—-
Songs from Sleater Kinney (1995)
Songs from Call the Doctor (1996)
Songs from Dig Me Out (1997)
Songs from The Hot Rock (1999)
Songs from All Hands on the Bad Ones (2000)
Songs from One Beat (2002)
Songs from The Woods (2005)
—-
*
p.s. Hey. I thought a weekend-long concert might be nice, or, rather, Thomas Moronic thought up the concert, booked the late, great Sleater Kinney, and did a majestic curatorial number, and I just chose the slot, so don’t thank me. The pleasure is all yours and all thanks go to TM, and to SK in absentia, of course, and, yeah, enjoy yourselves. Otherwise, wow, quiet around here. ** Wolf, Hey. Yeah, sorry to lay all that on you. Mm, I think I need to let this happen full-force and not try to regulate it or find a way to rationalize it. This book, if it works, and whether or not I end up publishing it, needs to mine and fully represent what George and his death does to me or there’s no point. If it works, you’ll see what I mean, and I’m functional as a person and stuff, just hiding out more than I usually do. Plus, and this is kind of stupid, but so be it, the suffering is kind of the only way I can feel very close to George now in a powerful way that’s deserving of him, so I feel like what I’m letting myself go through is a humble offering of love to him, and it just incredibly sucks that he can’t feel it, but I don’t really have another option, if any of that makes sense. It might be really nice to chat sometime, for sure, ‘cos the aloneness part of this is kind of hell, but get your move organized and in place and done first, and we can chat when you’re settled. Thanks, my friend. Oh, good, that you like the first book ‘cos it’s totally free, and you can just click that link yesterday and get it, if you want. ** Dom Lyne, Hey, Dom! Very awesome to see you! Wow, okay, but ultimately that’s really fucking great that the treatment is finally happening, right, incompetent therapist guarding the door or not? It’s probably way too complicated to explain what the treatment involves, right? Wait, I just watched your videos, and I think I get it: intense therapy sessions. Now they think you might have autism too? You are so meta, Dom. Man, I don’t know, I have to mine my essential optimism and think that, whatever happens, the concentration on helping you intently and the gift to you of a location/time to work with yourself is some kind of fucking boon. But it’s been sort of forever since I was in therapy, and you’ve probably had enough therapy to make you mental in and of itself. Anyway, lots of love and respect and support through what’s coming up, and I’m here or email-able or Skype-able or whatever if you want some friend talk. And I’ll keep your video diary close. Everyone, the superb writer, musician, and much more Dom Lyne has started a video diary. Here he is to explain: ‘These videos will chart my progression through treatment for severe personality disorders. Currently I’ve been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Dissociative Disorder and Schizotypal Personality Disorder.’ There are three videos up as of this morning, and they’re very powerful. I’m going to be following his diary, and, if you want to do the same, or if you just want to see what the diary is, it’s here. Take care and thank you a lot and hugs, Dom. ** Allesfliesst, Hey. Yeah, very well put and said about Stendhal. I’ve never read anything else by him. I wonder if I should. Oh, I think the world can be patient re: Buddha for a few more days. And that gander incident is like an infinitely classier and more believable ‘Jesus’ face in a tortilla’ thing. I’m bated, very bated. ** Cobaltfram, Hi, John. Fingers still crossed re: the Buzzfeed thing. All does not sound lost yet. I actually saw David Lynch writing in a Denny’s once, believe it or not. He was living in the hills just above my LA apartment for a while, and he was out and about. Speaking for me, writing in/from a dark, dark place, now or in the past to lesser degrees, does not mean the act of writing itself not a huge pleasure. The great thing about writing is that the pleasure of writing when you’re writing well seems like it can withstand anything. Yury is really busy with and preoccupied by setting up his fashion line/ business right now, which is lucky, and I don’t think my stuff, which I’m trying to keep to myself, is all that noticeable, or he’s waiting for me to bring it up. Only 12 days until … very nice. That should be major. I think I might have just gotten a year extension at the Recollets, but I’m not totally sure yet. We’ll see. That would be a huge relief. ‘F for Fake’, yeah, fantastic. Welles deserves every bit of his genius status in my book. All right, have a superb weekend, man. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, David. I’ve been wanting to watch or rewatch some Fulci lately. ‘Vivre Sa Vie’ might be the one, hm. Yeah, that was the troubled link, and, as I guess you saw, it’s just a boomerang that leads back here. ** Thickdick/ lolita Veldhoen, Thanks for giving me one last dose of your Thickdick phase, man. Dude, the blurb is yours. You can even used raised type and gilded lettering, if you like. I’m cool with getting older. I definitely wouldn’t mind a time machine with a de-aging app included for short return visits though. Mm, no, I don’t think I can agree with you on the over 40 problem. I mean, yeah, I have an anarchist’s hatred of generalizations and all that, and, if I think about it, which I guess I just did, everybody I know who’s over 40 is pretty awesome. I’m a lucky guy, though. ** Steevee, Hey, Steve. Yeah, I totally agree with you about WKW. I’m not 100% happy with ‘In the Mood for Love’, but it’s still happening there. But, yeah, prior to that, I thought he definitely among the most exciting directors working. Sure hope the blank CD behaves. ** Sypha, Yeah, total shockeroo about the no Madonna albums, right? Ooh, ‘The Magic Mountain’, one of the greats among greats, that one, if you ask me. I read the BEE thing on DFW, and a bunch of the commentary on the ‘feud’. I don’t know, Bret is obviously trying to rile people. I disagree with him 100% about DFW, but then I don’t agree with DFW’s dismissal of Bret’s work either. Whatev’ ** Robert-nyc, Hi, Robert! Thanks about my dark place. You doing ‘Annie’ is already helping me in my fantasies big time, man. It’s hard to imagine McDowell thinks he’s the black Tao Lin, but maybe he sees it as a foothold? Great to see you, R., and thanks for the kind words. ** Starlon H, Hey! Yeah, me too. I’m way into and excited by the new writers and work and sites and stuff they’re calling Alt Lit in general, and I keep finding really, really good writers scattered liberally under that rubric. I’m a big Tao Lin fan too, of course. Thanks for starting ‘TMS’. Yeah, the narrator is a tricky bastard, and it sounds like you’re getting him pretty well so far. Great weekend! ** Math, Hey, Math! Oh, pal, I’m so sorry. I’m fucked up/ depressed too. Weak but heartfelt high five. I’m pretty excited about that impending tarot deck, I gotta tell you. Yeah, even a right place can start to feel wrong and get to you. LA would certainly give you some real differences to start to work with. Van Nuys, wow, that’s, like, serious LA. Why there? Definitely give me the news and the link re: your new online thing asap. A jolt of you would be awfully welcome. Really happy to see you, my pal. Really, really great of you to bring yourself in here. So appreciated. Take love and have the best weekend you can. ** Misanthrope, Hi, G. Thanks about the place I’m in. That’s my thinking. I just need to get this first draft done before I crash or lose it entirely. You didn’t sound like Dr. Phil. You didn’t even sound like Dr. Drew. Dr. Seuss maybe. Fingers are already crossed, if you can’t tell, and they’ll stay that way until you’ve got that temp job in writing or behind a firm handshake or something. ** Jax, Hey, Jack! Thank you, pal. How did it go? Predictably, the stream did not stream here. I’m going to go see what I can find this weekend. ** Schlix, Hi, Uli! I know, I know, books, books, it just never ends. Lovely weekend! ** So, why don’t you climb back up and beyond this text now and let your ears have a turn, eh? Dreamy weekends to you all. See you on Monday.
Now available in North America 
Perfomances are today andtomrorow, Dennis – live streaming tomorrow night, 8pm UK time on http://thespace.org
Yeah! Nice work DC and TM! One of my favourite bands. 'All Hands' is definitely my favourite album, but 'The Woods' is surprisingly great!
That's all from me. A quick hi and bye. Hope you all are well. How is the new novel chugging along, DC?
-M
Yeah, Sleater Kinney. Now there's a kick-ass band! Last time I checked (which was a while ago) "The Woods" was my favourite record of theirs, but now… hmmm…
Thanks Thomas!!! You rule!
Hang in there, Dom.
BEE is really succeeding in riling people up. Yesterday on Facebook a "What the fuck is his problem?" discussion opened up out of nowhere. Is there something about misery and abjection that attracts him? I suspect he's never gotten over the death of his boyfriend and is taking it out on the world.
I'm off to see The Master this morning and will report back this afternoon. The thing aout it that interests me most is it was shot in 70mm
Hey Dennis,
That's so cool to me, the idea of seeing David Lynch scribbling away. I don't know if I would bother him or not for, like, his autograph or not. Or what I would ask him. That's always been my approach with famous people (such as yourself): break the ice with a question about their art. I think it goes a long way toward showing that a person really cares about your work when they're willing to directly comment on a part of it.
Speaking of questions, I finally thought of one for you that would be worth Skyping. No rush — if I spot you online this weekend, I'll say hi.
It is kind of lucky about Yury being so swept up in his own work. I mean, it can get lonely I know, but for the book's sake, a good thing.
Speaking of books, I totally agree about the act of pleasure while working even on rough content. Banville says that sometimes, which working, he'll get a sentence *just right* and it's like ringing your finger on a wine glass, and he says, "That's why I keep doing this. It certainly isn't for the money."
Also: mega congrats about the living arrangements thing! Maybe they'll just make you a permanent writer-in-residence; that'd be pretty neat, right? Where were you living when this interview was done? Not the Recollets, I would imagine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQBqHJiEgQQ
Anyway, much love til Sunday, and I hope things are going great. Catch you soon
JF
A rave for Harmony Korine's latest
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hey Thomas – Great Sleater-Kinney day! They're one of my all-time favorite bands and I never missed a chance to see them live starting a few weeks after "Call the Doctor" came out. They keep saying they're on so-called indefinite hiatus, so now that Corin's kids are older I'm hoping they'll reactivate before too long. I know there's been some rumblings recently that it could happen after the next Wild Flag album….
Hey Dennis – I really liked the book post on Friday. I just started reading "Slow Slidings" and have been digging it. It inhabits a very unusual and seductive space.
Sorry to hear the process of writing the new novel about George has been so emotionally fraught, though I can see how it would be unavoidable. Hope you're able to push through it or channel it without it wrecking you as much. Are you feeling like you're making good progress, or is it hard to tell right now given what it's stirring up?
Had the art opening for my assemblages on Thursday and it went well. There was good attendance and people seemed confused-but-intrigued by my pieces and kept circling back to check them out and the very short piece of fiction I wrote to accompany them. Hoping to have some good photos taken soon.
You ever a Mishima fan? Any favorite novels of his? Recently rewatched the Paul Schraeder film which I liked for the radically stylized presentations of his novels. I read some of his work ages ago and liked it, but I can't say this made me eager to revisit it.
dennis a wizard hi 5 +a gangbang of angels
heres the thing
longest spell so far
ash anywhere
xxmath+
hint some drawings are clickable
When I went to the screening of The Master today I had to sign a form saying that I wouldn't review the film until after Septemeber 19th, so this isn't a review. IT SUCKS!!!!
I love Mike Kitchell's book designs. Slow Slidings is another lovely one.
I'll probably check out the Best Alt Lit Stories 2012, though I can't say Noah Cicero's easy oppositions are making me very enthusiastic. But it won't be the first time I'm, well, amused by one of his comments, haha.
Bill
Okay,for anyone who's interested, Michael Clark Company can be watched via live streaming outside the UK (so the site says) at http://thespace.org tonight (Sunday) at 8pm UK time – that's gonna be 3pm EST and possibly noon on the West Coast. It's an awesome show, guys, with music by Scritti Politti, Bowie and Jarvis Cocker's new band Relaxed Muscle.
Even if you don't like dance, this will blow you away.
@Thomas Moronic: sweet, nice Sleater Kinney day…it was nice listening to this stuff, they’re one of those few bands I think people will still be listening to 20 or 30 years from now, classic stuff…
@Dennis: Thank you so much for all the kind words and encouragement, that was a major boost for me…seriously that made me feel so good, thank you thank you thank you… 3> Really and truly…so much jet fuel for my engines…thank you.
I forwarded the stuff you wrote about the Berrigan chapbook to Cassandra Gillig and I think she was pretty boosted too, thanks for answering my question about that.
Your “3 books I liked post” was sick, totally agree with you about “Best Alt Lit” and “Treees,” I really loved those two books… The other day a longish facebook comment thread broke out about alt lit novels and Treees got mentioned as a good example… I think it’s sometimes hard to read longer works on a computer screen, but I’d like it if there were more short novels like Treees…I get the feeling like more people are starting to work on longer things like that. M Kitchell is someone I still haven’t checked out but I’m gonna get on that pronto, those excerpts look really interesting.
Ultimately, I think the term “alt lit” is just a useful gimmick to introduce a lot of new writers at once, with probably the only thing that everyone has in common being the internet…I don’t think of alt lit as being a particular “style” or sensibility…I think of Blake Butler and Kendra Grant Malone and Amelia Gray and Elizabeth Ellen as being alt lit, although I don’t know if they would like being called that. I think in many people’s minds “alt lit” = amateur mic night… People get a couple books published and forget that they were doing the same exact stuff 10, 15, 20 years ago. Awhile back I reblogged a Michael Robbins poem on the tumblr and he wasn’t into it…he was really nice in his messages to me and thanked me for reading his stuff and was polite and all that, but he didn’t want it up there, he had tumblr take it down. I’m not offended, I still think he’s a great poet…my reaction was more like scratching my head and a quick shrug…maybe it was the “alt lit” label he didn’t like…and he’s the type of writer I assumed would have been sympathetic, he’s on tumblr… Anyway now I’m just rambling, this doesn’t really apply to anything—at the end of the day I just want to promote books and promote reading. I’m not interested in making a bunch of dividing lines and putting people into cliques, that’s so boring…anybody who is a writer in America is already a deeply marginalized person, there’s almost no one in the literary world who is truly “hot shit” in comparison to the big picture…in general maybe 6/100 random people sampled would recognize a name like David Foster Wallace or John Updike or Joan Didion…
My weekend was good, went to a party Friday night and spent most of Saturday hanging out w/ friends…right now it’s early Sunday morning, planning on spending most of the day alone writing…thanks again for everything…take care, talk to you later…
TM: This is such a great day. I love Wild Flag and the Corin Tucker Band but they don't have the magic of SK.
Dennis, hey Dennis! It's been a busy week up here. First week kicked my ass. I think your suffering and wrestling with George is necessary and normal. Feeling close to George and honoring him and the material seems right to me and it sounds like while you're going deep it also sounds like it's not up-ending your life. Thanks for the book day too. Always love them. Trying to balance different interior pressures about writing and adjust to teaching. But getting it together, mostly.
Dom: that is so amazing and brave.
Thanks, Thomas Moronic, for the SK fest ! As Henry Rollins once spoke of Exene Cervenka, SK makes me want to "Drink beer and drive fast !" Rock, or any music at all that plugs one into a potentially dangerous mindset is a good thing.
Kick out the jams, motherfucker, indeed !
Dennis, I just want to say, the very thing that's causing you sadness and longing with the new novel will undoubtedly be what propels it into the realm of great literature. I'm sorry if that sounds pithy, and generalizing, or patronizing, I certainly don't mean it that way. I just think that its' being difficult, and exacting an emotional toll upon you, well, there'll be some sort of positive payoff in the end. Hopefully, for you above everyone else.
Finally got an offer on the Tybee home and it was as low as I had ever imagined in my worst dreams. It gave us, basically, no room in which to give any sort of realistic counter offer. So, I'm having to get out of the mindset of making a little money to replace our deleted savings, and get more into one of break even and move on. As a neighbor said, "Well, at least you're not losing your ass !" No, but having major chunks eaten away hurts, almost as much as tearing our hearts away from the place. Well, no, that's the worst part of all, and something that will never completely happen. In fact, I want my ashes to be placed at the low water mark on the south end of the island, cold beer, boiled peanuts and deviled eggs consumed, and I will consider my life a failure if several women aren't crying in a most inconsolable manner.
I have to agree with David E: homeboy has gone off the deep end. Or is just drawing attention to himself, for some sad reason. I hate waking up first thing and see shit like this in my Twitter
"Bret Easton Ellis, creator of American Psycho, has denounced author David Foster Wallace, the US literary sensation who killed himself in 2008. While reading DT Max's biography of Foster Wallace, Easton Ellis used Twitter to proclaim that "Saint David Foster Wallace" was "a fraud… lusting for a kind of awful greatness that he wasn't able to achieve". He finds the "solemnity of the David Foster Wallace myth … borderline sickening". Easton Ellis concludes that Foster Wallace was: "The most tedious, overrated, tortured, pretentious writer of my generation" and: "Anyone who finds David Foster Wallace a literary genius has got to be included in the Literary Douchebag-Fools pantheon." (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/barbara-ellen-bret-easton-ellis-sounds-off)
Glennzilla Shoots — And Misses
Bret has said lots of stupid shit on Twitter – the "no good female directors" and "gay actors can't play straight studs" tweets were particularly dumb – but a Jonathan Franzen fan is perhaps not the best arbiter of overrated reputations.
Hey Thomas, this is such a great and basically long over due day for a kinda local to me band. thanks for putting it together.
Hey Dennis- what's up? I'm been kinda abstaining from the internet a bit but I've been meaning to drop you a line. I hung out with Mancy a few weeks ago and watched his band in their amplified incarnation and they were great, powerful, droning post rock, but kinda charismatic too. I encouraged them to record so their awesomness can be shared
I wanted to let you know I have a couple long form interviews folks did with me coming out in one form or another One is about TLWOMK which was kinda trippy to think back on since I've been obsessed with my current book. Another is slated for a Black Metal theory type thing, and is about connections between my current book and BM and how the later informs the former. I'm not sure how much sense I made in it.
Hope you are well and things are going swell with Joel in Paris.
Take Care
Mark
@ DavidEhrenstein, Spring Breakers looks fantastic! "art-house maximalism" is everything I'm looking for right now.
On the subject of that kind of thing, the 2010 AGK winner and genius artist Rachel Maclean has asked me to write something for her forthcoming Generator exhibition! The show's called Lolcats, and I'm super excited to be asked.
I've been down in Leeds for a few days, ploughing on with Infinite Jest and greatly enjoying it, whatever BEE might think.
@Thomas
this is the second awesome day of music, the Loren Connors day was amazing too, found some new stuff i hadnt heard before.
thank you!
i like the early SK the best, i was kinda obsessed with Kill Rock Stars for a while. Corin Tucker voice is something i love.
Hi Dennis
hope alls good? some amazing days here ive been catching up on. had limited interent when i got back from oslo its been sketchy all week, theres a new provider for the building. Oslo was cool only had a day free to do stuff, the Black Metal Museum is no more : ( but noseblød records was amazing and overwhelming at the same time, picked out a tape by Takke. ended up at the same place with most of the writers in noway one night, Jo Nessbo was the only name i knew. there was celebrities there too if our from Norway.
managed not to spend too much money there, kind of know some cheap places to eat now.
been working on some sound pieces like the spam one, but using youtube comments, im really into watching unboxing videos. gonna do something with them soon. ive got some time on my own so trying to get some things done. preping for a sound performance/thing on friday, just getting the bits i need together.
hope your having fun with joel in paris.
Hey Dennis,
Yeah, I still don't know how I feel about the treatment starting. I guess it's a good thing and I should prioritise it, but as it's something to do with me then I can't seem to place it at the forefront of my life. So we'll see how it goes… time will tell. I already got told that there's a chance that it might not work, so I'm hoping it helps even in the smallest way – when I did the trail run last year, it did nothing but frustrate and confuse me.
The treatment is called mentalisation based therapy… wikipedia sums it up as: "Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) is an innovative form of psychodynamic psychotherapy, developed and manualised by Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman. MBT has been designed for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), who suffer from disorganised attachment and allegedly failed to develop a mentalization capacity within the context of an attachment relationship." So I think it's about retraining the mind so that you can place yourself in someone else's shoes before you react to any given situation. They explained it to me, but it kinda just bounced straight out of my head.
The autism suggestion made sense. When they told me, it was like they'd placed the final piece of the jigsaw into place and everyone could see a full picture. I'll be able to update you in October with regards to the outcome of that… I don't know how that will effect my treatment, so it's all a bit of a waiting game. I think all additions to my list of disorders has made me completely jaded about the whole thing. It's a bit draining as just when I get over the shock of one thing, they dump another on top of it and I'm left thinking "great! how much more can this world find wrong with me?"
I think the most annoying part is, now that I'm back being single, I'm in a position where I'm not exactly the most appealing of people. I just have to laugh at the situation because otherwise it'll just drag me down. Think my new chat up line will be: "Hey, I'm Dom. I have five severe mental disorders, two of which are incurable, one could deteriorate over time, and am about to enter 2 years of intense therapy. But overall I'm quite a nice person."
At least it's all good material for future referencing in my writing and art, so if everything else fails, that is a concrete positive. 🙂
Right, I should shoot off to bed. I went to Torture Garden on Friday and have been pretty much partying since, so a few hours of sleep might be needed.
I have trouble taking BEE's opinion seriously because he also thought that "Magic Mike" was better than "Moonrise Kingdom." In any event, I decided to start reading "Infinite Jest" last night, which I've been putting off for awhile now, even if I'm not in the best frame of mind to probably be reading something like that right now.
I was wondering how Clipse rapper Malice (now calling himself No Malice) was going to make the transition from rapping about crack sales and little else to being a born-again Christian. His new video "Unforgettable" offers some hints. He raps about the emptiness of strip clubs and selling drugs, yet half the video still manages to feature half-naked women and No Malice holding stacks of money.
Thomas Moronic, cool weekend post! Cool that I could always come back to Sleater-Kinney last two days.
My favorite song here? I think One Beat but that Entertain Live Video is super cool! I Love it. Good job!
TM, Strangely, I've never heard Sleater Kinney's music though I've heard the name often because so many of my friends like them. I like what I hear. It's right up my…alley.
Dennis, Dr. Phil is a guilty pleasure of mine. Though I prefer Dr. Seuss. I think Dr. Drew, who I liked on Loveline, is fucked up with his rehab series. He doesn't seem to know anything about addiction. Anyway, when I can't sleep, I watch Dr. Phil early in the morning on OWN. While I don't like the exploitativeness, I do think he's pretty good, even though it's all just common sense concerning the types of cases he has on.
I should hear about the job this week. They're talking about me starting the 17th of this month. So this week I hope. 😀
There's a waiter who works at a restaurant I frequent that I'm really attracted to and would like to ask out. He just got back from a 2-week vacation, but he was very busy today and suggested that I come back there during the week if I want to talk. I'm not even entirely sure that he's gay, but we've broached the subject enough that I don't think he's homophobic. I feel somewhat iffy about asking someone out at their workplace, as I'm in a position of power over them, for however short a period of time. But I think I should go to the restaurant next week, talk with him and see what develops. Embarrassingly, I don't even know his name, but I see him at least once a week.
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I really need to listen to Sleater Kinney more often. I really liked the albums the Woods and Dig Me Out.Thanks for reminding me Thomas
Have you seen the hate Tao Lin gets? it is really amazing how so many people can hate him. They keep calling him a hipster (like that actually means anything anymore).
I have only read Richard Yates and Shoplifting From American Apparel which I think are really funny books. I think my favorite is Richard Yates because of how awkwardly funny it is and the recall of old jokes in the text. I think the main reason why I like him is because he writes nearly for a whole generation that is based around technology, depression and ridiculous humor. Some of the things in his books are things I would say and it is nice to see that someone writes that way. I never heard of anyone in the last post on Alt writers you featured in the past post but I should look into McDowell.
Have you read Sam Pink too? If so what do you think of him? I only read the story in the Best Alt Lit Stories and I found it funny and cute.
About page 100 on The Marbled Swarm, ohh boy really liking it and wish i could finish it tonight (today?) but since I have a bunch of homework to do and I am going to see Swans and Xiu Xiu on Tuesday I will probably finish it a little later. For some reason my love/hate for the character has completely changed to love. He has so much charm, well done Dennis.