The Orange Spotlight

Octothorp Volume #1 (sunnyoutside, Feb. 5th)

Octothorp takes a look at the history of Sunnyoutside through the writers that have and will be published through the labour of love of David McNamara. When gathered into a complete package the weight and importance of this Buffalo independent is finally felt. In his note to the reader McNamara describes the collection of writers as a "little village on the literary map", and this hand-picked group of small press figure makes for an impressive village.

The collection is launched by the youthful but impressive and thoughtful Taylor Altman. She, in just fourteen lines, is able to set a tone of pensive relevance that is carried through out the collection. To Alan Catlin, to Michael Kriesel, to McCreesh and Cunningham, to Rusty Barnes, they each add their own tone and flavor building the collection into a heady brew of thought and force. McNamara isn't one to flaunt or flash, but this volume of his life will spark and sizzle for years to come.

Yonlu A Society in Which No Tear is Shed is Inconceivably Mediocre (Luakabop, April 14th)

I am going to tell you tight now that this story does not have a happy ending. Well not exactly, Vinicius Gageiro Marques was 16, well-traveled, well-educated, and well aware of all the sadness that can be absorbed in this world. He began to record and document this confusion, the darkness and sadness, mixed with the innocence and joy of youth. The songs that came flowing out of him have an overwhelming sense of wanting, wanting for something more, something substantial and honest, something that he can hold onto long enough to pull himself into adulthood into a better frame of reference.

The songs range from somber folk melodies, to dot matrix pop to half hearted hip hop. A Society in Which No Tear is Shed is Inconceivably Mediocre plays as a dumping ground for a 16 year old's expressions and emotion. Marques called himself Yonlu in a suicide chat room, and just 36 days before turning 17 he took his own life. The reason that this may not be a completely unhappy ending is that A Society is now being released by Lukabop and other teens may find hope and comfort where Yonlu found desperation and sorrow.

Listen to: I Know What It's Like (mp3) and The Boy and The Tiger (mp3)