Dear Substackers,
Your favorite author, songwriter, and publisher in permanent exile cordially invites you, along with Green Day, to wake up now that September is ending. And in case you slept through a post or two since the last monthly update, I’ll provide a summary below of everything that happened here at Mission Control in the soporific ninth month of 2023. But first, here’s a pic of the full moon over Taipei taken last night during Moon Festival:
Still Channeling YouTube
Since the uploading of my belated trailer for MarkWillWrite on YouTube last month, the channel has seen some modest growth. I’m still aiming for 1K subs, so please subscribe if you haven’t already. As always, I will continue to post podcast clips, full podcast episodes, songs of the week, audiobook excerpts, and more, for those who like to sweeten their content with a bit of video. One of my favorite uploads in September is this recent clip from my interview with British-Australian sci fi author—and Substack author—J.J. Green in which we chat about the writing routine which facilitates her prolific output:
Are You Ready to Rumble?
Given the arbitrarily censorious behavior of Google-owned YouTube, I’ve thought it advisable to set up shop over at Rumble as well. I haven’t uploaded any videos yet, but I’ll start doing so with all possible speed. In the meantime, why not subscribe?
In Pod(s) We Trust
A week or so before my aforementioned interview with J.J. Green on Books Are Burning!, Craig Branch and I analyzed Pete Townshend/The Who’s “Guitar and Pen” on Guitar & Pen. Here’s Part 2 of that conversation:
Also, Tomek and I recorded an “emergency episode” of Texting in early September to discuss developments in the Cornel West presidential campaign. Much has changed in the two weeks since it was posted, but we like to think there is still much herein which is of relevance and interest:
N.B. I’m still working on that article on Cornel West as jazzman mentioned in my September 13 post. Look for that to appear sometime in October.
Weekly Jukebox in Your Inbox
I hope you’ve continued to enjoy receiving a new “Song of the Week” with words & music by Mark Will every Friday. September highlighted two examples of “collision music”: “Rice King” (= Muddy Waters + AC/DC) and “Dirty Old Man” (= Bob Dylan + Black Sabbath). Play them loud!
I Am a Pilgrim and a Stranger, Traveling Through This Wearisome Land . . .
Pilgrimizing, the travelogue of my 2014 trip to Israel-Palestine during the “asymmetrical war,” is currently being prepared for publication in ebook and paperback formats. Here’s a draft of the cover:
What’s Next?
Tomorrow, the first day of the new month, I return to the studio to work on tracks for my forthcoming solo album, My Name Is Will. If all goes according to plan, I’ll finish the songs called “Cancel Me,” “It Is What It Is,” “Public Service Announcement with Guitar,” “Pearls Before Swine,” and “Bootlicker”—in other words, half the album. Wish me luck!
I’m also in the process of scheduling with my distributor the October release of No Cure for the Princess Disease or Its Mutant Viral Strains, the remix of No Cure for the Princess Disease, my musical project [ai]’s Korea-themed album. In the meantime, I’ll probably start sharing some of the remixes on YouTube, because why not?
Stay tuned as well for Books Are Burning! #7, in which I discuss Wole Soyinka’s non-fiction book Of Africa with Nigerian-born playwright and comedian Ghanniy Oyedele. Additionally expect more YouTube shorts inspired by my epic poem Of Letters and a Man and my translation of Fernando Pessoa’s Message. And who knows? I might even deliver on my promise to post about my August trip to Hong Kong and my favorite Korean films.
Until soon!
MW