- Esquire’s Chris Jones, plugging Modest Mouse whether they need it or not, in “My 2010 Midnight Writing Playlist.”
The “Roger Ebert story” he mentions is from last February. It’s here. I hope you’ve read it.
Jones also wrote “The Things That Carried Him,” which I can only cheapen by summarizing. This interview gets into how he reported and wrote that story:
ESQ: This was a pretty emotional story to read.
CJ: It was hard to write. I had several bouts where I really just lost it.
ESQ: Like, literally, crying and typing?
CJ: Yeah …
So, yes. Modest Mouse. “Little Motel.”
As Jones puts it, “I’ve received a lot of e-mails asking me how I write. The simple answer is, I write late at night, with my headphones on, listening to music.”
It’s quiet as I type this, unless we pretend that the dishwasher is making a kind of music. But my vote for writing music goes to Radiohead’s “Just,” which shuts out the world, sharpens the mind, and cranks up typing speed like nothing else I know.
