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From The Desk Of The Feelies’ Dave Weckerman: An Eight-Piece Bucket Of Kentucky Fried Chicken And A Case Of Ice-Cold Budweiser Beer

Percussionist Dave Weckerman has been part of the Feelies story since 1976 when he, Glenn Mercer and Bill Million formed the Outkids, which quickly evolved into the Feelies. Following the release of seminal 1980 debut Crazy Rhythms, the group went on a sort of short-lived hiatus, though the band members played together in a number of offshoots, including the Trypes, the Willies and Yung Wu. 1987’s Shore Leave was the sole album by Yung Wu, which featured Weckerman as singer/songwriter backed by Mercer, Million and fellow Feelies Brenda Sauter and Stan Demeski. The long-out-of-print Shore Leave has just been reissued by Bar/None, so we asked Weckerman to guest edit magnetmagazine.com. He said yes and will be writing about “some favorite things and cultural touchstones in my life (so far)” all week.

Weckerman: Still my death-row final dinner of choice. I think I would gladly follow the padre down the Last Mile after consuming the above.

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Essential New Music: Daniel Bachman’s “The Morning Star”

Whichever celestial body you apply it to, the morning star is that bright light you see in the sky just before dawn. If The Morning Star is anything to go by, Daniel Bachman’s been through a long, dark night. The acoustic guitarist’s last album featured pristinely recorded instrumental appreciations of the good things in life and hopeful-sounding, gospel-steeped themes.

This time, his steel-stringed acoustic guitar shares space with consciousness-obliterating drones and cellphone field recordings of squabbling birds and raging radio preachers. Alternating between resonant fingerpicking and voluptuous slide explorations, Bachman’s playing seems to be searching for resolutions that remain quite out of reach for most of the album’s four sides. It’s a harrowing but ultimately cathartic trip.

—Bill Meyer