Nick Cave Takes On NYC

Yesterday (Sept. 14), the always brilliant Nick Cave descended upon New York City's Union Square to take part in Barnes & Noble's Upstairs at the Square event. Cave just issued his long-awaited book, The Death of Bunny Munro, and this was his only U.S. stop in support of the novel.

Dressed in a gray suit with a boy-blue dress shirt, the lanky Bad Seeds frontman, sans mustache, seemed thrilled to be there. The fourth floor setting was absolutely packed. I got there at 4:30 (and the reading was scheduled for 7pm) and people were already pouring in, aiming to get a seat up close. Luckily, I landed in the sixth row.

The Q&A session, lead by author and journalist Katherine Lanpher -- aka the co-host of the Air America Radio program, "The Al Franken Show," in 2004 and 2005 -- was quite enjoyable. Nick was incredibly funny and charming. He'd tell me later at the book signing that it was "quite nerveracking" to be up there, on stage, doing such a thing.

During the near hour-long discussion, he and Lanpher chatted about the new book (Nick said that writing this book was "a joy to write" and "easy" versus the three years it took to complete his first novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel), how fatherhood has affected him, and how Warren Ellis first came into his life, and more. There was a lot of laughing from both Nick and the crowd. He also read a bit from the new book.

Penguin Classic Art

This is for all the book hounds out there (myself included). A former Penguin Books designer recently posted some collections of vintage Penguin images. The Penguin symbol designs are from 1963, while each cover layout was drafted by Jan Tschichold and Erik Ellegaard Frederiksen, circa 1948. Quite lovely, don't ya think?








[Thanks Boing Boing]

The Importance of Being Morrissey

Whoa! Morrissey-solo announced today that Mozipedia: The Encyclopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths will hit bookstores across the UK come Thursday, July 23 via Ebury Press. Simon Goddard, a regular contributor to Q Magazine, wrote the in-depth 544-page biographical sketch of the pop artist I've frequently swooned over here at mackenzieland.

NME hailed Goddard as 'the Smiths authority' for his 2002 book, The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life, which was also the only Smiths book to be well-received by guitarist Johnny Marr.

Synposis courtesy of Waterstone's:

Steven Patrick Morrissey is one of the most original and controversial voices in the history of popular music. With The Smiths, he led the most influential British guitar group of the 1980s, his enigmatic wit and style defining a generation. As a solo artist, he has continued to broach subjects no other singer would dare. Worshipped by some, vilified by others, Morrissey is a unique rock and roll creation. The 300,000 words of "Mozipedia" make this the most intimate and in-depth biographical portrait of the man and his music yet. Bringing together every song, album, collaborator, key location, every hero, book, film and record to have influenced his art, it is the summation of years of meticulous research. Morrissey authority Simon Goddard has interviewed almost everybody of any importance, making "Mozipedia" the last word on Morrissey and The Smiths.

We Call Upon the Author: Nick Cave

In 1989, Nick Cave issued his first novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, and come September, the original Bad Seed returns with his second book, The Death of Bunny Munro.

The sinister, soul-searching tale of salesman Bunny Munro will be released in the US via Faber & Faber September 1st, while UK fans can get their hands on the book come September 3rd via Canongate Books Ltd. The audiobook version at Amazon UK includes a soundtrack from Cave and Warren Ellis. A signed and numbered limited edition of the book will also be sold exclusively through the The Death of Bunny Munro site.

From the publisher:

"Set adrift by his wife’s suicide and struggling to keep some sort of grasp on reality, Bunny Munro drives off in his yellow Fiat Punto, Bunny Jr. in tow. To his son, waiting patiently in the car while he peddles beauty wares and quickies to lonely housewives in the south of England, Bunny is a hero, larger than life. But Bunny himself seems to have only a dim awareness of his son’s existence, viewing his needs as a distraction from the relentless pursuit of sex, alcohol, and drugs.

When his bizarre road trip shades into a final reckoning, Bunny realizes that the revenants of his world—decrepit fathers, vengeful ghosts, jealous husbands, and horned psycho-killers—lurk in the shadows, waiting to exact their toll. At turns dark and humane—and with all the mystery and enigma fans will recognize as Cave’s singular vision—The Death of Bunny Munro questions the nature of sin and redemption, and lays bare the imprints that fathers leave on their sons."

In addition to his previous novel, Cave's book works include two collections of poetry and lyrics, King Ink I and II. He also wrote the screenplay and score (with Bad Seed Warren Ellis) for 2005's The Proposition, starring Guy Pearce and Ray Winstone. He and Ellis composed the soundtrack for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 book, The Road, out this fall.

Check out The Guardian for a video clip of Nick reading from Chapter 12 of The Death of Bunny Munro.

Looking Beyond the 'Gingham Blindfold'

"I stood motionless, overcome by a surge of excitement and nerves. It felt like the first time I interviewed a big-name act for Record Shelves. I took a breath, swallowed and put a foot forward, followed by the other. I didn’t look back at the irritated old woman behind me. I didn’t look both ways when I crossed the street. I just moved before I figured out how to stop myself." -- Eric Rohr, Gingham Blindfold: A Novel

Gingham Blindfold, the debut novel from Northern California-based author Eric Rohr, is an impressive look at how idealized notions about life can sometimes lead to disappointment ... and remarkable discovery. Main character Ethan Ames is an eager twenty-something looking to have that great life upon graduating from college. We've all been there ... surely most of us can sympathize with the identity crises and personal hardships he endures while in search for that perfect job (music critic), perfect girl (who's Indira?), perfect world and perfect self. We know that perfect just doesn't exist.

Honestly, Gingham Blindfold: A Novel is incredibly funny and at times, intense. I absolutely fell in love with this book and you will too. Read on for more about Rohr's novel, his thoughts on fatherhood and where he got the inspiration for Liz's Porsche 356 Speedster.

What inspired the story of Gingham Blindfold?
It was 2001, and I had just moved out to California with my then-girlfriend (and now lovely wife) Lara. I was jobless for the first few weeks, so I spent a lot of my time driving my beloved Honda del Sol to the beach or consuming excessive amounts of freshly blended margaritas while listening to The Breeders. Both of these activities were excellent ways to contemplate life, love and the notion that I should write a novel.

The story went through a few iterations as I figured out how to do the work of writing a novel while confronting the many diversions and distractions of post-college life. (I think I labored over the first 80 pages for five years). Originally, Indira was a German model who had died in a fiery car crash two years before Ethan learned of her identity and ... well, that was just all very complicated and melodramatic. So I was stalled. But in 2003, I read P.J. Huffstutter's excellent article about California's unregulated pornography industry in the Los Angeles Times, and I knew I had the basis for Indira.


I think most everyone in their twenties and early thirties has a bit of Ethan Ames inside of us. What do you hope readers get from Ethan Ames?
Well, it's very much a coming-of-age story, classic examples of which are Catcher in the Rye and more recently, Less Than Zero. Ethan's experience in a lot of ways mirrored my own. I had been an intern at Rolling Stone, I had been published in the magazine and on its Website, and I had worked full-time at the local daily while still in school. I assumed with all of that under my belt that I was just going to land tons of great writing gigs. Of course, that wasn't nearly the case. California's a big place, and my resume didn't amount to much. It left me in a kind of limbo. I had this feeling that all I had worked for was for naught, and the feeling that I had messed up, that I should switch jobs or fields or maybe go back to school nagged me for a long time.

And I think that's the experience of a lot of twenty-somethings. They spend four or five years in college building up this dream of instant success, and with it, total life satisfaction, and when they graduate and find that everything they have ever wanted is not just waiting for them at the drive-thru, it sends them reeling. Ethan represents that experience we all had of wanting, wanting, wanting, but getting nothing. Or at least, not getting what we wanted in the way we had idealized.

Now for something a little more personal. You're a writer, a massive music fan and a dedicated family man. What makes you YOU?
But what makes me me? I do love music, though I'm consuming less of it now than when I was a wannabe rock journalist. I find myself wrestling with the eternal question of the aging hipster: is it the music nowadays, or is it me?

My wife gave birth to our first child, Jonas, last October, so hanging out with him joyfully takes up most of our spare time. He's already talking up a baby-babble storm, and I'm pretty sure he'll be outsmarting both me (easily) and my wife some day soon.

I also obsess over sports cars, which seems so un-literary until you read A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter. It's no accident that Liz drives a Porsche 356 Speedster in Gingham Blindfold. I mean, why not put your dream car in your novel? Where else can you indulge your fantasies?

Gingham Blindfold: A Novel is available via paperback and Kindle at Amazon. You can also purchase it at Target and CreateSpace.

[Book cover design: Eric Rohr]
[Cover photograph: Dylan Ellis/Corbis]

Hooky Tells All About the Hacienda?

Oh Hooky is at it again. According to Prefix Magazine, New Order bassist Peter Hook is readying the release of his long-awaited story about the Hacienda, the club New Order co-owned with Factory Records head, the late Tony Wilson.

Apparently Simon and Schuster is set to release Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club come October 5, but it might not ever see the light of day should Hook's lawyers not get the go-ahead. After all, Hooky talks about how the Hacienda was a complete disaster and then some. There's A LOT of then some.

Late last month, Hooky took to his MySpace page to blog about the hoopla surrounding the release. It seems as if the post has been deleted, however Prefix Magazine got it all. Read on for a snippet.

21 May 2009

I got this back the other day and thought it read Almost as well as the book? never i hear you say ? well here it is for your delectation......... the first one to get all the names under the xxxx's right wins a copy of Bad Lieutenants first record, the second gets two copies ! Only joking i actually really liked the track bernard did on that Sky show, credit where its due. love hooky

L I B E L R E P O R T
HACIENDA: HOW NOT TO RUN A CLUB
By Peter Hook with Claude Flowers

Introduction

This is the account by Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order of his involvement in and subsidising of the Hacienda Club in Manchester. As there is a considerable amount of drug-taking and involvement of gangs with resulting violence and a fair degree of professional incompetence in the running of the club, there are obviously potential defamation issues. What one has to consider with defamation is whether the tendency of the words would make third parties think the worse of a person written about as a result of reading them. One working test is whether the man in the street in the complainant's position would like that said about them? One should ask that question separately before going on to consider whether it can be justified or whether it is fair comment or whether there is no likelihood at all of the person in question complaining. If one blurs the two exercises, one may end up simply by making an assumption that a person will not complain only to find that the assumption is erroneous. If therefore it is said of X that they were taking illegal drugs, that is defamatory. The best way of approaching it is to ask oneself how would one deal with a complaint from X ie can one prove that what was said was true and also what are the probabilities of X complaining ie was he a notorious drug-taker? One should bear in mind that the burden of proving the truth a defamatory allegation by admissible evidence rests upon the author and publishers...

Portrait of Art Spiegelman

Many thanks to Julie for bringing this to my attention! The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit is featuring one of my favorite graphic novelists, Art Spiegelman. The "Portrait of the Artist As a %@&*!" exhibit -- on display May 29-July 28 -- features his earlier works entitled Breakdowns.

Originally published in 1978, Breakdowns gave comics a socially acceptable name and landed in mainstream libraries and universities. What Spiegelman did was test the spheres of comics, while also redefining their social impact as a form of art. MOCAD's exhibit will showcase several excerpts from this iconic book as well as Spiegelman's many films, drawings and mementos. In his near 40 years in the art world, he's constantly questioned life and its behavior. That's exactly why I love his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Maus.

"It's a manifesto, a diary, a crumpled suicide note and a still-relevant love letter to the medium I adore." -- Art Spiegelman

If you find yourself in the Motor City this Friday (May 29), head over to MOCAD (4454 Woodward Avenue, Detroit) for the opening of this fantastic exhibit! At 8pm, the event will open with performances from Pittsburgh/San Diego dance duo, Extreme Animals, and Detroit-based hardcore funk outfit, Will Sessions.

Get your hands on the recently reprinted Breakdowns hardcover here.

[Photo courtesy of MOCAD: Art Spiegelman, Breakdowns (Process sketch)]

Feelings

I heart illustrator Marc Johns. His drawings are simple, fun and incredibly witty. He also released his first book, Serious Drawings, last month via teNeues. Be sure to check him out here or via his blog

I Love Love Love 'Unlovable'

For about five years now, I've followed Esther Pearl Watson's hilarious comic, Unlovable, in the back pages of Bust magazine. Lucky for us, the Los Angeles-based artist and illustrator has collected these strips for a 400-plus graphic novel, published by the Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books. The cover has glitter, too. LOVE it!

For those who aren't familiar, Unlovable is loosely based on a high school diary Watson found in a gas station bathroom while traveling from Las Vegas to San Francisco. Set in the late 1980s, you get to know about the teenage trials and tribulations of sophomore Tammy Pierce. Pierce's earnest attempts to fit in at school and with her friends is funny and endearing, and sometimes embarrassing. You root for Tammy as she swoons over the hottest boy in school, and you high-five her as she puts off the immature antics of her kid brother, Willis. You also cringe when she tries too hard to impress her BFF, Kimberly Conway and her pizza boy boyfriend, Erick. You wanna help her out in gym class (C'mon everyone, we all hated gym!). Through it all, Tammy Pierce keeps a sense of humor. Don't deny it, you remember it well. Those days were such a pain in the ass, but they were the best.


(Image 1: Bust Feb/March '08)
(Image 2: Bust Aug/Sept '07)

He Knows I'd Love To ...

Ah yes, another Morrissey book for those loyal fans out there. This time, author Dickie Felton captures 30 real-life chance meetings between the adored one and his forever adoring fans in his book, The Day I Met Morrissey, out May 11th via Bootle Bruiser Books. If you don't know already, there are no fans like Morrissey fans. To say they worship him is pretty much an understatement. Last month, while attending the Webster Hall show, my friend Briana and I were laughing how we're still as mad for the Moz now as we were as teenagers. The closest I've ever come to meeting Morrissey was when he and security scurried past the merch table after the Webster Hall show. In 1997, when catching former Smiths frontman at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, my old college roommate and I chased Spencer Cobrin and Johnny Bridgewood across the street to their hotel. They seemed to have enjoyed that. We just said hi.

Maybe one day? HA!

In other related Morrissey news, "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" will be the second single from his latest LP, Years of Refusal. Out April 27th in the UK, live versions of "This Charming Man, "Best Friend on the Payroll" and "I Keep Mine Hidden" are also included. Click here to order.

Mr. E's Beautiful Blues

If you haven't gotten your hands on Things the Grandchildren Should Know, the debut book by EELS frontman Mark Oliver Everett, DO IT NOW! Everett's (aka 'A Man Called E' or 'E') memoir is a touching masterpiece, one marking his survival of losing his entire family, while also crafting out an impressive career as a singer/songwriter. I absolutely fell in love with this book, so much that I read it one day.

Everett's Dad was physicist Hugh Everett III, who founded the quantum mechanics theory as we know it, and at 19, Everett found his father lying dead in his bed after a heart attack. His sister Elizabeth endured years of schizophrenia, and committed suicide in 1996, while Everett's mother Nancy, died of lung cancer two years later. Sadly, his cousin Jennifer Lewis perished during the September 11th attacks in 2001, for she was a flight attendant on the plane that struck The Pentagon.

Despite experiencing more than his fair share of emotional turmoil, Everett achieved critical success with the EELS' debut album, 1996's Beautiful Freak. Quirky first single, "Novocaine for the Soul" was a buzz at MTV, college radio and mainstream alternative radio. (That song reminds me of my freshman year at Michigan State University so much ... it blared from nearly every dorm room at East Wilson Hall that fall). Everett has gone on to release a host of great albums, including Electro-Shock Blues (1998), Souljacker (2001), Shootenanny! (2003), and Blinking Lights And Other Revelations (2005), and my favorite, Daisies of the Galaxy (2000). His music has also appeared in film (Yes Man, all three Shrek movies, American Beauty) and television (Queer as Folk, Homicide: Life on the Street, Scrubs).

While reading this book, I was reminded of my conversation with Everett in spring of 2000, and even then, Everett was super cool. He was boyishly sweet, yet with a fun twinge of sarcasm. We joked about the kids who went ape-shit and set fire to Woodstock the previous summer. Everett was playful in his remark, which was something along the lines of "drunk kids should stay out of the mud."

No one should be forced to be the last of the family line before the age of 50. But in this book, it's Everett's candid sense of humor, both wry and charming, that leaves you with a sense of hope.

Thanks to this book, I got reacquainted with the beautiful music of the EELS. His simplistic lyrical candor is incredibly loaded, it tugs at everyone's heartstrings. Mark Oliver Everett is just and honest-to-goodness good guy, and one who consistently delivers incredible music in this hyper-sensitive and shifty music world.

Do yourself a favor and fall in love with Things the Grandchildren Should Know. It'll warm your heart.

**EELS' seventh LP, Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire, is slated for a June 2 release via Vagrant Records. First single, "Fresh Blood," will available on iTunes with the B-side "Devil's Dog" April 28.

[Mark Oliver Everett photo courtesy of eelstheband.com]

Postcards From...Dean Wareham

Grombleberries recently shared this fantastic piece on ex-Luna frontman and ex-ex-Galaxie 500 vocalist/guitarist Dean Wareham. Men's Vogue published an except from his forthcoming new book, Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance, available March 13th via Penguin Press.

Dude paints a pretty honest picture of breaking his first wife's heart and coming to grips to losing the family life he'd grown to love. On the flipside, he fell for Britta Phillips a.k.a his other half in Dean & Britta and major indie rock babe.

For more indie pop goodness, check out Dean & Britta's "Words You Used To Say"

Get Sassy!

If you were a teenage girl, coming of age in a modern world during those weird days we call the 1990s, then you were probably consulting the pages of Sassy magazine. For me, Sassy provided me with the real deal while Seventeen, YM, and 'Teen played it a little safe. Don't get me wrong, I loved all those magazines, but Sassy had the extra oomph of cool. From 1988 to 1994, Sassy's message was front and center: being who you are is cool enough! Raise your hand if you still own that beloved Kurt & Courtney issue from April 1992?

Sassy fans, unite! Marisa Meltzer and Kara Jesella know how much Sassy ruled, and have written a book about it. HOORAY! This April, How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time will be released via Faber and Faber. For more bad assness, check out their MySpace page!