Booking Bands + Campfires
Just got back from a great 3-day excursion to the Lassen Volcanic National Park and highly recommend it to anyone looking for amazing scenery and bizarre geologic formations. With places like Yosemite and Tahoe so close, I think this park isn’t top of mind and I was completely unfamiliar with it.

One of the highlights was sitting around the campfire playing Booking Bands with my wife Jennifer and our friends, Mouy and Ian. I first learned of this little brain exercise when I heard Jim Coudal speak at the SXSWi festival this past March. When the floor was opened for questions, Coudal said any questioner needed to open with a booking band. I took it a step further by adding Hollywood to the mix: Interview with a Vampire Weekend at Bernies (if you follow the link to Jim’s speech, my question is on there at 37:10).
Basically, try to combine a band name with the title of a book (or vice versa). Coudal described the creative process occurring in your brain as massive rolodexes where you might lock on a band name and then begin rifling through book titles trying to find a match.
One thing all four of us realized is that we all need to read more. Needless to say, the game never ends. I spent most of Monday randomly sending IM’s with Mouy when one of us would come up with another one. I started writing down our list and I’m sure I didn’t get everything from around the campfire. So without further ado….
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zero7 habits of Highly Effective People
The Old Man and the Sea & Cake
National Velvet Underground
Big Black Beauty
The Flying Burrito Brothers Karamazov
The Doobie Brothers Karamazov
The Bacon Brothers Karamazov
The Allmann Brothers Karamazov
The Beach Boys from Brazil
The Petshop Boys from Brazil
The Boys from Brazilian Girls
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Theft
Al Green Eggs and Ham
The Dangerous Book for Boys to Men
KRS-1 Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Love in the Time of Choler-Abba
A New Earth Wind and Fire
Cujo Strummer and the Mescaleros
Jimmy Eat World According to Garp
Interview with a Vampire Weekend
Everclear and Present Danger
Three Cups of TRex
The Sorcerer’s Stone Temple Pilots
Cat Power of One
Cat Power of Now
Of Mice and Men at Work
Arcade Fire Starter
Slaughterhouse Five for Fighting
The Woman in White Stripes
Cinderella
Steppenwolf
A Midsommer’s Night Dream Syndicate
All Quiet on the Western Front 242
System of a Down and Out in Paris and London
Oliver Twisted Sister
Flaming Lipstick Jungle
Aimee Mann of La Mancha
Three Musketeers for Fears
Lovely Bones Thugs & Harmony
Shiny Toy Guns, Germs and Steele
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20 Responses to “Booking Bands + Campfires”
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Amy Winehouse of Spirits
Field of Dreams Syndicate
The Fifth Elemental Organic Chemistry (a personal favorite book of mine…never saw the flick)
The Rolling Stones of Ibarra
The Dark Tower of Power
Children of Men Without Hats
Carrie Underwood
Eight Men Outfield
The Church of Dead Girls
The Color of Waterboys
Alright, I’m done for now.
Scott,
You and Dan are the lit giants that I knew I could count on! The Color of Waterboys; awesome.
horton hears a whootie & the blowfish
kanye west side story
the chemical brothers k
billie holidays on ice
coldplay it again sam
At Play in the Fields of the Lords of Acid
The Scarlet Letters to Cleo
A Clear and Present Danger Mouse
I’ll chime in on this one, of course. Just a couple to get warmed up…
Rabbit Run DMC
Moby Dick Dale
Love and Rockets in the Time of Cholera (stretch?)
Curious George Clinton ( or Jones, or any other George out there!)
Beastie Boys from Brazil (You come up with Pet Shop Boys and no Beasties??!! Weak Tim, very weak)
More to come, I’m sure…Smitty and Andrea are coming in this weekend so we’ll give it a go-round.
Running with Scissors Sisters
Moby Dick (Dan, you beat me to it, but you didn’t have to go that far for this one)
The World is Flatt & Scruggs
Dan, I had to save some of the easy ones for you.
Here are some plays on Frank:
The Diary of Anne Frank Black and the Catholics (I like the dual religiosity)
The Diary of Anne Frank Allison and the Odd Sox
The Diary of Anne Frank Sinatra
etc…
Here’s some:
Dust Brothers Karamatzov
Beastie Boys from Brazil
Corey Heart of Darkness
Green Hills of Afrika Bambaataa
BB King Lear
Midsummer Night’s Dreamland
Romeo Void and Juliet
Oh, one more:
Lord of The Ringo Starr
Rough Stone Rolling Stones
Cat Empire of the Sun
A Face in the Crowded House
Far From the Madding Crowded House
Gang of Four Past Midnight
Slaughter House Five for Fighting
Scott, got that one up in the orig post. Good crowded house additions though.
Man, that was almost two weeks ago. I can’t remember that far back. Here’s one to make up:
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Brothers