The Rumpus has published a refreshing essay by Steve Almond. It is about the situation at the Virginia Quarterly Review, and about the perils of the literary world, but mostly it’s a reminder that all that humanist stuff about empathy and being good to one another is actually true. Writers and editors, who can easily get sucked into tiresome calculations about their place on the ladder of literary importance, especially need to cut one another — and themselves — some slack. Instead of mining rejection letters for clues about our worth as human beings, we need to rally around literature, to defend its role in keeping our species healthy. I’m pretty much constantly consumed by frustration with my fellow humans, but while I was reading this essay, I was actually able to tune out the voice in my head who incessantly growls about how awful everyone is.
I’d guess there are lots of people, like me, who sometimes visit places which in memory are hallowed but which, through time, have been changed irreparably. It is a painful experience but it underlines life. Here Carl Little, who lives in Maine, returns to a place like that.
The Clearing
The sunbox lies in pieces,
its strips of aluminum foil
flaking away to the wind,
tanning platform broken up
for kindling. Planted grass
sprouts where the path once
sharply turned to the left
circumventing underbrush,
there the man (a boy then)
stumbled on beauty’s wrath:
pale sisters yelling him off,
scrambling for clothes to cover.
PhillySound: New Poetry #8 w/ David Wolach [PhillySound]
An Interview with Jonathan Franzen [AV Club]
My Legal Hero: Atticus Finch [Guardian]
An Interview with Titus Andronicus’ Patrick Stickles [Dallas Observer]
Clay Matthews reviews Ander Monson’s The Invisible World [Coldfront]
Pitchfork is Counting Down the Top 200 Tracks of the 90s [P4k]
10 Acts Who Will Save 2010 From Chillwave [Flavorpill]
Listen: The Good Ones – “Sara“
Dead Oceans will be putting out the debut album from the Rwandan folk act The Good Ones in November. “Sara” is the first track released from this upcoming album titled Kigali Y Izahabu. The Dead Oceans/Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian family aren’t unfamiliar with odd releases or international acts, but their typical international act maybe skews a little towards BLK JKS who have an American-indie sound mixed in with other influences. The Good Ones feel separate from that kind of assessment; it feels like they could be lumped under that terrible umbrella we call “world.” But what works for me is that there is still a western music influence, but it’s buried. In many ways it sounds as though there is some influence from gutter-folk of artists like Jeffery Lewis & the Junkyard rather than, well, anything else that you might expect. It’s that dissonant quality to the plucking of strings. It feels deliberate. And what is enjoyable about that sound is it attempts to capture a sort of raw energy about a recording or a performance. It cares more about infusing emotion into a take than it does about getting all the notes correct, and while The Good Ones come from a very different background (obviously) and have different reasons for their sound than Jeffrey Lewis might – and I’m not asserting they’ve even heard of him – “Sara” has that same quality. A sense of passion over precision that makes “Sara” a strong and emotional song, even if you can’t understand the words.
Yes, she is playing a saxophone on the beach.
Last weekend was the final InDigest 1207 reading for the summer (we’ll start up again in October). The crux of the New York 1207 series is that we have authors bring in some of their own writing as well as a piece of writing that has informed or inspired their work. They read these side by side. We like to share what the readers bring with them. The responses from authors are often distinctive and draw odd parallels to their own work. Poet Rachel Zucker created a whole presentation with her own writing, her mother’s writing (she’s a children’s author), and writing about parenting. Giao Buu read the lyrics to Wreckx-n-Effect’s “Rump Shaker.” Daniel Nester played guitar with a talk box. Becca Klaver wrote an essay about Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” Ronaldo V. Wilson read text messages from a painter he is collaborating with.
Before I get to the August 22nd reading, we had a reading on August 3rd as well and I never posted anything about what was read there. Honestly, I lost the little piece of paper that I took notes on during the reading, so I only vaguely remember what happened (I blame Aaron) and I might be making all of this up. Tentatively, Aaron Michael Morales read from Methland, as he’s working on a new novel about meth in the Midwest. He also read from his novel Drowning Tucson, which I really enjoyed. Deborah Clearman read excerpts from an 11 page US State Department warning guide for traveling in Guatemala. Her new novel, Todos Santos
. (Emily, if you read this you should e-mail me what you read, and you can chide me for being forgetful…)
The August 22 reading featured authors Sam Apple, JC Hallman, and Justin Taylor. Apple’s most recent book is American Parent
. Though it had never occurred to me before, Botton makes perfect sense as a sort of parallel to Hallman’s non-fiction. Part story, part travelogue, part historical text. See also: The Devil is a Gentleman and The Chess Artist. Justin Taylor read a poem called “Dear Catholic Church” by Anthony McCann, from the issue no.4 of the Agricultural Reader, a magazine Taylor edits and I recommend. He also read from his collection of short stories Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever.
The next InDigest 1207 reading in New York will be on October 3rd with Arthur Phillips and others TBA. We’ve also got the InDigest 1207 series in Minneapolis coming up. That will be on September 26 at Magers & Quinn and will feature Joshua Ferris being interviewed by Peter Bognanni. We’ll also be hosting a CMJ showcase in October (details coming soon). Keep up with upcoming InDigest events here.
Check out an Excerpt from Vestments, the New Collection of Poetry from John Reimringer [Milkweed Books]
Dana Rossi, host of the Soundtrack Series reading series, interviews herself [Soundtrack Series]
Fall Preview: 33 Must See Films [indieWIRE]
The intrepid folks over at N+1 have just launched the first issue of a new film magazine called N1FR. It appears that most if not all of the issue is posted online, which is a step into the digital that they have been unwilling to make with N+1 (and not for unsound reasons). The statement on the website says they plan to publish “semi-regularly” and that IFC is helping finance the endeavor. I’m happy because they lead off with a piece by Undercurrent editor Chris Fujiwara. You should also read Undercurrent. It’s excellent.
Listen: Kanye West (feat. Bon Iver, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj) – “Monster“
The whole story about Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon going out to Hawaii to record with Kanye West is pretty amazing. And you can’t read about that and not wonder what kind of music they are going to make together. It’s not totally clear exactly what parts of this new star heavy track from Kanye was actually influenced by Vernon, but when his vocals come in it’s pretty excellent and an unexpected break from what is a pretty staccato and repetitive beat. The whole track is pretty great, start to finish. Nicki Minaj steals the show a little bit in my mind, but that’s just me.
Diagram has just released issue 10.4 [Diagram]
Tri-Quarterly Puts Out First Digital Issue [Tri-Quarterly]
Does the New York Times Favor White Male Authors? [The Faster Times]
Best Albums of 2010 so far [Muzzle of Bees]
An Incredible Desktop Background with Walt Whitman as Superman [We Who Are About to Die]
PR Firms No Longer Legally Allowed to Pepper iTunes and Other User Review Sites with Fake Reviews [NY Times]
The Ladybirds: The World’s First and Only All Girl Topless Band [Dangerous Minds]