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I just tore up Chuck Klosterman and left him alone in a London Pub bathroom (15% of a true story)
I like to do my reading in bars. I like that reading is a solitary activity; I don't like solitary confinement. I like to read in bars because there is always background action. It reminds me of when bar bands play where half of the audience is listening and the other half is fragmented with loud conversations, hook-ups, put downs and bar flies who drink Mad Dog margaritas and roll funny cigarettes.
The latest bar-book session I had was to finish off Chuck Klosterman's third book, "Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of True Story". It was my first time reading Klosterman. I had first heard (of) him on Bill Simmon's ESPN podcast, the B.S. Report. Based on that initial listening, I think Chuck would make an excellent, if not slightly deranged, police interrogator. Not Richard Belzer on Law & Order deranged...more like like way Mork from Ork would do the job. I especially liked the way he kept dry humping what ever topic he and Simmons were discussing. He came off like an obsessive compulsive who flicks the light on and off before entering or room or a little kid who can't help picking at his scabs.
I found it entertaining.
The book centred on Chuck's road trip from rock and roll grave site to grave site, spanning east coast to west, from NYC to Seattle. Could Chuck find answers to the existential and cultural questions as to why Rock Stars who die prematurely, get (commercially) better with age? Fuck no. He spent most of the time talking about past and present girlfriends and how he either was fucked up in the relationship, fucked up the relationship or couldn't get fucked in the relationship.
All of this was mildly entertaining and maddeningly narcissistic. The saving grace of all of this girlfriend bullshit was when he was able to compare evey female relationship he ever had with each original and faux member of the band, KISS. That was worth the price of the book (but only if you buy it used and in paperback).
After reading the book, I am not sure what to think. He is talented for sure, but the book left me with a bad date feel. You take a girl out, conversation picks up, you think it may be going some place and then...you hit quicksand. Halfway through the book I felt like I in quicksand [note: I have never actually been in or even seen quicksand, but this is how I imagined it would feel]. Chuck was there for me though. He kept offering me a branch to grab on to so he could pull me out. I kept reaching for the fucking branch and every time I was almost out of the quicksand, Chuck would lose his grip and back in I went.
I am going to give his first book, "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" a read and see where that leads me. As I said, I find Klosterman entertaining and I enjoyed his writing writer. His recent review of the Beatles re-issues was sardonic, funny and, oddly, right. Check it out HERE.
I finished the book at the bar. I usually know how engrossed I am in a book by how many beers I drink while reading. If I can get off my stool and not have to take a piss straight away, I didn't drink too much and was engrossed. If I put down the book and need to do my Usain Bolt impression to the toilet, I know I made many trips to the bar and wasn't all that into what was I reading.
As soon as I finished Chuck's book, I sprinted for the bathroom. In fact, I forgot to leave the book at the table. I got in there, tucked it up under my arm and did my business. When I was leaving, I decided this book needed a fitting resting place other than my Shelves of Cool. I left the book atop the paper towel dispenser. I figured if someone would actually want a book that was left in a Swine Flu, Ass Flu or Flu Du Jour filled London pub bathroom...they could have it.
I would love to see their reaction when they got to the end of it and realised that I ripped out the second to last page. Maybe it will make sense after all...
Tune Tags (Chuck's Blues):
- Posted from Kensington, United Kingdom
Look over Yonder...I'm guest blogging on YUD: "Release the hounds! The London job hunt has begun."
Unemployment is not such a bad thing. At least that is what YUD leads us to believe. YUD, who lives in New York City, is unemployed and she is some one's daughter. YUD, "Your Unemployed Daughter", maintains a blog detailing her exploits about "the halcyon days and sleepless nights of a formerly high-powered media exec".
You can learn more about YUD here. Want the Full-YUD? Find it here.
YUD and I have something in common...aside from a penchant for stiff drinks and so-bad-but-so-good KISS songs...we are both unemployed. While YUD has more than enough to say to keep us interested about unemployment, I thought she might like an international perspective.
I just relo'd to London from Sydney. In the process, I left my job behind and now rank amongst London's ever growing gang of unemployed down and out'ers. I am stringing together a few words about my London exploits and sharing them on YUD.
Seeing as my wife (my "partner") is the one with her nose to the grindstone each day, I am taking on the role of YUP: Your Unemployed Partner. It is all fun and games before the novelty wears off and YUP turns in to S.O.B faster than you can shake an unemployment check at.
My initial post on YUD, "Take This Job and Shove It", can be found here. For the latest on my lowdown-London-unemployment ways, go here and/or read below:
Release the Hounds!
The one good thing about being unemployed in London is being unemployed in London. I am so busy keeping busy I haven’t had time to start the job search. There is so much to experience and explore here that I wonder why anyone would want to work in the first place
Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way.
The news flash this week told us that unemployment in the UK has reached a 14-year high, 7.9 percent. Since July some 210,000 people have become jobless. Bravo, Londoners. I am inspired by your decision to leave your jobs and stop letting this great city and all it has to offer pass you by
Oh, wait … you mean to tell me people are not choosing to be unemployed? Almost two million newly unemployed in the past 12 months is not a good thing
Of course it isn’t. People in London are struggling to find jobs. For those who have jobs, the prospect of a raise or receiving annual bonuses is bleak. Worst of all, “they” tell us it isn’t going to get better any time too soon
Timing is everything. Just two weeks ago I left Sydney and a six-figure salary. Now I sit in my rented London flat banging away on my keyboard entering my stats into online job-find sites. Me and 1.8 million of my new found jobless mates, looking for salvation via a search engine
And don’t forget about the zombie parade going in and out of the recruiter’s office. That meat market march is a chore I detest
Do I sound jaded? I’m not. These are just the cold, hard facts of unemployed life. No one is going to serve it up for you, and if they do, it’s probably too good to be true
Remember, I have moved three times to three countries and have had to find work with each relocation. I’m well-versed in this game. It is never a fun process, but it’s one that, at the very least, I have come to terms with
That being said, I have been doing more than sightseeing
There was some low-hanging fruit I needed pluck since my arrival—two leads that I had prior to leaving Sydney turned into interviews. Two interviews in 11 days … not too shabby. If anything, it was good to get back in the game
Interviewing is nothing more than the art of storytelling. People want to talk to you because they want to hear your story. You tell a good story and they listen. If they want to be part of that story, they hire you
My story, apparently, is an interesting one. The two interviews went well and there was promise of a second round from both companies. Nothing is nothing until it is something, so we’ll just have to see if they call back
In the meantime, I’m going back out to explore London. No sense waiting by the phone for it to ring … I did enough of that in high school (and she never called back like she said she would!)
The Museum of Natural History and the Royal Albert Hall are in walking distance (I walked up and got a ticket for Ray LaMontagne the other night…stellar show). Tower Bridge and Hyde Park are nearby as well
Not to mention all of the pubs. There is a pub on every corner and one in between. I have still yet decided what my favourite local ale is to be. I am sure I have plenty of time to figure it out before the second round of interviews … if they ever call back, that is.
_____
YUD asked me for a pic to go with the post. I tried to get a snap of me enjoying unemployment at a local watering hole, but that was too hard and too creepy. Instead I gave her a snap of the friends that were with me: my beer, my book and my pistachios. I added the foolish pic of me trying to take a shot of me drinking a beer here for the hell of it...warts and all, I say.
Curious as to where I was when I took the snap and skulled my pint? Go here. I hate celebrity gossip...f'ing hate it... but I have some. When I bought this beer, Colin Ferrel was in front of me getting a pint of his own. The female bartender could barely keep herself upright. I didn't even know it was him. Needless to say, I was a letdown when I strutted up to the taps.
- Posted from Paddington, United Kingdom
The Blues Highway and the Lure of Going Around
I have been seduced by the Lure...The Lure of Going Around. I first hear/read this phrase in a book by a fave author, Peter Guralnick. I have read most all of Peter's books. I love reading his books for a few reasons: he writes with a powerful empathy, he knew a lot of his subjects first hand and he is a fan...a true fan of the music, people and culture he writes about. Plus he is from New England, like me.
He writes with a personal pen and his stories swoop you up and take you places found in the pages of his books. Click here for some notes I took while reading his excellent book, "Lost Highway". My notes talk about Peter's discussion on The Lure of Going Around.
This post is not about Peter Guralnick, but it is about The Lure of Going Around. It wasn't until I was half way through my Aussie experience until I realised I was knee deep in my own Lure. Like the old bluesman and folk singers, I was going around and creating and telling my own stories. Click this link for my previous post on my own lure.
And now, "here comes that old travelin' jones once again". We are off to London in just under ten days. As excited as I am about moving there, I am really jonesing to take a special trip back in The States. I want to travel the old roads from New Orleans right up to Chicago...The Blues Highway.
A few years ago I bought a book by Richard Knight called, "The Blues Highway" (links: Amazon & Google Books). It is a travel guide for taking that old road that so many old musicians traveled years ago. It does a great job detailing the true travel aspects of the trip: restaurants, radio stations, juke joints, music halls...you name it, they have it for each town you will want to drive through. He also does a great job with bios and regional backgrounds and stories. have a look at the links for more detail on the book.
I used Knight's book to create a map with all of the stops along the way highlighted. There is much more work to do on it, but this is a good start. Read the notes on Lost Highway and then follow the map. It may make a bit more sense once you do.
It's all one song: Music by Imitation and of Inspiration
(Editor's note: I must admit something. When I was reading the section of the book I talk about in this post, I was at a bar drinking. I like to read at bars. I find it relaxing. As I was reading and drinking, I was jotting down notes for blog posts. I had three different angles I wanted to approach with my interpretation of what Ted was saying about "phonograph versus plantation". This post is a Frankenstein's Monster of beer, book and blues)
"Johnson's version of the blues is more indebted to the phonograph than the plantation" - Ted Gioia
I have been reading Ted Gioia's latest book, "Delta Blues". On page 168, Ted starts to draw out themes of inspiration versus imitation (sorry, Ted if my inspiration/imitation insight is not what you had in mind). Ted is speaking specifically about Robert Johnson's dedication to learning all he can about the blues of the time via the "phonograph" rather than from the "plantation". This is to say that Johnson was very aware of...studied...the popular blues records/sounds of the time. He also goes on to say that Johnson's music "is more a reflection of the commercial tastes than the continuation of the folkloric tradition". Brilliant. I got excited as I read this.
Beware: I'm going to get all philosophical and unfounded in empirical findings on you.
I interpreted this as the end of music made through inspiration (positive or negative) and the beginning of music made by imitation. People like Charley Patton were sought out by producers and labels after they had been going around and singing their blues. They sang of the times...in the "folkloric tradition". They didn't start out thinking record sales. By the time Robert Johnson was on the scene, he was searching out recording opportunities. His music was commercial minded. Johnson made music. Patton and Son House created music. This is what I think Ted was getting at.
"I've been plagiarizing all my life. It's called learning" - Hunter S. Thompson
Ted Gioia also uses a quote by Keith Richards in this discussion. Keith, referring to Johnson, said, "he came out with such compelling themes. They were actual songs as well as just blues". Wow. interesting take, Keef. Songs...not just blues. Songs: what you record and sell. Blues: what you feel and express. Funny that Ted uses Keef to comment on Johnson. Keef has been using the same Chuck Berry lick for over 40 years now.
The Stones more than anyone else could be called the "Keepers Coppers of the Flame". Like Robert Johnson, they too learned from their predecessors. They learned the songs and put their stylings on top of it. They did it out of love and of the lure of a buck. Like Robert Johnson, they imitated their heroes and put their own flavor on the music, almost rthe ailroading unknowing public into thinking it was theirs. Like Robert Johnson, they were hungry ass-kickers who played a souped up version of their heroes own defining sounds. They took the songs and stylings of Bo, Chuck and Muddy and turned them into a raw, seedy, balls-out, riff-heavy sound that said to their contemporaries and fans, "Fuck yeah. This is the blues and R&B...our way. You love it right? Buy it!
"If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars" - Sam Phillips
Sam Phillips. He was talking through rose-colored hindsight glasses here. He is referring to Elvis in this quote. Just the same, this is an extension of what Robert Johnson started B.E.
(B
efore Elvis) and the Stones emulated A.E.. The "negro sound"...the feeling, the expression, the truth...pressed into lacquer and spun into gold on disk jockey's turntables across the land. Charley Patton expressed it. Paramount recorded it. Robert Johnson interpreted it. Sam Phillips reincarnated it (and sold it). The Stones learned from them all and imitated it (and SOLD it).
Sam Phillips wasn't stupid. If he couldn't conjure it, he could cloak it in white and sell it
for a billion dollars. Commercial tastes + folkloric tradition = commercial traditions still in play today.
"It's all one song..." - Neil Young
In 1997 Neil Young and his reverb cronies, Crazy Horse, put out a double live album called, "Year of the Horse". In the beginning of the album the band is just about to stumble into a crooked version of "When You Dance". Someone yells out from the crowd, "they all sound the same" (referring to the songs they were playing that night). Neil fires back a quick and sharp comment, 'it's all one song!" Yeah, the songs do sound the same. It's Neil Young and Cray Horse pounding out deep, ugly, glorious grooves. Cool.
I love that phrase: It's all one song. It is really, isn't it? It is a variation on a theme. It is an interpretation of an "already" or "prior" or "familiar". The Neil-shouter is really speaking about the sound being laid on the crowd that night. I think he is spot on...but its something else. Some thing different. Actually, not different, but something same.
There is a band in London or in Ohio that is in a garage right now doing one of the worst versions of Brown Sugar ever. It is a group of teens: heads down, arms strumming and fists pumping wildly, the volume growing louder and louder and the smiles and nods at each other getting wider and wider. They are passionate about playing and having fun (the fame and fortune will come later). They are playing their version of the Stones playing their version of Muddy playing his version of Charley Patton who played his version of Son House who created his sound from what heard in the church and from what the church goers hollered out in the fields and what the plantation workers sung while shackled to the hull of the bottom of a boat.
It's all one song. It may be for sale, but at least it keeps getting played and played again.
_____
NB: I'm sweeping up a lot of generalizations about what Ted Gioia wrote in his book and making some personal assessments of what he said. By no means should my sophomoric attempt at interpreting what Ted was writing replace his obvious skill and grace in how he created these themes. In other words, I'm not plagiarizing here...just trying to learning a thing or two.
Here is a mind map where I took my notes while drinking at a bar and reading. You can add it it if you like. I think this map is the center point on the spectrum of cool and geek. At a bar reading about the Delta Blues, drinking beer and taking notes on a mind mapping application on my iPhone. Loser? Cool? Yeah...
Leaving Trunk: Where I've been and where I'm going...
Time to leave another place of residency. Cue the music!
Taj Mahal - "Leaving Trunk"
I went upstairs to pack my leavin' trunk
I ain't see no blues, whiskey made me sloppy drunk
I ain't never seen no whiskey, the blues made me sloppy drunk
I'm going back to Memphis babe, where I'll have much better luck
I ain't never seen no whiskey, the blues made me sloppy drunk
I'm going back to Memphis babe, where I'll have much better luck
_____
Thinking about our move to London and the place that I lived. Lots of time spent on the East Coast of the States (New England & Florida). Going to have to start packing again before we split. The key to packing and picking your life up and toting it around from country to country...downsize! Keep jettisoning the stuff you absolutely do not need.
The stuff you do need and the stuff you are tied to with emotional heartstrings are what you bring along. It gets hard to decipher the stuff need versus the stuff you are tied to. For instance, I have a massive music collection. No chance this doesn't come with me. I also have a very sizable collection of books relating mostly to music, but also to other major interests of mine (Hunter S. Thompson, the U.S. Civil War, business and philosophy books, etc.).
I keep hauling these around with me, because some day I am going to have an office/study (or "The Vault") where I can put these in. Some of these books I may not look through for years, but when I need a fact or to verify some obscure story behind a song...I can run to it.
Here are all of my books: Judd's Library
Chances are I am not getting rid of these books. But, there are many things I will get rid of. For instance, I have the six month and one year rule on clothes. If I haven't worn it those time frames, it could be on the trash heap. Of course there are some items you just don't wear a lot. If it is something I don't wear a lot, but want to have...it stays (I've got this cool embroidered flower shirt I love. Doesn't get a lot of wears, but it is a keeper).
(Me in my cool flower shirt...works best with beer in hand. Venice circa 2002)
Anyhow, I start the keep/don't keep process in two weeks. I am going to be ruthless on the "absolutely do not need" and brutal on the stuff that could fall into that category. I'm going to document that process, too. As always, I make sure to give all of the left over clothes and such to the Salvation Army or some other cause.
_____
Like I said, I am starting to rack up the global miles on where I have lived. Here is a map with all my old haunts. If you zoom in close enough you may be able to spot all my old Skeletons luring in dark places.
(click on the pins for details)
Ancient Gonzo Wisdom (not the same thing as an "Ancient Chinese Secret")
One of my favourite bits of Gonzo Wisdom is: "Everybody fumbles...its the recovery that matters". I think about it every time I screw something up. I take a step back and think about what I did and how I learned from my mistake and then I go bat-out-of-hell like into the pile to find the ball.
You are familiar with the book on Hunter S. Thompson's wisdom, aren't you? You would be if you read my previous post on it. If you habven't done that, go ahead and take 5 minutes to do so...
...OK. You done? Good. You need to understand that to then grasp what comes next. Another book out out by Anita Thompson (HST's widow) has hit the shelves. "Ancient Gonzo Wisdom" just arrived on my Sydney doorstep today (I actually heard the thud of it hitting the porch). I had been waiting for this sucker for sometime now. It is not the same as a new work from The Man himself, but alas we have no choice but consider this the next best thing.
Here is a product description on the book:
Bristling with inspired observations and wild anecdotes, this first collection offers a unique insight into the voice and mind of the inimitable Hunter S. Thompson, as recorded in the pages ofPlayboy, The Paris Review, Esquire, and elsewhere.
Fearless and unsparing, the interviews detail some of the most storied episodes of Thompson’s life: a savage beating at the hands of the Hells Angels, talking football with Nixon on the 1972 Campaign Trail (“the only time in 20 years of listening to the treacherous bastard that I knew he wasn’t lying”), and his unlikely run for sheriff of Aspen. Elsewhere, passionate tirades about journalism, culture, guns, drugs, and the law showcase Thompson’s voice at its fiercest.
Arranged chronologically, and prefaced with Anita Thompson’s moving account of her husband’s last years, the interviews present Hunter in all his fractured brilliance and provide an exceptional portrait of his times.
There are a number of people who have come out with books since his death. What I like about this one and the Gonzo Way is that they are him...his own words. What else I like is that it is arranged by someone (Anita) who cares about him, the man...not just Raoul Duke or Lono.
NPR also ran an excerpt form an interview with the Good Doctor about his "Hell's Angels" experience. Have at it. Here is the link:
I am assuming that by now you have cracked a beer or poured yourself a tall cool Cuba Libre (with plenty of ice). I have (both). Let's take a look a hidden gem of a video of Keith Richards being interviewed by HST.
Yes you read that right. Keef Richards interviewed by Hunter S. Thompson. Two of the Lords of Karma's own henchmen on the job.
I remember watching this when I was in colle
ge (one of the few things i fully remember from that time and pla
ce). Two of my heroes, two juggernauts of individualism and True Grit both trading barbs. The interview is a bow-down event...but, my imagination explodes with possibilities about what the hell went on between this pairing in Hunter's Kitchen post interview. I feel light-headed just dreaming about it.
p.s. you got the "Ancient Chinese Secret" joke, right?
- Posted from Balmain, Australia
