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Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, and utterly terrible dancer. He is the singer/guitarist for the indie rock/power-pop the Roland High Life, as well as a staff writer for the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a regular contributor at BoingBoing.net. Thom enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (especially when they involve whiskey), and he firmly believes that Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is the single greatest atrocity committed against mankind. He is a graduate of Clarion Writer's Workshop at UCSD ('13) & Emerson College ('08).

Homebrewing the Future!

Over the last 2 months (basically, over the time it took to make my Blood Orange Hefeweizen), I've been the subject of an interactive "magazine" article about homebrewing. From what I understand, the idea of the magazine is "Old is New" — that is, to present old-fashioned or time honored practices, traditions, and hobbies in a brand new light, with the aid of new media. The completed project is intend for view on an iPad, and should be released on the iTunes store in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here's the first part of the project, a short video focusing on me and my brewing exploits. Part Two to come....whenever I see it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otuW_3-3Fg8&w=480&h=390]

Thanks to Nick and Braden for this! (and to Brittany Burke for lending her hands & help to the bottling process)

Smoked Kölsch Ale

Today's adventure in homebrewing: a smoked kölsch ale, made with genuine charred oak barrel pieces straight from the Jack Daniels distillery and soaked with whiskey for 5 years. The goal is to make it a light summer drinking beer, that's already been (deliciously) stained by the campfire around which you should probably be drinking it anyway, because we're coming up on prime latenight backyard campfire drinking season. I'll also be adding some liquid smoked oak essence at the end, to balance the flavor as needed (or as not needed, although probably needed). (For those of you unfamiliar with kölsch, it's kind of like a pilsner in color/hoppiness, except it's an ale, not a lager. Get it? Okay. Moving on)

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Bang Bang, Shoot Shoot

Happiness comes in many forms. Occasionally, people feel the destruction of public property, or other such violent outbursts, is the only logical way to express these overwhelmingly positive emotions. So today, in light of recent mainstream news, I had a little fun with that idea. Because hey, I'll fully admit — when the Red Sox won their first World Series victory in 86 years my freshman year of college, you can bet your ass I was running around through the streets in Boston in underwear 'till 5am, screaming at the top of my lungs. I just never understood the need for people to smash car windows about it.

(Also I was just getting fed-up with every single person on my Facebook newsfeed feeling the need to EXTREMELY EXPRESS THEIR EXTREME OPINIONS about what happened)

"The Warmest Gun" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaBe-yXDOY&w=425&h=349]"Did you see the pool?! They flipped the bitch!"

Theater & Social Media

Anna Westendorf, a Journalism/Theatre student at Northeastern University, has been working on a project about theatre & new media, with a focus on the Huntington Theatre Company. We spoke a few times, since, well, that's the whole point of what I do here at the Huntington. It's not my most eloquent, seeing as I hadn't slept in about five days at that point (Thom no talk good on no sleep), but still, it's something. Thanks to Anna for taking the time to speak with us!

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Writing, Writing Everywhere, and Not a Drop To Read

I have to apologize for the radio silence here at ThomDunn.net over the last few weeks. Layne Anderson, a close friend and former roommate of mine, passed away unexpectedly on April 7th, and as much as I've kept up with everything (well, almost everything), time has been rather a blur. I've chronicled the situation as impersonally as possible over at FiveByFiveHundred.com in two posts — Shark Grief, about my own grieving process, and iWake, which as entirely fictional account of a some inappropriate gallows humor inspired by the situation of which Layne would have most certainly approved. Meanwhile, this week's entry steps away from the morbidity and explores the quantum mechanics of one night stands as interpreted through Bell's Theorem, using the Shrödinger's Cat experiment as a proof. Hopefully, that sounds ridiculous (and ridiculously intriguing) enough for you to check out Shrödinger's Cat Call, also over at FiveByFiveHundred.com.

Also in the last two weeks, we've officially opened Sons of the Prophet at the Huntington, which is then moving to the Roundabout Theatre Company Off-Broadway in the Fall. Plus, I did some filming for Art & Design of the 20th & 21st Centuries and the Boston Print Fair, did a small reading of my new play, True Believers (which is set at a Comic Book Convention and features a cameo by the Cyborg Head of Stan Lee, among other things), and started rehearsals and arrangements for my (wait for it) all-male hard rock Lady Gaga tribute band, Alejandro & the Fame, which is going to be every bit as ridiculous as it sounds. Come check us out on May 20th at the afterparty for Propeller Theatre Company's all-male production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors at the Huntington's B.U. Theatre.

Woo. Okay. I think that's it. Tune in next week for your regularly scheduled programming.

Time Travel! Murder! Philadelphia! OH EM GEE!

Most people who know me can vouch for the fact that I love just about anything involving (a) time travel, or (b) noir tropes. Fortunately, Expiration Date, the latest novel from Philadelphia genre master Duane Swierczynski, features both (along with some great beer and records. Even better!), and you can read my full review over at DailyGenoshan.com. Here's the blurb from the back of the book:

Recently unemployed journalist Mickey Wade lucked into a rent-free apartment — his sick grandfather's place. The only problem: it's in a lousy neighborhood — the one where Mickey grew up, in fact. The one he was so desperate to escape.

But now he's back. Dead broke. And just when he thinks he's reacher rock bottom, Mickey wakes up in the past. Literally.

At first he thinks it's a dream. All of the stores he remembered from his childhood, the cars, the rumbles of the elevated train. But as he digs deeper into the past, searching for answers about the grandfather he hardly knows, Mickey meets the twelve-year-old kid who lives in the apartment below.

The kid who will grow up to someday murder Mickey's father.

Book Review: “Expiration Date” by Duane Swierczynski on DailyGenoshan.com

Song of the (Bi-)Week, Week 7: "I Gotta Feeling"

I'm going to be completely honest right now: I think "I Gotta a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas is one of the most trite, mundane, and obnoxious songs ever written. And the fact that anyway — including but not limited to my left ass-cheek — could have written something so asinine makes even angrier, because neither me nor left ass-cheek did write it, and neither one of us is famous. The song came on while I was driving the other day, and I started thinking of ways to make it better (and by better, I mean worse, which means better, because it's already the worst. Get it?). So I grabbed my acoustic guitar, dropped it into a minor key, and suddenly America's moronic party anthem sounds...well, it sounds like a struggle with addiction, really. Not to make light of that issue, I do find it interesting how fine the line is between fun and self-destruction, as this musical, but not lyrical*, shift demonstrates.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/13193367"]

*Okay, there's a slight lyrical shift. I know, it's slow, it's sad, but keep listening towards the end of the 2nd verse, and there might be a little surprise waiting for you....

How Are You?

On Thursday, March 25th, Mitchell Dubey was murdered in his home in New Haven. I never knew Mitchell myself, but he touched the lives of countless people whom I've known, and left a lasting, positive impact on these people and the community of which they are a part. Last night, his friends put together a benefit concert for Mitchell's family, who has suffered a great deal in the past year, and successfully raised over $23,000, and completely sold out Toad's Place, a famous music venue in New Haven. It was a glorious sight to behold, a celebration of his life and the things he loved. (And yes, that is a GIANT photo of me getting a wristband from the doorman at the concert. Embarrassing. I wish they could have featured someone else who knew Mitchell personally. But, I'll take it.)

I feel strange that I never had the chance to meet Mitchell, but he touched the lives of so many people that I've known a long time, and left a lasting, positive impact on a community that I care greatly for, even though I don't live there anymore. I don't want to rob my grief from those that actually knew Mitchell and were so greatly affected by this loss, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of love on display last night. Mitchell Dubey left a mark on the lives of so many people that I have known, and so, by extension, his life has affected mine, and I think that is the very definition of community.

This week's post on Five By Five Hundred is dedicated to Mitchell. It was inspired by an interaction that I had at the show with my old friend Jerry Morgan. We haven't seen each other in a long time, and have never done well keeping in touch, but I think we were both happy to see each other, barring the circumstances. Jerry knew Mitchell through the bicyclist and vegan communities in New Haven, as well as the music scene, and when we both asked each other how we "were," we both understand what it meant — what has your life been like since we last spoke, excepting the detail of your friend's gruesome murder. Fortunately Jerry always remains positive, and took our "How are you?"s in good humor, and it sparked a conversation.

Before I link you selfishly to my writing, here's a video of Mitchell taken by a complete stranger in California several years ago. It only makes me wish I knew him more.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmh9FBDAvwo&w=425&h=349]



Check out "Three Words" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Sons of the Prophet Teaser Trailer

Check out this brand new teaser trailer that I created for Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet, which is having it's world premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston before moving to the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York later in the year. Also, featuring Joanna Gleason, who totally won the Tony Award for the Best Actress for the original production of Into the Woods! Ya know, if you're into that kind of thing.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2hLIVECji8&w=500&h=311]

And in case you were wondering, the deer's name is Bruce.

69 Love Songs

Check out my latest piece over at FiveByFivehundred.com, about a Morning After that she may or may not regret. Complete with an overbearing 20-something male playing bad love songs on an acoustic guitar who is in no way, shape, or form intended as analog for myself. Seriously.

"69 Love Songs" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Song of the (Bi-)Week, Week 6: "Sunday Morning"

Because for some reason, these things never go as planned. I was all set to post a slow pretty version of "Sunday Morning" by the Velvet Underground, using only a clean, warm electric guitar, and a bass synth pad. Then, around midnight on Thursday, I had a Eureka moment, and came up with this instead (and incidentally kept my girlfriend awake until about 3am WHOOPS). Realizing I had to be awake in 6 hours, I decided to postpone the release of the song until....well, Sunday morning. How do ya like that! Enjoy!

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/12593689"]

Blood Orange Hefeweizen!

I've been falling behind a bit on my homebrewing (it seems that life's been getting in the way), but I'm finally back on track. And to celebrate, I just brewed a blood orange hefeweizen. I had the impetus to make one late last spring, until I discovered that I had already missed blood orange season (It's a shame that the season for something so delicious only lasts for 2 months in the winter). The recipe was an adaptation of a Honey Wheat Ale kit from Barleycorn's Craft Brew in Natick, combined with a friend's suggestion for the blood oranges.

Yes — that's a pot full of blood orange juice on the left. AWESOME.

This was my first time visiting Barleycorn's, and they were fantastic — much better than the arrogant beersnobs that run Modern Homebrew in Cambridge (Imagine Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. Now imagine he runs a homebrew store instead. "Extract brew? Ugh. Why don't you just like, sparge at 275 Fahrenheit?" I HATE YOU). If you're looking to get into homebrewing (and have access to a car), I suggest you check them out.

Emerson GOLD Council

I received a brief shout-out in this article from the Berkeley Beacon, my Alma Mater's student-run newspaper, about the Emerson GOLD (Graduates Of the Last Decade, get it?) Council, with whom I've been working and meeting for the last month or so. It's a new initiative, but there's some exciting plans on the horizon for Emerson Alumni in each of our main networks. Also, special thanks to Caitlin Collins for not making me sound like an idiot, and not publishing any of the incredibly-witty-but-terribly-inappropriate-and/or-incriminating things that I may or may not have said during our brief interview.

Go Lions!*

*Just kidding. No one cares about sports at Emerson College.**

**Apologies to all of you Emerson athletes out there. I think you're fantastic people. I really do. So I don't say this to insult you. I say this because it's true.

Le Fheile Padraig

Alright, so my commitment to posting a new cover song every 2 weeks has fallen behind. I've been recovering from a sinus infection, which of course has rendered me unable to sing. But serendipity shined its smiling Irish eyes on me, and I was able to finish just in time for the Feast of Saint Patrick (one of my personal favorite holidays). This entry into the Song of the (Bi-)Week series is a cover of "Streams of Whiskey" by the Irish rock group The Pogues. This song pays homage to two of my favorite things: drinking whiskey, and Irish playwright/author Brendan Behan, who is also the namesake of my favorite local pub (where I often enjoy drinking whiskey). The original song is an sloppy, upbeat drinking song in 4/4 time; my version follows more in the tradition of Americana, complete with plenty of lap steel guitar, and converts the meter to 3/4 time.

Enjoy, and have yourselves a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/12036874"]

Review: The Nightly News

The VOICE says: When killing activists, never shoot for the head, always aim for the heart."

Over at DailyGenoshan.com, I've posted my review of Jonathan Hickman's debut book The Nightly News, which combines contemporary graphic design, infographics, prose, photorenderings, and comic book dialogue with a gazillion conflicting narratives to tell the story of a domestic terrorist cult determined to take down the American news media. In case that sentence wasn't clear, it's absolutely nuts. Check it out.