Writing. Selling you my writing. Watching a lot of cable. Pulling weeds. Reading. Making it happen. Being nicer to people. Watching strays in the alley...sometimes feeding the strays in the alley. Impersonating famous people. The humor ghetto. www.failedpilot.com
Music
The Descendents, The Wedding Present, Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, The Faces, Pink Reason, Jesu, The New Pornographers, Slayer, Greg Ashley, Major Stars, early In Flames, Rainbow, The James Gang, Husker Du, The Grifters, Withered, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Entombed, Primal Scream, Husker Du, Mercyful Fate, Rifle Sport, Close Lobsters, Death, The Ponys, Motorhead, Moving Targets, Girl Talk, Mission of Burma, Blank Dogs, Possessed, Venom, Supreme Dicks, Metallica (even as far up to …And Justice For All….yeah, that’s a good record, asshole), Dead Horse, Bob Lind, Coffins, Zodiac Mindwarp, At The Gates, David Ackles, Darkthrone, Wildildlife, Girl Trouble, early Sodom, Burning Spear, Trouble, Mastodon, The Mighty Mighty Lemon Drops, Overkill, Kylesa, The Minutemen, The Fall, no more than two records by Pantera, Pelican, Children of Bodom, Pig Destroyer, certain Today Is The Day moments, Big Black, Throbbing Gristle, Sonic Youth, Jungle Brothers, Josef K, Coffin Break, The Groundhogs, The Oblivians, The KLF and absolutely ANYTHING involving Bill Drummond, New Order, Electric Wizard, Desperate Bicycles, Comets on Fire, Kreator, RUN DMC, Public Image LTD, Fire Engines, Happy Mondays, Can, Negative Approach, Prince Paul, Screaming Trees, Times New Viking, The Accused, Necros, Guided By Voices, Happy Flowers, Salem 66, Hammerhead, Lightning Seeds, Animal Collective, Rein Sanction, Built To Spill, Neu!, Treepeople, The Easybeats, Man Sized Action, The Teardrop Explodes/Julian Cope, The Urinals, Black Flag, Chavez, Black Sabbath, Black Oak Arkansas, Country Teasers, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, UFO, early Scorpions, Metallica, Public Enemy, Toxic Reasons, Tad, Strike Under, Black Nasty, The National Trust, The Kinks, Bolt Thrower, first Def Leppard album, Angel Witch, Oneida, Lost Sounds, Upsidedown Cross, Melvins, Sorry, early Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr., Cactus, most Fleetwood Mac up through Tusk, John Lee Hooker, Blodwyn Pig, Flipper, Muddy Waters, Scott Walker, Andy Kim, Storm and Stress, Ween, early Neil Diamond, The Beatles, The Byrds, Celtic Frost, Buffalo Springfield, Torche, The Grass Roots, Destruction, Faust, Pentagram, AC/DC, Beach Boys, Mercury Rev, Styx, early Dead C, The Verlaines, The Chills, The Clean, The Bats, Ted Leo, Cheater Slicks, Baroness, Killdozer, N.W.A. Pussy Galore, Naked Raygun, Napalm Death (but not the awful industrial garbage), Accept, Aerosmith, The Outlaws, Tom Wilson Weinberg, Neil Young, Saccharine Trust, Agent Orange, New Kingdom, Harry Nilsson, first Christian Death album, Alice Cooper (the band), John Cale, Rush, Starbuck, Little River Band, Man Parrish, The Clash, Polvo, Sun Ra, Ariel Pink, America, Judas Priest, Bongwater, Geto Boys, Silver Abuse, The Rolling Stones, The Cars, Velvet Underground, Witchfinder General, Word Salad, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Part Chimp, first Grand Funk Railroad album, Hackamore Brick, Ken Boothe, His Hero is Gone, Mott the Hoople, Godflesh, The Grateful Dead, The Reatards, The Flaming Lips, Deep Purple, Firefall, Gun Club, The Replacements, Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, Rotten Sound, Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Thee Speaking Canaries, Steel Pole Bathtub, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Tim Hardin, Starz, Felt, The Hot Dogs, Big Star, The Beat, 20/20, The Stooges, The Last, Emit Rhodes, Sanctuary, Volcano Suns, David Bowie, Tin Tin, Iran, The Heads (UK), Boris, Evil Army, Neutral Milk Hotel, ’68 Comeback, Head East, The Frogs, The Police, The Pop Group, Soul Junk, Trumans Water, This Heat, Tindersticks, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party, Cows, Butthole Surfers, Fly Ashtray, Uncle Wiggly, Boards of Canada, Saint Vitus, Diamondhead, Om, Kylessa, High on Fire, Palace/Oldham, Seam, Simon Finn, Ten Years After, Iron Maiden, Atomic Rooster, Budgie, Wishbone Ash, early Scorpions, Gerry Rafferty, Silkworm, Joel R. L. Phelps, Eggs, Afghan Whigs, OMD, Brick, The Only Ones, Bob Dylan, Gene Clark, Swirlies, The Church, Television, Liquid Liquid, Slave, Funkadelic, Loose Joints, Big Business, Drive Like Jehu, The Go-Betweens, The Scientists, Bailter Space, Early Man, Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, The Undisputed Truth, Hall and Oates, Witchery, Ice Cube, Too Short…I've forgotten so much....
Movies
The Day Of The Dolphin, The Wild Bunch, The Tenant, Husbands, The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie, The Swimmer, The Conversation, Straight Time, Marathon Man, Network, Dog Day Afternoon, Hard Boiled, Meatballs, Night Moves, Clean and Sober, Dolemite, To Live and Die in LA, The Verdict, Glengarry Glen Ross, Targets, Vanishing Point, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, The Parallax View, Near Dark, Watership Down, Nashville, Five Easy Pieces, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hills Have Eyes, The Heist, Homicide, Scarecrow, The Boob Tube, In The Company Of Men, ALL Larry Cohen, A Fistful Of Dynamite, Sideways, Affliction, Massacre At Central High, One Day In September, Mad Max, Pin, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia, The Jerk, Southern Comfort, any and all Hal Needham movies, The Goodbye Girl, Trees Lounge, Shampoo, Death Wish 3, The Celebration, Road House, Punch Drunk Love, M*A*S*H, Seconds, Hard Times, Man Bites Dog, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, All the President's Men, Rituals, Gates of Heaven, Over The Edge, most Herzog, most Samuel Fuller that I've seen, Chinatown, The Triplets Of Belleville, Black Sunday, Two Lane Blacktop, Wacko!, Small Town Ecstacy, Death Hunt, 92 In The Shade, Minnie and Moskowitz, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Adaptation, Payday, The Hustler, Fat City, Straw Dogs, The Killers, Airplane!, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978), Shivers, Rabid, Bad Lieutenant, The Brood, The Fury, Rosemary's Baby, Sisters, Coma, Short Cuts, Panic In Needle Park, Mikey and Nicky, Being There, The Killer Elite, Last House On The Left, Slap Shot, Scary Movie 3, When A Stranger Calls, Driller Killer, Matchstick Men, Badlands, Used Cars, Serpico, Session 9, Breaking Away, American Splendor, Rushmore, Blue Collar, Hardcore, Putney Swope, Coming Apart, The French Connection (I and II), Chopper, Don't Look Now, Scanners, Stander, City Of God, The Proposition, Little Miss Sunshine, The Matador, Brick, Strangers With Candy, The Laughing Policeman, Uncle Buck, Serial, The Devil’s Rejects, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Driver, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Cocaine Cowboys, Bananas, Modern Problems,
Television
Let's get something clear. If you are one of these anti-TV ninnies that says things (out loud and with pride) like "I don't own a TV" or "I don't like or have no use for TV" or "TV is bad"....do not engage me in conversation or communication. We likely have nothing to talk about. Law and Order: Crimes Against Taste, CSI: Food Avenue, The Wire, Dog: The Bounty Hunter, Unsolved Mysteries, Forensic Files, Arrested Development, The Office (UK), Strangers With Candy, the local news, Deadwood, VH1 Classic Alternative, Mad Money, South Park, The Father Dowling Mysteries....
Books
How about writers, instead of the actual books? Ok? David Means, Tom Franklin, Mike Davis, Barry Hannah, Larry Brown, Bradley Denton, Bill Drummond, Pete Dexter, some James Ellroy, Cormac McCarthy, Nick Tosches, Philip K. Dick, Cintra Wilson, Studs Terkel, George Plimpton, Jim Thompson, Eugene Walter, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Stone, Daniel Clowes, Charles Williford, George Pelecanos, Thomas Frank, Susan Orlean, Elmore Leonard, Denis Johnson, Lester Bangs, Jim Goad, Michael J. Weldon, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, Tobias Wolf, Richard Price, Richard Ford, Pauline Kael, Rick Bass, Frederick Exley, Charles Portis, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas McGuane, Jim Harrison, Martin Amis, Don Delillo, JG Ballard, Richard Russo, Chester Himes, Borges, Tom Disch, Nicholson Baker, Ian Christe, Robert Sabbag, Andrew Beaujon, Martin Popoff, Charlie Huston, William Bowers, Ernest Hemingway, Gregg Turkington...
Sub-roles: Critic, Columnist, Journalist, Technical, and "other." Please e-mail or message me. Please see www.failedpilot.com or the "About Me" section of my profile. Love to hear from you.
Earles, Andrew is in your extended network view more
About me: The positive things: I am a freelance writer (usually music-related), this is my beloved blog: failedpilot.com, this is my AOL IM: failedpilot, I got a book deal in Jan 2008...to write a music bio (defunct, much-loved band of yore), I just had a comedy album (2 CD + huge booklet) released by Matador Records, and these things are detailed, far too thoroughly, below (or "starting right now"):
Please note the following post on the Matador Records website (written by Gerard Cosloy):
"The world needs more comedy recordings like Chuck Scarborough needs another hole in the head. But the world needs more rock’n'roll records like Chuck needs two more holes in the head, so let’s leave the genre prejudice aside for a moment, shall we? I can honestly say the original release of Andrew Earles & Jeffrey Jensen’s ‘Just Farr A Laugh’ is the single most played compact disc in my household, automobile, yacht, etc. over the past 3 years. The rich, fully formed universe they’ve created with their mind-blowing phone calls (ok, billed as “pranks” but oh, so much more) has to this listener’s ears, transcended the mere comedy / spoken schtick bin and puts the duo in much more rarified territory. Rowan & Martin. Martin & Lewis. Oswald & Ruby. Peterson & Kekich. That’s the kind of company I’m talking about.
We’ll be releasing Earles & Jensen Present : Just Farr A Laugh Vol. 1 and 2 on the popular compact disc format May 6, 2008. Since my hands are so very tired, Andrew and Jeff have kindly composed a far more appropriate screed on this subject."
If you are a fan of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, Yes’ Tales from Topographic Oceans, the Hampton Grease Band’s Music To Eat, The Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out, Husker Du’s Zen Arcade, the Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime, TFUL 282’s Mother of All Saints, and wish there was a prank call/comedy version of these wonderfully indulgent, macro masterpieces, well, it looks like February 19th is going to be your lucky day. That last sentence is a thinly-veiled way to say that unless you are promotionally serviced by Matador Records or rank amongst the contributors, don’t expect a burn or freebie.
The double CD set constitutes the world’s greatest collection of prank phone calls. Included in the package will be a book (not booklet) of drawings, photographs, and writing, all courtesy of multiple contributors. It’s a virtual who’s who that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but nonetheless creates a wonderful companion to the recorded works.
A short list of artists that contributed drawings: Mike Aho, Archer Prewitt, Devendra Banhart, Mark Henning, Ian Marshall, Gavin McInnes, Jake Oas, Aurel Schmidt, Matt Sweeney, and Megan Whitmarsh.
The entire list of writers that contributed forewords: Gregg Turkington (AKA Neil Hamburger, comedy genius, writer, Warm Voices Rearranged), Matador’s Gerard Cosloy, David Dunlap Jr. (writer, Washington City Paper, Memphis Flyer, funny guy), and master humorist/writer Neil Pollack (books: Alternadad, The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature, Never Mind The Pollacks: A Rock and Roll Novel, editor/contributor: Akashic’s Chicago Noir).
The Players:
Along with writer Ian Christe and artist Steve Keene, Jeffrey Jensen founded modern day Brooklyn NYC around 1992, during the Dinkins administration. He has written or directed the films The Low Down Dirty D.A.W.G.S. (1999), Street Boogie (2001, shelved), and Graceland Too: The Movie (still in production). An accomplished artist, Jeff is known for his puppet shows, intricate nightlight dioramas, and evenings of vast entertainment, as well as anything else you could possibly think of. With his incredibly magnetic personality, Mr. Jensen has left a lasting mental imprint on anyone lucky enough to have spent over an hour in his presence. Jeffrey has played in many bands, including The Closet Case, The Jewish, The Star Spangles, plus he was the bass player for Homestead Records recording artists Smack Dab. He drives a 1982 Chrysler Lebaron, contributes regularly to Vice Magazine, and was accidentally shot with a .22 rifle when he was 13-years-old.
Andrew Earles is a writer and loosely-defined humorist that lives in Memphis, TN. His words regularly appear in The Onion A/V Club, Spin, Harp, Magnet, Vice, Paste, Chunklet, and The Memphis Flyer…among others. He founded The Cimarron Weekend in 1997, co-publishing and co-editing said argument-starter with David Dunlap Jr. until 2001. Four or five people like to claim that it was a great zine. From 2001 until late 2006, Andrew was a regular contributor to Tom Scharpling’s The Best Show on WFMU. As far as books go, his essays have appeared in the now out-of-print Lost In The Grooves (Routledge) and remainder table favorite, The Overrated Book (Last Gasp). He is a core contributor to The Rock Bible, to be published by Quirk in 2008. Most of his attempts at live comedy have failed miserably. Andrew is a proud Southerner and amateur, wanna-be outdoorsman that loves to fish, act like he knows a lot about animals, and walk around in the woods. He sometimes has a smart mouth, yet against all logic, has yet to receive that long-overdue ass-whomping (not an invitation). This is his blog: www.failedpilot.com
Jeffrey Joe Jensen and Andrew Scott Earles are Leo’s, reliably carrying all of the negative and positive baggage of that particular sign. Amazingly, and unknown to the duo until several years ago, they share the exact same birthday of August 15th.
As you may have just read, more or less,
I am a freelance writer, urban gardener, urban angler, known unknown humorist, food critic, creator of audio comedy, driver, dealer of wares, and bird watcher. I have been writing about music, movies, books, and other facets of pop culture for ten years. Bio and client list: PRINT:
- Spin Magazine
- Vice Magazine
- Alternative Press
- Chunklet Magazine
- Harp Magazine
- The Onion
- Decibel Magazine
- Devil In The Woods (DIW) Magazine
- Magnet Magazine
- Memphis Magazine
- Paste Magazine
- Scram Magazine
- Sound Collector
- The Baltimore City Paper
- The Knoxville Voice
- The Memphis Flyer
- The Philadelphia City Paper
- The Philadelphia Independent
- The Philadelphia Weekly
- The Washington City Paper
- Verse Chorus Verse Magazine
- WFMU's LCD Magazine
- While You Were Sleeping Magazine...I write regular columns in DIW Magazine and Magnet Magazine, the latter of which is the much-loved/much-hated "Where's The Street Team" installment. I have a six-year freelance relationship with The Memphis Flyer. WEB:
Cracked Magazine .. (www.cracked.com)
- Econoculture.com
- McSweeneys.net
- Paste Magazine .. (www.pastemagazine.com)
- Perfect Sound Forever (http://www.furious.com/perfect/)
- Pitchfork (www.pitchforkmedia.com)
- The Baltimore City Paper (web edition)
I contributed call-in characters to Tom Scharpling's The Best Show in WFMU for almost five years (2001 - 2006), I used to publish and write The Cimarron Weekend zine (1996 - 2000), I "ran" a micro-indie label (1995 - 1998), and another one (sort of...2000 - 2003)....I've never been in a band but I've been on a stage ("funny" stuff). I sold cars. I sold cars on a lot, and I sold car parts on eBay. I've been a bartender...done years of that. I worked in the IT dept of a large corporation, until it became a small corporation (for years, and most of it was a hoodwink, though I do hold a couple of certificates). I did a lot of writing, including 70% of The Cimarron Weekend, on company time.
The negative things: DON'T ASK!!!!
Who I'd like to meet: Great writers, very funny people, urban gardeners, urban anglers, great Southerners, drivers, Bill Drummond, editors, those that deal in wares, and people that want to go here: www.failedpilot.com
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