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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).

The Truth About Thom Dunn: Revealed!

I think when most people meet me for the first time, they get a pretty good read at who I am, and nearly all of them leave this first encounter with an awareness of most, if not all, of these essential Thom Dunn truths:

  • I really like comic books
  • I really like beer
  • I really like being awesome
  • I am awesome
  • I really like being Irish
  • I have much better taste in music than you, and if I don't, I will gladly engage in friendly albeit heated debate with you about it
  • I really, really hate Journey

Most of these facts require very little explanation, but it's the last one that does occasionally lead to controversy.

I've decided that it's time for me to set the record straight once and for all, and explain myself to the Internets.

But keep in mind that the truth can sometimes be a bitter pill to swallow. I think I might be mixing metaphors there, but I don't care. You have been warned.

"Why I Hate Journey (the band)" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Our Town In Boston

First of all, I'd like to take a quick moment to wish myself a Happy Birthday. So, Happy Birthday, Me! Thanks, Me! Fun fact: Our Town playwright Thornton Wilder spent most of his life and is buried in my home town of Hamden, CT. Other fun fact: I never actually knew anything about Our Town or Thornton Wilder when I still lived in Hamden, but I did play lots of shitty punk rock shows in the Thornton Wilder Auditorium, so, ya know, there's that.

Our production of Our Town at the Huntington opens next week, and I'm incredibly about finally having the chance to see this show in this way. David Cromer, the director, won a MacArthur "Genius" Award, largely for his work on this show, and everyone who's seen it so far (it's been performed in several different incarnations across the country before this, but this is the same design and approach, with a new, all-Boston cast) has raved about how incredibly how much, how much the show affected them and blew their minds away.

But don't take my word for it. Here's a new video I made about it:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl_Z1uqkwQk]

(Did I mention that my good friend Jeff Marcus AKA "Calvin Elder" AKA Avenger from True Believers is in the show as well? Sorry, no spandex this time)

More Fictional Music Stuff

I actually wrote this article quite while ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to see it hit the waves of the Internet today. Similar to another post I did over at Tor, this one breaks down a few of my favorite fictional rock bands (some of which have managed to become nonfictional as well, which is a particularly impressive feet). Check it out!

Five Of Our Favorite Fictional Bands at Quirk Books

Welcome to the C-Wood

The Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts has a very special place in my heart. I was hired there to work as an usher in my first few weeks of college, and it ended up serving as my main place of employment throughout those 4 years. By my Junior year, I had moved up to Assistant House Manager, and started doing some administrative work as well -- which helped leverage me into my current position at the Huntington, as we manage that building as well. (plus my first apartment was right next to it, which was a convenient commute for work, but, well, the story of that apartment is a whole other thing) It's a beautiful modern theatre space with 4 performance spaces as well as rehearsal rooms and more, and it serves a lot of great smaller theatre companies, in addition to our own shows. Here's a video I put together as part of our fundraising campaign at the Huntington, showing the impact that the building has had the community.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k22X0VJMskI]

The Beauty of Meat Loaf

This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, but this week on Five By Five Hundred, I decided to take some prose and apply it to music. Meaning, I've tried to recreate a song with words instead of music. And what better song to try this little experiment on than Meat Loaf's (and Jim Steinman's) magnum opus "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," because c'mon, that song's awesome. Also I'd advise you read all the way to the end...

"'THAT'" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Too Busy

First of all, thanks to everyone who came to our Alejandro & the Fame show this past Saturday. We completely sold out the venue, which is always a cool feeling*, plus Shaymus Moynihan and the gang at the Midway treated us with some truly fantastic hospitality while we were there. (Read: free drinks) Anyway, point is: it's Monday, and after a hard day of writing, I've got a new piece up at Five By Five Hundred about time. We could all use more free time, yeah? And yet, somehow, no one blames the government. Maybe they're taking all of our free time, hrmmm? Even though it's supposed to be free?

Yes, I know, that sounds ridiculous. But it made for a fun little flash fiction sketch.

"FREE TIME" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

*Although, at the same time, it was kind of depressing, because apparently people come out in droves to see 5 guys shredding their way through Lady Gaga songs, but no one cares about original music. But I digress.

This Saturday — Alejandro & The Fame In JP!

Boston's premiere all-male Lady Gaga cover band plays the Midway Cafe in JP! Doors at 8pm! Be there! I can literally walk my equipment over to the club from my house! Wooohoo!

Oh yeah, and here's the Facebook event. Whoops. Sorry, I got excited.

And remember: just dance, motherfuckers

They Like Me! They Really Like Me!

GOOD NEWS: The 2012 BroadwayWorld Boston Award nominations are out, and my play True Believers has been nominated for a ton of them, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Direction, and Best Ensemble (they seem to have gotten rid of the "Best Play - Small/Fringe" category this year, jerks) BAD NEWS: Now you have to go vote for me. With every email address you have. Also tell your friends to do the same. Or else The Cyborg Head of Stan Lee will come to your house and destroy your soul. KTHXBYE.

(also, while you're at it, vote for my girlfriend M. Bevin O'Gara's incredible production of Love Person at Company One, in all of those categories, too, 'cause she's awesome.)

(you can also vote for the Huntington in all of the Large Theatre categories as long as you're there, ya know?)

Memory, Time, and Infidelity

Here's a little behind-the-scenes documentary that I put together for our upcoming production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal at the Huntington. This was one of the first plays to famously explore a nonlinear chronology, which is one of its more interesting qualities (basically, LOST owes a lot to Betrayal). Anyway, check it out. Previews start Friday! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBcAW2uCqHo]

Tomorrow We Vote For Our Lovers

Because everyone's obviously feeling inundated and overwhelmed with all of the political commentary consuming the Internet, I decided this week to give everyone a break, and write something quick and simple about love and romance for Five By Five Hundred instead. Just kidding. It's a metaphor, fool.

"New Girlfriend" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Superhero Politics

Instead of the usual political opinions, I tried instead to write a piece that explores politics without being overtly political. Although my editors at Tor were initially hesitant of the controversy, they were ultimately pretty pleased with the product! And so, my latest article at Tor Dot Com explores the centrist politics of Brian K. Vaughan's Superhero-Turned-Mayor-Of-New-York-City epic Ex Machina, which actually takes an impressively (if ultimately depressing) nonpartisan view at the ups and downs of American politics, only with lots more punching and invaders from alternate realities (obvi).

"Ex Machina and the Great Political Machine of Brian K. Vaughan" on Tor Dot Com

All Actors Are Robots (no but seriously)

In an effort to combine my seemingly disparate interests, I pitched an idea for a new column to my editor at Tor.com, focusing on the depiction of sci-fi and fantasy in the world of theatre. People don't typically think of plays as being bastions for weaving elegant tales of aliens and dragons and cyborgs (oh my!), but in fact, you'd be surprised! (In theatre, we just cover up the "genre" gimmick by giving it some pretentious name like "magical realism" or "futurism" etc). Anyway, here's the first of such columns, exploring RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots), a Czech play from the early 20th century that actually introduced the word "robot" to the world.

"SFF Onstage: Rossum's Universal Robots" on Tor Dot Com

One Minute Play Festival!

This year, I had the honor of being asked to contribute two plays to the annual One Minute Play Festival, and I have to say, writing a one minute play is a much bigger challenge than you'd expect it to be. The festival hits the stage in January, and I'll share information about the performances when I have it. In the meantime, I posted one of the plays as my weekly post over at Five By Five Hundred, so you can check it out there. Generally speaking, these plays are meant to be open-ended vehicles for the director, more than a chance for the writer to show his stuff, but I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out.

"The Call" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

Awake

I'm sure I'll go back and post my specific feelings about this at length, but my friend Scotty passed away this weekend. For now, instead of getting into the emotional stuff, I shared one of my favorite memories of my Scotty over on Five By Five Hundred, because frankly, it was the only thing I was capable of thinking of. Rest in peace, brother.

"Scotty, Or That Time I Wasn't 21" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Now Or Later Opening!

Now Or Later officially opened this past Wednesday, and we couldn't be happier with the results! Okay, well, I guess we could a little bit, but overall, the reaction has been pretty fantastic for this "heady and provocative" 75-minute political thriller. So here's a little somethin' I put together to show off the overwhelmingly positive audience reaction, along with some footage from the production itself:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyDJCgUDEKc&w=485&h=273]