Joseph profile picture

Joseph

sweeney_astray

About Me

Writer, fancy dan and weathered putto.Publishes a syndicated weekly film review and a wildly digressive my-life-in-books column ("David Mensch...") fortnightly.Areas of expertise (or close): film, music, literature, counterculture, esoterica, travel (hoboiana, South America, Eastern Europe), natural history, folklore, philosophy..orangetext15, strong, .lightbluetext8, .whitetext12, .nametext, .btext, .redtext, .redbtext{ color:rgb(193,241,242); font-weight:bold; font-style:normal; text-decoration:none; text-transform:none;

My Interests

Music:

Albert Ayler, Aphex Twin, Art Pepper, Bach, Beach Boys, early Belle and Sebastian, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Bukka White, Captain Beefheart, Cat Stevens, Charles Ives, Charles Mingus, Chavela Vargas, Chris Bell, Decemberists, Doo Wop (Skyliners, Orioles, Penguins), Dvorak, Elliott Smith, Elvis Costello, Eric Dolphy, Fela Kuti, Fiery Furnaces, Gillian Welch, Graham Bond, Harry Partch, Jimmie Rodgers, Jonathan Richman, Karen Dalton, Kevin Rowland, King Tubby, Kinks, Laura Cantrell, Lavern Baker, Leo Kottke, Leonard Cohen, Little Richard, Love, Luke Smith, Michael Hurley, Mississippi John Hurt, Momus, Morrissey, Mose Allison, Neil Diamond, Nellie McKay, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Nina Simone, Necrophile Rockabilly, Northern Soul, Ojos de Brujo, Papa M, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Professor Longhair, Richmond Fontaine, Robert Wyatt, Roland Kirk, Sam Cooke, Schubert, Scott Walker, Shangri-Las, Sidney Bechet, Sleater-Kinney, Small Faces, Smog, Songs: Ohia, Sufjan Stevens, Tom Waits, Warne Marsh, Will Oldham...

Books:

Poets, essayists, novelists (in no order): Hart Crane, Wallace Stevens, Iain Sinclair, Robert Burton, Flann O'Brien, Peter Riley, Ronald Firbank, James Lee Burke, Frank O'Hara, Don DeLillo, T C Boyle, Arthur Rimbaud, Joseph Mitchell, e e cummings, William Hazlitt, Djuna Barnes, Denis Johnson, S J Perelman, John Donne, Martin Amis, David Harsent, Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, Barry Hannah, J D Salinger, Philip K Dick, Emily Dickinson, Joseph Roth, Anton Chekhov, Ted Hughes, William Burroughs, Alex Trocchi, Chris Torrance, R F Langley, Thomas A Clark...

My Blog

David Mensch 2

"Civilisation begins with distillation," William Faulkner is reputed to have said, a tot of silk-to-sip Tennessee Black Jack streaking his snifter.Well, I must be an ambassador for the ages, then, sat...
Posted by Joseph on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:01:00 PST

David Mensch 1

WELL, here we are at the source of the new year. Not so much a burbling spring sentried by a cromlech and wheeling choughs, mind, as a damp patch from an errant catheter, a bitter tear with an imperia...
Posted by Joseph on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:56:00 PST

The Illusionist

Two fin de siècle magic movies, The Illusionist and The Prestige, opened in the US within three weeks of each other last year, so I wonder why the former is only showing in the UK now, four ...
Posted by Joseph on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:28:00 PST

Close sesame

"The tyrant has fallen," went the solemnizer just off camera phone, "let him swing for three minutes." Justice has been served... and precedent, purpose and wisdom lost. We are hoist by our ...
Posted by Joseph on Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:06:00 PST

My life: the musical

This has been bouncing about My Space for a while... and I've been taken in by its slender premise.  Here's hoping... The Soundtrack to Your Life1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player...
Posted by Joseph on Sun, 17 Dec 2006 02:50:00 PST