fiction and creative non-fiction from Brennan Quenneville
For a long time I didn't use any powered tools to maintain my lawn. I channeled my old-timey dad energy every time I used my reel mower, with each swing of my double-bladed grass cutter I turned a little more into a Victorian farmer, and with every inch of sidewalk that I trimmed with the [...]
The stereotype says that athleticism and physicality are reserved for jocks, bullies, and meatheads, and that part of the reason that some people elect to be punks or hipsters or whatever is a lack of physical capacity for sport. And, hey, I get it. I and almost everyone I know are deeply tied to that [...]
A few days ago, Max Collins---or, as he might put it, the Eve 6 guy---posted a Twitter thread claiming that the band fun. was "hands down the worst band" of the last decade. And, sure, whatever, he doesn't like Nate Ruess's voice and he's seemingly jealous of Jack Antonoff's success as a producer. If you [...]
Ernest Hemingway's most famous book is his simplest and he uses that simplicity to tell a very specific narrative with broad metaphorical applicability. In the micro, The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of Santiago, the titular old man, who spends days at sea catching a giant marlin. In the macro, it's a [...]
Four months ago I launched a newsletter, for which you can sign up---for free!---right here. Today, I'm posting a few of my favorite entries across the newsletter's initial run: We'll discuss Rilo Kiley, Coheed and Cambria, and Lisa Loeb. Let's get to it. Rilo Kiley -- "The Good That Won't Come Out" The Execution of [...]
I don't know what exactly bands owe their fans or what exactly those fans owe the bands they love. The same things we all owe one another, I suppose: compassion, respect, generosity. The songs that engender fandom are not the same as the people who make them, even though the nature of fandom is such [...]
After working a long day, when I'm mentally spent, without the capacity to read or write or watch any of the million backlogged entries in my Netflix queue, my preferred method for unwinding has long been to put on an album that I love and plow through some comfort gaming. I'm all here for new [...]
One of the greatest albums reviews I've ever read begins by citing and then disputing this hell of a quote: "Technical knowledge of the art form has disappeared from its discourse. In short, music criticism has turned into lifestyle reporting." That gem came from Ted Gioia of the Daily Beast who was raging against what [...]
Though it had rained all day, the skies were clear as the sun set behind the quad. On the edge of campus, in a tavern that had been there before they were students and would remain long after their tenure as professors had come to an end, the journalist was staring slack-jawed at the astronaut. [...]
I included Circuit Boredom, the most recent album from Ben Kweller, in my list of the best albums of 2020. Though the album is now available on all major streaming platforms, at the time that I published that review, Circuit Boredom was locked behind a paywall on Kweller's personal website. Kweller has adopted a subscription [...]
Songs & Stories 