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David Brandt • Essays
- Conversations with JB
- Human Rights Advocate
- The Complicated Dance
- Beauty in Solitude
- Vain Posturing
- One Fine Moment
- Films that Changed Me
- Punk in Context
- Bizarre Jobs
- In Front of People
- Visitor Center
- Ill Manners and Hope
- Theft and Hope
- The Promise Keepers
- It’s Spring
- High School Biometrics
- Horror
- My Tandy
- A Calm Place
- The James River Greens
- Strange Energy
- In the Shenandoah Valley
- The Flower that Became a Boy
Author Archives: dust exchange
Conversations with JB
If you don’t enjoy vulgar humor and displays of virtuosity, Frank Zappa is not for you. For a decade, my mind was immersed in his music. It got to a point where I knew that every time I put a … Continue reading
Human Rights Advocate
You know, something that I say at every show I do now–because I fine my speeches down so they’re very short–is that at some point in everybody’s life, they have to decide whether or not they believe in the 1948 … Continue reading
Posted in Human Rights
Tagged 1948 Declaration of Human Rights, All People, Humanity, Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, The Wall, United Nations
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The Complicated Dance
Ain’t no cup of coffee like an AA cup of coffee Anyone who’s had one will tell you so You can stop at a coffee shop Have a cup … Continue reading
Posted in AA, Alcoholics Anonymous
Tagged AA, Alcoholics Anonymous, Beer, Blackstone, Bourbon, Cigarettes, Drunk, Fun, Good Times, Liquor, Quit, Quitting, Recovery, Wine
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Beauty in Solitude
It was known as Ultima Thule, which means in Latin, “beyond the known world.” It was changed because Ultima Thule had some significance regarding Nazi sympathizers. It became Arrokot, which comes from the Powhatan tribe of the Chesapeake Bay. It means … Continue reading
Posted in Object in Space
Tagged Arrokot, Kuiper Belt, NASA, New Horizons, NOVA, PBS, Powhatan, Solar System, Ultima Thule
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Vain Posturing
I wrote a song called “Party Favors” while living in the dormitory. It’s just about the darkest lyric I have penned. It was the only song I could perform competently. Walking down the street in Richmond, I saw a friend … Continue reading
Posted in Rock Music
Tagged Awareness Art Ensemble, Blackstone, Bongos, Crisp Fabric, Free Jazz, Harrisonburg, Improvisation, Nashville, Party Favors, Party Scene, Percussion, Richmond
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One Fine Moment
It was a hot summer day. Clay was inside the supermarket, buying beer. I was standing outside, smoking a cigarette. A young girl came outside, with a sly attitude. There were two long rows of shopping carts, with a space … Continue reading
Posted in Grocery Store
Tagged Children, Clay Keith, Gratitude, Kroger, Lost Child, Mischief, Nashville, Shopping Carts, Summer
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Films that Changed Me
Eleven years old, alone at home… It was the early days of cable, we had HBO (the only game in town). I’d seen advertisements for The Elephant Man. It was coming on—it was rated PG. I decided to watch it. It … Continue reading
Posted in Dark Cinema
Tagged Agatha, Cinema, Elephant Man, Film, Mushroomland, Natalie Wood, Polish Surrealism, Robocop, Satanic Influence, Smile Guide, Surrealism
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Punk in Context
The only punk rock music I really got into was the Dead Kennedys. A great guy I knew in high school, Jason, loaned me the records Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death … Continue reading
Posted in Counterculture, Punk
Tagged Appomattox, Collages, Counterculture, Dead Kennedys, Jello Biafra, Kroger, Major Label, Maximum Rocknroll, Nashville, Punk, Punk Rock, Scissors and Glue, Selling Out
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Bizarre Jobs
Entrepreneur: We didn’t stay in California long. It was my first semester of kindergarten, and Stephen was in second grade. We came up with the idea of having a “plant sale” on the front lawn. We gathered containers and put … Continue reading
Posted in Employment, Odd Jobs
Tagged Austin, California, Carpet Cleaning, Golfballs, Junior High, Kelly Services, Kids, Microfilm, Nashville, Plant Sale, Richmond, Temp Work, Turlock
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In Front of People
In high school, the senior play for the class just ahead of me was Bye Bye Birdie. I ran sound. Brian, who played the lead role, was a friend. My first instrument was bass, and the first guitarist I jammed … Continue reading
Visitor Center
There was a war going on. A friend was in the Army, in the middle of the action. He could have backed out after September 11, but it only strengthened his conviction. There were gaps in my work history. I … Continue reading
Ill Manners and Hope
My mouth was terribly dry. I was waiting for family at El Cazador, the only true Mexican restaurant in town. I figured that, when my family got there, I could go inside and order an iced tea. In front of … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Society
Tagged Appomattox, El Cazador, Hip Hop, Kroger, Loud Music, Manners, Morality, Nice, Obscenity, Profanity, Rap, Redemption
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Theft and Hope
I went to the bank for a roll of quarters. As I handed him the ten-dollar bill, the teller asked if I was going to wash my car or do laundry. There was a teller I liked standing behind him, … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Society
Tagged Appomattox, Bank, Confederate Boulevard, Crime, Drink Machines, Five Dollar Bill, Five Dollars, Laundromat, Laundry, Manners, Morality, Poor, Redemption
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The Promise Keepers
A friend from Seattle visited me in Nashville in the fall of 1997. We were both editors of underground publications. We had met briefly at a restaurant in D.C., three years earlier. In that cruddy little apartment on Evelyn Avenue, … Continue reading
It’s Spring
The golden strandOf the ceremonial stringCalls out beyond intelligence: it’s spring. Spring is never happy,Spring is always dull.It’s a lie that flowers bloom and the yellow moon shines bright upon the earth. It’s a lie. Fools play in the fields.They … Continue reading
High School Biometrics
A long time ago, I graduated from Appomattox County High School. Things were simpler then. Not better, but simpler. Maybe different is the right word. This was before the horrors of Columbine, before the War on Terror, before internet bullying, … Continue reading
Horror
As dictated by the letter X, I liked Stephen King as a teenager. I read Firestarter, Pet Sematary, Thinner, and two short story collections. Pet Sematary was first-rate horror. It contained one of the most terrifying sentences in modern literature: … Continue reading
dust exchange 