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Sam Zurick

@peopledork

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Make Believe ‘Of Course’ came out 20 yrs ago today on Flameshovel Records (CD) & @polyvinylrecords (LP)

Outraged & fried by The War on Terror, JOA responded by cos-playing as Black Flag for a few yrs

I suggested the name “Make / Believe” but got outvoted on the slash & I always thought the name was whatever w/out the slash

We practiced 40 hrs/wk when home. We played 200ish shows annually. I adopted the persona of a pro wrestling heel, which confused the humorless dimwits

We spent a yr writing & re-writing our first album “Shock of Being,” playing all the songs live a million times before recording live in the studio w/ Albini

But for whatever reason the recording didn’t click. & The album art was intended to be stills from a stage play re-enacting a live performance of a dollar bill, but that also didn’t come across

So in contrast, our 2nd album ‘Of Course’ was written very quick. It was well-known back then that one of us got 10 wks in an Oklahoma jail for things getting wild at one of our shows. So we wrote this album in the wks between sentencing & incarceration

3/4 of us lived in a loft w/ 3-4 friends that was our base of operations for yrs. But we decamped to caPn jazz’s old practice space—my mom’s basement—to write this one in 2 wks. We made decisions quick & didn’t rework the songs to death

We recorded at @electricalaudio again but w/ @normaphone this time, which was more relaxed cuz Greg’s more of a peer than legendary Steve could ever be. Again no overdubs

& The obtuse album art was also jettisoned, replaced by a simple sketch of a moment of evolution, drawn in jail, motivated by frustration w/ small-minded Oklahoma/ US bullshit

These songs became the core of our live sets for the majority of our existence. People ask about Make Believe reunion shows, but if you were there or see live footage, it’s clear that doing that shit again is physically impossible

Those yrs basically living on tour were the last tours in a different world, pre-smartphones. The story is told in my book of tour diaries “All Over & Over” available at Featherproof.com.

The book even has an index of hand-drawn maps. I’ll put a link to the book in my stories.

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My new book Danny B is out TODAY! If it’s not in your local bookstore, please ask them why not

It’s been 10 yrs since my last book & I’m just gonna tell you exactly what I’m trying to do here cuz obviously we don’t live in a book-reading world like we once did so I’d rather help explain how to understand it than be coy & hope people pick up on it

The story is over the top & sensationalistic. & It’s very close to the true story as told to me by the main character & it includes all the tabloid thrills: sex, drugs, punk rock, dead bodies, motorcycles. The narrative is sorta 90s noir

But its form is set in direct tension against the adrenaline that thrills like this are most commonly used for in entertainment. There’s a structuralist method to how it’s told, like a Haneke movie or maybe even Robbe-Grillet, like a lot of the action happens in-between the scenes

But the edges are softer than that. I was thinking of it as little puffs that dissipate, like smoke signals; images from dreams you can only half-glimpse in the morning; ancient Chinese poetry like Li Po

Which basically means there’s a lot of white space on the page. & I wouldn’t have been drawn to telling this story in a more conventional form & I wouldn’t have dared to suddenly try my hand at poetry about the mists of rocky waterfalls— It’s the tension between the form & content that interested me

I started work on it in 2014. I can’t guess how many thousands of hrs went into sculpting it since then. It’s sparse, just 23k words, down from I dunno… 8 million?

& Up until the very last proofread, I was pretty sure it sucked & I’d screwed it up. & I dunno how these things happen, but now I think it’s really good, like I really did make the thing that I set out to make

Endless gratitude to @dannybelrose & @featherproof_books

Here’s me & Danny w/ a pizza somewhere in southern OR maybe 2012? & Last time I saw him last yr

Chicagoans join us at @real_rainboclub 10/25. Me & Danny will DJ the Jinx Scene Soundtrack; I’ll read from the book; Danny will answer questions; & @tj.fuller whose new book is also out now on Featherproof will also be reading from his new book

Audiobook & e-book both available soon

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The OWLS album came out 25 yrs ago today on @jadetree

Weird, dark times. All of us were pretty unhappy at the time & we did not enjoy playing together like we did before then & since then

We were calling ourselves Little Death then Civil War then OWLZ

I didn’t really know @humanstranged then but he had the keys to some factory on the west side & somehow we ended up practicing in its locker room after they closed each day. If I remember correctly we wrote the whole album in 5 long practices in one wk.

Then @jeremylemos recorded demos at @cannonballclark ‘s parents’ house. We made some adjustments to the songs then it was our first time working at @electricalaudio w/ Steve.

The conga belonged to @mongodiastima ‘s uncle I think & I don’t remember how it got scooped up & included on the album. Seems like a kinda prominent feature to’ve not really discussed

We should’ve played a show or 2 before recording so we had a better sense of what we sounded like

Really just bad, dark times for us personally & then we left on tour Sept 12, 2001 & the bad times just went on & on for a little while . But we played a lot of shows w/ Need New Body & Hella & we all loved those bands & people so much, so they really saved us

(For whatever reason i can’t cue up the section of the song that I want 🤷🏻‍♂️)

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Celebrating twenty-five years of American rock band Owls’ eponymous debut album Owls, released on this day in 2001.✨

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Cap’n Jazz. Black Cat. DC. 2025/07/14
#capnjazz #capnjazzband #blackcatdc

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Premiering today 4/27 at 3PM(CST) on the @aswegoalong_angel YouTube channel. “A Brief Word With Sam Zurick”.

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Cap’n Jazz • (chicago, il) ‘89-‘95, reunions. all fans remember when they’d discovered the wonders of cpnjzz. seeing them last year in greenpoint brought me right back to those youthful warm summer nights. so sick that they came up with bands like still life, evergreen & indian summer. two cool old shirts from the 2010 run of shows! please sell me a 90s tee or patch? i love you
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#capnjazz #shmapnshmazz #polyvinyl #90semohardcore #bandtshirts

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Tune in for a rare afternoon premier of my follow-up chat with @victor_villarreality today(4/22) 2:15PM(CST). I’ll be watching. Join the live chat and thank you for all your support

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Cap’n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology - 9/23/17 Brooklyn Steel, 7/12/25 Warsaw #capnjazz

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I wrote about the art of burning mixed CDs, fingering Tim Kinsella’s horn and screaming into the void at the Cap’n Jazz show back in November, link in bioooooo

CAP’N JAZZ AT THE WILTERN
LOS ANGELES | CA
11.20.2025

Shot & written for @jankysmooth

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SHINY LITTLE CIRCLES No. 4: Owls - “Two”

This record is 11 years old, but I still think of it as the “new” Owls record. These guys are weapons-grade off kilter, taking normal components of Midwest emo and combining them in bizarre, infuriating, and ultimately beautiful ways.

#emo #midwestemo #mathrock #cd #vinyl

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#capnjazz #35mm #film #olympusom10 #fujifilm #superiaxtra400 #ripcamera

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