It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.
In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.
For anyone who missed it earlier this month, Militia Vox recently released an all-covers album called Bait. On it she takes aim – with amazing results – at a number of hard rock icons, including Ozzy Osbourne. This is her take on PJ Harvey’s Rid Of Me:
And now, I will turn the floor over to her, to tell us about her favorite book, record and drink:
A GOOD READ:
I’m a sucker for dark poetry, Edgar Allan Poe being my ultimate fave. It’s too difficult to limit this answer to one story, an artist needs to be looked at by the entire scope of their work to truly feel them. I have quite a collection of Poe- both short stories and poems- in various editions and bindings. I have visited his grave just outside my hometown in Baltimore, Maryland since I was in 4th grade. I’ve regularly brought flowers to his gravesite since then. He is my muse. I also enjoy confessional poetry- Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Dorothy Parker… I love the witty and bitter, double edged quality of it all.
A GOOD LISTEN:
The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails will always and forever hold the crown for me. It’s sonic perfection, sex, love, angst and beauty. I remember buying it on the day it came out, running home and throwing in on my stereo and hearing that first sample of a guy getting whipped repeatedly and moaning, and then ripping into the opening track Mr. Self Destruct. I vividly remember my best friend at the time and I standing there in my room, in shock, with our jaws on the floor taking in this brutal eargasm. It was the most erotic thing our little suburban preteen ears had ever been exposed to. Still to this day, it’s a musical beast of an album. I highly recommend getting a good pair of headphones and taking it all in for yourself sometime. Oh, and have some tissues or a _ _ _ rag close by.
A GOOD DRINK:
I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about this beverage, because it’s not everyday that I get a drink named after me… My comrades at Coldcock Whiskey gave me a specialty drink to commemorate my residency at Times Scare in Times Square NYC and my album release of “BAIT” on Halloween. It’s called “Militia’s Macabre.” And it goes like this… Coldcock Whiskey, apple cider, simple syrup, lemon juice and a dash of cinnamon. Perfect for autumnal late nights and witchy winter times. Militious and delicious.