maxonemillion » Literary

Bukowski, “Some People”

Max Sidman — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:05:30 +0000

Some people never go crazy.
Me, sometimes I’ll lie down behind the couch
for 3 or 4 days.
They’ll find me there.
It’s Cherub, they’ll say, and
they pour wine down my throat
rub my chest
sprinkle me with oils.

Then, I’ll rise with a roar,
rant, rage -
curse them and the universe
as I send them scattering over the
lawn.
I’ll feel much better,
sit down to toast and eggs,
hum a little tune,
suddenly become as lovable as a
pink
overfed whale.

Some people never go crazy.
What truly horrible lives
they must lead.

- Charles Bukowski, b. 8/16/1920

A Long, Slow Screw: Reading by Eugene S. Robinson

Max Sidman — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:10:16 +0000

I don’t generally get down with the literary scene. I’m a relatively slow novel reader (my bookish voracity centers more around magazines and journalistic works), I’m not into snapping my fingers for applause (I don’t really even know if people seriously do that shit or if it’s just some crappy stereotype joke…or is that a poetry thing? Whatever…), and I never think to myself, I wonder if such-and-such author is going to tour on this book. I guess I’m just a knucklehead music fan (and musician); if beer and ear plugs aren’t involved, it’s likely you won’t find me there.

I broke character last Thursday 10/14 and headed to the Hemlock Tavern in SF to see friend and author Eugene S. Robinson read from his latest novel, A Long, Slow Screw. Though, given that the Hemlock is traditionally a live music venue, and Eugene is, more than an author, known as the frontman of archetypal art metal band Oxbow, the scene wasn’t all that far out of my comfort zone. Anyway…

Joined on stage by spur-of-the-moment ambient noise duo guitarist Chris Corona (Floating Goat, Orb of Confusion) and bass player Monte Vallier (Jet Black Crayon, Swell), Eugene sipped briefly from a glass of red wine, removed his beanie and launched into a passage from the book, not reading it, but impressively reciting it from memory. Eugene is a showman — an actor and performer (if you’ve ever seen Oxbow, you know) — so there was a bit of drama in his recitation; nothing over the top but just enough to make it engaging and appropriately intense for a scene from a book about theft, graft and the general gritty ugliness of the NYC criminal underworld of the early 1970s.

The performance was brief, only about 30 minutes, but it was worth it. Here are some photos (see ‘em at full size over on Flickr)…

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Bonus: Someone shot this video of Oxbow performing an acoustic version of “The Geometry of Business” at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Looks like a cool space, definitely a cool song (you should get the album, The Narcotic Story)…

Words: Anthony Bourdain

Max Sidman — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:06:01 +0000

“Too much respect for your elders is, historically, almost always a bad thing. I want my daughter to love me. I don’t necessarily want her to share my taste for Irish ale or Hawaiian bud.”

— Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Words: Nick Hornby

Max Sidman — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:15:01 +0000

“Keeping in touch with the things that help us feel alive – music, books, movies, even the theatre, if, mysteriously, you are that way inclined – becomes a battle, and one that many of us lose, as we get older; I don’t think enough of our cultural pundits, people who write about that stuff for a living, fully understand this. It’s one thing to have an opinion on Little Boots remixes if you earn your living hanging about in cyberspace; quite another if you’re a full-time teacher with three kids.”

— Nick Hornby, author, writing for the Guardian UK.