Wednesday, July 27, 2011

a story about a dream about a movie about the author's life



Delmore Schwarz, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
Dance Moms
Alex V. Cook, Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky Tonks, and Dancehalls
The Black Crowes, Amorica
Sly & the Family Stone, There's a Riot Goin' On
Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A.

Suicide, American Supreme
The Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat
Jefferson Airplane, Volunteers
  • Finished the copyediting responses on my book last night with the nightmare that is Dance Moms rattling on in the background. That's the excuse I made for the TV still being on Lifetime this morning and I'm sticking to it.

  • I will concede to the general consensus that Delmore Schwartz's story "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" is a work of postmodern-before-we-called-it-postmodern genius - a story about a dream about a movie about the author's life, rife with lots of time/space hooks and the terror that is causality - but "Screeno", the tale that cabooses this story collection, similarly about the movies as a social experience and how delicately the boundaries in a shared social sphere must be maintained lest the bubble burst, deserves some love. Even though it ends weird.

  • Out of ideas. I put together a playlist of albums that have some sort of American flag on the cover; we'll see how that goes. According to this discussion, there is one on the back right corner of White Light/White Heat. I don't see it, but its reason enough to pull it out. To be honest, I'll probably only listen to "Downbound Train" off Born in the U.S.A. and wish it was the Smithereens version



    BitUSA is one of those omnipresent albums of my youth like Purple Rain that I can't listen to without instinctively reaching for the radio dial. "Family Affair" might be the best song ever no matter how many times I hear it.

  • My lil' preview of the August 11 Gillian Welch show in New Orleans is up in the current issue of OffBeat. Also in that issue is Brian Boyles' excellent account of when in 1986 Wynton Marsalis called Miles Davis out on some shit. On Miles' stage. Wynton's got a pair.

  • OK, I love stupid old "I'm Goin' Down" too. Maya just said, "This sounds a whole lot like Ringo."


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