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Archive for the ‘Roberto Bolaño’ Category

Roberto Bolaño–“Self-Portrait at Twenty Years” (Harper’s, November 2007) & “My Life in the Tubes of Survival” (Boston Review September/October 2007)

Posted in Adventure, bolanobolano.com, Boston Review, cuppa joe, Death, Demons, Dromedary Records, Foreign Books, Laura Healy, New Yorker, Poetry, Prison, R.E.M., Roberto Bolaño, They Might Be Giants, Translation, Violence, War on February 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CUPPA JOE-Busy Work EP (1993).

This EP was one of the first releases on the Dromedary label.  It contains 3 songs.  Whenever I think of cuppa joe, I think of them being a somewhat lightweight band; charming and fun, but lightweight.

And I think most of this is due to the lead singer’s voice.  It’s quite delicate and veers towards, but never quite reaches whiny territory.  Comparisons to They Might Be Giants are not unfounded.

But the thing is that, musically, the band plays a wonderfully diverse selection of styles, some of which emphasize the singer’s delicate voice, and others which play in a wonderful contrast to it.

Take their brilliant first song on the EP, “Bottlerocket”.  The chords are masterful and intriguing as the song opens, moving towards a fast, propulsive verse and an insanely catchy chorus (with backing vocal harmonies!).  It’s a tremendous song, and cuppa joe could easily rest on their laurels after creating such a masterpiece.

The other two songs on the EP are more of that delicate style that I think of as distinctly cuppa joe.  “French Toast” is a very quiet little ditty about, yes french toast.  It’s catchy and seems to be an ideal b-side, sounding almost like a demo.

The third track, “Surface Area” starts out almost as an homage to R.E.M. “I am Superman” with the jangly guitars and all, but the jazzy bassline totally changes the tone of the song.  Overall it splits the difference of the other two, being a fully realized song that gets a surprise lift from loud and raucous guitars about halfway through.

It’s a really great representation of this cool indie band.  And it will be available for download in a few days right here.

[READ: February 17, 2010] 2 Poems

These are the first two Bolaño pieces that I found while looking around online.  These poems are very likely published elsewhere.  However, since I’m not a big reader of poetry, I don’t think I’ll be reading his poetry collections in full.

Both poems were translated by Laura Healy. While it’s impossible to know if she did a good job of translation (since I can’t do it myself), all I can comment on is the quality of the English words. And in both cases, she chooses very exhilarating words to convey these images. (more…)

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Daniel Zalewski–“Vagabonds: Roberto Bolaño And His Fractured Masterpiece” (New Yorker, March 26, 2007)

Posted in Adventure, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Communists, Dada, Daniel Zalewski, Death, Drugs, Foreign Books, Harper's, History, Marriage (Happy), Military, Nazis, New Yorker, Political Humor, Roberto Bolaño, Smarty Pants, Translation on February 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

[READ: February 18, 2010] “Vagabonds”

After reading Infinite Jest, I got totally het up about reading all of David Foster Wallace’s works. Of course, I discovered that he had an awful lot of uncollected works (which were all conveniently gathered in one location by a much bigger DFW fan than I). Since I’m reading 2666 as part of an online group, I wondered if I would be similarly obsessed with Bolaño’s output.

Well first, I’m not loving 2666 as much as I did Infinite Jest (but I’m only 1/3 of the way through, so that may change).  But, on a more literal note, there seems to be very few short stories literred around the place. A very cursory search revealed a couple things in Harper’s and a couple things in the New Yorker, but very little else.  Now, I assume that’s primarily because his stories need to be translated first, so there’s possibly a bunch of uncollected Spanish stories, but as for English ones?  Well, let’s just say that scouring the globe for a complete list of short stories in English that are not part of a previously released collections is something of a dificult task.

In fact, further investigation into the stories from The New Yorker and Harper’s shows that these stories are either already released or soon to be published in translated collections.

One of the things I found in my search was this article which is more or less a review of Bolano’s, The Savage Detectives.  However, in true New Yorker fashion, it is also a detailed overview of Bolaño’s life as well. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 4] The Part About Amalfitano (2004)

Posted in Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Boredom, Colin Meloy, Death, Demons, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Infinite Zombies, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Newspapers, Roberto Bolaño, Scholarship, Set at School, Supernatural, Translation, Violence on February 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SAM COOKE-Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964 (2003).

After reviewing Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke, I decided to check out Sam Cooke himself, since I said I didn’t know anything about him.  Well, it turns out that I was totally wrong about that.  I checked out this disc from the library and was rather surprised to realize that I knew at least a dozen songs by Cooke.  And not just that he sang songs which I knew–they were his versions that I knew.

Granted some of my knowledge comes from Animal House, but that’s neither here nor there.

I’m not even sure what to classify Cooke’s music as, and maybe it’s not necessary to do so.  Back in the day it would have been played on oldies stations (but they seem to play songs from the 60s and 70s now).  Is it soul, R&B, rock?  I dunno.

So, Sam Cooke sang “You Send Me” (darling, you) “Cupid” (draw back your bow); “(What a) Wonderful World” (don’t know much about history); “Chain Gang” (that’s the sound of the men working on the).  And later songs like “Twisting the Night Away.”

And big surprise, who knew he wrote the great Cat Stevens hit: “Another Saturday Night” and the party anthem “Having a Party” (hey mr dj keep those records playing).

This disc has 30 song and runs about 80 minutes, and I admit that at least half of them were just okay.  The genre really doesn’t appeal to me all that much (although I can clearly tell that he was a pioneer writer (with a great voice to boot)).  I could see myself listening to (and enjoying) this disc as background music, and little else.

Nevertheless, it was really cool to learn that it was the same guy who sang all those songs, and I can now put a name to the songs in Animal House and other 50’s era movies.

[READ: Week of February 8, 2010] 2666 [pg 163-228]

This week’s read is all about Amalfitano.  In fact, this week’s read was an entire “Part” and to learn all about Amalfitano in one go.  This Part exists irrespective of the previous part, although there will be one single item that we saw in Book 1 that indicates that this Part is set before the action of Part 1.  Well, actually, it is all clearly set before Part 1, but there is one detail that carriers over from there.

As the book opens, Amalfitano wonders what the hell he is doing in Santa Teresa.  And that question is never really answered satisfactorily for him or for us (we learn why he is currently there, but he seems to dislike it so much there’s no really compelling reason why he stays). (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 3] The Part About the Critics (3 of 3) (2004)

Posted in Art, Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Boredom, Culture Shock, Dreams, Drinking, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Infinite Zombies, Muse, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Queen, Radiohead, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Smarty Pants, Translation, Travel, Universities, Violence on February 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MUSE-The Resistance (2009).

If someone were to create a band that tickled all of my fancy spots, on paper it would be Muse.  Vocals like Thom Yorke from Radiohead.  Heavy heavy guitars.  And yet, not afraid to have prog rock keyboard sections.  On top of that, throw in pretentious titles (how about a subtitle in French?), or, just for kicks, a three part suite called “Exogenesis: Symphony.”  Oh, sure and let’s just throw in a clarinet solo in one of the songs too.  Okay, so that’s Muse.

I’ve been a fan of Muse for quite a few years, before they really broke in the U.S. (Origin of Symmetry being a particular favorite).  I’m still amazed that they’ve had success here, given their proclivities towards excess.  But more power to them.

For some reason, this disc (despite all the pros in the first paragraph) didn’t really grab me that much at first.  The first single “Uprising,” is awesome: heavy, rocking, over the top choruses, everything you could want in a pseudo political rebellion type song.  But somewhere after that I felt the disc drifted a bit.

Further listens changed my mind though, and I think that “United States of Eurasia” is great while “Guiding Light” (which could easily be mistaken for Queen) is fantastic.  In fact the entire end of the album, “MK Ultra,” “I Belong to You/Mon Coeur S’Ouvre a Ta Voix” and the symphony are a wonderfully decadent 25 minutes of music.

Clearly Muse isn’t for everyone, but I’m really pleased that they’re finding their fans.

[READ: Week of February 1, 2010] 2666 [pg 102-159]

This week’s reading contains a lot of dreams and it often felt like a dream while reading it.

We pick up right where we left off, with El Cerdo telling our friends about his visit with Archimboldi.  We learn a little about why Archimboldi called El Cerdo, but nothing about what he was doing in Mexico City. It turns out that El Cerdo knows Archimboldi’s publisher Mrs Buber. (And Dieter Hellfield speculates that she, herself, may be Archimboldi. [I secretly wondered if he might be a woman given that earlier in the book, it was mentioned that [part of what was so unusual about Archimboldi’s name was that it was a feminine form of the name.]  However, his incredible height has definitely thrown me. And of course, since El Cerdo reports to have talked to him, it seems very unlikely at this point.) (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 2] The Part About the Critics (2 of 3) (2004)

Posted in Art, Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Culture Shock, Dreams, Infinite Zombies, Mystery, Natasha Wimmer, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Sonic Youth, Translation, Universities, Violence on February 1, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THURSTON MOORE-Trees Outside the Academy (2009).

Thurston Moore is a founding member of Sonic Youth.  He’s put out several solo albums over the year, although I feel like only two really “count,” Psychic Hearts and this one.

Anyone familiar with Sonic Youth knows that the band has pop sensibilities but that they bury their poppiness under layers of guitars or noise or other things.  And everyone knows that Thurston is one of the main noisemakers (you don’t put screwdrivers under you guitar strings and expect to break the top 40).  So it may come as some surprise just how accessible and poppy this record is.  In fact, I first heard one of the songs on a Radio compilation (true it ‘s an awesomely hip radio station…88.5 WXPN Philadelphia), but I couldn’t get over how supremely sweet the song “Fri/End” was.

And, although there are a few noisy moments on the disc (Thurston loves his feedback squalls), the large majority of the disc is really catchy almost folky indie music (acoustic guitar and violins!).  But it’s important to mention that Dino Jr’s J. Masics is also on hand and that he plays some wild solos on about half of the tracks (most of the longer instrumental pieces).  Like on the the title track, a nearly 6 minute instrumental that has a great melody; the middle section just screams with a great Mascis solo.

Okay, so technically that’s not the final track.  “thurston @13” is a home recording from when the man was 13 years old.  It’s him recoding various things around his house (spraying Lysol, dropping coins) with hilariously pompous 13 year old narration.  It reminded me of me when I was kid and got hold of the family tape recorder–I used to record myself doing all kinds of weird kid things (I wish I still had those tapes).  It’s just silliness, but I really enjoyed it.

Even if you’re not particularly a fan of Sonic Youth, this is a worthwhile addition to any record collection.

[READ: Week of January 25, 2010] 2666 [pg 52-102]

As this second section opens, we see Norton and Morini still together during his visit.  She takes him to an area of London that has become trendy, and features great restaurants.  She relates the story of the first famous person to move there, a painter named Edwin Johns.  Johns is famous mostly for one painting but its notoriety led it to sell for a ton of money.

As this week’s reading draws to a close, we get a wonderful parallel story about this very painter.  Espinoza, Morini and Pelletier travel to the sanitarium where the painter is currently residing.  Morini is compelled to ask the man one very specific question.

For in the story that Norton related, she revealed that Johns chopped off his hand, had it embalmed, and placed it at the center of his one masterpiece painting.  This painting became the centerpiece of a very successful exhibition.  Morini is queasy during Norton’s story and when he later confronts Johns at the sanitarium, he demands to know why Johns cut off his hand.  As this section draws to a close, Johns reveals to Morini that the answer is, simply, money.

But fear not, Archimboldi fans, the man is not forgotten, and the next revelation about him comes from an unlikely source.  A Serbian writer reveals some tactile information that sheds light on Archimboldi himself.  One of the details is that he bought a plane ticket flight but never showed up for the flight.  The Serbian writer believes it was because he canceled the flight under the pseudonym and then rebooked the flight under his real name.  Although Pelletier published the article in his journal, further scrutiny by himself and Espinoza lead them to doubt its credibility or use. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–2666 [Week 1] The Part About the Critics (1 of 3) (2004)

Posted in Big Books, bolanobolano.com, Books about writers, Foreign Books, Infinite Summer, Infinite Zombies, Natasha Wimmer, Pixies, Research, Roberto Bolaño, Scholarship, Sex, Starlight Mints, Translation, Travel on January 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: STARLIGHT MINTS-Change Remains (2009).

This is the fourth disc from the Starlight Mints.  Their music is hard to describe at any time, but this disc complicates things even further.

The number of genres they cram into this disc is impossible to count.  However, there seems to be a very heavy concentration of a sort of punk/disco feel.  The disco beats (and telltale bass lines) are very strong yet the noisy guitar and instrumentation removes the disco sheen.

And that overall sense sums up the disc fairly well.  It’s got this poppy aspect to it, but there’s a sinister undercurrent.  In my review of their earlier discs, I described them a having a Pixies influence.  And while that’s still true (the sinister part (and the vocals definitely sound like Black Francis)) their sound has evolved away from a grungy rock into a more keyboardy feel.

The opener is a short instrumental that sounds like a cartoony James Bond theme.  The next few tracks have a good 90s alt rock feel (although “Zoomba” mixes it up with some jazzy horns).   But it’s the second half of the disc where the disco sounds really come to the fore.

And, lyrically, the band is all over the place.  It’s always fun to see what’s coming around the corner (as when the rocking “gallop along” comes out of an otherwise mellow dancey track).   Starlight Mints are definitely not trying to sell billions of records, but they are no doubt building a delightful niche fan base. And I’m one of them.

[READ: Week of January 18, 2010] 2666 [pg 1-51]

And so begins the Infinite Summer-like reading of 2666.  I don’t know if this reading group has a catchy title yet (I can’t even think of a jokey one right now), so for now, 2666 it is.

I don’t really know what I’m in for with this book.  And as such, I’m not entirely sure what thee posts are going to turn into.  Unlike with Infinite Jest, which was confusing from the get-go, this novel starts out in a rather straightforward manner.  So, I think for the foreseeable future I’ll do some plot summary and comments.

2666 is divided into 5 books (which were originally supposed to be published independently).  The first book is 161 pages and is called The Part About the Critics.

I had no idea what this book was about.  I’d heard it was a great, difficult read, and that was enough for me.  I like to go into books fairly blindly, so that’s nothing unusual.  The back cover blurb says that it centers around Santa Teresea, which I suspect has something to do with Juarez, Mexico.  So, okay, I get the idea that we’re in for a harrowing tale about murdered women in Mexico.

So, imagine my surprise when the book opens with fifty-plus pages about 4 scholars of a little-known German writer.  And imagine my further surprise when the language of the book is fairly easy to read. (more…)

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Infinite Summer: Roberto Bolaño–2666

Posted in bolanobolano.com, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Summer, Infinite Zombies, Roberto Bolaño on January 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

I was just about to Publish this post below.  Then I searched for links to the sites mentioned, and I stumbled across an article from the LA Times which said that the cool folks at Infinite Zombies and This Bolaño group are basically doing the same thing (only better).  And, since my idea is fairly half-assed, I’m just going to follow them instead.  Thank you guys!  And you’re even starting right when I wanted to!  Huzzah!

Their schedule is here.  So count me in! (more…)

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Periodical: New Yorker

Posted in 18th Century, 19th Century, A.M. Homes, Adam Gopnik, Airlines, Alice Munro, Annie Proulx, Barack Obama, Book Reviews, Books about music, Books about writers, Chris Ware, Colm Tóibín, Consumerism, Daniel Clowes, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, David Sedaris, Deb Olin Unferth, Ernest Hemingway, Essays, Fables, Fantasy, Film & TV, Funny (ha ha), George Saunders, Haruki Murakami, Heidi Julavits, Ian Frazier, Jeffrey Eugenides, Joshua Ferris, Joyce Carol Oates, LGBTQ, Lorrie Moore, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Mary Gaitskill, Memoirs, Music, New Yorker, Noir, Paul Theroux, Political Humor, Puzzles, Racism, Rick Moody, Robert Coover, Roberto Bolaño, Roddy Doyle, Russia, Salman Rushdie, Sasha Frere-Jones, Sex, Sherman Alexie, Short Story, Simon Rich, Smarty Pants, Sports, Supernatural, T.C. Boyle, Technology, The Believer, The Future, Threats, Ui, Universities, Violence, War, WMDs, Woody Allen, Zadie Smith on August 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

ny1It took me going to Seattle to learn about The New Yorker magazine.  I was visiting my friend Rob and he was really surprised that I didn’t read the magazine all the time (my reading always seems to surprise people, see The Believer.)

Upon my first read of the magazine, I was surprised to see that the first twenty pages or so are taken up with upcoming shows: films, concerts, sports, everything.  I actually wondered how much content would be left after all that small print.

Since then I have learned that Sasha Frere-Jones writes columns in here quite ofuiten.  For reasons known only to my head, I was convinced that Sasha was a black woman.  Little did I realize that he is not.  And that he was in a band that I have a CD of called Ui.  He is an excellent resource for all things music, whether I like the artist he’s talking about or not.  Some entries are here.  This audio entry about Auto-Tune is simply fantastic.

But of course, there’s a lot of content.  And the first thing you get are letters.  I don’t think I have EVER looked at the letters section. (more…)

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Roy Blount Jr.–Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

Posted in 180-G's, Books about writers, Carl Kasell, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Digression, Dip-in Books, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Les Claypool, Negativland, Peter Sagal, Poetry, Political Humor, Primus, Roberto Bolaño, Roy Blount Jr., Set at School, Set in New Jersey!, Smarty Pants, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, WRSU 88.7 FM--New Brunswick, NJ on May 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

juiceSOUNDTRACK: WRSU 89.7 FM.

wrsuComing straight out of Rutgers University in New Brunswick (my grad school alma mater), this was the first station that I happened upon while I was scanning the lower numbers on the radio station.

The brief set that I heard was amazing.

I heard the end of a song that I didn’t know, but which I found very intriguing. It was followed by Les Claypool’s new track “Mushroom Men” (which was wonderful) and then the 180-Gs doing an a capella rendition of Negativland’s “Christianity is Stupid.” I had heard about this band but never heard one of their recordings.  First, if you’ve never heard Negativland, then you’re missing out.  They are a surreal band of audio collagists, playing with sounds and samples and all kinds of weird things.  To have an a capella rendition of a five minute song, the bulk of which is a spoken loudspeakered voice saying “Christianity is Stupid” goes beyond bizarre into the sublime. I have tuned to this station from time to time and each DJ plays his or her own weird and often wonderful thing. What a great experience.

[READ: May 14, 2009] Alphabet Juice

My mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas because she heard about it on NPR and thought I’d like it. And boy was she right.

waitI hadn’t heard of this book, although actually I’m sure I had–but I ignored it.  Roy Blount Jr is on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s news quiz, almost every week.   We love the show because it is funny and it tests your awareness of what’s going on in the world (both serious and ridiculous).  And we try our best to get our kids to let us listen to it each week.  (more…)

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McSweeney’s#1 [Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern (or “Gegenshein”) Autumn 1998 “The Ski Instructor”]

Posted in 19th Century, Bill Clinton, Books about writers, Christmas on Mars, Consumerism, David Foster Wallace, Egyptology, Essays, Flash Fiction, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Glasgow Phillips, John Hodgman, Komar and Melamid, Led Zeppelin, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Meta, Neal Pollack, Racism, Rick Moody, Roberto Bolaño, Sarah Vowell, Short Story, Smarty Pants, The Flaming Lips, War, Zev Borow on January 13, 2009| 3 Comments »

mcsweeneys1SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Hear It Is (1986).

hear-it-isI’ve claimed that I love the Lips, but then I was very harsh about their cover of “White Christmas,” and I noted that I wouldn’t listen to the soundtrack of  Christmas on Mars very much.  So, I felt I owed them some love.  But my recollection of their early stuff was that it was pretty weird and hard to listen to.

And yet, I proved myself wrong.  Hear It Is is not the Flaming lips of the early 2000’s.  It’s almost like the bratty younger brother of that band.  Only Wayne and Michael Ivins are present, and the band is pretty much just guitar, bass and drums.  The guitar is distorted and noisy (except when it’s acousticy and mellow).  The album doesn’t sound too far out of place for a college radio record in the late 80s.

Except of course that Wayne and the boys are pretty out there. The music is psychedelic, acid inspired and quite punk.  So you get songs like “Jesus Shootin’ Heroin” a seven minute epic of heavy riffs and screaming, but also of background “Ahhhh’s”.  You also get “With You” a song that starts out like a pretty, acoustic ballad. “Godzilla Flick” is a ballad like no other.  And yet despite all of the freakouts and noise, really at this stage what you get is a Led Zeppelin inspired heavy garage band having a lot of fun.  To say that this is going to blow your mind would be unfair, but to anyone who says the early stuff is unlistenable, they are totally wrong.   Hear It Is is sloppy, punky and a little ridiculous, the ideal incubator for what will become the Lips of 2000.

This CD comes with a cover of “Summertime Blues.”  This disc was reissued along with their initial EP and some bonus tracks on the disc Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid.

[READ: 1998 and January 10, 2009] McSweeney’s #1

I have been reading McSweeney’s since its inception.  (My copy of this issue even has the two page typed letter that explains the failure of Might magazine and the origins of this one. However, it’s been over ten years since I read the first issues.  Given my new perspective on McSweeney’s, and how I read just about everything they release, I thought it was about time to go back to the beginning and proceed through the issues until I meet up where I first started reviewing them.

Issue #1 has many features that are absent in later issues:

First is the cover.  This cover is simply filled with words; practically littered with them.  There are subtitles, there are jokes, there’s all sorts of things (I mean, just look at the full title of this issue).

Second is the letters column.  The difference with this letters column compared to most publications is that they are all (or mostly) nonsense.  One comes from an author whose piece is accepted into the issue (Morgan Phillips).  Another is a funny/silly letter from Sarah Vowell.  And there’s a letter to his cousin from John Hodgman (whose comic potential may not have been tapped at this point?). (more…)

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