believe that it could possibly be a part of my life. The memory seems so far apart from the expected, I find it difficult to understand it as reality. Without remembrance of what brought me to that place in my mind it seems no more than a dream, but in truth it did happen - In that moment I feel a stranger to myself and I enjoy that feeling.

perceived, remembered, imagined, distorted, clarified

"I'm a gypsy in spirit only,"

"I travel in gardens and bedrooms,
basements and attics,
around corners,
through doorways and windows,
along sidewalks, up stairs,
over carpets, down drainpipes,
in the sky, with friends,
lovers and children and heroes;
perceived, remembered,
imagined, distorted, and clarified."

Hanging Out With Alice (in Wonderland)

Ten dreamy and whimsical songs.

Have you ever fallen down a rabbit hole and ended up in a fantasy land filled with mad tea parties, an evil queen, and a cat who grins just a tad too much? No? Well, you’re about to now with Alice.

Here are 10 dreamy and whimsical songs to help you explore Wonderland.

1. You and Me Time - Broadcast
2. Dream World - Majical cloudz
3. Barefoot in Baltimore - Strawberry Alarm Clock
4. Turn Into Something - Animal Collective
5. Flower Called Nowhere - Stereolab
6. Kenya Dig it? - The Ruby Sunsby
7. The Breathing Universe - Circulatory System
8. Should Have Taken Acid With You - Neon Indian
9. Melody Day - Caribou
10. Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone - Neutral Milk Hotel

How to Run a Movie Marathon

Don’t let anyone tell you this isn’t a perfectly legitimate use of your time.

For your Loose Interpretation of Classic Books night. Clockwise from top left: Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A.

Let’s be honest, the movie marathon is primarily a means to be lazy and zone out for hours on end. But to justify getting sucked into the Sunday vortex that is ABC Family’s Harry Potter Weekend, I could also make the argument that it’s a legitimate way to study various art forms all at once: cinematography, set design, music, writing, acting, costume design, makeup, special effects, puppetry, and so on. Either way, they’re fun and if you want to throw one, you have to pick a theme—as generic or as specific as you please. It can be as vague as “romantic comedies” or as explicit as Films That Feature a Villain Who Wears Shoulder Pads. Here are some pointers to help you curate:

Stick to a Series

The easiest way to throw a movie marathon is to pick a series and commit to it: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future, and, yes,The Twilight Saga will provide you with hours of escapism before you fall asleep with visions of Hobbits and vampires dancing in your head. Should you prefer nightmares to dreams, any number of horror franchises, like Friday the 13th and Scream, will do as well. (Should you desire hilarious dreams, watch a Twilight marathon followed by aFriday the 13th marathon and fall asleep to the vision of Jason Voorhees casually showing up to a game of vampire baseball, causing Bella to fall in love with him while Edward yells, “Oh, come on! He doesn’t even drive a Volvo!”)

Potluck

Asking each of your friends to pick a movie for a sleepover can lead to a mix of genres. It also gives you and your friends an opportunity to share something you really love and to (hopefully) find new favorites in the process. As a backup, keep a copy of something all of you like on hand, just in case you hate one another’s picks and would rather watch Mean Girls for the 920th time instead.

Adaptation-A-Thon

Make your English teacher proud and spend the night watching modern-day adaptations of classic literature, like Clueless (Emma), 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew), and Easy A (The Scarlet Letter). Should you want to watch a certain pair of star-crossed lovers have their story told in various ways, try William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, West Side Story, and—mostly for the glory that is young Nicolas Cage in faux-punk mode—Valley Girl.

Pop Star-Flop Festival

The critics were none too kind to Britney Spears’ Crossroads, Christina Aguilera’s Burlesque, Mariah Carey’s Glitter, Madonna’sWho’s That Girl or the Spice Girls’ Spice World, but that makes them perfect for a movie marathon. Over-acting, time-capsule costumes, goofball adventures, and solid soundtracks are what dumb/fun movie nights are made of.

Career Retrospective

Pick a number of films by the same director or starring the same actor and watch their whole body of work. For example, you may want to watch every movie starring Ryan Gosling or directed by Mira Nair. You could also load up on Johnny Depp Films Not Directed by Tim Burton (likewise, Tim Burton Films Not Starring Johnny Depp).

Whatever You Say

There are no rules here! If you can find order amidst cinematic chaos, go for it. Off the top of my head, I can think of: Mistaken Identity Movies, Movies That Involve Makeovers, Musicals, Movies Where Everything Is Solved by Dance, Movies Where People Should Double-Check to Make Sure the Killer Is Dead, Vacation Movies, Roller Skating Movies, Dated-Slang Movies, Creepy Inbred Movies, Movies Where Everything Happens at One Big Party, Movies About Talking Animals, Underdog Movies, St. Bernard Movies—when is someone going to write a movie about a St. Bernard with decent manners?!—and on and on and on.

The Marathon of Obligation

Dun dun dunnnnnnnn. You know all of those movies you have in your Netflix queue that you swear you’re going to watch someday not because you want to, but because you feel like you have to, either because everyone else is talking about them, or because they’re IMPORTANT? The time has come to start clearing that queue, my friend. If you get so bored that you fall asleep during the first movie, at least you tried! And if you make it through, you will feel a sense of accomplishment that I imagine is somewhat similar to finishing an actual marathon. Congratulations! You can now move on with your life and rewatch the last two seasons of Parks and Recreation just like you wanted to do all along.

Obviously, the entire endeavor is designed for a good time (well, save for the obligatory Blockbuster thing). If you find yourself slowly Golluming out on the couch, forgetting the taste of bread and the sound of trees or whatever as you drool into a half-eaten bag of kettle corn and wonder where the last few hours of your life went, it is probably best to go outside. Or at least go on the internet and brag to everyone that you just watched six straight hours of silent films with no ill effects aside from really needing to talk. 

SCREENS

• MOONRISE KINGDOM

The way Wes Anderson sets up his surreal, often abstract shots has become his calling card. He is not afraid of a dolly, nor a slow-motion cast-walking sequence. He is in epic form in Moonrise Kingdom, where the community of Penzance Island chase after a lovelorn 12-year-old couple. It is funny and also reminds you exactly what it is to be 12; dramatic, romantic, fearless and wild. Watching it, you can’t help but wish your parents were Bill Murray and Frances McDormand and the local policeman a solitary Bruce Willis. Jason Schwartzman makes a very brilliant cameo as a bad-boy scoutmaster. Compulsory viewing, if only for the best pen pal sequence put to screen.

• ON THE ROAD

Passionate literary sparks waited with baited breath to see what Walter Salles would do with this, the most hallowed of the beat novels. The cast was to die for; Garrett Hedlund – as Dean Moriarty – world is so imbued with freedom and wildness you want to jump right in despite the obvious danger and the numerous women he had left behind. There is a certain sadness about Moriarty – Paradise is going to take his story and turn it into a novel whilst Moriarty remains on the road. The directionless of the film is a factor of the novel, it is not supposed to be a plot-driven piece, rather a photograph of the time – and what a photograph this is. Sweeping landscapes, one jaw-dropping shot after the other. More than anything, it transported you to that era and despite all the hardship, made you want to live there. A real film to dream to

Tunes for Travelers

(Great music for road trips, summer vacation, or just letting your mind wander hither and thither.)

Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
1977, Warner Bros.
It often begins with a tacit love of Stevie. You need to hear her soft craggy voice, you find yourself listening to “Gold Dust Woman.” Rather than skipping to just the Stevie songs and then the hits in the order you prefer, you now listen to the whole thing, start to finish. By summer’s end, you have realized that Christine McVie sighing “Oh, Daddy” is the heaviest moment of the record, and that she is the unsung genius of the band in her blousy gownage. You get lost in the pure Los Angeles magic of the album: the nigh time songs are spare and sparkly, the daytime songs are full and bright, bleached in the sun. The California of Rumours is not the California we previously knew of from pop records—it is not beaches, cars, bikini’d girls all a-frolic in the adolescent memories of men. Rumours is dark hippie glamour. It is up in the shade and shadow of the hills; it is the drive from Topanga Canyon to Malibu at night; it is grown up, complex, and bleak.

Born to Run
Bruce Springsteen
1975, Columbia
Born to Run was Bruce Springsteen’s breakthrough album and is often cited as his best. It doesn’t really fit in any genre (Springsteen said he “heard sounds in [his] head” that he found hard to explain); whenever I think of it the first image in my head is an open road, an American highway stretching out to the horizon. The cinematic vibes of “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” are about wanting to escape from claustrophobic towns and boring ways of life to the freedom that the road can give you. The black-and-white cover reflects this kind of contrast between day and night, the duality of dreams and reality too. When I first listened it was the ultimate romance, a whole other world, and the lyrics are like poetry. It’s part uplifting, part depressing (in a good way) and perfect for driving (or dreaming).

Born in the U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
1984, Columbia
Born in the U.S.A. is a cry to wake up and try to make some sense of what it means to be an American—our feelings of shame, defeat, and restlessness. Bruce gives a voice to those who are usually not given one—he sings about hard labor, ramshackle buildings, small towns, and alcohol. “I’m on Fire” is full of burning desire and lust. “No Surrender” is wild and free; it feels like the weirdness of growing up and having hope for the future. Bruce sings about listening to records, skipping school, promises, and “romantic dreams in my head.” “Glory Days” discusses the hardships of life and reminds me of the film The Last Picture Show’s treatment of the quicksand nature of time and how nostalgia sets in when things begin to fall apart. The album ends with the quiet song “My Hometown,” which isn’t about nostalgia so much as it is an entreaty to admit your city’s (and your own) flaws. This album is a solid masterpiece; the songs still feel as raw and fresh as they did almost 30 years ago. 

Stay Positive
The Hold Steady
2008, Vagrant/Rough Trade
Craig Finn of the Hold Steady does that magical alchemical thing that Bruce Springsteen is good at, too, where he takes the small details of people’s ordinary lives and blows them up to epic, anthem-worthy proportions. Every song on this album is a fable about hometowns, disappointment, desperate hope, growing up, growing old, making mistakes, trying to do better; and also a testimony: these things happen, these things matter. I’m not sure why, but this album, when I listen to it in the right mood, makes me cry. Maybe because it reminds me how tiny we all really are and how noble and painful and pitiful and goddamn beautiful it is to watch us try to be big. (Also probably because I cry anytime something successfully conveys the feeling of “yearning.”) Finally, A++ for making the weird almost-rhyme “Subpoenaed in Texas / Sequestered in Memphis” into a big bouncy chorus, complete with handclaps. 

American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
2002, American Recordings
I spent most of my life refusing to give any country music a chance, all because I didn’t like Garth Brooks. No matter how many people told me that Johnny Cash was amazing, I refused to believe them. Then I saw the video of Cash’s version of the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt,” recorded for this album, and my world was turned upside down. NIN’s “Hurt” was my anthem sophomore year of high school, so I didn’t think anyone could even touch it; but Johnny somehow improved it, making it even more honest, raw, and real than the original. I bought The Man Comes Around and was blown away by his versions of two other songs I’ve loved since childhood, Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which Fiona Apple provides backing vocals for. The title track is a Cash original, and it made me fall in love with Johnny Cash, the storyteller. This album opened my ears to Cash, who then opened me up to other country artists like Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, and Patsy Cline. Even if you don’t think country is your thing, check this album out. It will show you why Johnny Cash is a national treasure. 

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
A Tribe Called Quest
1990, Jive/RCA
When I started falling in love with hip-hop, in middle school, A Tribe Called Quest was one of the first groups that I fell in love with. OK, fine, I fell in love with Q-Tip. He was so handsome! And funny! And clever! This record, Tribe’s first, is part of my youth. I can’t hear the words El Segundo without bursting into song; “Bonita Applebum” will always make me feel like dancing. Doctor Emma’s recommendation: listen to this record 100 times and then watch Michael Rapaport’s excellent documentary on the band, Beats, Rhymes & Life. 

Highway 61 Revisited
Bob Dylan
1965, Columbia
This album is a rough diamond, full of tales of desolation and loneliness. It’s the perfect thing to listen to while driving aimlessly down an empty road at twilight, when the light has gone blue-violet and you don’t know where you are and you let go but still become so aware of how everything feels and how it feels to be so alive. The first song, “Like a Rolling Stone,” has an honesty that bites and taunts, shedding light on the downfall of a woman now neglected by the world—Dylan sings, “How does it feel to be on your own? / With no direction home? / A complete unknown / Like a rolling stone.” In Dylan’s autobiography, Chronicles, he says of Highway 61, “It was my place in the universe, always felt like it was in my blood.” And it is magnificent. 

Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
PJ Harvey
2000, Island
This is one of PJ Harvey’s poppier albums, and it took me a really long time to get it, but when I did it became a security blanket of sorts. It’s about love and melancholy, and its bittersweetness can be almost life-affirming in your time of need. There are so many great songs on it; every couple of months I become obsessed with a new one, playing it on repeat until the cycle starts again. The first one was “This Is Love,” whose video was the reason I picked up the record in the first place. Then it was on to “A Place Called Home,” which honestly bums me out but it does so in a really lovely way that is intoxicating and lovely. No song is more devastatingly beautiful, though, than PJ’s duet with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on “The Mess We’re In,” which is about nothing and everything and showcases both of their voices to almost chilling effect. Although Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea is really perfect for all occasions, I think the wee hours of the morning, when you are lost inside your head contemplating everything around you, are the best time to listen. 

Vision Creation Newsun 
Boredoms
1999, WEA Japan
This album is one of my top 10 favorites of all time. It’s not surprising, since everything that Yamantaka Eye touches and creates is golden (he’s in about a million different amazing bands; has collaborated with everyone in the world including Sonic Youth, Ween, and John Zorn; he DJs; and he’s a visual artist—he made the picture on the cover of Beck’s Midnight Vultures, for instance). (He also once drove a bulldozer through the back wall of a venue during a show, but that’s another matter.) This album features Yoshimi P-We’s best drumming ever (which is saying a lot)—I’m pretty sure she doesn’t stop playing at full speed for its entire 66-minute duration. Each track flows beautifully into the next, yet every song stands out on its own—there are full-speed, full-blast assaults as well as soothing psychedelic lullabies like “～.” (Oh yeah, if it couldn’t get any more awesomely confusing, all the track titles are symbols.) It all sounds AMAZING on long, sunny drives. Or at any other time for that matter…just listen to it all the time, like me. 

Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth
1988, Enigma
I first heard the opening track of this record, “Teenage Riot,” when I was 17; it was a seven-minute anthem that summed up the feelings of long summer days between high school years better than anything else I’d ever heard. This is an album for teenagers by people well into their adult years, who have been part of interesting music scenes and toured the world and are cool without really giving a crap about being cool, reminding you that life doesn’t peak in high school, but that that doesn’t mean you can’t listen to great music in the meantime.

Tea for the Tillerman
Cat Stevens
1970, Island/A&M
This record is a perfect collection of songs that are little stories and windows into the memorable events, both positive and melancholy, in a person’s life. “Wild World” is a song sung to a woman who is leaving a man. If you’ve seen the British TV showSkins, it is the song Sid sings during the season-one finale, as he reflects on how muddled he feels after things have gotten completely out of control. Another favorite of mine, “Father and Son,” describes the relationship between a parent and a child. The album also features two gems: “Where Do the Children Play?” and the title song, “Tea for the Tillerman,” both of which are in Harold and Maude—a film so dear to me that I went as Maude for Halloween last fall. Give this album a listen. I am certain that it will stay in your mind for years to come. 

Americans Abroad!!! Against Me!!! Live in London!!!
Against Me!
2006, Fat Wreck Chords
All of my favorite songs, like “Miami,” “T.S.R.,” “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong,” “From Her Lips to God’s Ears (The Energizer),” as well as “Americans Abroad,” a live version of a song from their major-label debut. That title track is about enjoying being on the road, but also feeling conflicted about your country and what it can stand for sometimes. Most of Against Me!’s songs are about political or personal conflict, which is what I love best about them: you can sing and/or mosh your heart out to these songs and work through your own mixed-up feelings about the state of the world or your life in general. 

The Babies
The Babies
2011, Shrimper
Every once in a while, you hear an album where every single track is so darn catchy you wonder why it isn’t a bigger deal. The Babies’ self-titled debut is one of those records. The Babies count amongst their members Woods’s Kevin Morby and (my current favorite band) Vivian Girls’ Cassie Ramone. Their union created some of the most fun lo-fi, slightly messy, jangly garage rock. (Listen to “Breakin’ the Law,” which sounds like it was written for a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.) 

Graceland
Paul Simon
1986, Warner Bros.
During the height of apartheid, Paul Simon broke the cultural boycott to travel to South Africa and record with some of the country’s most talented musicians. The album he made with them wasGraceland: an innovative and controversial (check out this documentary, which illuminates the debate) record. Controversy aside, this album encapsulates loads of amazing African sounds and is a good introduction to the breathtakingly beautiful Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and musical genres like Mbaqanga. Throughout the record, Paul Simon’s lyrics are as bright and clear (especially on the song “Graceland”) as the song’s electric-guitar riffs travelling up and down the neck. Even on a rainy day it can make me happy