Michael Malice title

I was on the phone with my buddy John of the band Aberdeen yesterday. The first thing we talked about--at length--is how hitting on indie chicks is different from hitting on normal chicks. There was something not quite clicking, and John didn't have an answer either. The premise that they're somehow wired differently on a base level I knew to be absurd, but somehow there was this wall I did not know how to surmount. I think we figured it out, in that they have a violent aversion to conflict and aggression. I am not really all that aggressive, but as a Board-certified shitstarter I think we have nailed the problem. Michael Grace, pictured below and always able to get the 10s in indiedom, will be at my bday party Saturday and hopefully will school me (after feigning ignorance for 20 seconds).

The other thing we talked about, which my better, bigger brain is excited about, is a book about Sarah Records. Sarah, along with Factory and Creation, is one of THE British indie labels (the US stuff came much later), and if Factory warrants a film, surely Sarah warrants a book. John, amazingly, was on the label back when Aberdeen started. He pitched the idea to founder Matt, who was like, "No one cares." (Plus, Matt didn't have a single extra copy of his zine Are You Scared to Get Happy? for me to frame.) The thing is, having a bestseller bizarrely gives me huge writing cred--probably because so many people claim to be writers and so few have succeeded even remotely. This would be about as opposite from my last book as can be, but I am now totally obsessed with the idea and am going to make this happen. Coffee table size, $75, signed by dozens of label-mates, strict limited edition, an oral history of a label whose idea was always better than the music and hence lends itself to a book.