Ploughshares on Herzog. Einstein the agnostic. Publishing is going to be okay, thanks to smut. Kevin Sampsell gives Largehearted Boy a chapbooks worth of music he likes. Read about somebody listening to music in Montreal over at the McSweeney’s. If the “voice of the generation” turned out to be a phony, what would that mean? Joni Mitchell accused Bob Dylan of plagiarism and The Daily Beast discusses it. Coffee House Press to put out another winner: Big Other tells you […]
Bashing Bob Dylan
Sometimes I think people hold Bob Dylan up to such godlike standards, that we tend to forget some of the great criticism the guy has drawn. I was reminded of this today when reading the PopMatters essay on Greil Marcus, “Risk and Equilibrium: The Impact of Greil Marcus”. I could be wrong, but I doubt many other reviews that open up with the line “what is this shit” are as well remembered as the one Marcus wrote for Dylan’s 1970 […]
Bites: Jodorowsky Interview, Amis Worries, Bob Dylan Gets Crazier, New Bolaño Translation, and More
Arthur posted a 2003 interview with Alejandro Jodorowsky. It’s pretty epic. I think Martin Amis is worried about fading away. Proust, Darwin, and Andy Warhol: all hypochondriacs. First he finds Jesus, then puts out a Christmas album, now, Bob Dylan writes a fucking kids book. Lit Kicks interviews Walter Kirn, who wrote the book that got turned into a movie starring George Clooney. “William Burns” by Roberto Bolaño
Bites: Tragically o.o.p., who shot rock n’ roll, new book deals, Granta in Chicago, Andrew Bird + St. Vincent in Paris, and more
Lit. Dennis Cooper continues his “Tragically o.o.p. search and rescue mission”, with writer Tony Duvert’s Strange Landscapes. Cool Hunting on the photo book “Who Shot Rock n’ Roll“ In the never ending parade of folks getting book deals, Old Jews Telling Jokes has made it to the front of the line. (Thanks The Awl) Chicago Subtext asks you to write fiction in under 100 words or less. The Rumpus on the new Soft Skull book Label 228 Boston Globe talks […]
Bites: The return of Lemony Snicket, Bob Dylan at the controls, zombies, Marvel Comics, Sen. Alec Baldwin, and more.
I really liked the first few Lemony Snicket books, and then there were a few hundred more. Now we get news that we can expect four more. I’m alright with this, as long as there is no more movies with Jim Carrey involved. We really like to talk about zombies; this essay on The Morning News does it far better than just about anything we have ever posted. I smell a challenge, or possibly the stench of the undead. So […]
Bites: The end of indie, the guy who isn’t Tao Lin, Bob Dylan and the Christmas spirit, and more
Richard Nash on the end of indie. When literatis were celebs: “What Edmund Wilson won’t do.“ According to the Guardian, “a Little Red Book-esque collection of Fidel Castro‘s thoughts has been published in Cuba.” Oh hey, a picture of Tao Lin on the front page of Iamcarles.com – the site created by the mastermind of Hipster Runoff who we all know isn’t Tao Lin. Bob Dylan is putting out a Christmas album. Seriously Bob, where is the record of Yiddish […]
Dusting off: Bob Dylan in Playboy, 1966
The February, 1966 interview with Bob Dylan was simply put, a portrait of the artist at the top of his game. Before the motorcycle accident, the “Judas” labeling, the noodling around with The Band in an upstate New York basement, and on the verge of putting out what might be his greatest achievement in a career full of high points, Blonde on Blonde, Dylan talked to Playboy. What caused Bob Dylan – whose disdain for the media has been well-documented […]