“Experiencing music used to always be something you did with a group of other people, but now you could experience it…alone…To some, this was horrific. It was like drinking alone…” – David Byrne, ‘How Music Works’
Hey why not, an ekphrasis where I actually took the pictures. Digging through Wikimedia Commons is very fun, and I am not a photographer. I do, however, have phone camera plus a rudimentary grasp of the rule of thirds and color theory. I also have an Instagram, but who cares about that. So here, five photos from my phone1, plus whatever writing they inspire. I am going person-free and context-free here, we’re making art.
Ope, real quick before we start: b & the shipwrecked sailor has a show this week! Super stoked to be playing with Routine Fuss and Ester. Come out to Rivers & Roads and hear us shred on acoustics!
Okay, back to ekphrasis.
Previous Entries: Sea Monsters | Werewolves | Underappreciated Nature | Grill Food | Lake Fish | Guitars | Herons | Haunted House | Ghost | Crabs | Original
You’ve got to be able to make friends wherever you go. You’ve got to speak the local language, and be able to know which locals are likely to be friendly. That’s the only way to adventure in this life, hell, it’s the only way to survive in this life. Hey, got any tuna?
Because one day this block won’t look like it did in 2025.2
Would love to write something spooky for this paragraph, but all I can think about are ticks. Which are an underutilized thing in horror. Especially eldritch horror and creature horror—anything involving significant change, really. There’s a tick that makes you deathly allergic to red meat! Tick populations are on the rise at a time when our red meat consumption is at an all-time high, is a known driver of climate change. You think Nature doesn’t have metaphors?
Okay, context for precisely one picture: I actually saw a home run at Comiskey (this was, uh, during August of the 60-102 2025 season), actually had the wherewithal to snap this photo, and this was how I told my parents we were at a Sox game. And hey, now we got Munetaka Murakami! Life could be worse.
It’s a truism that humanity has always looked to the sky, but why? What are we expecting to find up there? What fiery discoveries await above or below the harbor? Are we sure we want to know?
Sorry you got an email,
Chris