some kind things

while i'm using this blog as an avenue for positive press, i'd like to mention this nice thing USU has done on me. this appeared in this month's English department newsletter: 

UNDERGRAD ALUMNUS PUBLISHES IN “THE IOWA REVIEW”

Utah State University alumnus Taylor Christensen's poem “Banana Tree: 1964” appears on December 8, 2008, in The Iowa Review. The journal is a major literary venue for creative writers. Taylor attended Utah State in 2006-07 as a freshman in the English Creative Writing program and now resides in Salt Lake City attending the University of Utah. To read “Banana Tree: 1964”, click here. More

 

from: http://english.usu.edu/

another nice review

jamie gadette wrote this in her City Weekly live picks:

Monday 12.1
SPARKS & SPOOLS
We wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor Christensen tossed Three Cups of Sea Water in along with all the other random found sounds coloring his unique debut album as Sparks & Spools. The local artist runs a tight ship of organized chaos painstakingly assembled into minimalist folk recordings—a quirky symphony with movements featuring handclaps, squeaky door hinges, old-west whistles, bicycle bells, spoken word narratives, sweeping piano flourishes—and creepy, slowly plinked keys—that’s both comforting and eerie, like an antique doll collection. Listening to the album, you might wonder, “But can he pull it off live?” Christensen doesn’t engage his skills onstage all too often, so tonight is as good a night as any to score the answer to your query. Kilby Court, 741 S. 330 West, 7 p.m. All ages. Info: KilbyCourt.com

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