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Wolf
Joy Division : Why did i get that weird day-idea? Now i can't seem to put it into words.
Ok.
I think the main reasons humans listen to music are those :
one, Escape.
two, Mirror.
It has to be a fine balance between the two. A bit of both. Recognize yourself in it and yet be transported rather than buried into another version of what you are.
Even though i absolutely adore Joy Division i find it terribly hard to listen to them. Mostly because to me they are all Mirror, no Escape.
(I guess some people like mirrors, and looking into them. I absolutely loathe them. They make me retch and want to punch them. Even the way they break annoys me. A fucking spiderweb. As if we did not get the message, they rub it in.)
The nagging, irritating feeling that Ian's lyrics and vocals are what i'd write and sing if i had more talent and time. I wouldn't do it any differently.
(It pains me to think that there was never any other end for him than the one he chose. I often try and make up an alternate ending and it never works. Maybe he could have fucked off to the Hebrides and lived off roast puffin? Maybe? Maybe.)
The close skies alternating off-white and dark gray. The hard, booming harmonies, never quite harmonic. The voice below its register. (It is harder than falsetto. It carries more effort, more intransigence. It makes your neck feel like that of an ox. And above all it's the voice of those who were born a hundred years old.)
The tall transparent eyes seeing through everything and resting on nothing.
It was all there from the start and you can hear it. It's ok i guess, just fate unravelling.
There is beauty but not in the "right" places. It's a bloody beauty, even though the blood is blue. Barely. More like ashy woad decoction.
...I can't say much more.
Like with all bands, artists, who did something completely unique, it seems futile to even try and talk about them.
I don't think there are many musicians now who have the same honesty, absolute absence of irony, dedication, intensity, power, talent and presence as Ian Curtis did. I only know of one, David Eugene Edwards, ex-16 Horsepower and now Wovenhand. (I tend to listen to those more than the originals because they don't feed my suicidal streak as much. Which is helpful.)
Here he is covering Heart and Soul and Days of the Lords :
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Schlix
Here are three cover versions of Joy Division songs. Enjoy!
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Misanthrope
A Hand-Picked Selection of Comments from Joy Division’s “Atmosphere” on youtube.
It makes me sad to think that some of the arguments on this page consider themselves to be a valid point.
1. Ian Curtis was in no way a junkie, in fact it was the lack of medication for his epilepsy that contributed to his death.
2 He suffered from depression which was exaserbated by the pressure of being famous and his marriage breaking up which was caused by his affair with Annik Honore
3 The band did not fade into obscurity, as the remaining members went on to form New Order!
-HouseflyUK
I don't understand why Justin Bieber is in the comments of a Joy Division song. Which lunatic started that shit? Justin Bieber is miles away from this kind of musical greatness and he will never reach this point. Forget that loser with his awful songs and listen to this wonderful, piece of music.
RIP Ian Curtis
-dustiking714
Atmosphere is the best song I've ever heard,ever.Period!
-RuBbErRoOmChAoS
I'm only 3 days old and i love this song
-Mojoraisin100
@TenWhoWereTaken
So where are they now and what relevance does their music have?
Actually you DID imply they were 'good' as a result of headlining Reading
You're a twenty year old prick who knows nothing!
If you knew you knew nothing at least that would be something, but you don't, because you are a twenty year old prick.
Now fuck off and go and listen to the latest fashionable band.
-Base242
@Base242 @Base242 And you're a sad middle aged man who can't understand a simple argument.
I didn't say the fact they headlined Leeds made them good. I pointed it out to refute your comment that they had faded into obscurity
He was a junkie but no one outside the morons who read The Sun care.
Countless members of popular bands, good and bad, have had drugs problems. It's only when you bang Kate Moss people care.
Don't point fingers, you're a brave old fucking git on the internet aren't you?
-TenWhoWereTaken
@BabyFace420er The entire world isn't the fucking USA, you know? No one gives a shit about the KKK in the UK.
The guys in the video are monks.
-TenWhoWereTaken
wtf is up with these KKK ppl???
-BabyFace420er
@TenWhoWereTaken
Shut up you prick!
The Foo Fighters have headlined Reading, doesn't mean they are any good does it?
Fucking N Dubz have had a number album too does that make them a great band?
The Libertines were famous for having a sad junkie cunt as their lead singer and certainly not for the music.
You are clearly a musical fashion victim.
You're a brave little cunt on the Internet aren't you ?
-Base242
Ian Curtis hasn't released anything this good for over 30 years
Lazy sod
-jwood36
who the fuck is justin bieber?
-dbrokensha
This song kind of reminds me of Justin Bieber.
-gotaids
now this is music..! this song is amazing!
-MrGreaser13
IF I WANTED TO READ ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER I'D GO ON THE FANSITE. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO COMPARE EVERYTHING TO HIM? ITS JOY DIVISION, IT DOSENT MATTER IF ITS BETTER, WORSE OR SOUNDS LIKE ANYTHING ELSE. JUST.....JOY DIVISION!
-Nirvanagirl44
What the fuck is this. I am shocked maybe the worst song ever. Cant stand depression bipler types.
-glebe3047
Quite simply the greatest song ever written.
He wrote the 2nd best too!!
-cockneylol
Shame on Joy Division?!?!?!? Shame on you, you fucking moron! I'm genuinely staggered that by trying to insult Joy Division you've shown what an ignorant twat you are. Bet you wish you'd done a bit of research before you blurted out such an ill-informed comment! Hang your head in shame.
-ICF666
Shame on Joy Division for copying and baseing there sound on The Editors have they not got their own identity,fuckin shocking,dont take this the wrong way if you are a simpleton
-fletcherlewis
not KKK, I believe they are Knights of the Maltese Cross.
-fearcandy
Is this a klan video?
-Deadcat069
are you kidding, i thought this was a joke. The singer is horrible.
-littlecodyhead
I love this video. It' s so full of Jawas stealing pictures of the band. Those damn Jawas.
-floogbooger6002
"Your confusion..my illusion"...After this line, all poets shoud have retired
-chikito72
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Benny a Lurker
Greatness by a Great about a Great for you Great People
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Sypha
Ian Curtis and Throbbing Gristle
Some of you may be interested to know that Ian Curtis was good friends with Throbbing Gristle's frontman Genesis P-Orridge. It's something that I haven't seen mentioned in all that many music books, other than Simon Ford's "Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of COUM Transmissions & Throbbing Gristle" (Black Dog Publishing 1999). For those of you who have not read this book, I'll paraphrase:
Shortly after the release of TG's debut album "Second Annual Report" in late 1977, Curtis began calling up Genesis at odd hours of the day and the two would discuss Throbbing Gristle, Manchester, music, transgressive acts, militaria, depression, and other assorted topics. According to Genesis, "We both had an attachment to complex lyricism and metaphor, when pseudo-political posturing was the norm; we were sickly and socially stunted; we had a cynical disregard for society that expressed itself in reckless self-hatred and a deep distrust of acceptance." When TG released their second album ("D.o.A. The Third and Final Report") a year later, Curtis became obsessed with the song "Weeping" off that album: Ian would often ring up Genesis and sing lines from that song to him. In June 1979 Joy Divison released their debut album "Unknown Pleasures" and Genesis loved Curtis' voice and his lyrics, which he compared to "the baring of his decaying heart," though he found the music to be "too thin and formularised." That same year Genesis, at Curtis' request, went to see Joy Division play live at The Pavilion, Hemel Hampstead, and he was very impressed by what he saw, though he said that afterward he began to fear for Curtis' life from that evening on.
As their friendship depended, Ian confided to Genesis that he didn't want to tour with Joy Division, and that he did not want to go to America. According to Genesis, Ian supposedly wanted to be in a band more along the lines of Throbbing Gristle: more violent, more extreme, more electronic and avant-garde, less musical. The two schemed for TG and Joy Division to play a double headlining gig at La Palace in Paris: the plan was for TG to play first, then Joy Division, then both bands would jam together in a third experimental set (which would have been fucking awesome, really). At the end of the gig, Genesis and Ian would announce that they would quit their respective bands and form a new group with each other. sadly, this gig never came to be. Ian Curtis committed suicide on May 17-18 1980: Genesis claims that Ian called him up on the night of May 17 very distraught and angry, singing the lyrics to "Weeping" (a song that P-Orridge had always saw as a sort of suicide note in and of itself), Afterwards Genesis says he called various people in Manchester to warn them that he thought that Ian was planning on killing himself, only to be ridiculed.
According to Ford's book, P-Orridge has to this day never listened to "Weeping" again, and on the advice of Brion Gysin, refused to talk or write about Curtis for ten years. Genesis ended this vow of silence in 1990 when his Psychic TV project released the song "I.C. Water", which served as a sort of tribute to Ian Curtis. According to the liner notes for volume one of Psychic Tv's "Origin of the Species" (which go into greater detail on some of the above points I've only briefly touched upon), New Order's "Hooky" once approached Genesis after a Psychic TV gig in Manchester and told him that "I.C. Water" was the song that they (New Order) had never wrote for Ian, and how it spoke for how they really felt, which P-Orridge was relieved to hear.
I have no idea how true P-Orridge's story about the proposed TG/Joy Division gig is (the other members of TG deny all knowledge of this, and one should always take what Genesis says with a grain of salt), but I think it would have been really cool (or at the very least, interesting), and one can only wonder what kind of music that Gen and Ian could have created had they actually formed that new band.
Throbbing Gristle's "Weeping"
Psychic TV's "I.C. Water"
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Sean Cassidy
There are roughly 200 Joy Division bootlegs according to the website Joy Division Central. While I've only heard a dozen or so my favorite has always been the Preston gig on February 28th, 1980. While most bootlegs sound like they were recorded in a toilet this one has other sound issues. The actual recording is pretty clean but the added noise of malfunctioning equipment create an unexpected element to the songs from Closer. The beer pump at the pub is to blame for interferance with the PA. After three songs with a little feedback Ian mumbles "some slight problems". During The Eternal the real sound issues arise. Overly delayed vocals, speaker troubles, a tempermental electronic drum, and heavy synths all swirl out of control. The song collapses halfway through and Ian quietly says "I'll have to just wait a minute while we go and get our bass repaired..." He then says "I'd like to apoligize....for everything". The sense of defeat and melancholy in Ian's voice is so tragic I have to laugh. Next they give Heart And Soul a try. With more reverb, feedback, and delay this song transforms into shambles. The electronic drums start thumping loudly, speakers hiss, and the band gives up again. This time Ian speaks more loudly "I think everything's falling apart!" Then we hear what may have been a roadie shout "Everything's fucking busted, we're playing everything through the bass amp". The remainder of the set is heavy and guttural relying more on their bass heavy guitars and less on electronic gadgets. I've listened to this anxiety ridden recording more than any other bootleg I've come across. I often wonder what other sounds Ian could have created If he didn't give up on everything else months later.
http://www.mediafire.com/?0912h2be7a5dekb
________________
Frank Jaffe
"So I found this on the internet and I kinda wish that someone was actually this creative to call their divorce firm this, oh well....."
________________
Pilgarlic
Naming one's band would have to be a pretty tall order for anybody. I mean, if you follow the thread to its' zenith, you're going to be stuck with it for a real long time. Well, hopefully so. James Hetfield said that Metallica came from the two things they loved most : metal and vodka. Patterson Hood has admitted that he named his band Driveby Truckers because he had to, they were slated to play that night, and were, still, unnamed. He fused hip-hop and redneck imagery, and was drunk when he did. Bradford Cox didn't name Deerhunter, and has said that he doesn't even like the name. " We could change our name to Stankpuss, for all I care, but, nobody would come to see us because they've never heard of Stankpuss." I mention all of this to prop up my assertion that Joy Division had the perfect name.
----Taken from the term for the brothels located in some of the Nazi concentration camps in WW2, the name, at once, suggests pleasure, decadence, and horror. But, that's not why I think it's the perfect name. The brothels were the head of the Nazi SS, Heinrich Himmler's pet project. He thought the pleasant diversion would prompt the inmates to produce more, work harder for the Reich. A whorehouse in a prison, what could be more popular ? But, the fact is, most of these men were so debased by the camp conditions, poor diet, and back-breaking work, that they had been rendered impotent. But, they sought comfort in the arms of these women, if only to talk, to be reminded of wives and daughters that they hoped, still survived. It was an all-too-brief reprieve from Hell. There's a sweet sadness in that, an atmospheric melancholia tinged with hope. What was Joy Division's music, if not that ?
________________
Polter
Through this Joy Division made me less gone.
Do you know what it means to me?
Means nothing, everything. Fills the voids.
Walking up to happy house
Grow fainter the closer I get
I do.
Break breaking broken.
Nothing left when I reach the door.
Everything too bright by its inner light.
5 hours of pretend.
I play me with the children.
I play me with the adults
With my eyes closed
Have no idea what I’m doing
No idea what I’ve done
Obey their movements, eyes and tone.
They don’t know.
On my way home.
The cold grows warmer as I’m alone.
Dizzy by the hours spent away from myself
By who I am in what I’m not.
I throw up in the middle of the road
Purple soft sick, sliding out of my mouth.
A man in a window shouts at me
Took him effort, he is on the phone.
run
how could he be mad at me for throwing up.
Not fair
Run faster in case he follows
throw up some more.
See what he did,
made me do.
Caused more disgust by his disgust.
Ugly out by ugly in
Mine his.
When I get home all the lights are out
the others are asleep.
Dark, calm and quiet.
My eyes won’t close
Scared of losing what’s left of what used to be me.
Don’t want to wake up and grow greyer.
Out at night drinking.
The man in the ugly joy division t-shirts strokes my back as if there was something more than me to feel beneath my shirt. The boy in the nice joy division t-shirt has lost his eyes to something dark.
I’m looking at the man thinking what do you leave with me when you walk home to your wife?
Looking at the boy thinking if they burn you let them go.
Tell the man not to follow me home, thinking there’s no way I’ll be able to keep awake this time.
His past your past mine. Fainting into the harder perceptions of what it takes to be alive.
____________
Statictick
The first CD I bought for the first CD player I bought (1985?) was Joy Division's Closer. The second was Unknown Pleasures (and Heaven in Here and Porcupine by Echo and the Bunnymen).
I already had all the vinyl I could get my hands on from Joy Division. A trip to Factory Records' office in NYC in 1985 netted some videotapes (Beta) and other JD stuff.
Since the band was already New Order by that time, I felt like I shouldn't listen to them because they might be too depressing. Then, I thought, that is EXACTLY what I should be listening to.
Ten years later when Cobain killed himself, I felt really odd parallels that spook me to this day, though the stories are so different.
For a band that has had such a huge impact on my life in terms of musical taste, musical theory (yeah, I think it's loaded with theory), and the idea that one could bring the most frighteningly emotional things to the fore, I don't have much else to say about them. I don't know if they can ever really be grasped, or should be. And there's some huge comfort in that for me.
_________________
tender prey
Nine Found Images
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Bernard Welt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHYOXyy1ToI
Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.
To gild refined gold, to paint the lilly,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.
-- Shakespeare, King John
____________
Laurabeth
_I surveyed a few of my friends with the following question,
“Want to give me a Joy Division lesson?”
Here are their reactions, mostly non-verbatim:
_Players
Liser, age 20-yrs (L)
Mike Wolf, age 22-yrs (Mw)
Chrisy B, age 22-yrs (Cb)
Tommy IV, age 34-yrs (T4)
*All of the above have no relation to one another ,& therefore are completely &totally impartial responses. All were caught off guard.
_Do you like Joy Division?
T4 likes what they were “trying to do,” and called them “very raw and primitive.”
L said they sound “like shit,” and when asked to elaborate, “it’s like shoegazeish .” That word still has yet to be defined. On a wicked better note,
Mw really, really “lovelovelovelove[s] joy division,” which I 100% expected, Btw.
_Here’s what I got for a basic overarching generalization description of Joy Division
Cb said simply, “just download Unknown Pleasures” because it is so sick. &Added a picture along with it,
Link: http://30.media.tumblr.com/6UejqWL8lgi3x3m7CSguEsQgo1_500.jpg.
To quote T4, the story of Joy Division goes as follows—“punkish band incorporating elements of early electronic, depressing emo-ish lyrics, lead singer with charisma and cult appeal, hung himself when he was like 22, gains even more cult appeal, remaining members go on to form new order, the end.”
Mw: “Amazing band.”
_Any particular songs?
L says nope, just boring all the way through.
Cb’s favorite JD song is “Day of the Lords.” Least Favorite? “Heart and Soul .”
T4 mentioned that Brothers Past, his band, plays one of their songs. What a fuckin’ coincidence! It is Love Will Tear Us Apart. Made the comment it was not only Joy Division’s most famous song, but also definitely their best song.
Link: Joy Division: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHYOXyy1ToI&feature=fvst
Link: Brothers Past cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO_cSBHjiUI
_Then I asked T4 what he meant by “trying to do,” earlier& he said,
“They were trying to do what [Brothers Past] does now. Combine catchy songs with dance music…before anyone knew what dance music was…synths, drum machines…”
Compare to in Mw’s conversation where he notes, “without [Ian Curtis] and Joy Division music would be so different right now .”
_Mw gives me a serious lesson
First, I need to hear the album Unknown Pleasures, which is a complete masterpiece and started so many genres. He gets back to the latter point, but first, he brings up that Ian Curtis—a legend—killed himself and that sucks. Apparently he hung himself the day before Joy Division was scheduled to begin their first US tour. Off the top of his head &on the spur of the moment, Mw mentioned the genres new wave, punk, britrock, indie, and others, spawned from JD—hard to put a label on the band itself—and “definitely” paved the way for “everything right now.” No Joy Division = no Nirvana, even U2 would sound slightly different (they’ve been quoted as naming JD an influence). Also, all 80’s music took a page from the Joy Division handbook, culminating in the band New Order, or Joy Division without Ian Curtis, which became one of the biggest bands of that decade. Mw next suggested I watch the movie Control, which is about JD.
Mw: “This documentary is pretty rad, too .”
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-QmXufJG0s.
_Extra little tidbits from Mw
Ian Curtis had epilepsy and it fucked with him hardcore.
His lyrics are pretty amazing; he is a total poet. Suggested songs for checking out the poetry embedded in the lyrics—She lost control, Transmission, Love will tear us apart, atmosphere. ‘Lwtua’ popped up again!
_Concluding thoughts
Mw: “I dunno, they rule. Dude died way too young.”
_Conclusion
I had never listened to Joy Division before this adventure. Now I have. Thanks Wolf & DC for the opportunity through this JDD!
_P.s. Looking forward to learning even more from all of you guys &gals &every in-between.
Xoxo
Lb .
____________
Colin
My contribution is just these lyrics to Gutz, a bonus track on Warsaw. You can't really make out these words in the song, so it's kind of an amazing revelation when you get to find out what they are. They're pretty interesting, inflammatory and strange.
Lyrics to Gutz by Warsaw
Don't talk to me girl - you know it's not nice
Don't laugh at murder - I won't pay the price
The facts are too high-powered - it's such a big thrill
I'd do it myself, 'cause it makes you so ill
Blame bad things on me, whatever you do
When I come home my world is different from you
You're such a chic tart - you're really dressed up
Don't wanna talk to you - just left with your mum
Don't be a puppet - always rush you around
One just for your photo - try and tie me down
I won't tell him I talk like this all night
He must be worried 'cause you're sounding so trite
Respect is only normal - the way to your lives
Ever tried to sleep around - once I begged for a wife
Wouldn't have to change you - start acting that way
If we don't keep our heads alive, I'll never get a say
You know what's special - it's as black as I say
Can you see me, just ourselves - no comment, copycat!
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Hedi
Last Saturday I went to see Peter Hook from New Order perform Joy Division’s debut, Unknown Pleasures at the Henry Fonda Theatre. I was with my friend Stephanie. We got tickets without thinking too much about it. As the event draw closer, it becomes evident that this is a terrible idea. Still, I am hopeful that Hook and his band could somehow pull it off. Maybe he knows what he’s doing and this isn’t just a way to make some quick cash, now that he’s left New Order.
The place is packed. Old and young people are standing around waiting for the show to start. We sit at a booth and exchange trivia about Joy Division with a couple while a documentary retracing the band’s career is being projected. The show finally starts and after hearing the first song, we completely lose hope. Stephanie leaves during the third song to go to our friend Heather’s party. She wants to buy a T-shirt but I convince her not to do so. I promise her that I’ll make her one. I think about the band’s off-grooves etchings. The one on Still, released after Ian Curtis’s suicide, says, “The Chicken won’t stop.” The chicken tracks across the grooves would make a cool T-shirt. They reference the ending of Werner Herzog’s movie, Stroszek, where the character played by Bruno S. alienated by his move to the US commits suicide. The film ends with a sequence showing a chicken dancing. Presumably this is the last movie Curtis, who was a fan of Herzog saw on the BBC the night he hanged himself. The very comprehensive book by Mark Johnson, An Ideal for Living, gave away the riddle. All of this is common knowledge now.
I walk upstairs to smoke a cigarette. I am vaguely hopeless but not angry as I am gazing dreamily at Hollywood Boulevard at night. I think about what Joy Division meant to me then, how unhappy I was while listening to Closer. The drum roll at the beginning of Atmosphere, a secret signal, “Don’t walk away in silence.” I don’t listen to their music very much anymore. The meaning has been emptied out. “Oldness comes to rile the youth who dream suicide,” sings Red House Painters. I think of the last Page of Pierre Guyotat’s COMA about what replaces it,
“Instead of the enchanted palace we think we have won by the sweat of our dead blood, the reward for this run through death is a disenchanted world, without notable depth and color, drab gazes that no longer see you, voices always directed toward others since you have returned from too far, a daily obligation to survive, a heart that only pumps blood, and blood that is no longer warming. You must wait. Without anger. Apply yourself daily to eating, to sleeping, to cleaning yourself, to dressing, to walking: all of it, almost alone, and without even yourself by your side: try in jolts, so awkward, to take heart. Patience, patience.”
05 - Atrocity Exhibition by user3643108
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*
p.s. Hey. So, there's part one of Joy Division Day as depicted by a volunteer army of distinguished locals and distinguished silent readers. I certainly hope you will enjoy the fest and will tune in for part two tomorrow, and of course I delegate my deepest bow and beariest hug to those of you out there and in here who contributed. ** Freefox, Hey there! Very nice to see you, Ff! I was trying to remember who it was around here who particularly disliked dolphins, and maybe it was you? Anyway, the lively dolphin talk around here almost makes me want to do a collectively built Dolphin Day a la the JDD up above. Almost. As for the Makkurah thing, well, I don't know precisely what was meant, of course, but I assume he or she was specifically addressing the Guibert novel, in which you have an author who is simultaneously graphing the personal outcome of his own fatal disease and constructing a literary work, i.e., using fiction techniques to depict the situation in an objective and artful way. So, the book is a blur involving a novel in which a writer is using his dying as a lure and narrative device, an autobiography using fiction's devices to try to create a perfect portrait of his tragic situation, and a presentation of someone negotiating between his interests as an artist and his need to share what he's going through. I'm not sure if I would call the effect unsettling, but there's definitely a challenge to the reader who is asked to negotiate between the safe place that fiction creates and the more direct confrontation that comes with hearing testimony. That's off the top of my head. I don't know if that helps. How are you? ** Wolf, Hey. First, thank you for making today happen and be amazing. Well, you're French and I'm a Francophile. That probably explains it, ha ha. Well, yeah, agreed on the family thing. There are far more benefits to living on the outside of that paradigm than being the scrap of metal to its magnet. Thanks, pal! ** David Ehrenstein, I don't know if you've read Guibert's subsequent novel on the same subject, 'The Compassion Protocol', but it's amazing and my favorite of his books. The Dior/ Galliano show is tonight at the Musee Rodin, so we'll see. If he's there, and I would seriously doubt it, I certainly can't imagine him doing one of his famous post-show struts. ** Allesfliesst, I hope the performance went well. I'm interested to hear. Ah, so you managed to get a rain scene in the show. I remember your interest in them. You might remember that I was trying to put one in my novel partly because of that, and I did, but it ended up on the cutting room floor, unfortunately. If novels had 'extras' like DVDs, I'd slip it in there. Hm, if I was the student, I'd walk out in the rain, come back with the flower and say, 'I'm not wet. If you think I am, you're crazy.' If the parcel doesn't arrive, let me know. I can try again. ** Steevee, Hey. Wonderful: two new pieces by you to read! I will the minute I get done here. Oh, no problem about the editing cuts. I know how that goes, believe me. Everyone, d.l. Steevee aka the very fine critic and filmmaker Steve Erickson has two new pieces online that you can and should read. First, here's his review of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's new and hugely acclaimed film 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives', and here's his 'High-Class Shock Cinema: Top 10 Artsploitation Films', which has a guarantee of 'glad I did' stamped all over it. Terrific, man, thank you a lot and congrats! ** Pilgarlic, I remember that 'King of the Hill' episode, ha ha. Yeah, man, it sounds you know the familial boat I'm in quite well. What can one do, eh? You sent me the coyote article? Thank you! Yeah, I'll go check my mail in just a bit. Really kind of you, sir. ** Pisycaca, Montse, hey! I missed you, my pal! Oh, I'm okay, I guess. The visa blow is still here, and it seems to have occasioned dealing with my father's death, so I've ... been better. But I'm okay. I think we'll go to Italy on the 23rd and come back around April 1st. I'm getting that all squared away today. I didn't take a lot of Oslo pix, but there'll be some here on Monday. So your aunt's back in her apartment, ugh, I'm so sorry. It seemed like that was going to happen. But the comic book is great news, and the collaborative book on drug taking rock stars you're undertaking sounds really interesting. How will that work? Research, interviews, ... ? How will you guys collaborate on the writing? Looking forward to you in Paris for sure! It's so good to see you, my friend! Give my love to Xet and take a ton for yourself! ** John/ JW Veldhoen, Hey. I did dig that thing you wrote a lot. Spent some real quality time being careful and inquisitive with it. Oh, it's strange: I had your video for Guibert all set to be in the post yesterday, but then, when I was about to the launch the post yesterday morning, I saw the imbed of your vid was dead 'cos you'd deleted it, so I chased down a replacement. Bad timing. Well, bad for the post and me and us, at least. 'Repetition' is great, I think. I haven't read the DFW thing in the New Yorker yet, but I sure will. New Robbe-Grillet book ... you mean his last novel 'Roman Sentimental'? It hasn't been translated yet apart from that excerpt that d.l. Dorna very kindly let me post here a while back. ** Toniok, 'Notebooks of a Naked Youth', cool. That's the one I'll try to find and buy. Thanks, T! How are you? Are you making progress on the search for the you-know-what re: your upcoming work presentation? ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, I'm going to get that Billy Childish album you recommended too. All my Childish sounds are on vinyl in LA. I'm glad you're making friends. I mean ... yeah, like I said. That first link you posted lead to an 'Error (404)' sign. The second one worked A-okay though. You have such readable, clear handwriting. Were you around here back in the days or, rather, on the day when I analyzed the d.l.s' handwriting? I used to do handwriting analysis for fun when I was a teen. Hope you can get that upright bass, quite obviously. Bread, wow, so they're worth a reinvestigation? Fanny ... the 'female rock group' Fanny? Wow, if so. A most pleasant day, man. ** Sypha, Well, I'm sure you and I disagreeing about Gaga is all part of her plan, ha ha. It's true, though, that you like to embrace pop stars who only interest me as occasions for pop culture analysis. Cue your having gone to see the Justin Bieber movie, ha ha. ** Alan, Hey. Glad the Guibert interested you. It's a strong book. Inter-family stuff is always so complicated, isn't it? It is with mine. I love complicatedness, but my family's twists makes 'TMS' seem like a Miranda July book. ** Patrick deWitt, Hey! In-progress. I'll write to you as soon as there's something concrete. A possible interesting and easy solution is being discussed, but I won't know if it'll work until a bit later today at the earliest. I should have some kind of answer very soon, in any case. Sorry for the slow. French bureaucracy is something else. ** Schlix, Hi, Uli. Intense, what you're going through and have been, yeah. You sound like you're negotiating it as well as you can. I'm glad to hear that, at least. And that's very sweet about you and your dad even with the terrible occasioning of the closeness. Oh, they're going to see 'TIHYWD' tomorrow? Cool. I hope the birds behave. They've been causing lots of problems lately, and I think they're about to get fired. It's a good thing birds can't read blogs. My love to you, man. ** Chris Cochrane, Mr. C! 'In On the Kill Taker' is just incredible. It and 'Repeater' are my favorite Fugazi albums, I'd say. Do you know them? I've only met and talked with Guy, but he's a great guy. Us in Cambodia? That would be hella trippy. Even thinking about the jetlag makes me want to crawl into a hole, but, fuck yeah if that could happen. Right now, really hoping we can do that Berlin gig. ** Andrew, I've read four Guibert novels in English -- 'TTFWDNSML', 'The Compassion Protocol', 'The Man in the Red Hat', and 'My Parents' -- and there is one more in English, I think, that I haven't read: 'Blindsight'. Boycotting Dior is ridiculous, of course. I can't imagine that idea coming to anything. They couldn't have been quicker in first suspending then firing Galliano. Dior is moneyed up the butt, so I don't the problem would be paying for two designers. Kate and Laura are friends of mine, and I just can not imagine them being interested in that job at all, even if it was offered. Playbuttons, no. I'll try googling that. Do you know the young British designer Alexandra Groover? Yury is going to working on and helping her with her Paris show this Sunday, and he's excited about that. She's a friend of Gisele's, and that's how we met her. I like her stuff. ** Statictick, Steady and progressive on the book, great. I hope you'll let me celebrate its birth with a post here when the time comes. Only if it's okay with and interesting for you, of course. ** Misanthrope, Your friend must either have a glandular problem or he/she is wolfing down a lot of food. Your method will work just fine and dandy, of course. I was just throwing out a fast, radical possibility. Yeah, man, I know you've got the family disinterest in your work thing going on too. Most of the writers I like and respect are in the same boat, basically. And, of course, your and my favored subject matter interests don't exactly help, ha ha. You'll find it easier to deal with once you start publishing and getting your work out more and you can afford to buy your own goddesses. Yeah, Cody is a whole other thing. He's an awesome writer, and he's the greatest. Maybe you can sway Little Show into the writer racket. God knows the world could use some good experimental wrestling novels, at least. ** Postitbreakup. Sorry about your shitty day, man. It sounds rough and deadening, yeah. I hope the weekend is a total break. ** Bill, Awesome that the show went well, even without Scott there. I hope someone posts images or videos or something. Yeah, I'd love to hear more about the piece you're working on when you're out of the woods, or, well, even when you're in them if you so wish. ** Squeaky, Hey, man! Always so lovely to see you, D! Yeah, Guibert is amazing, and I think you're right that he has become very associated with that period, not to mention the declined interest in European fiction both within the gay literary camp and without. They seem to have stopped translating his fiction around the mid-90s. There's one untranslated novel, I think called 'Des aveugles', that Ed White says is Guibert's best novel maybe and really intense. I've always longed terribly to read that one. Based on the incredible reaction we've gotten to 'Them', I think maybe there's a new interest in revisiting work from that period that deals with the intensity of life during the early AIDS crisis. We'll see. Anyway, how are you doing? Are you getting some work done? Any exhibitions or anything coming up? ** Bollo, Hi, J. Good luck with the irksome form filling. That fog does sound really nice. Ireland + fog = what's not to like? It's clear and crisp here. The buildings look really sharp. It's not bad at all. ** All right, off you go into day one of the Joy Division weekend. More tomorrow. Take care.
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