I started with FEMA maps. “This is how they cost out earthquake damage.” I laid one on the drafting table so Jules could see. “Sometimes people call them Ground Failure Maps or Hazard Maps. They show you where the land is unstable and prone to liquefaction.” He leaned over. I traced a river gorge...

Today calls for drastic action, and when that particular call goes out, the Saints answer every time. “I’m Stranded” is the best song from the best punk rock record ever (I’m Stranded). It isn’t subtle and it isn’t pretty, but if it doesn’t make you feel alive, you might want to call for an...

“I entered into literature on my own, I live in it on my own and I shall depart from it on my own when the time comes” http://www.khazars.com/en/ Academician and author Milorad Pavić, professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Belgrade University, passed away yesterday of complications following...

DECEMBER 3 — ALLAN BÉRUBÉ Gay American historian, activist, independent scholar. “None of us can do our best work until we believe that the life of the mind really does belong to us.” DECEMBER 3, 2009 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS… China: FEAST OF LU-HSING, the Stellar God of Happiness. ALSO ON DECEMBER 3...

Some time in either the late '90s or early '00s, I was at a De La Soul show in the Bay Area. To be honest, for whatever reason, the energy was kind of flagging throughout the whole thing (I had seen some great De La shows in the past, this just didn't happen to be among the more stellar ones). Biz had been one of the opening DJs and during the De La's set, they brought him out and he sang the chorus to "Just a Friend." Brought the house down. It was the most energized the crowd had been the entire night. And the thing is - I don't remotely consider Biz to be a one-hit wonder but it is frickin' amazing how powerfully that song has remained in popular culture. I've always been...

I began to sense the work going on beneath the seed-based cheeses and ‘zines. An undercurrent of excitement bearing no relationship to anything on the surface and which ran through the most trivial interactions. I recognized the feeling from my childhood, the excitement that was there when people...

Del-Fi label founder, record producer and “the world’s youngest bandleader” Bob Keane passed away on Saturday at age 87. By age 17, Keane was fronting his own big band and played with different bands, including Artie Shaw’s, throughout the ’40s. He started Del-Fi after co-founding and working as an...

SPECTRE joined Arthurmag’s ring of banner contributors two months ago, but I neglected to give them a proper introduction to our readers. Here’s one they penned…. Spectre Event Horizon Group http://spectregroup.org OPEN DATASHARE CULLED FROM PUBLIC INFORMATION SEARCHES; A COMMUNITY BACKUP OF DATA IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST —————————————– things to talk about at parties —————————————– XXXXX SPECTRE PRIORITY XXXXX Before we had a [...]

Ok, so I ran just a little behind on this but the good folks at Light in the Attic are happy to sponsor a giveaway for the very excellent Is It Love or Desire? album that they rescued from the realms of the unreleased (and that I penned liner notes for). We should have 2-3 copies...