Travelogue

My car is a clunker
Not like the fancy ones for which I valet
And when it breaks down
I ditch it hoping someone will just tow it away
I own one nice shirt
And one nice pair of pants
I go to work and take my place
With all the other worker ants

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101

Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position
But certainty is an absurd one
Why not celebrate the vastness of our ignorance
And be a possibilian
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Promise

You talk like a politician
Or a guy who sells used cars
Or a guy who says he doesn't want your money
Or a guy who tells stories in bars
You sound oh so confident
Like you really believe what you say
Where's the truth
Where's the lie
What does it matter anyway
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What I Found in the Remains

Here's a letter you wrote
From UC Santa Cruz
You liked your class in philosophy
I could see you
Coming into your own
You said
"I wish you were here to come along with me"

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Lost Time

We write novels that tell our stories
But they don't get it right
We build great statues to our heroes
But they cast a strange light
We get ourselves ready for takeoff
But we never take flight
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Thought Palaces

You boyfriend was a jerk
And he beat you to a pulp
One time I kicked his ass
You jumped back with a gulp
Then you disappeared
Moved out to LA
Starred on "Melrose Place"
Life is one big soiree
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The Essential Invisible

I heard a song in the middle of a dream
And it woke me from my slumber
It spurred me on, it rocked my world
You could say it had my number
I got my sack and I got good shoes
And I got a certain esprit
And I know when I get to the top of the mountain
I will be set free
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All Hail Anhedonia!

Thirteen songs about the beginning, the middle and the end.

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Scoundrels

Most of the characters in these songs are people I know, have once known or, perhaps, imagined I knew. They are all rather slippery people, the kind you are not quite sure of, the kind that leave you guessing. When they tell you something personal, as they often do, you wonder how much of it is true and how much fabrication. The thing is, they don't know themselves - so how can you? And yet, because they are often good at sounding like they know what they are saying, and because they look and act completely convincing, you want to buy in.

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Personality Crisis

For people who live unexamined lives, the world just happens, happening as it does beyond their will or ability to act upon it. Because, to them, there are always external forces - perhaps God, perhaps chance, perhaps circumstance - that they believe are outside their ability to understand and control. In most cases, they get away with so much because they think so little. But if they began a process of self-evaluation and -examination, they may come to discover that there is much they can do. Or, at the very least, they can stop deflecting blame for the pain they inflict. Coming to this place of discovery requires much work - more work than most people want to invest in. But the ultimate reward can be great, not only for the people who awaken to their lives, but also to the people in their orbit. They just need to start. But the question remains: How to begin?

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Social Studies

Nowadays everyone's got a window
A clear and unobstructed view
You'd think with all that information
That we would know
We would know what to do
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End of the Road

There comes a time when a certain relationship reaches an end, but one of the parties seems to be unaware that this has happened. Or maybe that person lives in a state of denial. Or is oblivious. Or just wants to pretend that what's has gone on for the last decade or two or three is hunky dory, even though no effort or energy whatsoever has been put into keeping the relationship alive. It's just this thing, this entity - but it is not true; it does not breathe, it does not move, it is not about anything at all. And what do you say to this person? How do you tell him or her that you are at the end of the road?

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Speak, Memory

This album, originally recorded in 2010, has several of my favorite tracks on it, including "Crossing the Line," "Midnight Town" and "The Devil Ain't Got No Music," which was inspired by a line that Mavis Staples uttered on "The Colbert Report" when asked how she felt about singing the devil's music. (Subsequently, in the past year, the blues singer Lurrie Bell has recorded a tune using the same title, but I got there first!). At any rate, after listening to this record recently, I thought it could be better - not only the mix, but the vocals as well. So I've given it a fresh coat of paint.

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Life Among the Lilies

I tried to love you
But you would not let me in
You kept me at a distance
Like a vestigial twin
You lied to me so sweetly
And I wanted to go on believing
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Cakewalk

Up and down
The wheel does grind
Round and round
In this Coney Island of the mind
High and low
With all mankind
We spin and spin
In this Coney Island of the mind
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The Further Adventures of Larry Kusnitt

And after all our pain and suffering
And after all of our goddamn work
Why oh why is God a goddamn jerk
Such a goddamn jerk
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Bad Side

It's a miracle I did not lose you
It's a miracle you let me speak
I gave you cause to punch me in the face
And yet you turned the other cheek
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Fear

Drapes are drawn
All over this land
Everyone is sleeping sound
The wheel's unmanned
Goose is cooked
Pretty spooked
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A Good Man

So I am a peephole
Into a windowless room
Where the sweat on the tiles
Is the only perfume
On the desk is diary
And next to it a vase
The rose draws blood
And it drips on the lace
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An Interview With the San Diego Reader

Yeah, so I a did an interview recently with the San Diego Reader where I talk about my album Quartet and some other things.

READ IT HERE

Jacob's Ladder

A mystery surrounds me
Like none I've ever known
And I don't know the meaning
As it spins 'round me like a cyclone
I have spent whole my life searching
Trying to figure out just why I'm here
But try as I may and try as I might
I don't think I've ever come near

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Sunny Window

"Sunny Window" is a long-deleted Colgems single from 1969, matrix number 66/1019.
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Goodbye Richmond

Originally titled "Bread of Dreams," this was my second album, and it all came about because of Dave Westner, engineer and multitasking musician extraordinaire at Woolly Mammoth Studios. At this stage I was extremely unsure of what I could do both musically and lyrically, but slowly (the recording stretched on between 2007 and 2008) I began to find my legs, mostly because Dave was so proficient at translating my vague ideas into musical realities. Once we'd finished a track, he'd say, "Go write another one." And I would. And bit by bit, this record came together. I like this album a lot, and I really love Dave's playing on it. He's an incredible "feel" musician, and most of what he did he laid down in the very first take.

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Bandcamp Update

During the past months I've been going over all the songs and albums that I've posted on Bandcamp, and I've remastered, re-tweeked and re-imagined virtually everything. So if you'd listened to a particular track or album in the past, you might want to give it another shot. Or perhaps there might be something else ...

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Encounter

O my love, where are they
Where are they going
The flash of a hand
Streak of movement
Rustle of pebbles
I ask not out of sorrow
But in wonder
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Closer

This photograph is my proof
There was that afternoon
When things were still good between us
And she embraced me
Oh yes she did
And we were so happy
It did happen
She did love me
Look see for yourself
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Da Bomb!

"Da Bomb!" features 12 instros to get you groovin' on a summer afternoon.

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More Blood Jungle

The man in the box ... speaks (sort of).

Blood Jungle

A clip from Thomas Nola's "Blood Jungle," which will soon be available on DVD. Yep, that's me, the man in the box. Been typecast ever since.

This Lonesome Road

The title track from This Lonesome Road. With thanks to Jessica Johnson.

Speak, Memory - Video

Another clip from "The Eliot Wilder Summer Good Time Replacement Show."

Endtroducing ...

My DJ Shadow book is hanging in there at No. 18 (out of 83 titles in the 33 1/3 series). Order one now and read it while you listen to Josh's awesome new album, "The Less You Know, the Better."

"Wicked Beast" Video

A video of one my songs, featuring the Eliot Wilder Dancers, which aired on "The Eliot Wilder Good Time Summer Replacement Show" back in 1967.

Trailer for "Blood Jungle"

The new film from Thomas Nola. I play a priest in an iron lung. Of course.

Alphabet City

"Alphabet City" was my third album, and the last one to be recorded, for the most part, with Dave Westner at Woolly Mammoth Sound in Boston. At the time, I was dealing with my mom's death from Alzheimer's, and most of the songs are about memory and loss. Here are 13 songs about warm rains, ghost towns and the bitter hereafter.

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