* caused by suggestion from d.l. David
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‘XTC defined themselves by propeller-armed drums and a skin-cutting guitar sound. It’s pure pop disguised as jittery post-punk, all played with teeth-chattering intensity. The aesthetic is so tight that even their forgettable tracks serve it. Colin Moulding’s big singles serve as the commercial front for outro, neo-political epics on which Partridge wrings his vocals like laundry and spits out vowels like golf balls. XTC also defined their own version of a love song: Stuttering boys are so staggered by the sight of spectacular girls that their feet don’t touch the ground. Dozens of other contemporary bands were more extreme in every way– angrier, more danceable, more adventurous or primitive or whatever– but XTC’s triple-jointed sock hop out-charms them all.’ — Pitchfork
‘XTC came to prominence in 1978 by bumming a ride aboard the New Wave express, but even as techno-punks pogoing awkwardly out of step at the art school hop, on their hectic first album White Music they displayed the idiosyncratic smarts that have sustained a distinguished career on the sidelines of English rock. The spluttering incoherence of Andy Partridge’s vocals and the spikey nervous energy typified by scattergun songs had given way to a more measured approach by the time of 1980’s Black Sea, but their penchant for convoluted arrangements somehow bundled into oddly-shaped pop packages remained intact. XTC’s complex music with all its high-wire antics has always managed to sling up the safety-net of a good chorus and, paradoxically, this simple, traditional facility may yet prove to be their greatest achievement.’ — Uncut
‘A band which is often regarded as too cerebral for its own good, XTC has no equal. One of the many groups that rose to prominence (at least in critical terms) during the punk heyday, they proved to be much more than mere British punksters from day one. The band was led by Andy Partridge, who wrote about 85 % of the original compositions and assumed lead vocals. The other songwriter was Colin Moulding. He penned the remaining tunes, sang them and played the bass quite admirably (Gilmour offered him the position of Pink Floyd bassist when he won the rights to use the Floyd’s name back in the late eighties, in fact). In 1982 Andy decided to stop touring due to exhaustion. From that point onwards, the band became a studio entity. Their sound became more pastoral and far more quirkier than it was before. They released several albums (including recordings as psychedelic alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear), and in the 90’s they went on strike against Virgin Records since the label refused to release one of their songs as a single. When they were freed from the contract two more albums ensued. After that, Colin lost interest in music and he even stopped communicating with Andy. It looks like the story of XTC ended there.’ — musicKO
Audio: Andy Partridge interviewed @ Todd Rundgren
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‘I quite like themes of communication or breakdowns of it. I got jilted quite a bit as a teenager and I thought it was because I couldn’t speak to girls. I later discovered it wasn’t speak they were after. By the way, Son of Sam, who pokes his head up somewhere in the middle of this song, claims his dog talked him into being a murderer. Up goes the rocket, down comes a shower of burning ‘Are You Receiving Me?’ sparks. I’d lost my voice by the end. I loved some of Barry’s squelching organ tones. The sound of pulling your wellington boots out of the mud.’ — Andy Partridge
‘Are You Receiving Me?’
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‘He makes a beeline for the place / Where he gets his only ace / Sometimes he’s standing in the rain / Oh Gene Kelly’s hat and cane / He has the Rhythm in his head / He has the Rhythm, sing! / It’s chaotic at the bar / B & O those sweaty drops / We are all mesmerized / To the thing we have inside / Inside, outside, eastside, West / We kill the beast / Yourside, myside, worlds collide,/ yes / We kill the beast’. — AP
‘The Rhythm’
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‘Nineteen Seventy-nine was the year we became TV friendly and this tune I think started it off for us. Although we had appeared on the box before, really unless you had done a Top of the Pops you remained invisible to the general public. But our faith in the magic spell of appearing on this legendary programme was severely shaken when our chart position plummeted just days after our performance went out to the masses. Having said that, I think it’s one of our better excursions into that world of young fizzy pop. Lots of major to minor going on in the verse made for a nice tension with the melody.’ — Colin Moulding
‘Life Begins at the Hop’
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‘This is the one live number that had the band wanting to pass out. Singing the continuous round at the end, ‘working for paper and for iron’, left everyone feeling sick and dizzy for lack of oxygen. By now, we’re pummeling out the numbers, with worrying violence. It sounds like the sort of thing my dad might say over an apocalyptic, bad tempered Sunday lunch.’ — AP
‘Paper and Iron’
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‘”Nigel’s” the song that won’t go away and I suppose in some circles it’s what we’ll always be known for. People comment on the rhythm and how inventive it was, but it’s just a normal pattern played on the wrong drums. The only reverb we had was a very twittery Vesta Fire spring to give the sounds a sense of depth. Heard at its jitteriest on my Mr Punch doo doo vocal hook. Finally, I must confess, Devo’s upside down drum rhythm for “Satisfaction” was an influence for Terry and myself to concoct this happy voodoo tumble. I really wanted to be a drummer.’ — AP
‘Making Plans for Nigel’
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‘This was just a sort of a silly song that was great to go [sings high] “boo-boo boo-boo” with. It was like playing a human siren — it was just the joy of yelling and playing a rotor-blade guitar. You know, the whole thing probably came out of the guitar pattern sounding a bit like blades of a chopper. That’s what the song’s about.” Sometimes it would take no more than that. In fact, that’s a big thing for me — the onomatopoeic sound of the instrument you’re writing on. “Oh! That sounds like a blah-blah!” And so “Blah Blah” becomes the title of the song, or blah-blah is what the song’s about.’ — AP
‘Helicopter’
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‘Barry out, Dave in, that’s got Go 2 out of our system, now we can relax a little. . . Not! Virgin want to hear demos of our newest material, better buy a pen and get scribbling. A makeshift studio in the basement of Swindon Town Hall, Red Brick, rings to the rafters, (heating ducts really) with some spanking tunes. Here’s one now, recorded March ’79, you can almost feel the egg boxes.’ — AP
‘Chain of Command’
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‘We had problems with the humming part of the song as well. We had to get somebody from the kitchen, a guy called Step, I think. The cook from the kitchen, and my, could he hum! [laughs] That part was all him. It was a half-finished song, really. It only came to life when Andy came up with the chorus – most of it was created in the studio. It’s related to “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines”. One for all the military types – justify your manhood here, chaps. Partly inspired by a school mate’s brother who was a mercenary in Angola and got killed.’ — CM
‘Generals and Majors’
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‘I shout this, you shout that, the clouds coming over are looking awful black – it’s all hot air, you say go, I say stay, clear blue sky goes Sheffield grey – it’s all hot air. I’ve grown immune to your claws pussycats, I know all your threats are tissue tigers crawling across the table to me all your threats are tissue tigers ripping ’em up is easy for me now.’ — AP
‘Tissue Tigers’
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‘The lyrics build from absolutely the most minimal, sort of unimportant thing — you know, if I put my finger there or there. What I’m trying to say is, it’s kind like that thing where the butterfly sneezes in China and eventually there’s a hurricane in Chile. Wow, we’re getting into fractal land here! [laughs] It’s one of those things where you’re not sure how important any minor action is going to be. Is it going to be incredibly important, or is it going to be futile? It’s the little cross on the voting paper — you know, should I put it on the right or the left? This person or that person? I think, at that time in my life, I was starting to feel a sense of futility. I think it had to do with being in the band, and being stuck on the touring trail, and seemingly not having any control in my career. In fact, I didn’t have much control in my career at all.’— AP
‘Complicated Game’
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‘Birds beware, expect me up there / me and air are feeling light today / jets should hide, I’ll fly alongside / me and pride are bolted tight today / I’ve been set off by a pretty little girl / I’m like a rocket from a bottle shot free / I’ve been just explosive since you lit me / I’ve been up with the larks / I’ve been shooting off sparks / and I’m feeling in love’. — AP
‘Rocket from a Bottle’
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‘Actually inspired by my neighbour who spends half her life banging on the wall should I so much as sneeze. Not knocking people who have ‘respectable’ ideals (I know I must have a few), more of a song of people with double or hypocritical values. You know the sort, blind drunk one night, church the next. Or the mother who urges her daughter to go out and have fun dear, isn’t abortion wonderful. If their daughter got pregnant they would beat her senseless. The A&R; man decided the BBC wouldn’t play this with words like ‘abortion’ and ‘contraception’, so he took out all the words he didn’t like. It wasn’t a big hit, though, because the BBC still didn’t play it. A couple of bands have covered it, and they always get the chords wrong. The second one’s a seventh, formed from the E-string up. They always miss it.’ — AP
‘Respectable Street’
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‘I think it’s kind of a genteel morality play. It’s a real Threepenny Opera, but delivered over some Rock-n-Roll. To me, it’s almost Dickensian in its morality, with ironic little twists. I think it just was a desire to write this rather old-fashioned-slash-modern morality tale — you know, to bring it up to date. At the time it was written, there was an awful lot of awareness of the National Front in England — we’d done at least one Rock Against Racism festival by that time — and at that point in England, there was an awful lot of anti-Right kind of feeling, because it seemed like they were growing in prominence. It was probably more to do with the paranoia of the time rather than their actual prominence, if you know what I mean.’ — AP
‘No Thugs in Our House’
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‘The whole Mummer album had a sort of a feel to it, and all the songs, all of the material for Mummer came up in sequence. And then the very last one, that came up at the last moment — that didn’t even get a demo, because it was so last-moment — was “Funk Pop a Roll.” I was feeling somewhat had by the record industry! We’d just come off the road, and it was the thing of, “Well, we’ve been playing live for five years, and I’ve not seen any money.” You know, the big trap is success. Because if you have success making one type of cheese, you’re not going to want to stop and change and try something different. You’re just going to want to reproduce Cheese A forevermore. Because, “Cheese A — we know that sells!” But we had the luxury of not being successful. We could say to ourselves, “We always fancied doing a record like this — let’s try that.” “Yeah, why not, let’s get the orchestra in,” or “Let’s get the acoustics in.” We weren’t going to be pissing anyone off, because not enough people were buying our records to piss ’em off!’ — AP
‘Funk Pop A Roll’
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‘I wrote this at a time when I was really confused about what I was supposed to be doing. You know, in terms of, “Well, that’s my touring career out of the way. I don’t want to do that any more. We just made an album that didn’t sell very well” — that was Mummer. “We’re about to make another one that probably won’t sell very well, and Virgin are getting fed up with us and starting to grumble about potentially not carrying on with us. I think the music stuff came up first, and it made me think of a train. I was trying to remember where I came up with the idea for that riff. As I say, it’s an open-E tuning, but I’ve got a funny feeling that I was dicking around with the Rolling Stones song, “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?”, which is on Sticky Fingers, I think. It’s the lick underneath the title phrase that I think I was messing around with — I think it’s a similar tuning, it’s tuned to a set chord, and so when you play the shapes you get those intervals.’ — AP
‘Train Running Low on Soul Coal’
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p.s. Hey. ** Killer Luka, Yeah, I missed that yesterday, by hair’s breadth, I bet. Thanks for the festive add, pal. ** Thomas Moronic, How was the Chapman Bros. show? I saw a video of it, and it looked very, very them. That’s all I could really tell. Sure, email, cool, wink wink, thanks! What magazine is it that contains the Travis/Bruce thing? Sounds interesting, obviously. ** Empty Frame, Hey. The Sussex Beacon does sound pretty amazing. And yep, big time, about the people back during the epidemic’s heaviest thrust who used themselves to make the necessary noise. Yeah, your piece was great, man. The dolls piece. I’m totally humbled and chuffed, as people in your neck say, that my work had anything to do with it. Thank you a lot, bud. The new pieces sound like they’ll be fascinating. Love from here too. ** Kiddiepunk, Feed that tan today, and good luck with that movie. Talk to you, I hope. ** Allesfliesst, Hey. That is an inspired idea, i.e. something here on singer/microphone style, etiquette, etc. Let me look around and see how I could do it. Depends on the nature of the resources, but, yeah, great idea, and I’ll get on that. Thanks a lot, Kai. ** Nb, My luck has its sights on you, be assured. Jesus, man. Hang in there, and report back. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. Sounds amazing: the LaTouche Day. Can’t wait. And that’s very good news about ‘The Golden Apples’! ** Katalyze, Hey, Kat. I don’t think it can be turned back, no. I guess it needs to be acknowledged and addressed by, I don’t know, everyone, the rioters included. With people’s tiny attention spans and fear of disruption these days, I fear what this means will be quelled and spun and sidelined in a week. But we’ll see. Interesting about the guilty pleasure books. I think I’m weird in my not ever turning to books without turning off my critical faculties. I personally wouldn’t say Rothko is a guilty pleasure at all. He’s pretty great, I think. I don’t know David Mack, but I’ll google him. I used to look at Odd Future tumblr, but I haven’t in a while. I think that actually I got into them because of that tumblr, which, yeah, I was really into, of course. A book of it sounds like a good idea. Hunh. Thanks, K, and lots o’ love. ** Brendan, Kinkos at 3 am. Ah, that really brings it back. Except in my case it probably more like 11 pm. Okay, well, the job thing sounds pretty okay, and that’s awesome. But get that eye repaired, man. When does the insurance kick in? Sorry about the Giants. I’ve given up on the Dodgers. I don’t even try to follow them anymore. If I was in a position to hear Vin Scully put a genius spin on things, I might. I’m okay. Been better, been worse. I hate the no talking too. Let’s Skype. What do you say? ** Frank Jaffe, Thanks for slaying everybody yesterday. I’m checking my mailbox like a meer cat checks the horizon. Yeah, I’ve seen at least two of — or parts of two of — the ‘Twink Peaks’ movies, and, yeah, no owls, no Bob, no Lynchian nothing. I know the name ‘Dante’s Cove’, but that’s all. Should I chase down some online clips? Great day to you and the Lukester, maestro.** 5strings, ‘Milkboys + John Holmes = freaky’: ha ha ha, awesome. Man, I missed your great voice while you were away, let me tell you. That better/worse thing sound like something I could say this morning. Actually, I think I just did. Here’s the lighter, man. Heads up. Catch. ** Tonyoneill, Tony! Awesome to see you! Man, thank you so much for those words about ‘TMS’. That means a fucking ton. And your timing is impeccable ‘cos ‘TMS’ just got its first official review in Library Journal, and it’s the same dismissive, condescending shit my books have always gotten from the official sources most of the time, and I’ve been depressed ever since. It’s weird, T. There’s just nothing I can do as a writer to prevent being written off as a ‘gay’ ‘transgressive’ writer perpetrating an update on ‘the more outré passages of Burroughs and Genet’ whose most recent book aka ‘TMS’ is only of interest to fans of The Marquis de Sade. ‘Cos, yeah, the thing is, I do feel like this novel is the best thing I’ve ever written, and to feel that way and really know that’s true, actually, and to have something I’ve worked so hard on and that really raises my work’s game be written off as just another of my usual gay transgressive books fit only for people who like that kind of weird stuff is so disheartening, or, I guess mostly, worrying, ‘cos if that’s indicative of the response the book’s going to get, it’s going to kill me. Anyway, sorry about the rant. I need to thicken my skin and fast. So, yeah, sorry, and, really, Tony, thank you, man, thank you! Right, you’re coming to Paris soon! I should be here now that LA trip plans got delayed. When do you get here? I can’t wait to see you! Are you doing any events or anything while you’re here? Fantastic! Super excited about your film stuff. May that process sail. Yeah, so good to see you, and its ‘s great that I’ll get to see you in the real world. Lots of love to you, Tony. ** Misanthrope, Happy birthday! Everyone, it’s Misanthrope’s birthday! He’s hit the big 4-0! Make him happy in the comments today in one way or another Dude, after that McFeast, why even bother with a birthday party? It’s done. You’ll never top that! ** Chris Goode, Hey, C. Your blog post on the riots is by far the best thing I’ve read on the situation. By a million kilometers. Everyone, the great Chris Goode has written a piece on his blog about the London riots that is, I can pretty much guarantee you, the best thing you will read on the situation. It’s here. Go there. That really is the first thing I’ve read that addresses and unearths the incredible difficulty and necessities and awfulness of what is happening. Brilliant, Chris. I don’t need to tell you that the impotence you feel as an artist right now isn’t impotence at all. When I get that feeling, I always end up thinking that it was a drastic battle against the automatic and repetitious in which my immediate needs were left out for a very good reason. See if that isn’t how you feel soon. I’ll bet. The cris cheek post was really fantastic, by the way. Huge and rich, and I felt very, very inspired by it. You rule, basically. Accept it, buddy. ** Schlix, Man, I’m sorry. It sure sounds like depression. Can you trace it back to anything or -things? I don’t know how your depressions work, but I know mine basically tend to end or start ending when I get bored by my depression, and the weirdest, most random things can knock it loose. Breaking your habits by doing something peculiar sometimes helps. And I have things that I turn to like GbV and the early New Pornographers albums, for instance, that seem to able to produce joy in me against most odds by magic. Anyway, please talk about it if it will help, my friend. Hugs. ** Steevee, Hey. Yeah, that is a piece of the fallout that’s interesting to consider. Everyone, courtesy of Steevee, here’s a Pitchfork piece about the impact of the London riots on indie music labels. Congrats on nearing the end. 75 pages is either close enough to 80 or easily beefed up or surrounded by slightly bigger margins, right? ** Paul Curran, Hi, Paul. I haven’t scoured the news this morning yet, but I got the idea last night that the rioting is happening more noticeably outside of London now? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Very best of luck if you need it with the dermatologist today. Let me know how it goes. I haven’t read that much Mark Richards really. I was not very interested in what I did read by him, which was some stories and an early novel, but my memory is vague. If you dip into him, let me know the deal. ** Chris Cochrane, The Syria stuff, yeah, yikes. I don’t know about in the States, but that situation is getting very heavy coverage over here. Nice Elvis track indeed. Is it less muggy over there now? It’s still endless spring over here, or maybe we’re into early fall at this point. Hard to tell the difference. ** Alan, Hey, man. Oh, I only think I know vaguely or remember vaguely about Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony. Obviously, I’m going to investigate that as soon as I get out of here. Thanks, man. That could be a really big boon. ‘Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics’ has always been the book of his that I’ve intended to read next. I think it might be high time. Yeah, thanks again, A. ** Sypha, Good work, man. Wow. When you’re into it and diligent, you’re into it and diligent. Great! I hope to get to see some of the new work. ** Jeff, Interesting comic. A bit bleak for men, of course, ha ha, but very well done, obviously. Well, I hope for the very best with your uncle, whatever the best may be. You were talking to Thomas not me, but I’ll throw in that Bruce Benderson translated Tony Duvert’s novel ‘Diary of an Innocent’, so the influence you see is likely there. ** MANCY, I know Capitol Hill just a little bit. When I was up in Seattle to do that Spin article on Courtney Love, all the other band members of Hole lived there, so I was shuttling between their apartments a fair amount. The area seemed quite nice. Great! Keys! ** Bill, Hi, Bill. You got out there in the nick of time, I guess. How are you adjusting? When does school start up again? ** Okay. D.l. David suggested an XTC post, and that’s what I came up with. Given that a bunch of people around here are feeling kind of glum, maybe XTC’s jaggedy, inventive goodness is just the thing. Either way, see you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Cool,I'll email you today or tomorrow,Dennis.
The Travis/Bruce thing is in DUST magazine. I like it,quite a hefty price tag (£15) but I've enjoyed reading it. Had a quick look online for you and it's available from the Palais de Tokyo shop.
Unfortunately didn't get to see The Chapman Bros show because,like a lot of places,The White Cube closed early in case of any further troubles. I'll catch it another time,because I tend to get to Das Capital quite a lot.
I'm leaving London today and heading back to Wolverhampton,where apparently riots have been happening as well. Should be interesting. Chris Goode's article is incredible and spot on/thoughtful in so many ways.
Hi Dennis,
how are you? I have been meaning to write to you for a while but I've just been crazy busy. My last month weas so intense and full of events it almost drove me crazy. First the two weeks spent with ricci/forte and the other guys living together and working were so overwhelming, so emotionally demanding and physically exhausting that when I was back in Florence I was completely wrecked and my mind just wouldn't stop thinking and I missed everyone so badly (I still do…).
IMITATIONOFDEATH went really well, you had the chance to see some pictures and some short video on FB I suppose? We didn't have much time on our hands so we were working even 12 hours per day. We spent lots of money on medication because the floor sucked and we were required to do many things that included jumping over each other, falling on the floor and so on. The emotional part was so touching and it was all about our backgrounds so we got to know each other really well, and when you share something like that it's so unique and precious that saying goodbye to all of it gets very hard.
The tension before the performance was massive and we were showing at such an important festival and sorruonded of people that weren't necessarily supporting rather than malicious and jealous. Can I say that we kicked their arses at the end though? Well, we did.
During my stay there I also met this guy and we acted as a couple for ten days doing everything together. When I was back in Florence I missed him so badly I felt sick and couldn't really enjoy anything and felt like nothing else really mattered. It's complicated. He lives with his boyfriend.
Sounds stupid, but right now I just want this summer to be over. I wanna go back to Milan, find a new apartment, get ready for school and maybe find a part time job because I'm broke. I need a fresh start.
Hope you are well. Sending lots of hugs.
Alfonso
I'll look forward to checking out the XTC when I get back to Wolves.
Yo! Great soundtrack to my afternoon DC, thanks!
Some friends of mine have tried to persuade me to go to the Apes prequel but, ur, I dunno. I mean, after that Burton travesty I kinda presumed that no new Ape is ever going to beat an old Ape : the sheer madness of Beneath's purple bomb-worshipping humanoids or the weirdness of two badly-costumed, 70s-styled apes wandering around downtown LA in Escape…
Harry Potter tonight. Yay! You said it was pretty good, right, DC? We like to go to Potter films dressed as Death Eater badasses (kinda lame I guess, but also hilarious). We’d boo and hiss the good guys and cheer the Dark Lord if we weren’t afraid of getting kicked out and actually missing the film (which is not so badass)!
Oh: saw the Chapman exhibits on Saturday which were iconoclastic (as usual) but often compelling (e.g. gestures towards adolescent (e.g. 4chan/b/) iconoclasm and the moral panic it arouses).
Bye the bye, the riots don’t make me despair; the widespread myopia and kneejerk condemnation of “lazy, grasping, jeuvenile criminals” does though… 🙁
Happy birthday Misanthrope! Hope you have a great one pal!
Hugs,
D xx
Dennis this is an INSANELY anti-intellectual culture, dedicated to creating pidgeonholes for everyone and everything. So there's nothing you can do about being called a "gay transgressive" with the usual knee jerks in the direction of Burroughs and Genet. Those who actually read and understand you (ie. everyone who reads and posts here) knows better. But descriving that better takes space and time. And this culture wants eveything done and done on sight.
IOW, Art is "for the happy few."
I don't think I've ever heard an XTC song.
Dennis, I wonder if the people who always compare you to Genet and Burroughs have even read Genet and Burroughs in the first place! The way you are often reviewed reminds me of so many Whitehouse album reviews I've read (esp. in "The Wire"). Rather than focus on the new stuff all they care about is looking to the past and reprinting some of the more "dirty" song titles (or mentioning how they used to use serial killer/Nazi imagery). I imagine it must get annoying.
I don't think anyone is going to see the fantasy book for awhile, as it'll have to be typed out first, and it's quite long, obviously. Volume I in particular will need a lot of revision, seeing as I wrote it like 12 years ago, when I was only 20.
YES! I second David Ehrenstein's comment. It's infuriating that your work keeps getting reduced to the same boring sensationalist stereotypes. Some people are just so fucking LAZY! Even supposed intellectuals: I met a -tenured- lecturer who wrote an early study of your work a couple of years ago who loudly dismissed everything since the George Miles stuff; it was plainly obvious to me that she hadn't read any of your recent work and that hubris didn't permit her to countenance the possibility that her work wasn't the final word in Dennis Cooper Studies. What an idiot.
Be assured DC that everyone here reads your work with the care and attention it demands and deserves. (Duh!)
Love
I'm sorry about the review. That source of idiocy is all too common in the American media. I suspect that even if you wrote a children's book, it would get compared to Sade, Burroughs and Genet and get called "transgressive."
I upgraded my Flash plug-in, and now I can't see video on your blog anymore. This is weird. All I see are exclamation points. I got the upgrade because YouTube kept crashing my browser. Now that's working OK, at least.
Hi Dennis! Sorry I haven't been in the loop in the last few weeks, I got a couple weeks long secretary gig and my internet access has been shakey, which drives me crazy because I really miss this blog. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the link to the Matthew Stadler article about gay pride in relation to James Purdy, it was really good–plus I'll basically eat up anything that mentions Purdy.
I gotta get back to work in a minute (lunch break), but things have slowed down some so tonight and tomorrow I plan on catching up on some of the posts I've missed.
Last weekend I listened to your interview with Michael Silverblatt where you read Ugly Man. I was so blown away by that story, it's incredible. That book and The Marbled Swan are definately the next two books I'm buying once my next paycheck comes in.
I don't want to sound insincere or overly fanboyish or anything when I talk about how much I like your books and how deeply they've gotten inside me, but god damn. Ugly Man is a killer story. You can't hear the tone of my voice or see my face in these comments, but if you could I would be speaking in a very reverent whisper, and my eyes would be opened about twice as large as they normally are, and I would be leaning forward in an Ancient Mariner type way that would make you really uncomfortable. Ugly Man is such an incredible, beautiful thing.
I've gotta get back to work now, but thank you for writing that story.
(Also, I second everybody's comments about critics, etc. Good books will always elude and burst out of narrow definitions and genres and lazy categorizations, because that's what good books do. Haters are gonna hate.)
Misanthrope: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
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Dennis!
Library Journal: yawn.
Love,
Ken
@ Chris Goode, your article yesterday has been the only thing worth reading so far in response to the riots. It's especially good for being an instant commentary of events that are still unfolding.
These riots have been missing worthwhile comment. Social media is especially unsuited to these situations. It's difficult to sum up such a complex, often contradictory state of affairs in the space of a pithy status update. Hence the widespread condemnation. Some people can type a lot faster than they think.
@ Dennis, sorry to hear about the review. Sounds as though this person brought a ton of preconceptions to your work. The piece was probably written in their head long before they even set eyes on your novel.
I'm not sure I'll be off to Edinburgh this Friday to see Sophie's performance. It's strange, I can't find anything about it online, either the event or the venue, and she's not answered my Facebook message. Weird, and very disappointing as her idea was so fantastic. I just emailed her and maybe she'll reply to that.
I just realised that when I originally mentioned the Jeppesen/Benderson article I said it was about youth and PORNOGRAPHY. It's actually youth and PHOTOGRAPHY. Although the article does touch on the former or course. But yeah. Maybe that was Freudian.
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Back in Wolverhampton now. Very strange and noticeable atmosphere as I got back into town. Very similar to that in London. People are very much on edge.
There's been so much bullshit and unhelpful/misinformed/hateful generalisations said and made about "young people" like they're just this lumpen, strange other race over the last few days in the media and also just in conversations I've overheard. Seems like there are so few people who genuinely want to understand why these riots have happened. It's infuriating.
Jeff – I've only just read your comment from yesterday! I missed it. D'oh.
Yeah that FIRE!/O'Rourke record is cool. I picked up his latest collaboration with Christoph Heemann a couple of days back but haven't had chance to sit down and check it out yet.
Wow about the Call Back the Giants, the clip in that link sounds beautiful, so I'll be hunting some down.
Thanks for the Benderson tip too – I'll search that one out.
Thanks Jeff!
I've just written the scene in which the photographer and his boyfriend meet in prison and speak through a plexiglass/phone arrangement. Because all such calls are recorded (according to my lawyer acquaintance), my plan to have the photographer confess to his murder was changed. Instead, he refuses to say whether he's guilty or innocent, but his boyfriend responds in a way that makes it clear that he now thinks the photographer's guilty and understands all his cryptic references to "the unspeakable act" and lines like "If hell exists, I'm going there" earlier in the script. I think that this may be more emotionally devastating than an outright confession of guilt, which threatened to turn the scene into an acting class exercise. At least, I hope so. I'm thinking that perhaps the script needs a scene in which the boyfriend talks about these emotions with someone, but I haven't introduced any of his friends or depicted him seeing a therapist, so it would be odd to suddenly bring one on at page 74 of the script. Maybe I could have him talk about the photographer's guilt with his gallery owner, but I've never shown him being friendly – in fact, he's depicted missing the second gallery opening through having to work overtime. Anyway, my next step is writing the closing statements from the prosecution and defense.
Hi dennis,
As per what the library journal said about your new book like it's only what weird ppl into that kind of weird stuff like…is just not true. My mom loves your work and she isn't into "that stuff". If my mom appreciates your work and she is not "the type", then more people do. Ppl from all walks of life. Ppl who like to read, who appreciate good writing and a good storyteller who makes them think, ppl who appreciate being sucked into a whole new world existing in a storyteller's head, those ppl like it. Don't let over-worked academics with flaccid imaginations and their forced thoughts on your work get you down. I am proud of you and your accomplishments, you bastard. no need to respond to this.
Whatever you do NEVER get on Stephen Sondheim's Bad Side
Oh, man, fuck, Dennis, YES!!!!, an XTC day is exactly what this weary soul needs! Perfect! (Thanks David for the great idea.)
I'm actually one of those rare XTC fans who also really likes their later stuff, rather than sticking with it out of loyalty at best. I actually think Apple Venus vol 1 is a sublime album, though I know lots of people can't bear it. But maybe your date parameters don't necessarily signal disapproval of the Late Works…?
As a weird unexpected result of a theatre show I did last year I actually ended up with Andy Partridge's phone number, but I've never yet dared to call him.
It's so interesting listening to XTC on the day that the BBC announced, in response to public complaints, that it will forthwith be referring to the "English riots" rather than the less strictly accurate "UK riots", as they've yet to cross any national borders. Just an interesting coincidence because XTC are one of the few bands / artists who are able to conjure what seems to be a distinctively English (contra British) sensibility without immediately triggering a resonance of murky nationalism; not many others on that list – Billy Bragg, Nick Drake, Steve Tilston I guess, Ray Davies obviously… OK maybe it's quite a long list. But, you know, with the full on folkies, even someone I adore like Peter Bellamy, there's sometimes an odd tint of imperialist hem-hem-hem that creeps in…
Anyway, more importantly, thanks so much man for the kind and encouraging words about that blog post. (You too Thomas Moronic and _Black_Acrylic.) It was pretty hard writing it yesterday and kind of a horrible day all round, but today a lot of people, mostly strangers, a few friends, have been in touch to say it struck a chord, so that's a relief. A calmer day in London all round, and a bit of breathing and thinking space. I hope others in Manchester and Birmigham and Wolverhampton and etc are safe and OK.
And I love this blog and what it means and I'm so happy to be somewhat back on the block, after some months in the wilderness. So many people here who I've never met but who feel like old friends.
Oh and also D just to echo what all the other smart kids said about that review and your totally understandable frustration at the stupidity and inattention that such poor and inaccurate characterisations betray. My suspicion is that the more your work wrongfoots and disorients with its originality and integrity, the more that second-rate readers are inclined to make a grab for redundant cliches and marketing vacuities to try and make sense of a truly sui generis experience. From the little I've received myself of this kind of treatment, I know how wearisome and demoralizing it can be — and no one now writing, I think, deserves it less than you. Your work is restlessly confounding, and quite evidently it increasingly resists reductive interpretation or identification through the apparatus of likeness. Those in thrall to the baleful zombie logics of the market will always struggle. (Sorry for the perjorative reference to zombies, most uncalled-for.) Anyway, if nothing else, this only makes me more eager to read TMS myself.
much love to you, kemo sabe
Ch.xx
…Clifford T. Ward… Colin Blunstone… pretty much everything that ever got released on Sarah or Shinkansen… er… OK… yeah, it's a long list… x
I just wrote a scene in which the boyfriend spills his heart out to the photographer's former assistant, the only other person in the script at that point who knows that he's a killer. I hope it makes sense that they would share such an intimate moment, since they're more or less strangers connected by work. (She quits working for the photographer when she discovers his secret and then goes to work for his gallery.) I feel like the script really needs a touchy-feely moment, to put it bluntly, at this point. Then it can move onto the trial. I'll see how this works for readers once the script is done. If they don't like it, maybe future drafts can introduce friends of the boyfriend who could work in this scene.
a fortiori
Latest FaBlog: Don’t Even THINK of Crossing Stephen Sondheim
David E.–Did you hear about MOMA's big Polanski retro in September?
xtc – I've tried, kind of like you and Pasolini maybe. Saw you response to first review of TMS, would love to have a conversation about that in person – probably always good to grow thicker skin unfortunately, especially when you believe in something that you've made. xoxoxo
below is my pal Tim Hodgkinson's brief analysis of London when I pressed for such – seems nail on head:
briefly
changes in youth culture.
feeling of exclusion, no future etc
but in midst of consumer society.
having things makes you feel good, stronger in yourself.
but you don't have money to get them.
some gang culture in teenagers; territorial.
new social media. police not hip to.
instant communication, a power
anonymity of internet carried over into real life.
anonymity and release from all restrictions, go crazy
idea of freedom fuck everyone else
britain tho politically socialist by usa standards lacks socialist culture
compared with other european countries
where people talk about citizenship and inclusion
no-one here tells the kids they belong, are citizens, or have a future.
since thatcher specially it's been; if you can't succeed, fuck off and die
have a Thursday – thanks for re-assuring Ben
goddamn I miss XTC! dukes of the stratosphear too. great selection!
misanthrope: Happy birthday! Hope you had a good one!
Chris Goode: Your blog post was teriffic, exactly what I've been looking for in terms of trying to understand what's been going on. The American coverage of the whole thing is very aggravating for me to watch. They keep showing videos of things on fire, but no one is talking about why people are setting things on fire! They just like to show a lot of dramatic videos of carnage and fighting. Anyway, thanks for writing that article.
Dennis,
You're so sweet.
I miss your great voice everyday.
I'm not allowed to cry.
I have to slither.
Milkore!
I don't know really know if I wake
up anymore.
Ill probably have to cut if the dreams dont stop.
What a peculiar lighter!??
When you think of lighting it.
Everything is upside down.
Ahh morning in Paris.
When the day is late and priest cannot make his steps.
TMS lighter bitches!
"You and me, we were there…"
"Transgressive?"
"We'll talk about that next time."
Oy vey, I think I got the characters worked out
They play fakie-foot some but pretty much got'em pinned
"Why do we die?"
Woody!
XTC? Coolio
dennis, just popping in to say, Fuck the airport-mass-market-paperback journal.
i went to their website and they gave a fucking starred review to a sandra brown novel: "Fast paced and full of surprises, this taut thriller…features a large cast of superbly drawn characters and the perfect amounts of realistic dialog and descriptive prose."
like books are fucking hollywood blockbusters made by a recipe
like artistry doesn't even matter
i like stephen king and aronofsky and a lot of popular shit that people dismiss, so i get the idea of "Oh we're just talking about the books people read" but at a certain point when you're rating popcorn trash higher than works of art without any acknowledgement, you've crossed over too far into a parody of populism
and frankly, at this point in your career and considering God Jr/MLT, i feel like sentencing you to some gay ghetto is fucking homophobic. imagine a review of toni morrison that was all, "oh she wrote another book about black people only black people will be interested in, what a surprise." it's fucking offensive.
i've never been reviewed in the press, but i've been workshopped, so i have a (very small) idea of how much it sucks to have your work dismissed/misunderstood, even by hateful idiots, but i really hope you won't let it get to you too badly because it sounds like this magazine isn't even worth wiping your ass with.
have a triumphant day, my bodacious friend
Hey Dennis, enjoying the XTC day… Black Sea and English Settlement get a lot of play on my iPod.
Chris Goode's article is excellent, one of the best things I've read so far on the riots. Weird, I leave Oslo and that crazy guy shoots all those boys. Then I leave London and more riots break out. Yikes.
School starts in 2 weeks, sigh. I just cranked out a bunch of handouts today. I'm reading Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia, which makes me feel a little better.
Bill
schoolboyerrors, Ken Baumann, Chris Dankland, Thanks! 😀
Dennis, Aw, thanks, man.
Believe it or not, I rarely do McDonald's. Only if I'm with the kids…or get a McNugget craving, which I get a lot but resist most of the time. So yeah, it was good. Hehehe.
Here's a funny McDonald's story: When I lived in Delaware, I called my mom. She's like, your father's sick. I'm like, Really? What's wrong. Her: We ate at McDonald's and now he's sick. Me: What did he eat? Her: a 20-piece McNugget…and 3 Big Macs! Me: Jesus! What the fuck? No wonder he's sick. Hahahahaha.
Don't let one review get you down, Dennis. I know it's LJ and they're pretty big and influence some librarians, but there'll be more reviews from more respected sources and I'm sure they'll be great. Besides, it is LJ.
Case in point: I thought the review was up on the website, so I looked over the site and lo and behold what did I see but a starred review for…Sandra Brown! Sandra Fucking Brown! The female James Patterson. Ugh. I mean, really, can we expect an honest to goodness insightful and fully educated review of your work -or any serious literature- from a goddamned site that gives starred reviews to Sandra Brown's work?
I was talking to my friend Justin the other day (he's gonna try and make NYC with me in November, btw) and we were talking about what we want in life. I said, "I want to write books and I want people to read them and I want the people who read them to enjoy them." By my standards, you're a smashing fucking success. Just ask the tens of thousands -probably hundreds of thousands by now- of people who've done just that with your work.
In other words, fuck LJ.
I only knew "Dear God" until today. So thanks, David. And Dennis, of course. 😀
Btw, 40 is kind of…freeing.
Postit, How the fuck did that just happen? I mean, the Sandra Brown connection in our comments there? Fucking scary!
misanthrope, jinx, you owe me some coke
Thanks a lot, Dennis. I am not sur if I can trace back my depression direct to some things this time. It is more like many things (like pieces from a puzzle) result in a picture and I realized this picture a few day ago. And it is different than in the past when my depression was passiv and made me inactive. And like you said at some point you get bored. But now I am realizing that I was wrong about some things in my life. Or I was lying to myself. I feel weak and vulnerable 24 hours a day.
Someting positive here:
the band leader is 13 years old and I think they rock in a good way: Little Orpheus and the Rouge Lyons
You can download their two songs here
Have all a good day!
Sophie's show tomorrow is most definitely ON. I'll be there: http://www.embassygallery.org/upcoming/smile/
Hey Dennis,
Has the mysterious tenant revealed his identity yet? I feel like he hasn't but maybe you've had another elevator run in.
Bascillico Rosso sounds nice.
You're reading a lot of books. I used to be able to do that but now if I stop reading a book I usually abandon it, so I only read one at a time. They all sound good, though.
Have you seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes yet? And I hope your meeting with Kiddiepunk and Oscar was nice.
I'm sorry about the Library Journal review. I'm not sure what to say that wouldn't be echoing what everybody else here is saying, but the review seems kind of lazy, or that's the impression I get. Especially if they gave such a rave review to Sandra Brown, who, ew.
My days, kinda:
Slept shower blah blah
Met my friend. We walked around various stores and she bought a black dress and heels, "Are you going anywhere?", "No, why?", "I just thought you might be," "Oh yeah, Boston. Next week," "Is this for there?", "I may end up wearing it there but not really. Isn't it cute?", "Yeah, it's pretty," back in the car and pass through several minutes of silence and a 7/11 stop to end up at her apartment. She took a shower and I was watching the silver zipper on her purse reflecting the strap, because the zipper was moving due to the fan I think, and it looked like a mouth of one of those giant arm swinging green square plushy things when she came out. Steam was crawling off her and her skin was really red, and she threw herself on the couch and said, gulping:
"I think you're right. Showers are my cutting."
"I figured that out a long time ago. Why? How hot did you make it?"
"I mean, I've made it hotter before. But I almost passed out. Everything got black and I felt light and I almost panicked, but I knew that'd make it worse. So I didn't! Aren't you proud of me?"
"How hot did you make it?"
"That damn comb melted again."
Get up, walk into the shower and side step damp clothes to pick up the cheap black plastic comb, which looked lumpy and a few of the teeth had indeed melded, and it burnt me so I dropped it, bounce skid slide stop at the bottom, walk by the mirror which looked like one of those flat water fountains it was sweating so much, see her in her towel sliding one of the shoes on. Water dripped off the back onto the carpet and she was peeling the sticker off the bottom while I was trying to figure out what to do. Getting mad at her wouldn't fix anything, but that didn't stop me from being pretty fucking angry, but I forced myself to ignore it and asked her for cocoa butter, "I don't have any. And I don't need it, I've taken hotter showers before," "I don't care. I think you're burnt a little," so I ended up using facial cleanser that I also have that works for sunburns. I patted her dry with the towel and then soaked a cotton ball, ran it along her shoulders/back/neck and then kind of swished it around in the streams. She kept saying she didn't need it, and was just doing it because it was nice of me to want to, but she winced a little when I was doing it (and I was doing it gently, the cotton ball(s) were barely in my fingers), so I think she did.
So, that all pissed me off and made me sad and feel helpless and everything, but I tried to ignore it as she talked to me about her love of the word apropos but how hard it is to use it in conversations and things like that. Left, came back, Weeds, read, sleep with the help of some wine, which meant I woke up five hours later. I'm not sure why that always happens, but anyway. After going on a walk this (yesterday) morning and almost dying I took a shower and then kind of passed out and slept on and off throughout the day, waking up long enough to smoke a few cigarettes and watch the news and an informercial and six minutes of Designing Women, which was too much, and yeah. I think I'll just take a sleeping pill and fix my sleeping pattern now, but I could do something else. How was your day, Dennis?
That’s a clever answer to a tricky question