I envy you.....so much rocking to do

Coffee table books are tricky. If you are a student or an enthusiast of the subject matter, they are wonderful, if not, they don't draw out the eye. Fans of rock photography will want to take a look at Pat Graham's Silent Pictures. The book focuses on indie rockers of the 1990s, capturing concert photos of Modest Mouse, Fugazi, the Jesus Lizard and others. The madness of David Yow is nicely captured in these images. The live videos don't capture the carnage of the live act, so listen to this studio version of Puss to get an idea.

Reading through the book, I was sad to recall all the shows that I missed in this period. The shots of Fugazi on the Washington Mall are excellent and remind me that I really underutilized that city during my undergrad years. The moral? Go to more shows. These photos will remind you of what you are missing.

This will be a fun book for fans of indie rock. If you want to see some of Pat Graham's photography, visit his site, which leans more 21st century and color than the book. The site doesn't work very well with Firefox.