p.s. Hey. Between having a crappy-ish camera and forgetting quite often to pull it out, this slideshow isn't so hot or comprehensive, but there you go for what it's worth. I'm out of NYC now and visiting a friend. We had some internet issues here this morning, but they seem to be solved, so I think things will be okay blog-wise for the next couple of days. I'm starting late today and hoping to catch up quickly with the two days of comments, so let me do that, and apologies for the speeding. Tomorrow I should be able to get started earlier and lope along more or less as per usual rather than via today's leap frogging. ** Yesterday: Heliotrope, Hey, Mark. All's well here. There? ** Tosh, Thanks, man. Well, we're continuing to angle heavily for an LA 'Jerk' gig, and things are going really well with the NYC run, so hopefully. The weird thing is we have pretty solid opportunities arising now in SF and Portland, but the LA venues are still 'thinking about it'. ** Oscar B, I'm going to rush to the Ensor show as soon as I get back. So Mr. Michael is back now, right? One week from today, you'll see me. ** T H O M, Hey. Yeah, that would be really great. Thanks! If you're around here, can you remind me of the show date again? If not, I'll hunt it down. Yeah, it'll be awesome to see you and the gig. ** JW Veldhoen, Oh, that review ... it's just silly and kind of humorous, really. Corll owned/ran a candy factory. Thanks for having 'Jerk's' back, man. ** David Ehrenstein, Mm, I don't know if that's true about Paris nightlife. I'm not a nightlife guy. I haven't heard my friends who do go out a lot complaining at all. Yury and his friends go out a fair amount, and he doesn't seem to have any issues. I imagine the problem was beefed up to make it a story. All I can say is that while I guess I missed the Le Monde piece referenced in the article, I haven't heard anything about this supposed death of Paris' nightlife before. ** SYpHA_69, My 'Dream Police' title came from the Cheap Trick song, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they got it from Burroughs. ** Chris (British), It's the visual simplicity that's so striking. In that example, seemingly so few letters being reordered and reorganized ... I love that. ** Bernard Welt, Sir. ** Pascal, Good news about the late stage novel work. That must feel really good. I'm happy with mine, yeah, but until I finish the whole first draft, I'm not letting myself think too much about the huger issues. I think I'll have a better, more objective read on it in a month or two. ** Tigerare, Yeah, when I was putting together the Dora Maar post, I kept finding things about that band. I paused long enough to watch a bit of a youtube clip or two, and they did seem quite good. The night before the Book Soup gig should work out just fine, so yeah. And it will be awfully cool to see you over there. I guess I think of Paris as half of my home at this point. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Well, Gisele would be the one to ask about the 'Lilya' thing, but I know the particular dreariness was a model Gisele wanted to use, and in an early stage of the piece there was going to be partial soundtrack of that gloomy, Eurotechno music so prevalent in the film. And the main character in our piece is a Russian girl, although her being Russian might not make the final cut. Yeah, I really liked 'Together', and Moodyson's earlier work generally. ** Steevee, Yeah, it seemed to start warming up slightly the day I left. Hope those Verizon guys come through. ** Bill, I'll definitely hit that museum. I'd love to hit it and the WMH, hopefully on the road trip to SF for the reading if we have time. ** Blendin, RIP: Eric Rohmer indeed. That's quite a loss. I love facts and figures, so that sounds great re: the post. My birthday was very lowkey, and I wasn't reminded that it was my birthday very often, apart from on FB, and that was good with me. ** NB, You mentioned the French class, but I don't think you'd signed up for it at that point. Awesome. You can lead me around Paris by the nose. ** No more teenagekicks, Hey, Mark. Yep, I ate both plates to the bone. When I eat, I eat. Thanks a lot about 'Jerk'. That's really ... you know, thanks. The piece I'd most like to bring over -- and I think Gisele feels the same way -- is 'Kindertotenlieder'. That's my favorite of the pieces we've made. Jonathan's voice inhabiting and owning the 'Jerk' text was/is a fascinating thing. I do think/write with a kind of affectless tone and style, I guess, and I was pretty amazed that the text became so much richer and more full when he performed it. I wouldn't have imagined that could work, and yet Jonathan kind of revealed all the secrets of the text without losing any of the secretiveness. Really interesting, yeah. ** Alan, Hey. First, I finally opened the package, and, wow! Thank you so much, man. That's just so kind as well as spot on. And finding the Hummus article was a very funny, poetic moment. The Sunday show was a real good one, yeah, by our standards. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, We got lucky until the NY Times review. Oh, well. 'Them' is hard to describe briefly. It's very much about the early onset of AIDS, the time during which it was made, when pretty much everyone who got HIV died soon after, so it's kind of a sex = terror = death kind of thing. Very nice to see Bendy back in the fold, and one can't be too blond in my book. Quickly, I'll tell you about the day before yesterday. Yesterday itself was just a long taxi/airport/plane/car day. Let me see what I can remember ... not much, ha ha. Some meetings. I went up to my publisher Harper Perennial's place to hang out with the editors and gang there, and that was nice. My editor Michael and the head publicity guy Joseph and I had snacks and drinks at some bar near the office called Papillon. Then I went to the hotel, pow wowed with Gisele, and we went to the theater and did prep stuff 'til show time. The show went well, very over-sold, and there were people sitting on the floor, which makes it hard for Jonathan, so that won't be allowed to happen again. Afterwards, we were all really pooped, so we just went back to the hotel and crashed. That's the very fast, detail-unfriendly version. You, go. ** Justin, Hey. Ziggy returned out of the blue in the early part of the naughts. He was living in Northern California, and we had a bunch of long phone conversations, and it was interesting, but we fell out of touch again before we actually met up. I tried to find Julian years ago, but never could. Last I heard, decades ago, he was living in Paris. I'm not totally sure I understand your question, but I wasn't really waiting on them or expecting them to reenter my life, although I always wonder about them and other people I've written about. I guess I felt like I'd had a complete relationship with them at the time, and we'd diverged in our lives, and that was that. But ... was that what you meant? ** Morgan, Hey, man. What a curious gig. I have a bit of a fairgrounds adoration or fetish or something, so I kind of tingled at the thought. Great to see you, pal. ** Tonyoneill, Yeah, Michael told you're down for the temporary count with the illness thing. Ugh. I hope you're surfacing right around now, and, yeah, next time we'll make up for the non-visiting, for sure. ** Scunnard, Hey! Glad you made it into the UK safely. I'd love to hear more, Wifi signal willing. And hopefully we're on some kind of cusp of meeting up too. ** Bollo, Yeah, it was too bad about my not getting to Ryan McGinley's studio. We were angling for another try the day before I left, but then I stupidly left my iPhone in the hotel and didn't realize I didn't have it with me until late that night, which shows you how many friends I have or something , I guess, ha ha. ** Kier, Yeah, I'm real sad about not getting to see your show. Chelsea was the distant frontier on this trip. Oh, let me ... Everyone, here's Kier: 'to anyone who reads this: i have a comic/zine called Meat Boys (click to see some of it) which i offered up for trade a while back, i still have some copies left! so if anyone's interested, mail me your address (kiermcgregor@gmail.com) and i'll send you a copy, and you can send me something back (a drawing, an old book, a mix cd, a postcard, a photo, whatever).' ** Today: Oscar B, Thanks a lot for the 'Dumbland' day, pal. It went really well, no? ** Bernard Welt, Lovely 'Dumbland' thoughts. True about missing the waiter mini-narrative, but I've constructed a not bad daydream. It really seemed to me that the Times review was the result of a pushed button, yeah. It had that slightly out of sorts tone. ** Stan_cz, Glad you made it, man! And motel WiFi to boot. The San Gabriel Valley? You're okay with being that far away? That's pretty far out there. I hope you end up loving the LA bus system or get yourself a car before too long. Let me/us know what happens on that front. ** Jose, God knows why they think that, man. I guess it's convenient for them, and I guess their own convenience is their main priority? ** Kier, Cool. I'm seeing Sunn0))) in the tiny Point Ephemere club at the beginning of February. Very excited. ** Empty Frame, Like I mentioned to someone up above, I'm not a nightlife kind of guy. Nightlife for me is going to see music or art openings and some cafe visits, etc., so I'm no expert on this, but I don't see or hear about any big difference/problem going on. This supposed death of Paris nightlife is news to me, and I didn't find that article very convincing. It seemed like it was puzzling together some incidents into something vast and conclusive, and I didn't see the evidence. It just seems like a story idea rather than a story. But, again, I'm no judge, although I have nightlife oriented friends, and no one has been talking this 'death of nightlife' talk at all. Innovation ... in music, you mean? I'm not much into hiphop/rap either, but people keep saying there's interesting stuff going on in French hiphop, although when I hear this supposedly innovative stuff, it doesn't sound very new to me. In general, sure, there's innovation going on here and there just like everywhere else, I guess. ** David Ehrenstein, I remember that. The 'angriest dog', I mean. Didn't it run in LA via the LA Reader? I haven't thought about the Reader in years. Yes, that NY Times review was so ... weak, so ... kneejerk and kind of useless. Strange. ** JW Veldhoen, Thanks. ** Thomas Moronic, Ha ha, I think I can safely say where I am is not the prettiest city in the world. It's not ugly, mind you. ** Casey McKinney, You're talking about the show yesterday? There is no 'Jerk' show tonight. The next one is on Thursday, which is too late? Let me know what's what, and I can call Gisele and see what I can do on the comp/ticket front. Nice to see you, man. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hey, man. Very, very nice to see you, naturally. Of course I know that Lush song, yes. I still listen to early Lush and wonder why they haven't jumped in the reunion bandwagon with a surprising frequency. Hope the crap in your life flies far, far away today. ** Blendin, Hey, man. ** Warren Hildebrand, Hey, Warren! Very nice to see you, man. I've been really enjoying your work on Space rock mountain, so I'm glad I get a chance to send my respect and thanks. Oh, let me ... Everyone, the fine, multitalented artist Warren Hildebrand is doing some excellent writing on music for this terrific blog Spacerockmountain, most recently about Atlas Sound and Laurie Anderson's 'Big Science' album, and you should really head over there and have a look. Thanks again, Warren! ** Statictick, Well, it would have been great to see you in NYC, of course, but hopefully we'll get another chance ere too long, the gods willing. ** Christopher/Mark, Hi, Mark. ** Steevee, Still no Verizon guy? How annoying. ** The Dirty, Holy, Sleeping Gods, Hey, Nick. Things Stateside are very good so far. Yeah, I know Parenthetical Girls. I mean I know at least some of their stuff, and I like it a whole lot too. I should check to see what I've missed, and so I will. Break a leg and merde on the gigs, man. ** Bollo, I'm having fun, I think. It's imperative that you do as well. ** Chris (British), Hey. Wonderful input, sir. Thanks a lot. ** Winter Rates, I'm doing good, man. Keep drop kicking those cigarette packs. ** Chris, I'm post-NYC, and I seem to be in tact so far. Great, great seeing you, and I'm looking forward to getting the 'Them' stuff even more squared away and certain. ** Alan, Hey. That NY Times review is disappointing, obviously. And a surprise. I don't know why I expected a higher quality reviewer engagement with our work from the Times, but I guess I did. It was so ... uninteresting, so non-useful or something. I'm used to that kind of stuff with my books, but it's weird to see it come up with 'Jerk', a piece that's so clearly creating an experience in which 'the serial killer' is basically a speck. I don't know. Disappointing is the word, but, you know, I guess the lack of engagement is instructive. It's a little embarrassing for me as a US guy that the piece finally comes to the States, and the major American newspaper of record goes so dumb on the work. That kind of critic response hasn't happened anywhere else in the world that we've played. Oh, well. ** Justin, I'm pretty sure the Lynch/ Jodorowsky film is still on. I think it might even be filming or in heavy pre-production. Unfortunately, I won't be near Kentucky on the trip. A very tiny town in southern Georgia is as close as I'll get, and I'll be stuck there without a car, which is part of the adventure. It would have been great to meet up with you, obviously. ** Misanthrope, Thanks for standing up for 'Jerk', man. ** SYpHA_69, Hey, Syph! ** Inthemostpeculiarway, The plane ride was okay. The security was nothing special. It was just a long, long day. Left the hotel in a taxi at 10 am, didn't arrive at my destination aka my friend's place via my friend's car until 10:30 pm. Today I'll get busy. ** Catachrestic, Jared! Hey, man! Wow, this is really nice! Yeah, I knew a little about you seeing our mutual acquaintance, and, well, yeah, I'm sorry it ended up being a mess. But now you're a free man, and you sound good. I mean if I'm not just ascribing my feeling very good at seeing you onto you. No, you sound good. You do. Are you thinking of leaving Portland in May? Where to, if so? I think you might know that my nephew Cody is trying very hard to get into Reed at the moment. He was hoping for an early acceptance, but it didn't happen, so now he's sweating it. So, you'll be around more, I hope? Really, really nice to see you, J. ** Alyssa Nolan, Hey, Alyssa. Apparently the fainter was a critic, yes. I wonder if his review will cop to that. That would be interesting. Maybe it was the NY Times critic, ha ha. That would explain a few things. Oh, wow, your bulletin boards are great! I'm going to click/enlarge and peer and poke around when I get done here. Everyone, as a visual p.s. to Billboard Day, here are our friend, the wonderful thinker and writer Alyssa Nolan's Bulletin boards from both semesters of her Freshman year and from the first semester of her Sophmore year. They're terrific. Check them out. Those are some rich looking boards, my friend. Yum. ** Chris Goode, Yeah, the Sophie Calle comparison seemed very odd. When I think of her, I first think of how overly precious and mostly programmatic I think her presentational mode is, all those faux-relics and stuff, and, having seen her retrospective last year or so, the barely evolving, schtick aspect of her formal ideas ended up really bugging me, and, let's face it, that doesn't sound the slightest bit like your work to me. I think 'Pop Life' is coming to Paris, or I'm counting on that. Hey, Chris! ** Jax, Hey! Thanks for filling me in, man. That's very interesting about the beta blockers. I know of them by name, but for some reason I thought they were about keeping the heart's rhythm regular or something. Yeah, I hear you about the negative aspect of a long term personality trait slowly arising. I went through that too for a while some years back, but I think you get sort of accustomed to the weird revision over time maybe, and then there's this balance, and it can be more, I don't know, fruitful in a weird way, or something? I don't know. I'm thinking aloud. The new 45 minute piece sounds very interesting. The Yemen setting might be a real selling point, no? I know I've been thinking lately how, wow, I don't know shit about Yemen and wishing I did. Anyway, pal, I'm real glad you're still out there, and I'm always here for you, you know. ** Pascal, Hey. ** Marcus Whale, Hey, man! I'm dying to hear how all the music stuff with Kiddiepunk went when he was down there. I'll torture it out of him if necessary. ** Uli, Oh, man, that sucks about that oncoming depression. I was flighting that just a week or two ago. Do you ever temporarily go on meds or anything for that? I don't. I just try to tough it out, but ... Hang in there, man. You know, if it helps to talk about stuff or anything at all, please so. ** NB, Howdy doody. ** David, Greetings, David. ** Whoa, I made it. Sorry again for my having to rush along. Hopefully, I can get started earlier tomorrow when the internet will not be fritzing out anymore. Uh, yeah, okay, see you guys then, yes?