ed. Rich Balling - Revolution On Canvas, Volume 2: Poetry from the Indie Music Scene

In some ways, this book was better than the first volume. In other ways, it fell short.

There's a lot more prose work in this volume, which is a huge plus. There are some truly great stories in here, like Justin Pierre's (Motion City Soundtrack) "Annelise." Unfortunately, some of the poetry falls disappointingly short of the mark, especially since this book actually does rely more heavily on lyrics than the previous one.

As you may remember from my review of Revolution on Canvas: Volume 1, I was told that a lot of the poetry contained in it was actually song lyrics from the bands. I couldn't tell - I didn't recognize any of them. Unfortunately for the second installment, it wasn't the same. Gabe Saporta (of Midtown in the first book, Cobra Starship in this second) graces us with the lyrics of "It's Warmer In The Basement" and "Success," both of which are on While the City Sleeps, We Rule The Streets. The same goes for The Hush Sound's Greta Salpeter, but, fortunately, not for her bandmate Bob Morris (listed here as Rob Morris).

Surprisingly enough, Pete Wentz's (Fall Out Boy) contribution is not lyrics.

I'll be honest and say that I'm torn between disappointment and pleasure at the inclusion of Armor For Sleep frontman Ben Jorgensen. I love that kid. However, what his contribution is... I'm not sure. It's not actually song lyrics (fortunately), but it's the idea and the basis of what would become the song "Smile For The Camera."

I know I'm talking a lot of shit, but this book is actually a much better read than the first one. Maybe the poetry is a lot of lyrics I already know because I actually listen to some of these bands, but there's a lot of really excellent prose in it, as well. If you liked the first volume, you'll like this one even more.

If you didn't read the first one, maybe give this one a try. It's poetry, after all. Nobody will hold it against you if you don't like it.

ed. Rich Balling, "Revolution on Canvas, Volume 1: Poetry from the Indie Music Scene"

No, this is seriously a book. Yes, it opens with some prose by William Beckett of The Academy Is..., and yes, you can imagine about how well this is going to go after that.

Well, sort of.

I don't know how long Lanie has owned this book, but I definitely chose to read it, thinking I could strap on my lollerskates and get a good laugh out of "what the hell, someone let Matt Rubano write something and then published it?"

(Sidenote: Anyone who knows me knows that at this time in my life, I am particularly obsessed with Taking Back Sunday. In which case you should also know that I get a lot of laughs out of making fun of Matt Rubano and how sexy he thinks he is. Ahh, Rubano. You are not even making the list of sexiness being in the same band with Matt Fazzi and Adam Lazzara, I hope you know. Just play bass, k? Just bass. But I digress.)

So I read the damn thing, even though it opens with William Beckett and I am an avid giggler at his prose, since I follow thewilliambeckett.com on the internet and I really just want to edit him, oh God.

Full Disclosure: I do not know half the bands in this book. Well, that's not entirely true. I know the names from being half-hipster, half-scenester, and from knowing all the lyrics to Gym Class Heroes's "Taxi Driver." I spend half my time gleefully horrified by Gabe Saporta from Cobra Starship, and Midtown are too depressing for my soul. My biggest fantasy in life is to see Something Corporate in concert. (Can you hear me, Josh Partington and Andrew McMahon? GET ON THIS.) So...

I was pleasantly surprised. I had previously been told that most of the pieces were actually lyrics, but most of the pieces being by gents I don't listen to effectively rendered that piece of information useless. (Most of the names I did recognize were prose, rather than poetry - Beckett, Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack, Rubano. If Partington's were lyrics, I couldn't tell, because I don't actively listen to Firescape. I don't know enough Midtown to suss out Saporta. Tim McIlrath of Rise Against could've been lyrics, but not from any RA song I knew. And so on.)

It's not going to take you a lot of time to read this book. It might increase your indie cred if you read it. (And if you think so, allow me to laugh at you and say "ha ha, you're a giant loser worrying about your indie cred!")

I liked it enough to look up volume 2 on Amazon and buy it. Of course, it probably didn't hurt Volume 2's case that it's got Armor For Sleep listed for contribution.

But again, I digress.

It's a nifty book. Some of the things in it are genuinely interesting. Some of the things in it are pretentious crap, but that's how the scene rolls. Some of the things in it are "Death of a Male Hooker," and I don't even know sometimes.

Try it. You might like it. I was surprised that I did.