what are you reading now?
jenks
thread death
Just finished the Daša Drndíc - if you wanted a gateway into her larger books I think this it. A series of vignettes ostensibly about displaced former Yugoslavs in Canada. So you get bits about people with multiple degrees having to stuff envelopes to make a living but mixed with mediations on war criminals and Canada’s role in turning a blind eye after WWII; the historical fascist roots of Croatian nationalism; family histories and the difficulties of keeping that history alive plus trying to get a kitten for her daughter at a refuge and the layers of bureaucracy involved. I bang on about her but I think she’s up there with Stepanova and Alexievic. And obviously reading about displaced people can’t help but feel horribly current at the moment.
shakahislop
Well-known member
starting reading the raekwon book that i think someone mentioned on here. it's great so far, good to hear a first hand child's account of what it was like living in the dodgy bits of NYC in the 80s. more grist to the brain mill. wondering if he'll go off the rails when he gets famous, as per every other biography i've read of alt(ish) musicians who got big in the 90s.
forclosure
Well-known member
any of the Parker books
Burnt Orange Heresy
forclosure
Well-known member
alt? Raekwon wasn't alt what you saying?
WashYourHands
Cat Malogen
shakahislop
Well-known member
yeah, sorry not a very precise choice of words. i meant artists who aren't part of the pop thing but who still managed to become absolutely massive. nothing to do with alt hip hop
shakahislop
Well-known member
its amazing in this raekwon book, which you should all be impressed that i'm reading because it's very literary, very experimental, you have to read the original text alongside interpretive guides to be honest otherwise you can't make head nor tail of it, and these are all in french because obviously this is all post-structuralism at heart - anyway its amazing to read about how violent brooklyn and staten island were in those days. i mean obviously that's nyc lore, everyone knows it, but all this kind of thing is a clear dividing line between the european and US experience of cities i think, all this kind of thing is very much still in living memory. bits like this are illustrative:
“Anyway, U-God and I were looking good, walking to the train in Brooklyn, when this van pulled up with an old man driving. It stopped, the back door opened, and eight kids jumped out. We could see that all that was back there was a mattress. There were eight of them and three of us and it didn’t look good. Luckily the old man recognized Kato because he was from Farragut. He called Kato over as U-God and I realized that these were stickup kids and this was some bad shit.
Yo,” Kato said when he came back over. “They was getting ready to throw you in the van, rob you, and do some other shit to you, but I talked them out of it. I’m tellin’ you, they know me and they still asked me, ‘Yo, could we rob you all?’ ”
It’s a good thing nothing went down, because U-God used to carry a butcher’s knife on him at all times, strapped to his body, hidden in his drawers. But that wouldn’t have done much to scare off eight crazy niggas. These psychos probably would have used it to carve us up. These motherfuckers with their old man driver had made a job of cruising around, throwing dudes into the back of their van, taking their shit, and doing whatever the fuck else to them. In that era, Brooklyn hood niggas were notorious for behavior like this, just robbing people anywhere they found them, not caring who saw it. That shit was fucked up, but in a way it was a compliment. Clearly me and U-God looked like money that day.”
“Anyway, U-God and I were looking good, walking to the train in Brooklyn, when this van pulled up with an old man driving. It stopped, the back door opened, and eight kids jumped out. We could see that all that was back there was a mattress. There were eight of them and three of us and it didn’t look good. Luckily the old man recognized Kato because he was from Farragut. He called Kato over as U-God and I realized that these were stickup kids and this was some bad shit.
Yo,” Kato said when he came back over. “They was getting ready to throw you in the van, rob you, and do some other shit to you, but I talked them out of it. I’m tellin’ you, they know me and they still asked me, ‘Yo, could we rob you all?’ ”
It’s a good thing nothing went down, because U-God used to carry a butcher’s knife on him at all times, strapped to his body, hidden in his drawers. But that wouldn’t have done much to scare off eight crazy niggas. These psychos probably would have used it to carve us up. These motherfuckers with their old man driver had made a job of cruising around, throwing dudes into the back of their van, taking their shit, and doing whatever the fuck else to them. In that era, Brooklyn hood niggas were notorious for behavior like this, just robbing people anywhere they found them, not caring who saw it. That shit was fucked up, but in a way it was a compliment. Clearly me and U-God looked like money that day.”
I put Robert graves and mckenna down to read the new jarett kobek book, motor spirit, and it's very decent.
Not amazing, but has all of what I've come to expect from kobek. Well researched, compelling prose, good digressions on all his favourite topics. Paints a good picture for me of San Francisco.
The meat of it concerns the cop assigned to the zodiac case, kobek reckons he faked a few of the later letters himself.
I'm gonna get the part 2, where he lays out the evidence for a new suspect.
There's a podcast with bret Easton Ellis where he talks about it but I find him quite a dry talker, he's a much better writer
Not amazing, but has all of what I've come to expect from kobek. Well researched, compelling prose, good digressions on all his favourite topics. Paints a good picture for me of San Francisco.
The meat of it concerns the cop assigned to the zodiac case, kobek reckons he faked a few of the later letters himself.
I'm gonna get the part 2, where he lays out the evidence for a new suspect.
There's a podcast with bret Easton Ellis where he talks about it but I find him quite a dry talker, he's a much better writer
IdleRich
IdleRich
Just heard Lias reading the bit about meeting Mark E Smith - culminating with him saying "lose the Jap on bass" which I guess they did, cos he went on to form Jaguar No Me.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I'm reading this now, too.
A couple of passages have had a pseudo-encyclopædic feel to them, which has reminded me both of Borges and the musings of 'de Selby' from the Flann O'Brien novels.
I like how much smoking there is.
There's also mention of an extractor fan (self-reference?).
forclosure
Well-known member
I mean you say this but i remember the morning after the London riots started and i went out with my nan (she had no idea what had happened the night before) i saw a couple guys hop out of a black van and dash into the high road looking to take shit.
I mean there's parts of London where shit like this still happens in the face of gentrification
shakahislop
Well-known member
Yeah. I don't know London that well. But not surprises that it happens every now and then.
I do think there's something in the American psyche that I) remembers when cities were pretty dangerous in the 80s and 90s ii) is a reaction to bits of quite a few cities being a mess even now. I mean a lot of US cities seem to have parts which are pretty fucked up, it's not that rare, in a way that I don't think I've ever seen in europe
forclosure
Well-known member
to which i ask in what way are those US cities "fucked up" in a way you don't see in Europe?
shakahislop
Well-known member
I guess there's a few things, in terms of what you can see visually as you walk around. One is the physical decay of the buildings, all these things that have been set on fire, are falling down and so on. Another is the number of people with nowhere to live. Another is the open heroin and crack (etc) use, and people totally out of it and wandering around. Every now and then you see street dealing of the above as well if you go into these places, which I've never come across in europe myself. I mean it's not exactly a secret that the US culture and gov policies are essentially that you won't get much help if you start to struggle.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Interestingly when we were in Germany met a few people from US who said they had moved to Europe - partially at least - so they could get free medical care.
One time my friend from my football team was walking down the street and this van pulled to a screeching halt in front of him and a load of masked guys jumped out and bundled him into the van. Turned out it was a mate who was a window cleaner or something having a laugh but I think he shat it pretty good for a minute or two.
One time my friend from my football team was walking down the street and this van pulled to a screeching halt in front of him and a load of masked guys jumped out and bundled him into the van. Turned out it was a mate who was a window cleaner or something having a laugh but I think he shat it pretty good for a minute or two.
