![\"Michael](\"https://zeigert.com/img/shannon_02.jpeg\")
\nMichael Shannon singing at Revolution Hall in Portland, Ore.\nMichael Shannon singing at Revolution Hall in Portland, Ore.
Nobody has the exact combination of vocal cords, sinus cavity and southern drawl that Michael Stipe has but it’s clear than Michael Shannon did his homework. And maybe the guitars weren't quite as jangly as the Peter Buck's, but Jason Narducy nearly fooled me.
\nPeople see cover bands for lots of reasons. Often, you end up at a bar where you didn't know there would be a band that night, and they're playing top 40 hits from a quarter century ago. Other times, the bass player works with your husband, so you finally agree to come by for a show. Very rarely, you seek them out.
\n\nI had read about the shows that Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy & Friends had done, where they play R.E.M. albums in full. They even played \"Driver 8\" on The Tonight Show.1 At a show in Athens, Ga., the entire lineup of R.E.M. joined them onstage for a couple of songs. When the show came back around to Portland, I decided I had to check it out. Would it be fun? Or cringe?
\nR.E.M. were, for a few years in the 90s, one of the biggest rock bands in the world. They had a handful of big hits and a loyal following from their college radio days. When they called it quits in 2011, they left behind a huge catalog of great tunes with notable eras and a variety of styles. They ended on good terms, basically saying that the project was finished and that they had no interest in touring as a legacy band. Despite a handful of appearances together, they have yet to officially get back together. Seeing these songs played live by their original authors is seemingly a thing of the past.
\nBy the time I found their ninth album, Monster, in a used CD bin in a head shop in my Indiana hometown, R.E.M. had already peaked. I was 12, maybe 13, still finding my own footing in terms of musical taste. But Monster kind of floored me. It was loud, weirdly poetic for pop music, of-the-times but commercial in only the barest sense.
\nI was also reading Stephen King's The Stand at the time, and the two are inextricably linked in my brain. (\"Circus Envy\" is absolutely a song about The Walkin' Dude, fight me.) That disc would live in my portable Panasonic disc player for months. Their next album, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, wouldn't spawn a number one hit, and thus passed R.E.M. out of the mainstream. Just as I was getting into them.
\nEventually I learned that they had other albums, and signed up for Columbia Record Club almost exclusively to fill out their back catalog. Their earlier stuff was... different? But it also opened up whole new worlds to me, musically. So much of my musical knowledge can be traced back to bands I learned about through their association with R.E.M. Warren Zevon? One of my all-time favorites, and I only really know him beyond \"Werewolves of London\" because he made that Hindu Love Gods album with the members of R.E.M. Patti Smith? Richard Thompson? Natalie Merchant? Sure, I might have run into them eventually, but R.E.M. was my original vector.
\nI've grown up and moved on, nursed other niche musical obsessions. But I will always come back to this band. And it was lonely sometimes. Lots of other people like \"Losing My Religion,\" but when you tell them that R.E.M. is your favorite band, you get a kind of surprised, curious look in response. \"Oh! Cool.\" Favorite bands are weird like that – declaring yourself in thrall to one group of rich strangers. I met so few people over the years that had latched onto this band like I had.
\nWhich was why, standing in Revolution Hall on Feb. 14, I felt elation. I was in a sold-out auditorium with other people like me! Perhaps some folks were there because they were curious about a movie star's oddball side project, but based on the people around me dancing and singing every word, I had the rare feeling of being home among strangers.
\n![\"Shannon](\"https://zeigert.com/img/shannon_01.jpeg\")
\nShannon with the requisite megaphone.
The band is made up journeyman musicians who made names for themselves in their own rights, and they were clearly doing this for the love of the songs. During a recent interview, Shannon said that the R.E.M. songbook is remarkable, and that these songs should be sung2. And he was clearly having a blast doing so. His performance straddled the line between professional mimicry and outright talent. Stipe's vocal catalog is full of weird, mumbled lyrics that often rise out of his baritone range into falsetto and wander in and out of alignment with the instrumental melody. It's not easy to recreate. Shannon nailed it.
\n![\"Original](\"https://zeigert.com/img/shannon_poster.jpg\")
\nThe original promo image for the show.
They played all of Life's Rich Pageant, but that album only clocks in at about 38 minutes. So they also played another hour plus of bangers from across the catalog. Although they noticeably didn't play anything from the band's last three albums, which is probably just as well.
\nLife's Rich Pageant has several great political songs, written during the height of Reaganism, but equally applicable now. Perhaps because there are universal themes of dissatisfaction, or maybe because Stipe's lyrics are notably inscrutable and can be broadly applied. “Streets of Minneapolis” this is not, but “we are young despite the years, we are concerned, we are hope despite the times” hits just as hard. Shannon seemed to relish these moments.
\n![\"Scott](\"https://zeigert.com/img/shannon_03.jpeg\")
\nUnofficial fifth member of R.E.M., Scott McCaughey, joined for several songs throughout the show.
I didn't grow up with \"go to expensive concerts in your teens\" money, so I only managed to catch R.E.M. play one time during their original run, at Chicago's United Center for their 2003 tour in support of a greatest hits collection. I was in the nosebleeds. They sounded great, I had a good time. But if I'm being honest, I think I had more fun in Portland last weekend. This is about as close as you’ll get to seeing R.E.M. play again, at least for now. Even unofficial 5th band member Scott McCaughey3 showed up, as well as Warpaint's Emily Kokal, who provided some backing vocals for a few songs.
\nOh, and I wouldn’t recommend heckling Michael Shannon. People that shouted weird things mostly got his terrifying furrowed brow in response.
\n","date_published":"Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2026-02-09-some-old-illustrations/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2026-02-09-some-old-illustrations/","title":"Fast ink and watercolor drawings","content_html":"For some reason I found myself scrolling through my photos app and landed on a drawing series I did in 2021. They're little more than doodles, coloring-page shape logic. It's a good mental exercise, though.
\n![\"Canyon\"](\"https://zeigert.com/posts/img/squares/IMG_7549.jpeg\")
![\"Lighthouse\"](\"https://zeigert.com/posts/img/squares/IMG_7545.jpeg\")
![\"Juniper\"](\"https://zeigert.com/posts/img/squares/IMG_7548.jpeg\")
![\"Range\"](\"https://zeigert.com/posts/img/squares/IMG_7551.jpeg\")
![\"River\"](\"https://zeigert.com/posts/img/squares/IMG_7547.jpeg\")
![\"Bachelor\"](\"https://zeigert.com/posts/img/squares/IMG_7546.jpeg\")
It's been really fun reading new Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips work as standalone graphic novels. I will always love the individual issue format, but the older I get, the more I come to appreciate collected editions and OGNs, if for no other reason than shelf logistics. I have a closet full of short boxes that represent a hobby measured in cubic feet. The Knives finds the duo (with Phillips' son Jacob on colors) back in the world of Criminal, an off-beat crime series the pair have been fleshing out for 20 years now. Criminal was how I discovered these two, although they both have done work with other characters and publishers and genres. The Knives finds some familiar characters in new situations, and brings the series up to the present in a lot of ways. There will be more books coming, and even a TV show based on the book.
\nI'm not sure Brubaker translates well to television, but I'm glad he keeps trying. I was excited for TOO OLD TO DIE YOUNG, the collaboration he did with Nicolas Winding Refn that streamed on Amazon Prime. Ten episodes of the weirdest, sexiest, most horrific shit you've ever seen on TV, an artifact of when the big streamers were throwing money at auteurs to make 10-hour movies with little or no commercial appeal. It's good, but you can barely see Brubaker through the Refn.
\nRabbit Trap is relatively small movie with only a few things to say, but what it does it does well. You had me at Dev Patel folk horror.
\nA couple, one of which is some kind of recording artist, move a ton of recording equipment to a remote cottage in the Welsh countryside in the 1970s. The cottage is one of those picturesque places that must exist in real life but that I have a hard time imagining isn't surrounded by power lines and cell towers. Maybe I'm just an American in that way. Anyway, I want to go there. They set out to record spooky nature sounds for some kind of project, and stumble across a young boy(?) who proceeds to give away the entire plot before attempting to install himself into the couple's life. The finale is weird and gross and leaves you with more questions than answers. Folk horror should do that. If you feel like the mystery is completely solved at the end, I would probably exclude it from that particular subgenre.
\nAnyway, if you like watching Patel stroll through lush forests, have psychedelic experiences in faerie circles and spend copious amounts of screen time staring, worried-looking, into the middle distance, then Rabbit Trap is for you. It's available on Kanopy with most library cards, I believe.
\nI'm amazed at how prolific the Heimat Der Katastrophe label is. They put out new dungeon synth cassettes on the reg, many of which include bespoke pen and paper RPG adventures folded in with their j cards. You can of course listen to all of it digitally on Bandcamp, which is what I usually do. I'd go broke if I paid international shipping for every cassette release.
\n","date_published":"Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2026-01-16-january-links/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2026-01-16-january-links/","title":"Links for January 2026","content_html":"I spent a good part of the last month down with the flu. I'm several weeks past day zero and still waking up with a frog in my throat, although it's a little better every day. I hope you and yours are healthy. This influenza A variant that's going around is no slouch.
\nI've been collecting tabs and it's time to dump them here so I can close them.
\nStrudel.cc is (perhaps yet another) music programming platform. I remember playing with Sonic Pi ages ago, but I like that Strudel seems to be browser-centric.
\nI did about 3 days of last month's Advent of Code before getting stumped/distracted.
\nI haven't been really into desktop flight sims in ages, maybe ever really. But the open source Flight Gear piqued my interest again.
\nThis might be niche, and maybe you don't need shampoo to bring you joy, but maybe you do..
\nWig Shop continues to be a place I browse regularly. Comic shops and comic news sites are absolutely clogged with cape shit, and I have little to no interest in that. But comics as a medium still brings me great joy, and Wig Shop is one of the best online purveyors of the good stuff. Or at least the weird stuff.
\nI love weird little online mags. Foofaraw seems like a great weird little online mag.
\nAlthough I've been leaning back toward traditional tools lately, I still dabble with Procreate. I've wonderered if anyone's had success with any accessories like the PenPad? I'm tempted.
\nI love a good tutorial, and I love a good web map tutorial best.
\nShould I order a $120 Asaro head or ask someone I know with a 3D printer to make one for me?
\nf*te seems like a cool kids version of Letterboxd? Here's a list Jessa Crispin made for people that enjoyed No Other Choice?
\nI've been playing around with the formatting of these link dumps. Do folks like seeing the full URLs when sharing links? Or are hyperlinks OK?
\n","date_published":"Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2026-01-16-review-of-king-sorrow-by-joe-hill/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2026-01-16-review-of-king-sorrow-by-joe-hill/","title":"Review of King Sorrow by Joe Hill","content_html":"King Sorrow by Joe Hill | ★★★★☆ 4/5 stars
\n![\"Cover](\"https://www.harpercollins.com/cdn/shop/files/9780062200600_727a15f9-8703-48b6-8f60-32b0db35229d.jpg?v=1768417049&width=350#thumbnail\")
I've been a fan of Joe Hill since I first discovered his Locke & Key comics. He has an ear for dialog and knack for mixing humor and pathos even in horrific settings. His stories can be mean without being sadistic, and there's almost alway someone we're cheering for.
\nKing Sorrow follows a group of bright-eyed, gen x college students who, in 1989, find themselves mixed up with some dangerous people. As anyone would, they summon the eponymous dragon, King Sorrow, who agrees to help them solve their little problem. But of course our heros get more than they bargained for. King Sorrow protects them, defends them, but also requires a terrible annual tribute.
\nOur protagonists are a delightful mix of gen x archetypes: There's the studious academic with something to prove; the rich kid cum tech bro; the self-loathing, closeted queer; the damaged angry girl; the kindly but ultimately cowardly stoner; the poor but morally correct door mat. A breakfast club if ever there was one. We meet them all in college and follow them into their 40s. Along the way, the burdon of King Sorrow's bargain beats them all down, and they all turn toward their addictions for support, whether it be alcohol, drugs, self punishment, running away or overcompensating. Eventually they hatch a plan to rid themselves of the dragon, but by then their cohort itself is damaged, and trust becomes scarce.
\nThat's the story on the surface, which I think is moderately successful. King Sorrow really does cross over from another reality and scorch the earth. People die in the flames. The public notices, as do some shadowy government types, much to the regret of our protagonists. The book is 800+ pages, and there were huge chunks of it that I flew through because the action was intense and I couldn't wait to read what happened next. The finale accomplishes what it needs to on a plot level, but I felt perhaps on a character level it left a little bit on the table.
\nThere's another story underneath, of course. The allegory. These friends attend an elite college, all but Gwen, who starts out as the daughter of the help that works for the rich kid's family. They're all smart and attractive, they drink expensive scotch and smoke weed in Colin's fancy estate. They have access to just about anything they could want at that age. Then their real lives begin, and it seems like they're always chasing the dragon of the high they achieved in their youth. Certainly the emotional cost of their faustian bargain could be blamed for their shortcomings, but maybe it's the other way around. Maybe King Sorrow is a manifestation of their various addictions. Hill certainly spends pages upon pages describing several characters' descents into substance abuse, and getting clean coincides with defeating the very real dragon that haunts them.
\nAs an allegory for falling into addiction and then getting clean, King Sorrow works quite well.
\nThe following is a total aside, perhaps a connection only I made. I just so happened to be trying to learn how to play Jason Molina's \"Ring the Bell\" (recorded both under Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.). It's one of Molina's all-time-great two-chord dirges. Molina notoriously suffered from severe alcoholism, and in fact died from it in 2013 at the age of 39. It's hard not to view all of his songs through that lens, this one being no exception. The fact that it also speaks of serpents doesn't hurt. Anyway, this song was banging around my skull the whole time I was reading. The lyrics couldn't have been a better fit for a person reading King Sorrow, to wit:
\n\n\nI know serpents will cross universes to circle around our necks
\nI know hounds will cross the universe to circle around our feet
\nThey're always close
\nAlways so close
\nStep by step one's beside me to kill me or to guide me
\nWhy wouldn't I be trying to figure which one out
\nWhy wouldn't I be trying to figure which one out
\n
Now to return this doorstop to the library.
\n","date_published":"Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-12-08-between-two-fires/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-12-08-between-two-fires/","title":"Review of Between Two Fires by Christopher Beuhler","content_html":"“Between Two Fires” by Christopher Beuhler | ★★★★★ 5/5 stars
\nI won’t belabor this review as it’s for a book published more than ten years ago, but it was a perfect October book for me. (And yes, I'm publishing this in December. Such is my life.)
\nSet during the Black Death in France, the book follows a disgraced knight, a priest and a mysterious girl as they make their way across a land afflicted by death both earthly and not. Essentially a smaller-scale The Stand set in medieval times. Although the scale ends up being just as biblical, so maybe that’s not quite right. Reading it felt like the literary equivalent of a Hieronymus Bosch painting, a world both familiar and startling.
\nHighly enjoyed.
\n","date_published":"Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-12-03-scrolly-map/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-12-03-scrolly-map/","title":"Scrolly map","content_html":"![\"Scrolly](\"https://zeigert.com/img/scrollymap.png\")
My day job is mostly making little javascript apps, deploying them to cloud services, and then maintaining those little apps.
\nHere's an example of a little scrolly map that I made ages ago and just discovered on a backup drive. It was intended to be a widget map that would be on display in a corporate lobby, but it never made it to production. It's little more than a proof-of-concept at this stage.
\nIt's nothing special. One of millions of little javascript maps that were made in the '10s as that technology became ubiquitous. I just thought it worked really nicely for what it was and decided to host it here as an example of the kind of thing I do. I was honestly surprised that it still worked, given that it uses CDNs and how quickly this industry has changed since 2017.
\nNot saying who the potential corporate client was but also not hiding it.
\n","date_published":"Wed, 03 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-11-03-just-call-and-ask-them-to-lower-your-bill/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-11-03-just-call-and-ask-them-to-lower-your-bill/","title":"Just call and ask them to lower your bill","content_html":"$10 a month feels pretty cheap until you realize that you are likely signing up to pay that every month in perpetuity. I've recently felt a little disillusioned by all the monthly charges. So I tried to do something about it. Here are my experiences.
\nNo matter what massive, under-regulated corporation you pay for cell phone service, you are probably paying too much. Chances are that the plan you signed up under no longer exists, because these companies refresh their service offerings every couple of years. Sometimes the prices are lower or the services are better on newer plans. You can usually check on your account page and can sometimes make the change online. Other times you might need to call or engage someone via the little chat window. Or go to a store.
\nAnother option is to switch providers! Go to the other guys every couple years. They will happily offer you deals to come over, and you can sometimes bring your existing phone and almost always keep your existing number. Then do it again in a few years! Maintain zero loyalty to these companies.
\nIf you don't really want to switch, call your existing provider and tell them that you are going to unless they offer you a discount! They usually will, even if it's only 10%.
\nIf you work a public service job, most companies will offer you a larger discount. I was able to get 25% off through AT&T because my spouse is a teacher. They wanted some basic proof, but it was relatively easy. That discount added up to almost $250 annually.
\nAnother good bit of advice is to pay off your phone early. Take advantage of the discounts they offer if you purchase via a payment plan, but then either go on your account page or call to pay it off immediately or make larger payments.
\nSome people in larger markets have multiple ISPs to choose from. If so, shop around! Follow some of the same basic advice as above.
\nIf you're like me and there's really only one ISP in town (sorry AT&T I don't want your crappy mobile hotspot home internet), you can still call! Their sales departments are usually able to offer you a discount, even if it is meager. I was able to knock $8 a month off of mine, which doesn't seem like much. But that's $8 a month every month for the foreseeable future. It adds up.
\nFuck all these companies. They are ripping you off, but somehow their services remain essential in America. Again, maintain zero loyalty and shop around. Move from one company to another about every 2 years. I made the mistake of sticking with Allstate for almost 2 decades before I realized that they were \"price optimizing\" me. I overpaid them probably thousands of dollars over the years.
\nInsurance is an especially tough pill to swallow because you are essentially betting against yourself. \"I wager $100 a month that I will get in an accident. If I am right, this company will help me out for a percentage of the overall expense, and I'll be in the black. If I am wrong, they simply take my money over and over again and give me nothing.\" Obviously, I'm being facetious. Insurance never seems important until it is, which is kind of the point. But it's also big business in America. Look no further than the obscene marketing campaigns that these companies finance. Flo is not your friend. Loyalty is expensive.
\nCancel all your streaming services and buy physical media.
\nI'm only half serious about the above statement. I still subscribe to numerous streaming services.
\nThis one is harder, since we're in a period of change in this market as bundles are appearing and services are consolidating. But rest assured that none of these changes are likely to benefit us, the end user. So what can we do?
\nCheck with your cell phone providers, they sometimes offer deals on streaming services. For example, my AT&T plan is a slightly older plan that still includes HBO access. At the current rate, that's about $18.50 per month. I know that Verizon offers some Netflix plans, but they are for the \"with ads\" plans that I assume no consumer actually wants. Disney+, ESPN and Hulu have a bundle that's fine, I guess. AppleTV can be had in a bundle of services from Apple that I already use. Again, this space is mostly just a bummer. Very few deals to be had.
\nAnother thing I do is \"surf\" the streamers. Most of them only require a single month commitment. So sign up, watch stuff you want to watch, and then cancel. Sign up again when you hear about stuff you want to watch.
\nAlso, check out Kanopy. Free through most libraries. I could probably cancel everything else and still have enough stuff to watch here forever.
\nOur modern world offers a million ways to separate us from our money, and a little vigilance and curiousity can often save a few bucks. Multiply that by a monthly expense and it can turn into quite a few bucks.
\n","date_published":"Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT"},{"id":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-10-18-skull-and-flower-linocuts/","url":"https://zeigert.com/posts/2025-10-18-skull-and-flower-linocuts/","title":"Skull and flower linocuts","content_html":"![\"Final](\"https://zeigert.com/img/lino/lino_1.jpeg\")
\nThe finished product, before numbering
I've been an on-and-off printmaker for 25 years. Less so, recently. But the phrase \"death is renewal\" and variants of that had been running through my ead for a week or so, and I decided a print was in order.
\nPewter ink on 5x7 printmaking paper. I added some watercolors to the flowers.
\nAnybody want one? Limited run of six. (Plus one gold flower that was printed from an old plate.) I'll send it in an envelope for the low, low price of emailing me at andy@zeigert.com with your mailing address. I will burn your email after reading.
\n![\"Process](\"https://zeigert.com/img/lino/lino_2.jpeg\")
\nPrinted but not colored
![\"Process](\"https://zeigert.com/img/lino/lino_3.jpeg\")
\nCouldn't find my old barren or ink plate, so I used a candle and the back of a binder
Editor's note: This was supposed to be a September post but I got busy and it slipped into October, so forgive me if any of these are stale.
\nhttps://teenage.engineering/store/ca-x-red
\nStill have my little Tonic Pocket Operator, which I play around with every once in a while. I've always kind of wanted one of these nice cases, but the price point always seemed a little too high, and I thought that if I waited a year or two, it would come down or the resale market would hook me up. But alas, the price remains the same. I left it open in a tab for a couple weeks to see if I could justify the purchase, but I could not at this time.
\n\nNow that Glitch is going away, there's space in the market for a tool for making simple websites right in the browser. Wobble is one such attempt, and I like the amount of thought that went into its user experience.
\n\nCustom-made, halloween-themed watercolors!
\nhttps://www.mend.io/renovate/\nAs a person who has to manage a bunch of node projects, this absolutely captured my interest. I haven't implemented it yet, but I'm hoping to soon.
\nhttps://soundcloud.com/doomedandstoned/endgame\nIt's a podcast about doom metal and stoner rock and it's one of my favorites. If you are at all interested in the genre, this is the finger on the pulse. The hosts are great and feel very human. More like listening to a few folks sitting at the bar shooting the shit than listening to three dudes record in their pristine home studios.
\n\nI'm 5 years later than most but I've got a sourdough starter in a jar on the counter. Several loaves and doughs in and I'm starting to understand some of the higher level concepts.
\nhttps://helleborezine.com/products/hellebore14?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
\nAlready preordered. As far as I'm concerned this is the high water mark for small press magazines in the modern era.
\nhttps://www.backmarket.com/en-us/l/retro-tech/9883280c-e28b-49ae-9ebe-07753f6ab18a
\nEver really thought about ditching your smartphone and going back to a bar phone and an iPod? I have. I've thought about it a lot.
\n\nA slick, terminal-based IRC client written in Rust. Nerd central.
\n\nI don't know if anyone else has a \"modern\" car that eschews the spare in favor of a can of fix-a-flat, but I might be picking up one of these soon, at least for long trips.
\n","date_published":"Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT"}]}