Rock Bookshelf: Volume 9 (Kinda)
See ya in the new year, freaks!
Hello, hi. I’m just sending you this week’s book column to let you know there won’t be a book column this week. Wait, unless no book column counts as a book column. Hmmm, real chicken and egg situation we got here, huh?
I’m gonna go light on the ol’ newsletter for the remainder of 2023. As much as I would love to continue telling you about other people’s beautiful books, I have a rapidly approaching book deadline to meet myself. I’m nearly done, too. I’m about three quarters of the way through my artistic “process,” which I’ve drawn out in great detail below:
The plan is to finish a draft in the next few days, take a week off to eat chocolate Santas while my brain unmelts, then cram this motherfucker through the mail slot in early January. So I’m gonna go focus on that for a couple weeks and may be MIA, but I promise this book will be worth your patience. Sorry to be vague. Just being quiet about the details for now. Write first, promote later. The one thing I’ll say is that it absolutely fuckin’ rips. I love it so, so much. More info in the new year.
To fill the Dan Ozzi-sized hole in your life (grow up), I will leave you with a few podcasts I’ve appeared on recently if you’re looking for ways to pass time on your holiday travels without using many brain cells.
ᐅ Blocked Party (talked about getting blocked by Eric Alper)
ᐅ The P.O.D. Kast (talked about how I don’t like nu metal)
ᐅ In Defense of Ska (talked about ska but not really)
ᐅ Indie Basketball (a Notable Dudes roundtable where we tried to come up with the best opening tracks)
And here are all the previous editions of Rock Bookshelf in case you missed any of em. Some are for paid subscribers, but a few are open to all, like these author interviews:
“DAMMIT DAN I DON’T HAVE TIME TO SIFT THROUGH ALL THESE POSTS, JUST TELL ME WHAT BOOK I NEED TO READ THIS YEAR.” As I mentioned, you can’t go wrong with Geoff Rickly’s Someone Who Isn’t Me, a most impressive debut.
Got a book you liked this year? Anything coming out soon you’re excited about? Drop those recs in the dang comments.
As for movies, I didn’t see as many as I did last year, but my favorites were Past Lives, Infinity Pool, and Beau Is Afraid. (Going to see Poor Things this afternoon.) The worst thing I saw was… Bottoms? No, Cocaine Bear. Oh no wait, that Zach Braff movie was so bad I wrote a full-on personal essay about it on Letterboxd. That might’ve been my favorite thing I wrote this year, actually. I mean, aside from this deranged cover story.
And what albums did we like this year? Ohhh I’d say the obvious picks from me. Rosenstock and Farren both absolutely freaked it of course. Ratboys made their best album yet. Dazy and Militarie Gun albums both scratched the same itch for me. Oh whoops the Dazy album came out last year nevermind. The Armed, the Nil, Worriers (I took that cover photo!), Single Mothers, Spiritual Cramp, blink, the Hives.
Speaking of the Hives, that was probably the best live show I saw this year, at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Here’s a photo I took:
Alrighty, I currently have a broken index finger and it’s actually very annoying to type right now, so I will end here. Thanks for reading my ramblings this year. Have a good holiday season and I’ll see ya in 2024.
Dan.
Internet: Instagram | Threads | Bluesky | Twitter | Website
Real life: PO Box 11352, Glendale, CA 91226
Get my book SELLOUT at Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.
Not a book but a podcast I've been loving: Sugar, We're Going In, about Fall Out Boy's relationship to hip hop artists and culture