Sublime eclectic mayhem. That’s been my playlist project and musical life, one that begins with The Muppet Movie soundtrack and later involves performing hymns, death metal, surf, and bluegrass. I’ve played in theaters, tents, and basements, for multi-stage festivals and squirrel rodeos. I’ve written and recorded music for The Drunken Odyssey. Sublime eclectic mayhem. A warning and a welcome for joyous noise, for those navigating what Beckett called “this bitch of an earth.”

Morning Papers

My mom still gets the newspaper. 
She says it’s for the ads. I feel like 
she means coupons, but maybe 
she finds the ads hopeful, 
like unexpected mail, the coated paper 
always brighter, shinier. 

New life, et cetera. New sheets 
and a fireplace we’ve never had. 

The sound of my grandfather’s evening wings. 
The only time I saw him with glasses, 
the only time I saw him read. 
Newspapers whistling, no, 
whispering to him, putting him to sleep. 

The last papers I remember– 

Mom whispering over the dead, 
the bird in the cage. No blood 
this time, the newspaper stained 
with cracked seeds, painterly guano 
splatter. I saw the helplessness, maybe 
for the first time. Cracked. 

We could make masks. We could 
wad it into balls, make lanterns, fold boats 
of roast loin and carpet cleaner, crimp 
and crease our obituaries into pirate hats,
increase our time in these paper cities. 

Morning Papers

Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “Above and Beyond” – Buck Owens
2. “Where Nightmares Belong” – The Crown
3. “Slingshot” – Michael Henderson
4. “Muuntautuja” – Oranssi Pazuzu
5. “One More Death” – Goat
6. “in a land before” – Camila Nebbia, Angelica Sanchez
7. “Skink” – Elephant9, Terje Rypdal
8. “fairalign – Bogdan Raczynski
9. “Crystal Clear Six” – Ivo Perelman, Ingrid Laubrock
10. “Hammersparks” – Ryan Keberle, Catharsis, Jorge Roeder
11. “Bells” – Marc Ribot
12. “Old Folks of Farmersville” – Iji, Big Thief, Twain, Tucker Zimmerman

Stephen McClurg (Episode 473) composes and improvises in Serenity Dagger, The Abdomen, and other projects. Along with session work for mid-Alabama singer/songwriters, he frequently collaborates with musicians across the state adding bass, guitar, and synths to friends’ recordings. He currently writes reviews for Horror DNA and is the substitute low end wrangler for Mobile-based punk rock band Future Hate. You can find out more about his work here.