Two events: Joyland Night at Word Brooklyn and AWP Chicago
Word Brooklyn is a great bookstore that’s launching its online ebook storefront. They’ve invited Joyland to put together a reading and talk this February 8 at 7PM. I’ll be reading—maybe from The Consumed Guide, definitely from I, Tania—along with my co-publisher Emily Schultz and Joyland author Jim Hanas. We’ll be giving away print copies of Joyland Retro to anyone who buys an ebook in-store. It’s a fascinating meeting- halfway-point for anyone following the digital versus brick-and-mortar store discussion. More info here.
Joyland will be running a table at this year’s AWP book fair in Chicago. We’ll also be hosting a reading night at Quimby’s with Dzanc Books featuring readers Jeff Parker, Kevin Chong, Eugene Cross and Megan Stielstra. That is Thursday March 1 at 7PM. More info here. I would like to thank Quimby’s for the second chance. My last event–with a pre-Mayor Rahm Dan Sinker— ran up against a freak hailstorm and the penultimate episode of Lost.
First publication: A Jello Biafra insert in 1994. Most recent publisher: Insert Press
The limited edition version of the The Consumed Guide is now available thanks to Insert Press. You can order a copy here or read more about this text project here. Funny enough, last week I tracked down a copy of my first ever publication, a collage featured in the insert for Jello Biafra’s album, Beyond the Valley of the Gift Police.
In 1989 I’m sure I was like many other 14-year-olds in that I collaged found images together with notices of bizarre deaths from the newspapers and mailed such things to Jello Biafra. Five-years later in 1994, I had forgotten about those mail art projects and graduated to what we now call “street art” but back in the day was just called vandalism–installing oversized Xeroxed collages on banks, hoardings, etc. I was also working at a college radio station and when I was going through the new arrivals one day I caught my name on the back of the Biafra album, in among names like Dan Clowes and Tom Tomorrow. It was an interesting moment in a young life, when you realize there are things like trajectories, narratives and oeuvres. In my case, the oeuvre begins with…
Interview with Kenneth Goldsmith
At the Huffington Post, my interview with Kenneth Goldsmith about reading traffic reports to Obama at the White House and the future of conceptual writing.
“The lack of resistance to what I was saying was remarkable. In fact, The White House was the most frictionless place I’ve ever been. Nothing ever goes wrong there. Like walking on air or being on the moon, there’s a complete lack of gravity. Due to the most insane security, it feels like the freest, most relaxed place on earth. It’s like everyone is on a combination of Prozac and Ecstasy. And everything I said there seemed to be met with big smiles and nods of approval, even things that advocated breaking social contracts” Read the rest.
Interview with Dennis Cooper
Today at The Huffington Post my interview with Dennis Cooper ran. We talked about his excellent new novel, The Marbled Swarm and French influences: “I wanted to build a voice that was beholden to French literature, and particularly to its avant-garde wing, which had such a huge impact on my writing from the outset, but was kind of polluted with my own voice, which is very American, I think, and specifically Los Angeles-centric in its flatness and in its attempt to induce some kind of poetic trance within its limitations.” Read the rest.
Consumed Guides and Great Creatures
Buying for a critic who hates everything this holiday season? Pre-order the ltd edition of The Consumed Guide from Insert Press. You can read more of and about The Consumed Guide here.
Over at the Huffington Post is my article on journalist Brock Brower’s lost, and now reissued, novel The Late Great Creature. Fans of Derek McCormack, James Ellroy and New Journalism take note. Brower’s novel really is a poisoned treat.
My work ranked on the plagiarism scale
Books and texts
Miss Radiation 0% plagiarized.
Portable Altamont 10% plagiarized.
(There are more poetry “covers” than rips or substitutes.)
Ronald Reagan, My Father 15% plagiarized.
(One short piece takes the Wiki synopsis for El Topo and replaces “El Topo” with Joseph Lieberman. Another short piece uses instructions on surviving a nuclear attack but with the words “sexy hair” substituted in the place of “nuclear attack.” These instructions are public domain.)
I, Tania 30% plagiarized.
(Kurt Cobains’s Wiki combined with Sparky Anderson’s Wiki. Mary Lou Retton’s Wiki combined with GG Allin’s Wiki. John McEnroe’s Wiki combined with Ian Curtis’ Wiki.Three reviews of the Tony Scott film Domino.)
Voice Over 100% plagiarized.
Johnny 100% plagiarized.
The Consumed Guide 100% plagiarized.
Music
Yesterduh 0% sampled
(Technically, it’s an acknowledged cover.)
Eula 50% sampled.
(Lyrics were from Sony BMG’s End User License Agreement. Arrangement was original.)
Minima Moralia 80% sampled.
(Text was taken from Adorno. Music was all sampled. Vocals were original.)
Ten Banned Albums Burned Then Played 100% sampled.
Greatest Hit 100% sampled.
Back in a week or so
Had a baby.
The Consumed Guide: From digital to print project
“Awesome.” —Sasha Frere-Jones
“The Consumed Guide takes music criticism and renders it obsolete.” —Kenneth Goldsmith
I’m happy to announce Insert Press of Los Angeles will be issuing a limited edition print run of The Consumed Guide. December 1, 2011 is the tentative street date and copies should be available through Insert and Small Press Distribution.
ReLit shortlist
I got this news a few days ago but I was a little distracted by hurricane preparation. (And, as I was raised by someone who investigates industrial accidents for a living you better believe I was busy with escape route planning and measuring my distance from potentially lethal windows.)
My short fiction collection, Ronald Reagan, My Father made it on the ReLit Award shortlist, a prize that focuses on the independent press. There’s no money but there’s plenty of honor–it’s a writer’s writer kind of prize–and the short fiction list is pretty sharp. We published a couple of the authors previously on Joyland and fellow nominee, and Pontypool author, Tony Burgess once Facebook friended me, thinking I was a different, more famous author named Brian. We cleared it up after several awkward exchanges.
“Why MFA Programs Matter” on The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post ran an essay of mine this week on the back-to-school subject Why MFA Programs Matter. The response has been pretty interesting and supportive. I don’t have the piece of paper myself but, as I argue, an academic industry for writing is nothing but good for writing in general.
