Let's go find summer.

Yes, Heidi Swanson, yes let's.

So far, summer has been alternately lazy and hectic. Roller coasters and concerts jostle with libraries and placement tests. My CSA share is yielding all the lettuce I could ever dream of. And delicious strawberries almost better than the occasional ice cream cone. I tore right through Jedediah Berry's The Manual of Detection last weekend and am excited to start working at Small Beer Press with Jed and Gavin and Kelly (and fellow interns!).


So far, I've seen Thao Nguyen rock The Iron Horse and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists blow up the Easthampton High School gym (an interesting change in venue, for sure). Missed what was probably an amazing TMSR show in Boston, but am looking forward to their new album, due out July 14. Bowerbirds are playing Northampton in a few weeks, and though I don't think anything can top when they played an opening set for Bon Iver last summer in Philadelphia, I'm planning on heading over. Slightly weirded out by the death of Michael Jackson, but John Richards's amazing kickoff to The Morning Show yesterday celebrated the spirit of a pop genius in exactly the right way. The whole first hour of that show was top-notch, and if you feel like you need a summertime pick-me-up, you can stream the show over at KEXP.org.

Headed to the home region for the 4th of July weekend. Starting Ulysses as of July 1. These are probably bad concurrent moves to make. If I fall behind, I suppose there's always the new (and beautifully drawn) Ulysses SEEN project by Throwaway Horse to keep me motivated.

Tonight: final reading of the Juniper Summer Institute: Chris Bachelder, Arisa White, and Matthew Zapruder (oh my).

To come: playlists!