Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Let's talk about books!

Let's talk about books!

First of all, let's talk about this one.

I'm in it!

My interview with Ian MacKaye from the July/August 2008 issue of the Believer has been collected in Confidence or the Appearance of Confidence: The Best of the Believer Music Interviews.  I will be rubbing this fact in the face of everyone I know who knows what the Believer is.

I believe that is the higher purpose of being anthologized.

Order it here, or get the bundle and subscribe to this fine periodical.

I will say that Ian MacKaye was the third-nicest famous person I've ever interviewed. The second nicest: John Cage and nicest: John Waite. It was a close race.

Here is what I've been reading:

The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers.

This is 100% bandwagon-inspired by my infatuation with HBO's True Detective series, which is partially based on this otherwise obscure tome and this grisly actual case in Tangipahoa Parish.

I'm reading it on my cracked iPhone (for free from Project Gutenberg) as I fall into the netherworld of dreams every night, which seems to be the right way to read this.

The connection to the show seems largely superficial - Carcosa is a place and has a king - but the deal is, the book (within the book) drives people a little mad when they read it in each of Chamber's stories.

Everyone was on the edge of that anyway (like our detectives) and all they needed was a nudge. Probably like all of us.

I started this out thinking I've read a lot of books lately, what with our shiny new library and all, but really, I've just been checking out books.

Here are some books I checked out and didn't read.

The End of Love, by Marcus Giralt Torrente

Actually, I can't even come up with a list. So fleeting was my relationship with these books.

Also, I cannot finish the Morrissey autobiography. It's like eating too many bananas. Up to the saturation point, one is all about bananas, but too many - you are overcome with mush.

So, get my new anthology!

Or order one of my old books:

Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking For a Good Time In South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky Tonks and Dance Halls

Darkness, Racket and Twang: Essential Listening from the Fringes of Popular and Unpopular Culture

The First Annual Outsideleft Hardy Annual