----
*
p.s. Hey. Nothing really to say or report this morning, so I'll just get right to it. ** OscarDavid, Hey. Welcome to here. To the physical here: Paris. Friday at 4 or 5 will work for me. I thought I wrote down your email address, but I can't seem to find it. Can you repost it, and I'll send you my cell number. The arrangement sounds fine. We can just nail down the specifics, location, etc. Look forward to it. ** David Ehrenstein, I went through hell to make "The Last Movie', so thank you for saying that. ** Tonyoneill, Yes, my performance in 'Blue Velvet' was kind of my last acting hurrah before I started repeating myself, but I have a soft spot for my performance in 'Waterworld'. Thank you, sir, and cool breezes to you. ** Paul Curran, Well, I did play bass for Marilyn Manson, and I wrote 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made ...)' under a pseudonym, and hence my considerable wealth and early retirement as a bass player. Thanks for remembering me. ** Statictick, Good, good, and good tidings. ** Killer Luka, Tommy Taintus ... hm, it's a grower. Yeah, I like it. Do a scene or two with Roxy Red or Miles Pride please. ** Bacteriaburger, Hey, man. Very nice to see you! You mean long time because of the lengthy process of gathering the illustrations? Books seem to take forever to come out under the best of circumstances. Your fans, us, are a loyal and patient lot, so no worries. ** Bernard Welt, In my spare time. ** Nick Hudson, Hey, man. I'm okay with Woolf's work. The only one I really love is 'Mrs. Dalloway'. I couldn't stand 'The Hours', the movie. Ugh. But if it inspired you to return your hand to prose, it gets a brownie point. No, my Aol account is basically a dead zone, and I didn't get your mail. Email me at dcooperweb@ gmail from now on. Yury's good, hard at work. He says 'hi' right back to you. Hope the cool meeting with the filmmaker goes well, and I bet it will. ** Patrick deWitt, Yeah, super and totally bad luck. Ugh. Grr. ** Christopher/ Mark, Oh, you guys. You're so sweet. ** Alan, Hey. So, yesterday was fun. Thanks, man. Oh, the minor/ major stuff in a few of the 'SiH' pieces was just laziness. Either lazy thinking, using shorthand lazily, or laziness on my part when it came to checking the details of a piece after it went through an editor's rewrite. The title of the Tarantino piece -- 'Minor Magic' -- has always bugged me. I've never once in all the journalism I've written titled one of my pieces. They're always a usually unpleasant surprise. I decided not to change anything in the pieces for the book even though I don't now always agree with what I wrote then. And, yeah, the minor and major designations are nonsense. I basically relate to everything you said. I do have a list fetish, making and reading them, but it's the game and form and unnaturalness and strictures of them that are a lot of the appeal to me, I think. But, yeah, that aside, I think that I think about such things in much the way you do. ** Toniok, Hey, man! Excellent to see you! Yeah, summer's a drag. It seems to be all but completely over here in Paris, thankfully. I don't know if it's technically fall yet, but it might as well be. Great news about your new project. Anything you can say about it? I think the only Nelson Algren I've read is 'Man With the Golden Arm'. It was terrific, and he's a very interesting guy. Hm, maybe I'll read 'Walk on the Wild Side'. I've always meant to. Yeah, awesome to see you. I hope the summer dies quickly and in your sleep. ** Allesfliest, Hey. I believe James Joyce Liquid did more than one piece. They certainly toured around a lot at one point. Mm, the piece I saw or 'saw', ha ha, was certainly interesting, but I didn't like being handled and touched as part of it at all. But it was smart work. As far as that goes, my favorite experience was the Pilot Theater one. The audience was kidnapped, basically, hooded, taken somewhere, seated, and the hoods were removed whereupon we discovered our heads were sticking up through holes in the stage, and the piece was performed above and around and with our heads. I think I liked the threatening kind of participatory theater more than the aggressive intrusion on personal space in the name of sexual/emotional liberation. The JJL was in that camp, but fairly graceful about it. Ron Athey: I'm all for him and what he's doing, but I can't say I've liked the works of his that I've seen, although I haven't seen his work in a very long time. There was an obviousness and overuse (maybe) of Christian symbology about it that didn't interest me, but it could well be that his work has evolved or that I would appreciate the work I did see more now than at the time. Why, are you a fan of Athey's work? ** Stan_cz, Hey. Well, I come/came to writing and reading by necessity too, as do a lot of writers who need to write and who care profoundly about their writing. I guess I just happen to need/love more writers and books than you do. Okay, here's the thing. When you say you don't construct hierarchies and you don't condemn, it bewilders me. Either there's some disconnect between what you really think and what you say/write, or you're being disingenuous? You make very harsh judgements on writers and books here quite frequently. Your rather ferocious attack on Whitman being a recent example. You say you don't construct hierarchies, and yet ... I'll quote you: 'Everything relevant about war has been said in the "Iliad", Barbusse's "Under Fire" and the first hundred-or-so pages of Céline's "Journey..." ... 'And there's really no reason to produce any further works about war.' You didn't say the only novels about war that you care about are ... You set up those books as the only relevant ones. That's hierarchical thinking. If it's actually that those are the only books about war you care about, maybe saying that would me more accurate? You do that sort of 'these are the only good writers/books' thing regularly. I'm cool with your strict opinions, and I'm cool with the caring/ not caring, but it's pretty frustrating to respond to something you said and be told you didn't say it or that you don't really have the opinion you stated. I can't read your mind, man. If you don't condemn then don't condemn. But if you're going to express very forceful negative opinions, I wish you wouldn't turn around when challenged and say 'I simply don't care'. That's like 'I'm taking my ball and going home'. So, it's not your 'fascist pronouncements', as you put it, humorously I know, that are problematic for me, it's things like you judging harshly and then claiming you don't finger-point and condemn that leave me shaking my head. ** Chris Cochrane, Wow, your full name. Hey, man! Oh, yeah, sorry about the email thing. Ish texted me to ask if I could stay longer if the dough was there to allow that, and I said, yeah, sure, although probably not for three weeks. Maybe two or so. Yeah, I need to update the dates of the events and be more specific. I'll do that today. Yeah, Skyping next Thursday should be fine. I just need to know the time. I can do it, for sure. ** Plexus, Hey, Gabe. The only Dennis Coopers I 'know' are the ones that come up a lot when you google my name: Dennis Cooper the Harmaniac, a harmonica playing musician I think, and the main character in one of the Monty Python movies, and a screenwriter who wrote a bunch of famous TV shows. In fact, in interviews sometimes, journalists will say to me, like, 'It's interesting that you write such 'extreme' novels and you also wrote 'Miami Vice' and 'Chicago Hope'.' Anyway, yeah. It's good news you want to be a writer because you're already a very good writer now, so it would be kind of sad if you wanted to give it up or something. You've made a very wise choice, in my opinion. Anyway, you're already a writer. There's no 'can' or 'could' really. As long as writing keeps your interest and passion, you're set. Don't worry about that. Working on your writing with the help of college, a writing program or something, is one way to go, and if doing that makes it so you don't have to have a job and you can just be a writer/ student full time, it's not a bad idea. But, like, I quit university after one year, and became a writer basically without studying writing in school, and that works just fine too. Well, it sounds like Paris is the place for you, ha ha. And all wine -- or French wine anyway -- is cheap here, even the good stuff. Wine, cheese, and bread are dirt cheap over here. Everything else is a bit expensive though. Anyway, good day to you, man, and see you tomorrow, I hope. ** Math, Hey, Math! Great to see you. I'm sorry you've been down and going through all of that, although it sounds like it's been a fruitful and progressive time at least. Your boss sounds pretty cool and wise, yeah. And, yeah, it's turning 40 that's kind of the unexpectedly no big deal change, in my experience. And the 30s get better and better as you get used to them. It's weird. Joel is trying to find a place here to rent Mario Kart to use on my French Wii. I think we might be on the hunt today. And he'd love to race you, that's for sure. I'll let you know if we score. Tons of love to you, my pal. ** Davidpeak, Hey. Oh, yeah, I'd love a 'Darklands'. That's very kind of you. I'll find your email and write to you. Or, actually, you can send it here if you really don't mind: (me) c/o Centre International des Recollets, 150 rue du Faubourg St. Martin, 75010 Paris, France. Thanks a lot! Yeah, the Prurient/Drumm stuff is kind of Heckerish, isn't it. They did one full length that I know of and have: 'All Are Guests in the House of the Lord' (Hospital Productions, '08). And, yeah, about Failing Lights. He just put out the first proper Failing Lights album a week ago. It's very good. Oh, and thanks again for the link yesterday. Very interesting, and I'm going to download some today. Yeah, great all around, thanks again, David. ** Schlix, Hey. Thanks for braving the internet cafe to be here. Appreciated, man. Yeah, that all sounds real good: the new job, set-up, etc. Except of course for the separation from your wife. Will she able to join you soon? Oh, you've seen Helena Goughs play live. That's very cool. I haven't had the chance yet. All the best right back at you. ** Bill, Hey. Early La Fura ... too long a description to go much into in this context. The really memorable piece for me was 'Suz/O/Suz', which I saw in Amsterdam in the mid-80s. That's the one where the audience basically spent the performance running around and hiding from the naked performers who wielded chain saws and clubs and other things in a threatening manner. They also made/performed industrial music -- loosely Test Department meets Einsturzende stuff -- during the piece. It took place in a warehouse, and the audience was trapped inside and surrounded by the piece. Here's a video/promo for the piece that gives you a general idea. ** Memoirs of a Heroinhead, Wow. Such totally interesting stuff. The kind of guys one just couldn't make up without ruining the ... I don't know, chaos. I can handle Wolverhampton Pat, I assure you. Thanks a lot for this, Shane! ** _Black_Acrylic, Good, so hopefully you'll get the steroids without further crap from the powers that be, and that'll be that. Do you feel much better right away or does it take a few days? Obviously, I really hope they solve the problem, and it would seem like they will. Let me know how it's going please. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hats off to Mark for sure. Amazing book. Pure joy and honor to help give the public access to it. I didn't need to change a syllable on Mark's book. It was impeccable. It's always different with the LHotB books. I've done a serious, hands-on edit a few times -- Trinie Dalton's, Richard Hell's, another I can't remember. Mostly it's just line edit stuff when I do. I tend to really go for books where the writer is very meticulous in their writing, and rarely is my input needed or a help at all. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Hey. Floppy discs, oh yeah. I remember when zip discs and zip drives seemed like gifts from God. So, you neither about 'Wichita Lineman'? I felt like such a dummy. I'm slow. I didn't know 'Puff the Magic Dragon's' little secret for years. 'Pass the Dutchie' ... pass the what? Oh, dude, your gabbing was a lovely thing. Thank you. ** Misanthrope, No, bronchitis just hangs around for a while, very lazy, if that's what you have. Uncledom suits you, man. Who'd have thunk? That Little Show is a real Facebook demon. I like his style. ** Steevee, Oh, okay, thanks. I wouldn't have thought to check the Other Music site. Eyes getting worse sucks. I think I've got maybe a year at most left on my current ones. Have a good time with the folks. ** Syreearmwellion, You kind of adjust to the input. It's weird. Or maybe it's totally natural. It's not like a thickening skin, really. It's more like you start to get this objective view of what you do by analyzing where the good and bad reviews are coming from, and I actually find it kind of helpful rather than invasive or even influential much at all. It's a curious thing. I always think about the distant future with my work. It's a utopian and ultra-romantic idea and all that, but it's kind of an ingrained way of thinking, I guess from growing up as a writer loving mostly writers who were long dead and kind of liking the non- but deep relationship with them or something. ** Oliver, Hey, Oliver! You good? Thanks a lot, man. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, The crepes at that place are kind of like big fat burritos. It's intense. No, it looks the herbal cigarettes aren't to be. Apparently, they're just so unpopular here that nobody stocks them. Oh, well. Oh, gosh, that's a lot of emotion going on there, in your friend, I mean. I guess it's the thought that counts when it comes to hugs. Like getting a tie as a Xmas gift or something. That Bradbury thing was pretty good, yeah. I don't think I've ever read him. Seen him around LA a billion times. He's all slumped over in a wheelchair now. It's depressing. My day: Well, my visiting pal Joel and Oscar and Kiddiepunk and I went to the Left Bank to show him that. We had a French cafe experience, wandered, visited Luxembourg Gardens, showed him the Sorbonne, ate vegetarian falafel, dipped into Shakespeare & Co., wanted to go inside Notre Dame, but the line was too long, so we sat and looked at the outside, which is the best part anyway, if you ask me. We noticed this poor little boy freaking out and scared and crying hard and clinging to a light pole. We figured he got separated from his family. Kp and O went over and comforted him, and so did a couple of other people, and eventually his dad showed up and whacked him hard and towed him away. That was kind of heartbreaking. We walked a little more, but we were tired, so we took the metro back here. I came home and worked for a while, and they did whatever they did, and then we all conferred by phone later. Joel and Kp went out to this kind of famous pizza place, Pink Flamingo, and I declined. Night wore on. All of them crashed, as did I. The End. More of a somewhat similar nature today, I imagine. Thursday, yours? ** JW Veldhoen, Oh, that motherfucking Youtube baby. Always stealing my thunder. You're back in NYC. Enjoy the honeymoon. Wow, Kosinkski. I didn't know people still read him. I liked one of his. Hm. 'Cockpit', I think it was called. I think I'm me, J. I think you're right. ** That seems to be all of you. 96 water fountains ... where do I get these ridiculous ideas? Your guess is as good as mine. See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment