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‘For the final night of Britain’s Reading Festival on Aug. 28, the promoters have something unusual lined up to entertain the 80,000-plus rock fans who congregate there annually. On the alternative stage there will be a screening of Nirvana’s legendary performance at Reading in 1992, when Cobain and his bandmates triumphantly headlined a bill of grunge and alternative rock groups they’d personally selected. In an interview earlier this summer, festival booker Tania Harrison declared, “It was such a legendary performance that so many people haven’t seen … one of those seminal moments that changed everything, which is what Reading’s all about.” …
‘One of the primary aims of my book Retromania is to defamiliarize an attitude that has gradually, insidiously installed itself as normal. To do so requires memory exercises and techniques of retro-speculation: in this case, asking yourself whether the promoters of Woodstock, or the first Lollapalooza in 1991, would have lowered a giant screen onstage and projected footage of a gig from two decades earlier? The answer is no: They were too busy confidently making history to bother with referring back to it. …
‘What I’m suggesting is that an undercurrent to grunge retrospection is the music media’s and record industry’s own nostalgia for the heyday of the rock monoculture. It was already crumbling in the early ’90s, thanks to rap (the rebel music of black youth, obviously, but a lot of white kids had defected to hip-hop, too) and to the emergence of rave and electronic dance culture (in America destined always to be a minority subculture, but in Europe the dominant form of ’90s pop). Grunge was the last blast of rock as a force at once central in popular culture yet also running counter to mainstream show biz values. …
‘If grunge was a last blast, the aftershocks carried on deep into the ’90s. Spin and MTV both tried to repeat the grunge effect (an underground sound going overground, overnight) with electronica. By the time nu-metal hit at the turn of the millennium, MTV had shrewdly shed the M in its name and moved decisively toward round-the-clock reality. The heavily edited and contrived quasi-vérité version of young life offered by these programs eclipsed the gritty authenticity that grunge had represented. …
‘Cobain, arguably the last rebel-rocker-as-star, had owed his rise to the centralizing power of the old media; now in his death, he was entangled with the emerging new media disorder. The old media and entertainment channels (what I think of as the analog system) constructed the mainstream while simultaneously creating the possibility of that mainstream being breached and reinvigorated by forces “outside.” In grunge’s case, that meant the flannel-wearing, slacker-minded alt-rock underground that had developed during the ’80s, fostered by a network of independent labels. This curious process of inversion—the underground becoming the overground—was how the analog system had worked repeatedly in the past. (’50s rock’n’roll came initially from the regional independent labels.) And with Nirvana and their fellow travelers, that’s how it worked one last time. …
‘One thing we can definitively say is that the screening of the classic Nirvana gig is an anti-event, a black hole in history. That hour in which young and old alike gawp at a world-shaking performance from 1992, is dead time: the time of repetition and simulation. Another, harsher way of putting it: The dead man on that screen is more alive than the people watching him.’ — Simon Reynolds, Slate
The Melvins
Tad
The Mono Men
Alice in Chains
Mudhoney
Love Battery
My Sister’s Machine
Skin Yard
Blood Circus
Nirvana
The Fluid
Screaming Trees
The U-Men
Hammerbox
Temple of the Dog
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‘By 1988, Seattle’s Grunge Rock scene started to happen. Even though they had left Washington, The Melvins had left their mark as the first Grunge band. Every Seattle band of the late ’80s owes a little something to the Melvins – a band that slowed down the tempo and played sludgy riffs. In 1990, Kurt Cobain and I were driving back from Los Angeles to Washington. We took the opportunity to stop by San Francisco and see our pals in the Melvins, and mentioned that we were without a drummer. Scream were playing in North Beach and we all went to the show. Buzz said we had to see their excellent drummer. Scream played a great set and we met the band. Buzz introduced us to their drummer, David Grohl. The Melvins have always stayed true to their vision of rock. It’s sophisticated metal but there was a lot of schooling in Punk. And it shows. They can really get out there, but there’s a complex method to the madness.’ — Krist Novoselic
‘Hung Bunny/Roman Bird Dog’ (live, ’92)
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‘Tad was among the first bands to be signed to Sub Pop Records and was possibly the first pioneer of what was to be later called grunge rock. In 1987, Doyle had released the “Daisy/Ritual Device” single on Sub Pop, produced by seminal Seattle producer Jack Endino, for which Doyle wrote and performed all music. Tad’s debut album God’s Balls appeared in early 1989 and was also produced by Endino. In March 1990 the band released the Salt Lick EP, recorded by Steve Albini. The single “Wood Goblins” was released in the same year, but was apparently banned by MTV. After a European tour with Nirvana, Tad returned to Seattle and recorded their second album 8-Way Santa (1991), named after a type of blotter acid. Produced by Butch Vig, the album was far more pop-oriented than its predecessors. A lawsuit was filed due to the cover (which was a found picture of a man fondling a woman’s breast). The couple in the photograph, one of whom had since become a born-again Christian and remarried, took exception and sued.’ — The Obelisk
‘Giant KIller’ (live, ’91)
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‘The Mono Men‘s sound contained elements of grunge, but they filtered these through a mimicry of 1960s Washington proto-punk, garage rock bands such as The Sonics. Based in Bellingham Washington, the band came together in late 1987. They played shows in Europe, Mexico, Japan, Canada, and the United States. Their numerous albums and EPs albums all received generally positive reviews. The band split in 1998, although in 2006, the Mono Men reunited to play a series of concerts called the “Spanish Attack.” Guitarist Dave Crider runs the record label Estrus Records, and he and drummer Aaron Roeder are currently members of the band Watt.’ — The Sara Monster
‘Wrecker/Testify’ (live, early ’90s)
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‘Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with other Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The band was one of the most successful music acts of the 1990s, selling over 35 million albums worldwide, and over 14 million in the US alone. Although never officially disbanding, Alice in Chains was plagued by extended inactivity from 1996 onwards due to substance abuse, which resulted in in the 2002 death of Layne Staley, and the 2011 death of former bassist Mike Starr (who left the band in 1993). Alice in Chains is noted for the unique vocal harmonies of Staley and Jerry Cantrell, which included overlapping passages, and dual lead vocals. Alyssa Burrows said the band’s distinctive sound “came from Staley’s vocal style and his lyrics dealing with personal struggles and addiction”. Staley’s songs were often considered “dark”, with themes such as drug abuse, depression, and suicide.’ — Blabbermouth.net
‘Man in the Box’ (live, ’91)
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‘Mudhoney‘s early releases on Sub Pop; the “Touch Me I’m Sick” single and the Superfuzz Bigmuff EP were influential in the Seattle music scene, and helped inspire the dirty, high-distortion sound that would characterize grunge. Word of the band’s rep in Europe quickly crossed the pond, and Mudhoney were the new heroes of underground rock by the time their first full-length album, simply called Mudhoney, came out in late 1989. Mudhoney were notable for their mixing of heavy blues rock and punk rock. Although they have found little commercial success during their long career, which has yielded ten studio albums, they nonetheless inspired many grunge and alternative rock musicians, such as Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.’ — allmusic
‘Hate the Police’ (live, ’93)
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‘Along with Screaming Trees, Love Battery fell into the more psychedelic wing of Seattle grunge, adding a liberal dose of Beatlesque pop to the requisite hunks of mind-bending guitar fuzz. Formed in 1989, the band took its name from a Buzzcocks song, and originally included singer Ron Nine (born Ron Rudzitis, ex-Room Nine), guitarist Kevin Whitworth (ex-Crisis Party), bassist Jim Tillman (formerly of grunge forebears the U-Men), and Mudhoney drummer Dan Peters. Peters left in short order and was replaced by onetime Skin Yard drummer Jason Finn. In 1990, the band released its six-song debut EP, Between the Eyes, on Sub Pop. They tightened up their focus and approach for their first full-length, Dayglo, which was issued in 1992 to highly positive reviews. After a prolonged period of inactivity the band played their first show in 4 years on June 23, 2006 at Neumo’s in Seattle, WA.’ — eskimo.com
‘Fuzz Factory’
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‘Seattle rockers My Sister’s Machine first appeared in early ’90s, riding the wave of grunge into the mainstream and a record deal despite their relatively short existence. Vocalist Nick Pollock had played the guitar in Alice in Chains in the ’80s, and remained in the close-knit Seattle metal scene that included those two bands as well as Gruntruck and Screaming Trees. The band also consisted of guitarist Owen Wright, bassist Chris Ivanovich, and drummer Chris Gohde. After two unheralded albums, they called in quits in 1994. Pollock would go on to form Tanks of Zen in the late ’90s.’ — metal-archives.com
‘I Hate You’
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‘Skin Yard was started in January 1985 by Daniel House (bass), and Jack Endino (guitar). We were joined by Matthew Cameron (drums) who had previously played with Daniel and Tom (“Nerm”) Herring in an instrumental power trio called Feedback. Matt came up with our name, which oddly enough means absolutely nothing, but was weird enough for none of us to object. We found our singer Ben McMillan in April ’85, and played our first show in June of ’85 opening for the U-Men. Skin Yard made five albums and toured the US and Europe, finally ceasing all activities in Summer 1992. A “posthumous” 6th album was released in 2002, consisting entirely of long-unavailable singles, rarities and other stuff that had never been on CD. The group never gained a mainstream audience, but were an influence on our contemporaries – most notably Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, The Melvins, and Green River – alongside whom we are considered the early pioneers of the sound that would later be called grunge.’ — Endocino.com
‘Slow Runner’ (live, ’89)
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‘In 1989 Sub Pop released Blood Circus‘ first and only album, a five-track EP called Primal Rock Therapy which, despite being now recognised as a milestone record of that time and place, was at the time panned by the critics and ignored by the public. This contributed to the split of the band in 1989 after a North American tour with the French band Les Thugs. Both bands played in San Francisco in June 1989. They briefly reformed in 1992, when Sub Pop re-released Primal Rock Therapy on CD with five additional unreleased tracks. The band also briefly appeared in the 1996 film Hype!, a documentary about the rise of the Seattle scene.’ — Wiki
‘Calling for Lisa’ (live, partial, early ’90s)
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‘In early 1994, Nirvana embarked on a European tour. In Rome, on the morning of March 4, Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love, found Cobain unconscious in their hotel room and he was rushed to the hospital. A doctor from the hospital told a press conference that Cobain had reacted to a combination of prescription Rohypnol and alcohol. The rest of the tour was canceled, including a planned leg in the UK. In the ensuing weeks, Cobain’s heroin addiction resurfaced. An intervention was organized, and Cobain was convinced to admit himself into drug rehabilitation. After less than a week in rehabilitation, Cobain climbed over the wall of the facility and took a plane back to Seattle. A week later, on Friday, April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head at his Seattle home.’ — John Rocco
‘Curmudgeon/Oh the Guilt’ (live, ’91)
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‘After early 1980s Denver punk band Frantix broke, up bassist Matt Bischoff, drummer Garrett Shavlik and guitarist James Clower began playing as Madhouse. On July 5, with new band members Rick Kulwicki (guitar) and John Robinson (vocals), they played their first gig at the German House (Denver Turnverein) as The Fluid, which was the only name all five members could agree upon. In 1986 the Fluid released their first album, Punch N Judy on Rayon Records. The album was also licensed to and released by the German label Glitterhouse. They toured for the next two years in support of the album. In 1988, they released the album Clear Black Paper on Sub Pop. They were the first non-Seattle band to sign to the record label. Their guitarist, Rick Kulwicki, died on February 15, 2011, at the age of 49.’ — SubPop
‘One Eye Out’ (live, ’93)
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‘Where many of their Seattle-based contemporaries dealt in reconstructed Black Sabbath and Stooges riffs, Screaming Trees fused ’60s psychedelia and garage rock with ’70s hard rock and ’80s punk. Over the course of their career, their more abrasive punk roots eventually gave way to a hard-edged, rootsy psychedelia that drew from rock and folk equally. After releasing several albums on indie labels like SST and Sub Pop, Screaming Trees moved to Epic Records in 1989. Though they were one of the first Seattle bands to sign with a major label, the group never attained the popularity of fellow Northwestern bands (and friends) like Nirvana and Soundgarden, largely due to their erratic work schedule. Throughout their career, the Trees were notorious for drinking and fighting, which caused them to break up briefly at several points in their existence.’ — nietcompatible.com
‘Dime Western’ (live, early ’90s)
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‘The U-Men were a Seattle-based post-punk, proto-grunge band active in the early to late 1980s. They toured extensively across America and even had a song by the Butthole Surfers named in their honor. Largely through word of mouth, rumor, showmanship and the occasional alcohol inspired dust up, the U-Men quickly acquired a dedicated cult following and well-deserved reputation for mayhem, both on and off the stage. Perhaps their most legendary antic was when Bigley set the front of the Seattle Center Mural Amphitheater stage on fire during a Bumbershoot festival performance, and the band played on. Tom Price moved on to form Gas Huffer, and also play in supergroup The Monkeywrench, while John Bigley and Charlie Ryan would co-found The Crows. Their musically “dirty” sound was a forerunner for the later grunge bands to come out of Seattle.’ — Amphetamine Reptile Records
‘Dig a Hole’ (live, ’89)
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‘Hammerbox formed around 1989 in Seattle and released their first LP, Hammerbox on independent label C/Z Records. This album earned them the opportunity to sign to a major label, A&M; Records, with whom they released their second album. However, despite the band’s appearance at rock festival Endfest in Bremerton, Washington to support their album, it did not sell well and the band was dropped by the label. James Atkins left the band in early 1994, and the rest of the members followed suit shortly thereafter. Carrie Akre formed Goodness, while Harris Thurmond went on to form Anodyne (later renamed Marfa Lights) with That Petrol Emotion singer Steve Mack. Thurmond formed Orbiter in 2000, and later Kingsley in 2003.’ — Wikipedia
‘Hole’
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‘Temple of the Dog was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990. It was conceived by vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden as a tribute to his friend, the late Andrew Wood, lead singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, who had died of a heroin overdose the year before. The line-up included Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament on bass guitar (both ex-members of Mother Love Bone), Mike McCready on lead guitar, Matt Cameron on drums and Eddie Vedder providing lead and backing vocals. The band released its only album, the self-titled Temple of the Dog, in April 1991 through A&M; Records. Although earning praise from music critics at the time of its release, the album was not widely recognized until 1992, when Vedder, Ament, Gossard and McCready had their commercial breakthrough with Pearl Jam.’ — Blabbermouth.net
‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ (live, ’90)
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*
p.s. Hey. For those of you who are interested, my limited edition chapbook ‘French Hole, being 15 outtakes from The Marbled Swarm‘ will go on sale tomorrow at 6 pm Paris time. There’ll be a post tomorrow introducing and sampling the book that will also direct you to where you can buy it, if you want. ** Alfonso, Hey, man. Always really nice to see you. Well, as I understand it, Mokhorev spends a lot of time with his subjects. If you look at a larger spectrum of his work, you see that he continued to photograph a number of the kids over a period of years. So, I think they trusted him. I’m doing okay. How are you? What are you up to? ** Tomkendall, Thanks, Tom. You’re a pal. Having a book published is pretty stressful, as you’ll see when your turns start coming, and it’s easy to get bent out of shape, and this is first time I’ve had a novel come out while I’m doing the blog/p.s. in its current form, and I guess my moods and worries get spilled into here, and I’m going to try to regulate myself better about that. Yes, I got the email/post/ pictures, and it’s just wonderful. I’ll get back to you soon with the launch date. Thank you so much, man! ** Slatted Light, Hi, David! Awesome to see you! And thank you for the pep talk. I’ll find some way to settle about all this. I’m just not totally there yet. The PW review, like the LJ review earlier, is just a nothing with a negative tilt. It didn’t bother me, except for its possible part in an emerging pattern. Perhaps you’re right about ‘TMS’ being kind of anti-critic. The problem is that I have been unusually excited about the critical response. I’ve been thinking that I wrote a novel that, more than any other novel I’ve written, necessitates an engagement in the processes and style and seriousness of my work. I had an idea that it would be more difficult for the novel to get the kinds of reviews my books usually get, i.e. here’s another Cooper book full of sex and violence that is different in this particular way and is probably only of interest to his ‘cult’ of readers. But that’s the response that, explicitly or implicitly, ‘TMS’ has been getting so far, most troublingly by far to me in the case of the Cohen review, where he, using an authoritative and superior tone, does a total misreading of the novel’s intentions then declares it to be a ‘personal, honest’ confession by me to my ‘fans’ that my work has a stronger relationship to avant-garde knock offs like ‘Story of O’ than to the originals that he thinks the novel is rummaging through, the only real difference between ‘TMS’ and my earlier books being that its my ‘most unreadable’. Given that it’s the only lengthy review of the novel to this point and that I respect Cohen’s fiction, it’s more disappointing to me now than it hopefully will be later. Anyway, I think the best thing to do is stop worrying aloud about all of this. I’m thrown off-kilter, and I’m going to try to dwell silently in my thoughts about this for a while as best I can. All that said, thank you, David. What you said is very wise and helpful. ** David Ehrenstein, Aw, thank you, David motherfucking Ehrenstein! That is a very ‘her’ move on Weld’s part, true, but it’s a shame. Oh, listen, sir, if you want to do a Tuesday Weld Day for here, you know I’ll jump and down with many happy skyward fist pumps. ** Allesfliesst, Well, you know, money is tight, especially these days, and having me come along would be kind of a luxury item, ‘cos I don’t need to be technically. I understand the situation, but sometimes I decide to try to fight a little bit to get dragged along. Very, very interesting about your plan in Stockholm. I’ve never been to Stockholm, which is why I’m pushing to get there. So I don’t know what’s going on there. I’ll ask Gisele. She’ll have ideas, I suspect. ** Kyler, Oh, yes, if anyone should be able to predict the blog’s future, it’s you. But don’t do it, or don’t tell me at least. I don’t want to know where this is going. Yeah, no need for a dawn awakening. Once this place launches, it only gets better as the comments accumulate. Really wonderful to get to read your and Chris’ talk about Sarah Kane. Thank you for making here its home. ** Pilgarlic, Hey. Oh, I never told you I loved your bottle piece, did I? I don’t think so. I did. It was great! Your writing and thinking was just marvelous. A short piece by you, interesting. I like what seabirds do most of the time. ** 5strings, That is one kooky, pretty guitar right there, Thanks! I’ve had completist urges and acted on them re: music a bunch. Now I’m just a Robert Pollard completist, and that’s such an overfull-time quest that I don’t have the time/money to collect anybody else. That ‘Fargo’ snow globe was sweet until it got murky. No idea why the water turned brown. Can smog and cigarette smoke get inside snow globes because that would explain it? I think there are Anger soundtracks or bootlegs anyway. I have a few in LA, I think. Thanks for the pillows-related stuff. Pillows are the Mother Theresas of all the things made out of fabric. ** Sypha, Hey. Ha ha, yeah, so far your dream was just a dream. That B&N; part sounds like it could happen, though. The mom part … well, I don’t know your mom, but it sounds unlikely. Short action/fight sounds good to me. In movies, at least, they always seem to go on forever and ever like the blow job parts of porn movies, ha ha. ** Joakim Almroth, Hey! You came back, cool! Oh, I somehow didn’t make the leap to realizing those photographs are yours. They’re terrific. The new ‘Dino’ one is gorgeous. Assuming you’ll keep adding new ones, I look forward to that. So, do you exhibit your work in galleries or art spaces or anything? You should, obviously, unless you’re not into that form of public roll out. I didn’t know Eli was back in Stockholm, but, yeah, I guess he would be by now. He’s such a great guy and artist. No, I haven’t seen ‘Dance of the Vampires’. I’ve read about it, or about live productions of it as a theater piece, or I thought it was theater piece, but maybe not. I’m curious. Jim Steinman’s songs are kind of a guilty pleasure for me. So, how was it? And if you see this before you see Eli, give him my love. Thanks for the kind words about my stuff. It’s great to be able to get to know your work. Great day to you. ** Killer Luka, Yeah, right? Glad you liked them with an exclamation mark finis no less. Actually, my novel is kind of Nutcracker-ish in a weird way. Why aren’t critics talking about that, ha ha? Thanks, my pal. ** Hyrule Dungeon, ‘TMS’ will probably start getting out and about in a month, I’d guess. No, man, I think your attitude about writing and reading rules, totally. ** Sublethal, Oh, aren’t you nice. I tried listening to Black Flag’s ‘Rise Above’ first thing this morning, and it kind of worked. ** Steevee, I’m so sorry to hear that, man. I hope it’s one of those moods that gather and disperse quickly. ** Chris Goode, Hey, Chris! Oh, great, I’m really glad you liked the Mokhorev pix. The Will McBride thing, sure. Wow, Krivon, I haven’t thought of him in ages, probably for the obvious reasons, ha ha. Thanks for the good words, man. Gosh, yeah, I’d love to do the interview if you still want to. I don’t know, however or whenever you would like. Dreamy idea to do it person, but, yeah, I suspect we’re stuck where we are by work and lack of funding nonsense. Anyway, yeah, I would be honored, sir. Damn, that workshop you’re doing sounds fantastic. It itself and the mode you’re employing too. Major respect to you re: that. Your play in the Bush context sounds quite fascinating. I don’t think you’ve mentioned that project to me before, no. Quite an assignment or thematic there. Grown-ups suck. Imagine what it’s like for me being the same age as those people if not old enough to be their uncles. I guess your actors couldn’t perform the last scene in pig-Latin? Horrible idea, I know, but well intentioned. I hope those censorious fuckers fuck the hell off. ** Sailor, Hi, Sailor! Good to see you! Ha ha, yeah, that PW review was a piffle, but, Jesus, it sucks how sensitive one can be about things. And I always forget the way puritanical people react to fiction like it’s just gussied up true crime. Weird. Anyway, how are you? What’s going on? Are busy getting ready for the big move? ** Little foal, Such a beautiful response to the photos, D. Thank you. That was wonderful. I’m really, really glad to hear things are cool with your friend and that you’ve found a deep understanding and that commonality. Lifelong relationships of all kinds have been built on so much less. If I was really rich, I’d buy a gigantic mansion somewhere and fill it full of young artists who are into being subs, and they could make art all the time, and I would use my master status to say, I order you to work harder on your art, and they would do it ‘cos I’m their theoretical master, and everybody would win ideally. Hope your day was awesome, D. ** _Black_Acrylic, I wouldn’t have known you’d had a few if you hadn’t said so. You were clear as a bell, and awfully nice, too. ** Mvc, Hey! Welcome! I’m a big fan and visitor of Montevideo, of course, so it’s an honor to have you here, thank you! I had somehow never heard of Carlos Robledo Puch until you mentioned him. I checked the link, and, yes, very interesting, and, yes, he is, uh, visually interesting as well. Best serial killer haircut ever, for one thing. That was really nice of you. Please feel free to come back anytime, and lots of respect to you. ** Haitch, Hello, you’re new. Oh, wait, and you’re a friend of Ben’s. Nice to meet you. And you’re right about Mokhorev. Hang out here anytime, please. It would be a pleasure. ** Chris Cochrane, I got the CD. It looks fantastic! I will find things in LA, sure. Oh, and Gisele is asking Stephen who the Wire guy is. I guess he’s the one who knows. More soon. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff! So great to talk to you! It was really fantastic! From what I’ve seen, this is the most interesting of Mokhorev’s work, although he’s done a series of photos on the street that are quite interesting as well. Some of them were in one of the post’s video slideshows. The Cassavettes screening should be interesting. I can see that going either way, actually, response-wise. ** ‘Matt’, Hi, man. Wow, thanks for the ‘best of’ people’s kind words thing. That was really nice. Yeah, I’m getting over myself, I think. Weird shit, having something that’s very important to you go public. We all know what that’s like. Yukio Suzuki’s work looks very interesting. I’ll investigate further. I didn’t even mind the music. ‘Hanging on the Telephone’ is a weirdly hard song to sing. Or I tried to sing it once with a friend’s band with the idea that I would join them onstage and sing it with them as an encore, and my singing voice isn’t so bad, but I could not nail that sucker at all. Anyway, thanks, Matt. ** Squeaky, Hi, D. Thanks for being here from LA. You hung out with Joel, awesome. Well, yes, perhaps I will make a little inquiry about the beloved’s identity because I still haven’t figured it out. I have a bunch of polaroids that I shot of you on that very visit to that very LA pad of mine. Keep enjoying the last 24 or thereabouts hours, man. I’m sure you will. ** Bill, Hi, Bill. Glad you liked them. Yep, ‘French Hole’ is on the cusp. ** Eli Jürgen, Hi, Eli. Oh, the AC thing, uh … ‘The Sluts’ is set on the internet and mostly in and around an escort website, and all this stuff happens, but one of the threads involves an online group devoted to imagining perverse scenarios involving Aaron and Nick Carter. Yeah, AC kind of went really downhill kind of really fast at a certain point kind of right after ‘Aaron’s Party’, poor guy. Didn’t he end up on rehab reality show(s) in the US? I’m not sure about that. That ’97 clip is wild. Anyway, awesome, ‘cos I want to read your essay bad. So, thanks! I’d be way into making it a blog post, if that idea amuses you at some point. I want to see you new paintings too. So much to look forward to! ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. Glad you liked the photos! Okay, yeah, I really hope Eyebrows becomes or remains exactly what you want him to be. He’d be crazy not to, from my perspective. No, I’ll probably know about the downsizing thing in the next day or two. But Gisele told me she’s going to fight for my show to be exactly what I want, so that’ll help. That poker/’ANoES’ guy sounds interesting. That combination of interests is interesting in and of itself. Oh, but that cigarette pack knocking thing was weird. And, okay, he did start to seem weirder as your report on him continued. Still, all in all, a curious fella. I think the only people who hate Anna Wintour are the people trying to get her to put them in the magazine. Ever since ‘The September Issue’, I think she’s kind of seen as a god or something. I sort of see her as a god. My Tuesday: Tried to fight back my ‘TMS’ reviews-related funk. I.e., cranked some GbV, looked at porn, went on a walk, etc. It kind of worked, I guess. Talked on the phone to d.l. Chilly Jay Chill about his novel, which I finished reading recently and which is really fantastic, as you and everyone will see once he gets it published. Talked to Gisele on the phone about the festival stuff a couple of times. Checked to see when ‘Drive’ opens here ‘cos I’m excited to see it, and it opens next week, cool. Worked on blog stuff, emails, etc. Kiddiepunk called me in the afternoon and said ‘French Hole’ was back from the printer, so I went over to his and Oscar’s room, and, yeah, it looks fantastic as does his zine that is part of the super limited edition version. I signed the super limited edition version and hung out with them for a bit. I bought cigarettes, and the guy at the Tabac place gave me a free lighter I guess because I always buy my cigs there and because he was in a great mood for some reason. I wandered around a bit ‘cos it was super nice out. Came back here, did some more work/ emailing, and Yury came back from work, and we ordered some stuff online that we need (Nissim shampoo, which you have to order from the States, and Melatonin, which you have to order from the UK, and some supplement he likes that you have to order from Russia). And then time ticked inevitably towards sleepiness with me aboard. That’s it. How was Wednesday? ** David, Hey. Very nice riff there. ** Frank Jaffe, Hey Frank! Glad you like the new cover. It’s kind of more nervous or something. I like it too. Thanks! 6 pm tomorrow Paris time: there’s your hint. That Open House is today? If so, I hope it’s packed. Hey, take photos and put ’em up on Facebook? Good idea, right? I think so. ** Misanthrope, The lengths are unimaginable, just the way I like them. The PW review is nothing, yeah, but it’s an annoying nothing. The description was super neutral. Weird review. But … whatever, that’s my new attitude in progress. What-fucking-ever. Anyway, you should read the novel before you defend it. Heck, you might go all wtf?! on my ass. You never know. You never fucking know. That’s my new attitude in progress. ** Okay. The other day I thought, hm, Grunge, I haven’t thought about Grunge in a while, and then I poked around on the internet and, lo and behold, a post appeared as if by very labor intensive magic, and now I ask you to harken back to the days when Rawk had a lot of people’s ears. See you tomorrow.
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