I was interviewed on a wonderful Spokane podcast recently!
Category: Biography
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Selling books from personal collection!
Looking for some cool poetry books? Check out the following link.
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“New Profile”
I was asked to submit a pic. And here it is, and there it goes.
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What I read in 2022
Believe it or not, I read 112 books in 2022. Many were fantastic, but not all of them. I’ve taken my lists from past years off this site, but I’ve decided to add this list here for old time’s sake.
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Narrative Bio
I’ve been writing and creating across time and space between Maine and Washington for the last two decades. I live on Duwamish and Coast Salish land, and work at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland.
Today I’m very grateful to ongoing collaborator Rob McLennan, who invited me (back in January) to respond to his question prompts, “12 or 20.” I don’t often share much about my creative process apart from a few close friends, and Rob’s questions allowed me to dive in.
You can read the questions (and see a fun image of me from the Olympic Peninsula) here.
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The Start of 2020 in Media
How to begin the year 2020 in my consumption patterns? With a footnote that says, this is how I begin:
Games
The Outer Worlds, Plague Tale: Innocence, Life is Strange 2, and Call of Duty (this last one is for a very special project that will hopefully send the new decade into a more critically-thinking space).
Music
Roxy Music, Taylor Swift, Swans, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Ritchie Valens, Ricky Martin, Prince, Prefab Sprout, Jimi Hendrix, Jim O’Rourke, Jennifer Lopez, Floating Points, clipping., and DaVido.
Movies
The Witches (1990) and Destroyer (2018).
Books
The Water Dancer, and Dawn of the New Everything.
I listened to 215 albums in 2019. Incredible, really, now that I’ve been able to track the albums I listen to and find appropriate ways of listening to them. They weren’t all released in 2019, of course, but many were. Below you’ll find my favorite albums that came out last year. This is a new type of post for me, so feels a bit basic, but I have the data, so why not share it? Note: some of these may be re-releases. And note: they are listed in alphabetical order.
Silences by Adia Victoria
Malibu Ken by Aesop Rock
Sunshine 3 by Aleksi Perala
I’m Losing Myself by An Isolated Mind
ANDRES IV by Andres
All the Mirrors by Angel Olsen
Death Becomes Her by ANGEL-HO
thank u, next by Ariana Grande
Organism EP by Ariel Zetina
Signal Bulletin by ASUNA & Jan Jelinek
Cows on Hourglass Pond by Avey Tare
Gold and Grey by Baroness
Dark: Cycle 1 (Original Music From The Netflix Series) by Ben Frost
Dark: Cycle 2 by Ben Frost
Odds Against Tomorrow by Bill Orcutt
LOVE AND AFFECTION FOR STUPID LITTLE BITCHES by Black Dresses
Destroyer by Black Mountain
Blacks’ Myths II by Blacks’ Myths
Animated Violence Mild by Blanck Mass
i,i by Bon Iver
Free Company by Boy Scouts
Let’s Try the After by Broken Social Scene
Scholars by Buke and Gase
Dive / Rain by Burial and Bug
The Act of Falling from the 8th Floor by Carl Gari & Abdullah Miniawy
Myths 004 by Cate Le Bon
Zandoli EP (Bandcamp by Charlotte Adigery
Stuffed & Ready by Cherry Glazerr
Immaculada High by Cherubs
Brace Up! by Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt
Ancestral Recall by Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Hectic Shakes EP by Christoph de Babalon
Gazing in the Dark by Copperhead
I Need a New War by Craig Finn
Pure Imagination No Country by Dave Harrington Group
Occulting Disk by Deathprod
Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? by Deerhunter
I Don’t Know How to Be Happy by Deli Girls
Deceiver by DIIV
PURGE by Dis Fig
Kinshasa One Two by DRC Music
Sweet Princess EP by Dry Cleaning
New Atlantis by Efdemin
Empire EP by Eli Keszler
Water Memory by Emily A Sprague
Scenery by Emily King
Musical Prophet – The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions by Eric Dolphy
Neighborhoods by Ernest Hood
Agora by Fennesz
MAGDALENE by FKA Twigs
Emily Alone by Florist
Hi This is Flume by Flume
Unsound Festival mix (YouTube) by Forest Swords
Close it Quietly by Frakie Cosmos
Haunted Items #1-4 by Frankie Cosmos
Failed Entertainment by FURY
A People’s History of Gauche by Gauche
The Envoy by Gavilan Rayna Russom
Phantom Rhythm by Gong Gong Gong III
After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house by Grouper
This is How You Smile by Helado Negro
A Fossil Begins to Bray by Hiro Kone
Modern Nature by How to Live
Venus in Leo by HTRK
Mdou Moctar by Ilana (The Creator)
Sulphur English by Inter Arma
Otoboke Beaver by Itekoma Hits
FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise by Jaimie Branch
Tatizo Pesa by Jay Mitta
Tracing Back The Radiance by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
On the Line by Jenny Lewis
Mise En Abyme by joni void
Mandatory Reality by Joshua Abrams and Nautral Information Society
La Onda de Juan Pablo by Juan Wauters
Tides: Music for Meditation and Yoga by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Lux Prima by Karen O
Origin EP by Kelly Moran
No Home Record by Kim Gordon
Solitude by King Midas Sound
Lifetie by Klein
The Bells by Kornél Kovács
Panorama by La Dispute
Ancestor Boy by Lafawndah
DJ Kicks by Laurel Halo
Loom Dream by Leif
River without Banks by Leo Svirsky
Thanks for the Dance by Leonard Cohen
October Song by Lighting Bug
Caligula by Lingua Ignota
Gray Area by Little Simz
lofeye by lojii
Antidoes 1 (Open Spotify) by Lucinda Chua
Many Any by Max D
Dolphine by Mega Bog
Fever by Megan Thee Stallion
Komachi by Meitei
Coastal Erosion (YouTube) by Merzbow & Vanity Productions
Tears of Joy by MIKE
Power Chords by Mike Krol
How to Live by Modern Nature
Lost Wisdom Pt 2 by Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron
Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire by Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire
Volume One: Dilemmas Of Identity (YouTube) by Nate Young
Colorado by Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Miss Universe by Nilufer Yanya
Radiant Dawn by Operators
basking in the glow by Oso Oso
Phoenix by Pedro the Lion
Nighttime Stories by Pelican
Tasmania by Pond
Morbid Stuff by POP
The Seducation of Kansas by Priests
Am I Who I Am by PTU
Self-Titled by Purple Mountains
Guns by Quelle Chris
Cages by Redbait
ATAXIA by Rian Treanor
Inferno by Robert Forster
Oli XL by Rogue Intruder, Soul Enhancer
Stars Have Eyes by Saint Abdullah
That’s Harakiri by Sd Laika
We Are Not Your Kind by Slipknot
Self-Titled by Sofia Kourtesis
When I Get Home by Solange
Mazy Fly by Spellling
Beware of the Dogs by Stella Donnelly
Athena by Sudan Archives
Life Metal by Sunn O)))
Illegal Moves by Sunwatchers
Leaving Meaning by Swans
Toothsayer by Tanya Tagaq
Dreams Are Not Enough by Telefon Tel Aviv
No Geography by The Chemical Brothers
The Devil You Know by The Coathangers
In League with Dragons by The Mountain Goats
No Holiday by The Muffs
Vessel (Revolver) by Theories
ANIMA by Thom Yorke
No Treasure but Hope by Tindersticks
II by TNGHT
Outer Peace by Toro y Moi
Deforming Lobes by Ty Segall
First Taste by Ty Segall
Signals Into Space by Ultramarine
Pacific Breeze by Various
Titanic Rising by Weyes Blood
Girl With Basket Of Fruit by Xiu Xiu
SECOND LANGUAGE by XXX
Mujeres by Y La Bamba
WAHALA by YATTA
Spirit Said Yes! by YATTA
ATO by Ziur
This post is meant to serve as a personal reflection and a relatively-public expression/acknowledgment of my violence, harm, and the abuse I committed between 2014 and 2016. It is only a partial exploration, one that has had precursors and will continue indefinitely as long as I am still alive and thinking. Please email gregbem @ gmail.com if you are inclined to communicate about this.
“I was in a band.”
Friend and nearly-neighbor Paul Nelson recently interviewed me about all sorts of things, as part of a series for the South Seattle Emerald.
I wholeheartedly approve of the piece, which is found here. Additionally, visit this page on Paul’s site for the audio recording of the interview, and other fun additions. Many thanks to Paul for taking the time to think I was a good person to profile!