The Decade: Music

1. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

I am an American aquarium drinker
I assassin down the avenue
I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
What was I thinking when I let go of you

2. Silverchair: Diorama (2002)

Miles away

There's hopeless smiles bright than mine

And I need for you to come and go

Without the truth falling out

3. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)

I was full by your count

I was lost, but your fool

Was long visit wrong?

Say you are the only

4. Lucero: Tennessee (2002)

Well I'm sorry my dear

Never thought the end was so near

A heart full of snakes and a belly full of rage

Has left me with a fistful of tears

5. My Morning Jacket: Z (2005)

Who could see and not believe?

The heart that beats the wavelength

And who could say but never do

Things they've said to someone who

Through all that's been and all will be

So in line so thoughtfully in tune with you

6. The Strokes: Is This It? (2001)

I say the right things but act the wrong way
I like it right here but I cannot stay
I watch the TV; forget what I'm told
Well, I am too young, and they are too old
Oh, man, can't you see I'm nervous, so please
Pretend to be nice, so I can be mean
I miss the last bus, we take the next train
I try but you see, it's hard to explain

7. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois (2005)

And in my best behavior

I am really just like him

Look beneath the floorboards

For the secrets I have hid

8. Sun Kil Moon: Tiny Cities (2005)

We're going down the road

Towards tiny cities made of ashes

Gonna hit you on the face

Gonna punch you in your glasses...Oh no

9. The Postal Service: Give Up (2002)

I'll write you a song and it won't be hard to sing

It will be a natural anthem, familiar it will seem

It will rally all the workers on strike for better pay

And its chorus will resound and boost morale throughout the day

10. Cory Branan: The Hell You Say (2002)

That video game, that's Galaxia 4

One day I'll get the highest score

And I'll type in your name

I wanna share all this fame with you

And we'll celebrate with a couples skate, or two

Hey DJ, play the one I know you know

Celebrate good times, C'mon

11. Radiohead: Kid A (2000)

Strobe lights and blown speakers

Fireworks and hurricanes

I'm not here

This isn't happening

I'm not here

I'm not here

12. Kings of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004)

Toss me a breath, when you hold me down

Hot like a razor on my face

Something's growing that don't help me now

Paging the doctor just in case

13. Elliott Smith: Figure 8 (2000)

I had tender feelings that you made hard

But it's your heart, not mine, that's scarred

So when I go home I'll be happy to go

You're just somebody that I used to know

14. Band of Horses: Cease to Begin (2007)

I could sleep

When I lived alone

Is there a ghost in my house?

15. Modest Mouse: The Moon & Antarctica (2000)

Everything that keeps me together is falling apart,

I've got this thing that I consider my only art of fucking people over.

The Rest:

• Billy Bragg & Wilco: Mermaid Avenue, Volume II (2000)
• Jeff Buckley: Mystery White Boy (2000)
• Outkast: Stankonia (2000)
• PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000)
• Rage Against the Machine: Renegades (2000)
• Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker (2000)
• Pete Yorn: musicforthemorningafter (2001)
• The Shins: Oh, Inverted World (2001)
• Silver Jews: Bright Flight (2001)
• Sparklehorse: It's a Wonderful Life (2001)
• Beck: Sea Change (2002)
• Bright Eyes: Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)
• Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
• The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
• Foo Fighters: One By One (2002)
• Idlewild: The Remote Part (2002)
• Johnny Cash: American IV The Man Comes Around (2002)
• Josh Rouse: Under Cold Blue Stars (2002)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers: By the Way (2002)
• Rufus Wainwright: Poses (2002)
• Sigur Ros: ( ) (2002)
• The Used: The Used (2002)
• Cat Power: You Are Free (2003)
• Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: Master and Everyone (2003)
• Damien Rice: O (2003)
• Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism (2003)
• Doubledrive: Blue in the Face (2003)
• The White Stripes: Elephant (2003)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell (2003)
• Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004)
• The Black Keys: Rubber Factory (2004)
• Danger Mouse: The Grey Album (2004)
• Green Day: American Idiot (2004)
• Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)
• Jimmy Eat World: Futures (2004)
• Joanna Newsom: The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)
• Taking Back Sunday: Where You Want to Be (2004)
• Tom Waits: Real Gone (2004)
• U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
• Derek Webb: Mockingbird (2005)
• Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine (2005)
• Imogen Heap: Speak for Yourself (2005)
• Kanye West: Late Registration (2005)
• Neil Diamond: 12 Songs (2005)
• Neil Young: Prairie Wind (2005)
• Nine Inch Nails: With Teeth (2005)
• Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
• Bob Dylan: Modern Times (2006)
• Midlake: The Trials of Van Occupanther (2006)
• Mogwai: Zidane A 21st Century Portrait (2006)
• Eddie Vedder: Into the Wild (2007)
• MIA: Kala (2007)
• Music from the Motion Picture Once (2007)
• The National: Boxer (2007)
• Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)
• Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes (2008)
• Glasvegas: Glasvegas (2008)
• Metallica: Death Magnetic (2008)
• MGMT: Oracular Spectacular (2008)
• R.E.M.: Accelerate (2008)
• Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: Real Emotional Trash (2008)
• TV On the Radio: Dear Science, (2008)
• Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend (2008)
• The Walkmen: You & Me (2008)
• Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
• Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest (2009)
• Pearl Jam: Backspacer (2009)
• Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
• Sonic Youth: The Eternal (2009)

Stay tuned...

Stay tuned for my best of the decade lists...

Viva la Helen...

Here's the beautiful cover of my soon-to-be released chapbook, Helen Mirren Picks Out My Clothes. Stay tuned for ordering info...until then check out Greying Ghost.

The Hurt Locker

THE HURT LOCKER (2009): Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Screenplay by Mark Boal. Starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, Christian Camargo, Christopher Sayegh

If you haven’t seen a great Iraq War movie yet, it’s because one doesn’t exist, until now. The barrage of politically-charged war movies has been painfully bad and tragically disappointing. However, The Hurt Locker transcends the superficial genre of Iraq War movies, as it presents an intense look at a US bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad (“an intense look” is an understatement) and a straight story that presents each character clearly and their actions precisely. The Hurt Locker does not preach. Not for a second. From minute-one my stomach was clenched and my heart was racing. The story is laid out with a stark, realistic simplicity, however it is this simplicity that allows the viewer to immediately tune into the layers being presented on screen, as the ferocity of the violence is so intrinsically linked to the internal psychological warfare taking place in the minds of the soldiers that each aspect carries the same edge-of-your-seat intensity. Here, love is supplemented with addiction and adrenaline is the drug. So, this is war. Here, it’s the love of and addiction to both life and death and for Jeremy Renner’s Sgt. James (as far as I’m concerned, go ahead and give him the Oscar now) it’s this addiction that keeps him going, as he stares life and death in the face simultaneously. The Hurt Locker does not need another rave review. But here I am, adding my voice to the chorus singing it’s praises. Go. See. This. Movie.

Kind Words

I received some kind words about my poem in Meridian from Vince Corvaia in the Review Review. Here's what Vince had to say about "The Lord God is a Bird"...

Andrew Terhune’s “The Lord God is a Bird” is an event poem, the event being the sighting of a unique bird (“Someone says, / Elvis in feathers”) by a group of bird watchers (or birders, as they’re called nowadays). They might be ornithologists (“Ornithologists keep / their fingers tied / with string, / to remember this”), or they might simply be bird lovers. We can’t tell. But the thing is the chance discovery, the elation of wonder as humans meet nature.

You can read the full article by clicking here.