- My four-song EP Dog Park landed on FVM music blog's Hot Picks Playlist, which described the tracks as "Superb rock-pop." Also, from Alt77: "I was dancing all around while listening to this. Infectious, damn it. The melodies are also really good." We All Want Someone to Shout For: "A big confident chugging rock anthem with big confident production work." American Pancake: "Great track." Top Indie Alt: "Nice track. Enjoyed the vibe." Atlas Atlas: "I like the creativity in this work." Recorded over the pandemic summer in the laundry room of my cottage rental in Laurel Canyon, the tracks include 27 Shades of Blue, which attempts to reckon with an American landscape in which the lives of Black kids, men and women have been destroyed by racism. Title track Dog Park tells a short story involving a car crash, white light and recovery. Guitar rocker How to Be a Millionaire dreams big from the point of view of a desperate guy living under a bridge. And my ballad If It Works for You follows a couple in a broken down car on a cross country trip as they try to patch things up.
- In 2020, I released Rock Against Trumpism track Bye Bye Donny
- Chicago Reader featured my band The ODD in its Secret History of Chicago Music series.
- \The ODD is also featured on Black Parrot Music's New Wave compilation album Chgo Club Vol 1, which re-released my song "Lean To" in April, 2022.
- My video interview with MLK/FBI director Sam Pollard. Now available on Spotify, from Flux Records, my new EP Dog Park.
- Wired Archive linking to 500 stories I've written for Wired.com.
- Wired.com story about Peter Jackson nominated for 2013 Mirror Award as Best Digital Media Article.
- Holiday music video Santa Punk Is Coming to Town featuring J.D. Dragus and "Krampus."
- Songs from Wrecking Ball, my musical-in-progress.
- Me and my harmonica on YouTube via the flamewidget channel.
- Pix gallery with some of my favorite images plus mystery head shots of yours truly.
- I served as guest lecturer at Otis College of Art and Design in 2009 and appeared on the 2014 Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design panel "Art and Design Coverage in the Changing Media Landscape."notes from August 2009.
- Hugh pencil portrait sketched by one of the Otis students
- Audio interview with the late Heath Ledger, conducted at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
- Tricia Helfer Audio, recorded during a chat Playa La Vista's EA video game headquarters with the Battlestar Galactica star.
- Kathy Griffin Transcript used as basis for my New York Times profile.
- Design Auteurs, listing a bunch of interesting arty designers I wrote about for the Los Angeles Times.
- YouTube Interview, which came as a surpise to me because I had no idea the filmmaker I was talking to was recording the whole thing.
- Home Town Geneva Documentary by my childhood friend David Phyfer
- Links to a slew of creative sites, some defunct, others thriving
AND ALSO...
August 23, 2011: With help from copyright-free footage available at Prelinger Archives, I created a music video for Come Out Swinging featuring guitarist J.D. Dragus.
Jan. 1, 2011: Rounded up 2010's best pop culture moments for Wired.com
March 13, 2010: Here's a live performance of a song I wrote called Tight Squeeze by my band The ODD on YouTube
Dec. 4, 2009: Spent a night in Las Vegas and wrote my first full-blown architecture review for L.A. Weekly. Here's my Hughtown shot of molten Frank Gehry building.
Nov. 7, 2009: My first band, Huge Hart, is included in Dean Milano's new book The Chicago Music Scene from Arcadia Publishing. The book hits stores today.
Aug. 31, 2009: The site I write for, Wired.com, got nominated as a finalist by Online Journalism Awards in the "General Excellence" category, along with Washington Post, New York Times and BBC News.
July 2, 2009: My Wired story about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland racked up the biggest traffic count in Underwire history. Credit goes to the groovy images of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and other fantastical tableaux.
May 5, 2008: Wired.com won the Webby Award (People's Voice) for Best Writing. Last Thursday, Wired Magazine won for General Excellence at the 2009 National Magazine Awards. My story on making fire for the new Harry Potter movie runs in the July issue.
Jan. 3 2008: Composer Alaric Jans (House of Games) staged children's musical Captain Marbles' Acting Squad at Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs' Store Front Theater in December 2008. I wrote a few songs and played an insane harmonica player named Speedoo in a subsequent Captain Marbles show written by actor William H. Macy.
Jan. 1 2008: Songs uploaded ReverbNation
Dec. 24 2007: Band The ODD added to PunkDatabase
