Today's Five-Parter
Friday, August 15, 2008
A few thoughts occurring to me over the last week:
1) The Russian and Turkish bathhouse on 10th Street is my new favorite place in New York, third in line behind Roosevelt and Coney Islands. I just discovered it (and so, says Alex K., "where have you been, man?")
2) I'm a little burned out from literary activities, but it was nice to read at The Happy Ending Bar last night, and to have relatively new stuff to read from, and to declaim it in the old way.
3) I've been struggling over a little 400-word review of George Oppen's Collected Poems, soon to be released by New Directions. The problem with reading him today is that he tried to make the modernism of Ezra Pound democratic, and though that's still a legitimate problem, it's not one we even understand today. Oppen's tradition has been picked up and mauled exclusively by professional intellectuals, which is to say, people who are illegitimate both in democratic thought and in aesthetic practice. He has no tradition other than the passively theoretical, and for someone who put down his pen for twenty-five years to actively organize renter's strikes, that's a shame. That no one sees that "silence" as being parallel to and of a piece with the physical work of writing is a greater shame. Theory does not explain Oppen's life -- nor any other life that's been lived well & justly -- and I fear I'm not a big enough man enough to formulate it in another way. I need a better tradition to explain my favorite artists.
4) SCTV was a hell of a lot funnier than Saturday Night Live. I guess I knew that when I was watching them on rerun back in High School, but the new DVDs make the case very handily. I wish I could find some video of The Gerry Todd Program to post here.
5) To The Hold Steady: more Thin Lizzy, less Bruce Springsteen.
posted by Greg Purcell @ 2:07 PM,
4 Comments:
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At 12:07 PM,
Justin F. Farrar said...
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Jesus Christ. You said, RE: Thin Lizzy. What the fuck. Lynott was the street wise poet that Seger and the Boss always dreamed of being. Plus, he created a more radical sound. Instead of pandering to the Happy Days nostalgia scene, he went totally modern: twin guitar proto-metal, the true language of teens in the 70s.
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At 1:51 AM,
Greg Purcell said...
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The analogue of Bruce Springsteen and Happy Days is rough, pal, but pretty apt. Let's give the Boss Nebraska and Darkness On the edge of Town. But let's give Lynott Fighting My Way Back and For Those Who Love to Live without a lot of condescending grabass: yes, absolutely.
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At 10:55 AM,
Ryan said...
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Have you read the new (I think) book on Oppen's notebooks, scraps of paper clung to walls, etc.? Funny that you are thinking/reading about Oppen as I just renewed my love of some of his work. I don't care for the stache.
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At 8:38 PM,
Bryan Charles said...
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Hold Steady is the most overfuckingrated band in an indie rock climate full overfuckingrated bands (and a few pretty good ones). i dont understand why they're popular, they sound nothing like B. Sprinsteen, the dude is a terrible singer, and his lyrics are sickeningly affected "geek's eye view of hip" slam poetry. Brandon Flowers is a better lyricist. That said, the Hold Steady have one truly great tune, Your Little Hoodrat Friend. That song makes the grade.
