Three Imaginary Girls - Books

Rock Torch: Volume One

Imaginary Karen — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 16:43:37 +0000

If you haven’t yet discovered Rock Torch and are an over-the-moon audiophile or bibliophile, read on -- because this is one of the best ideas we’ve heard of since chocolate and peanut butter came together in an unholy union: Rock Torch founder Randy Abramson came up with the brilliant idea to ask musicians we love about which artists inspired/influenced them and why, and then put all the answers in a great big wonderful book.

Not only do they discuss in-depth what makes the music so off the charts, but also give album/listening suggestions by their recommended artist as a guide for new listeners. So that means you get the straight dope from Mike Doughty about Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy, Wanda Jackson writes about Elvis (is that simply perfect, or what?), and Ritzy Bryan from the Joy Formidable extolls the virtues of The Smiths. The list just goes on and on. Our own girl crush and local goddess, Rachel Flotard, contributed a piece on Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters. Way to represent, PNW! Did we mention that this first volume of Rock Torch contains over one hundred essays? That is some serious brain candy for all the music lovers out there. The full color illustrations by Nicolas Nocera that accompany each piece make this compilation extra sweet.

Best Zines of 2012: Cometbus, Mineshaft, The Prince Zine, and more

Chris Estey — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 16:22:35 +0000

The volunteer-run, all-ages Vera Project at the Seattle Center recently hosted two Saturday celebrations of arty, musicy, writerly, printerly, poetry, baked sweet-nums creativity and I hung out at both, deflating my wallet for a huge stack of small press goodies. I do this whenever I can hit a Vera-sponsored craft thang, the most recent being the 5th Annual Hollow Earth DIY Holiday Fair, held this past December 8th. I saw some smokin' spoken word, hung out with my pals, and bought a lot of really cool music from Debacle, Medical, and ggnzla RECORDS at that one. (I'm going to write about the vinyl and CDs and DLs ASAP.)

However, at the earlier event, the Short Run small press smorgasboard held earlier in November at the Vera, I picked up a sweet pile of chapbooks, comics, and yes zines that I've finally read through. And they're almost all brilliant. And so many of them too -- I've been going to zine events since, well, when zines were still called fanzines (but we won't get into that right now). But with the zine explosion and then zine decline-slash-advent of the boobwebs (my wife's name for the internet, I don't even want to glimpse her computer's search history), pickings at events like these started seeming meager and spare. But now that people are coming around again to the idea that owning a piece of art (which may or may not have writing and other stuff too) is actually too cool to believe and a spiritually profound way to live, no matter what your income is, old zinesters and new Do It Yourself darlings are choogling out self-published works again. To my heart's delight. 2012 seemed to be an awesomely inspiring year for those who wanted to put something out for their friends and new readers. Let's trip through the stacks fantastic (all are digest-size or thereabouts, which means half-sized, but thick with pages):

Cometbus #54

This actually came out in 2011, but it's at the top of the list for being such an important example of how to tell a real life story about music, friends, and life. Aaron Cometbus has been making his perfect but non-pretentious collections of memoirs, essays, fiction, and reviews for many years without blowing his own horn too much about once playing in Green Day, and his own band Crimpshrine, and his work with the Gilman Street Project. If you want to learn how to live, scribble down your experiences, enjoy the best things in life (hint: money is a mere, not-too-classy option), dig in to this edition where he tags along with the punk pop trio to China for a tour for sure. This is where Aaron finally (peeps been waiting on this) examines how his friends Billie Joe and the rest gained power from being in an all ages punk rock scene, and then found lots of money and pain through ascending pop culture popularity. Aaron breaks the magician's rule by revealing many secrets of the inner circles of musicians (successful or not), and humorously juxtaposes his own addiction to literature and wandering experiential bliss with the mad-dog career of his old pals and the feral fandom of their followers. But he's still a fan. He loves these guys, and they love him, but love can be hard. (Four bucks. Available at Elliott Bay Bookstore and Sonic Boom, or order from Quimby's on the web.)

Mineshaft #28

Everett Rand and Gioia Palmieri publish the been-around-awhile, elegantly crafted, and impeccably edited Mineshaft, but it looks from casual glance to be a personal zine from underground cartoonists Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky Crumb, Pat Moriarity, musician Billy Childish and many others. And in a way it is -- the material is very intimate, even if you know the names of the contributors. This zine blows your mind on several levels: It's proof the zine can be a gorgeous looking small press publication devoid of bad cut-out artwork, knee-jerk "punk" graphics, or completelty unknown artists and scribes. Everyone involved with the mag are either famous, secretly famous, or absolutely funktabulous. If you wonder about the milieu from which artists like Chris Ware, Charles Burns, and others have sprung their pals are occasionally helping this couple put out what has become my most cherished running zine. It is also very perplexing in that I avoided it as a sort of old hipster sketchbook for awhile, but once you dig into the wildness of Crumb's dream journal, or the really good poetry, or the special comics from Moriarity and Kim Deitch and other Fantagraphics-favorites, it has much more depth than it appears. Yes, something that looks this good and is by your legendary counter-culture heroes is really this great. If you dig Arthur Magazine, or want to see what VICE would be more like if it wasn't trying to get ad money, hit this. ($9 and worth it: Mineshaft, P.O. 1226, Durham NC 27702.)

Recommended Show: Ya Gotta Believe! at Richard Hugo House {11/16}

Imaginary Amie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:05:05 +0000

We wanted to give some love to the Richard Hugo House this week, because it’s amongst our favorite artistic community venues, and we don’t talk about it enough!

On Friday, November 16, as part of the 2012-2013 Literary Series, the Hugo House is hosting writers Ryan Boudinot (“Blueprints of the Afterlife”), Emily Kendall Frey (“The Grief Performance”), and Claire Dederer (“Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses”), who will lead a discussion of what to believe - and why Ya Gotta Believe!

With new music created by Jason Dodson of The Maldives, this event is going to be something super-extra-special, and super imaginary!

You should definitely snap up some tix online now, before it sells out.

{Ya Gotta Believe! | Richard Hugo House | Friday, 12/16, 7:30pm | $25 general, $20 HH members | All Ages, Bar with ID}

Come see and hear the history of the Carter Family at the Hugo House this Monday {10/8}

Chris Estey — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:18:55 +0000

On Monday, October 8 at 7:00 p.m., the Richard Hugo House, writer Frank M. Young, and artist David Lasky will be presenting The Carter Family: The Don't Forget This Song Book Launch Party. Young and Lasky are the creators of this delightfully unique illustrated autobiography about the first superstar family of country music (the one Johnny Cash was thrilled to marry into). They will be joined by fellow richly talented writers and artists Stacey Levine, Kelly Froh, Elissa Washuta and Mark Campos to present a multimedia reading, with musicians Laurel Bliss and Cliff Perry playing Carter Family songs. Plus, the RHH will be showing a video preview of The Winding Stream, a documentary about the Carter Family by Beth Harrington. There will be a dessert buffet (!!!), poet and proprietor of Pie Stand and Pie School, and copies of the graphic novel will be for sale by Elliott Bay Book Company -- live music and treats included for the outrageously low price at the door of $6!

The Carter Family was the birth, life, and death of a lot of music you hold dearest to your heart. If you hear their early-mid 20th century sides, your spirit will be consumed by a near-lost, old-time world of joy, sadness, sin, and salvation. The new graphic novel, The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song (Abrams ComicArts) is an October release (appropriately, for the autumn and before holiday book-buying), and can you fill you in on the rosetta stone of all your favorite American-fomented country-folk love songs, murder ballads, and spirituals. When family head A.P. Carter and his family sang about trains ("Worried Man Blues") you were on a freaking train, cuz. With all the passion of someone leaving town or coming home, craving change or even death, and planting deep the ever-giving roots for road epics, restless soul rambles, and every other trope in modern rock, twangy or not.

The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song is the full-length collaboration between author/journalist/editor Young (who is from the American South) and Lasky (from Virginia), both having lived in Seattle through both the 90s alt-country music and alt-comics booms of this region. With their backgrounds and passions, no one else could have crafted a story this sensual, this paradoxical, and this compelling, even though the source material is pure gold. However, as music history so crucial, there have somehow been rare and few attempts to trace its anthropological and artistic necessariness to the C&W, gospel, and early rock scenes utterly indebted to it. Written with nuance and clarity, and lovingly drawn, the extended comic version of the Carter Family saga comes with a compact disc of eleven very rare radio sessions, making its worth far more than its cover price.

Recommended event {and sweet things!}: Bake It In A Cake Cookbook book release party on Thursday {10/4}

imaginary liz — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:53:56 +0000

Not to ruin the surprise for any of my loved ones, but this year you're getting a copy of the Bake It In A Cake cookbook for your upcoming birthday or holiday gift... and I'm hoping to get each copy signed by none other than the book's author, Megan Seling, at tomorrow's Bake It In A Cake book release party at Elliot Bay Book Company {in Capitol Hill}.

Tomorrow is going to be about more than just getting most of my holiday shopping done, it's going to be a wonderful celebration of all the amazing work Seattle's own (and radio DJ and acclaimed writer at the Stranger) Megan Seling has done for the world of baked goods.

About two years ago, she started with an idea of combining two things we all love: cupcakes and pies, candy, fruit, or anything else she dreams up that is a delectable match for said cupcake shell. Since then she's brought together banana cupcake with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Hello Panda chocolate-filled biscuits baked into mini brownies, and the holiday favorite--a mini PUMPKIN PIE baked into a cream cheese vanilla cupcake, topped with cinnamon cream cheese buttercream.

Each creation is a masterpiece, and so it's no surprise that in the last 2 years she's been praised by Martha Stewart, Rosie O'Donnell, and countless drooling sweets affectionados. And now, everyone can be the life of the party snack table by creating our very own treat from the Bake It in a Cupcake: 50 Treats With a Surprise Inside cookbook.

The book release party starts at 5pm, this Thursday (tomorrow) and, of course, there will be even be cupcakes!!!

Neil Young: Waging Heavy Peace

Imaginary Gemma — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:12:01 +0000

WagingHeavyPeace.jpg

Even though he’s not from around here, it would be hard to name any single person who has had more influence on Seattle’s indie music than Neil Young. From Pearl Jam to Fleet Foxes and just about everyone in between, Seattle owes a pretty big debt to the fiercely independent folk-jam rocker. This year is shaping up to be a pretty good time to celebrate that influence. Neil Young released his 34^th full length album, Americana, in June (his first with Crazy Horse since 2004) and will play KeyArena on November 10 (tickets are pricey, but still available). On October 2, Young will drop his memoir Waging Heavy Peace.

I read a preview chapter from Waging Heavy Peace, which the publishers are billing as “the only advance taste of Neil Young’s memoir.” It’s only a few pages, but it’s enough to let you know that this is not going to be a linear autobiography. You would hardly expect one from the guy whose label once sued him for making music “unrepresentative of himself.” He is rightly famous for wandering jams and blues-rock anthems, but his catalog includes country albums, and he has experimented with jazz and horn sections. Now Young has released an album of kindergarten-folk covers (his words). Young has always marched to his own beat, inviting the rest of the world to follow or get out of the way.

In Waging Heavy Peace, Young is like a cool, old black-sheep uncle inviting you to kick back on the front porch on a summer evening with a cold beer, while watching the sun set and telling old stories. The preview chapter wanders like one of Young’s guitar solos, rambling from his model train collection, through David Crosby’s freebase addiction and relationship with Graham Nash, to the timeless beauty of the 1953 Buick Skylark, the Vietnam vet he hired to take care of his classic car collection, the barn that houses the collection and his business offices – all of which is just to introduce his obsession with sound quality and the evils of the mp3. Because you see, Young has an idea for a new technology that will pair the sound quality of vinyl with the convenience of mp3s. His is a storytelling style my mom (herself a huge Neil Young fan) calls “going down around Nellie’s barn.”

If you’re a music trivia freak looking for a comprehensive life story full of chronologically ordered details about Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; and Crazy Horse, this book will drive you crazy. If you’ve ever wanted to kick back and shoot the shit with one of the greatest musicians of the last century, this is your chance.

{Waging Heavy Peace will be released October 2 from Blue Rider Press. It is available for preorder from Amazon now. Neil Young and Crazy Horse will be at KeyArena November 10. Prices vary.}

Scissor Sisters and Rye Rye at the Paramount

Imaginary Karen — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:18:17 +0000

19 Jun 2012

When I saw that Rye Rye and Scissor Sisters would be touring together, my head almost exploded. Would I be able to handle that much neon, strobe lighting, lasers, and club beats in one evening? Heck yes! It was like completing a sweaty Baltimore bass half-marathon fueled completely on adrenaline and then being swallowed up in a congratulatory shiny glitter hug. [Ed. note: Damn girl!]

The diminutive Rye Rye took the stage with her duo of back up dancers, entertaining the crowd with their hardcore club moves. Slinging songs off her latest record Go! Pop! Bang! Rye Rye rapid-fired lyrics over a continuous undercurrent of pumping, dirty beats. She gave us the singles like “Sunshine," a product of her collaboration with M.I.A., and “Boom Boom” -- but then ended with the track that helped put her on Billboard’s 21 under 21 list, the dance hit “Shake It To The Ground.” As Rye Rye swaggered and ferociously spat out her rhymes, her dancers pulled audience members on stage, inviting them to shake their booties to the floor. And you better believe they did! She danced with them, a whirling dervish in riotous turquoise, before wishing us all a good night in her sweet-soft speaking voice.

My sweaty t-shirt has just started to dry and unstick from my back when Scissor Sisters opened up with “Any Which Way.” Three minutes of that and I was back to being a hot mess. The crowd went crazy for Ana Matronic’s mid-song interlude describing the hunt for a bottle-tanned man. The band played with their usual confidence and cheeky antics, but they seem to have also come into a relaxed familiarity, grown out of ten years of touring in mostly smaller venues. Spending an evening with Scissor Sisters, you get the feeling that we are old friends -- it’s like a class reunion for the filthy gorgeous.

Magic Hour, the band’s latest record, is by far their most introspective and reflective, bringing them down to earth. But only slightly -- they are the Scissor Sisters, after all. The set list featured the new material, including “Baby Come Home” and “Inevitable,” making the show a more subdued party rather than the band’s previous dance marathons. Magic Hour is still heavy on electro sounds though, and tracks like “Year of Living Dangerously” have an almost Bee Gees-like quality to them. Jake Shears performed it in homage to his early days in Seattle, standing at the center of the nearly blacked out stage with just a spotlight illuminating him.

The night was a roller coaster of highs and lows, with Jake and Ana pulling us out of the slow song troughs with dance anthems like “Let's Have a Kiki” (my personal favorite) and the classic “Take Your Mama.” Somewhat surprisingly, the show was an almost even split between songs off Magic Hour and their self-titled debut album. “Comfortably Numb,” “Mary," and “Music is the Victim” all made the cut. Sadly, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” was the sole representative from Ta-Dah; I was hoping for “She’s My Man” but was only disappointed for like, ten seconds at best. Especially after Ana Matronic’s sultry bump and grind to the deliciously campy “Skin This Cat.”

It’s a given that Scissor Sisters are going to hand you one hell of a show complete with various degrees of nakedness, wardrobe changes, fog machines, and of course, lasers. But you can also count on the audience giving back just as good as they get by putting on their own show and dressing for the occasion. Jake and Ana Matronic gave shout outs to the rave kids, the drag queens, and the sparkly unicorns amongst us. “I went to visit my old high school today and I saw two homos walking down the street dressed like a nun and a sailor. And I thought, I know exactly where they’re headed,” Jake told us. And he was right on: I saw the sailor in the lobby pre-show.

Scissor Sisters said goodnight in the longstanding tradition of musical theater, with a big showy closing number. Against a video backdrop of white horses running down a beach, Jake belted out their current single “Only the Horses," sending the crowd off that last drop on a fist pumping, dance powered, magnificent ride.

Recommended Event: Dategirl Judy McGuire Book Release at The Sunset {6/14}

Imaginary Amie — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:09:49 +0000

So, Judy McGuire, aka: Dategirl over at Seattle Weekly, just wrote a book! And she's having a release party to celebrate this book on Thursday, 6/14 at The Sunset!

The Official Book of Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n Roll Lists is filled with, well, lists, like: 8 Reasons You Shouldn't Listen to Song Lyrics for Help With Your Love Life, and, I guess, all the things that Sid loves (loved?) about Nancy.

And this is not going to be anything like a regular bookstore reading, because Judy's book release features DJ El Toro (Kurt B. Reighley) spinning tunes inspired by the book's lists, and a trivia contest with exciting prizes!!! Plus, afterwords you can stick around and see Amy Lavere with Shelby Earl and Mark Pickerel play for a mere $8.

So, I'll see you there, right??? RIGHT.

{Thur 6/14| EARLY, 6-8pm: The Official Book of Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll Lists Release Party! | LATE 9pm: Amy Lavere with Shelby Earl and Mark Pickerel | $8}

Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through The Looking Glass at Fantagraphics, this Saturday May 24 & Emerald City Comicon soon too!

Chris Estey — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:17:52 +0000

"From Comix to Critique" is the slogan of Real Comet Press, which is the current retrospective show at the Fantagraphics Store and Gallery in Georgetown, featuring original art, graphics novels, and design work from artists such as Lynda Barry, Michael Dougan, Art Chantry, and Ruth Hayes. This Saturday, March 24 {at the same location} author Susan E. Kirtley discusses her book on Lynda Barry, subtitled Girlhood Through The Looking Glass. She will be interviewed by Cathy Hillenbrand, and an informal reception and signing will follow the live discussion.

Kirtley is associate professor of English at Portland State University, and it's excellent she chose Barry as her subject -- she was the original "emotionally-socially tortured adolescent gal comics" star, her shattered, visually shivering odes to insecurity, anxiety, and the absurd abuses of the universe as charming and real-life ring true as any work by (colleagues) Matt Groening and Harvey Pekar. Regular readers of her cartoon in rock tabloid The Rocket were hooked for all time to her nervous, under-the-skin style of confession and observation. Kirtley's book is part of the University Press of Mississippi’s Great Comics Artists Series, which also includes works on Chris Ware, Alan Moore, Carl Barks, Jack Kirby, Garry Trudeau, and Walt Kelly.

So, just to recap: it's all going on this Saturday, March 24, 6:00 PM, at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S).

Also, don't forget that the Emerald City Comic Convention is coming up the weekend after this one -- and Fantagraphics will be there too, along with Seatte's own Jake Stratton hosting a nerd family feud gala event, some geek rock music, mook nihilsts testing out their military gaming skills, and maybe the same gaggle of fully decked Stormship Troopers and fully pierced Suicide Girls who collided into each other on the dealer's floor when I was there a couple of years ago (ah, good times).

Here's a FBI press release lot of what I'm going for (and please note the further Lynda Barry tie-in at the bottom):

Imaginary Gift Guide: Books for Movie & Music Fans

Imaginary Amie — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:14:40 +0000

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to put together a list of some things I've been reading (and coveting) lately - as well as things on my own wish list - that would make great literary gifts for friends and family this year.

I heartily recommend you head to the local book store near you (may I suggest Queen Anne Books, Elliot Bay, or the UW Book store? Cinema Books on Roosevelt is also an excellent store for movie books - and a "dig through the stacks and explore" kind of place) to pick up a few of these:

MOVIES!

Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film by Zack Carlson and Bryan Connolly
Our own Chris Estey wrote about how awesome this is earlier this year, and omfg. It IS. Every single movie with any appearance by a punk rocker is detailed within. This book is one of my greatest treasures…and I haven't even gotten past the first 20 pages. Its completeness is amazing, and the reviews/descriptions of the movies are hilarious. I LOVE IT. And I have some half-assed notion of renting all the movies in it that I haven't seen - who wants to dare me?

Deep Focus Books - Heathers, They Live, and Lethal Weapon
When Soft Skull press announced Deep Focus last year I was SO EXCITED. These books are like the movie version of the 33 and 1/3 series. I currently have They Live and Heathers in my collection, and am excited to add more. In addition to the ones listed above, they also have The Sting, Death Wish, and The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (WHAT) available.

Two new must-own books from Fantagraphics: Frisky freak folk gal comix; and the mighty, massive Comics Journal 301

Chris Estey — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:07:48 +0000

TIG readers won't be surprised there are two adorable new books out from Seattle-snared, world-shaking Fantagraphics. As the world's foremost glossy-n-generous "boutique label" of classic comics reprints (Peanuts, Dennis The Menace, Krazy Kat), and the publishing patron of local and international graphic novel geniuses like Jim Woodring, Megan Kelso, the Hernandez Brothers (Love & Rockets), and many others, we're all up on it. Even those not much into "sequential art" love to hype out along with all the fine arts, middlebrow marauders, and indie rock stars enrolled in their various ranks of production and promoting the product itself (galleries, album covers, et al).

Meanwhile, beyond just knowing the importance of the imprint, where would a good place for a DIY-loving potential fan-person start to read something more like an illustrated 'zine or chapbook, less like a 3-D blockbuster? Well, Leslie Stein is a young lady out of Brooklyn, NY who has been crafting literary/illustrative dub versions of her tastes and trials and laying them out in meticulously crafted yet still oodles-of-eye-fun anecdotes and tall tales. Fanta has collected them all into Eye Of The Majestic, a big-sized anthology of her work, with color covers and B&W insides and a whole lot of heart reproduced superbly for proper long-term keeping.

Come meet some daddies of legendary punk rock fanzine Touch & Go at Elliott Bay Bookstore tonight (4/8)

Chris Estey — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:02:25 +0000

Touch and Go is a long-running, incredible indie label that -- like Sub Pop! -- started off as a punk-inspired fanzine. Tonight, Friday, April 8, the original cult artist leader behind the small press publication, Tesco Vee, will be having a meet and greet reading at Elliott Bay Bookstore on Cap Hill with his OG hardcore outfit, The Meatmen.

That veteran band of foul-minded scamps will be playing later that night at El Corazon. But for those zine-freaks who like me drooled over the near-600 page republication of the actual inside of T&G issues, Touch And Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine '79-83, the early evening celebration will be a must-attend. The glorious historical tome was put out by Bazillion Points Books last summer, and I hyped it hard over at the KEXP Blog at the end of the year.

As their Facebook tour promo puts it: "For the entire month of April 2011, Tesco will be terrorizing West Coast book and record stores by day, telling the tales of Rollins, MacKaye, Danzig, and the dawn of the hardcore punk; and by night showing grimy punk dives how it’s done with full-color four-dimensional performances by Detroit daddies The Meatmen."

Tonight at the Experience Music Project: Three legendary punks read from their memoirs and a novel

Chris Estey — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:49:36 +0000

This is last minute notice, but for original punk rock fans the Experience Music Project tonight is hosting the reading of three really great writers from that musical genre in their JBL Theater (starts at 7pm and it's free!).

Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys will be reading from one of my favorite books of last year, A Dead Boy's Tale From The Front Lines of Punk Rock. Chrome was a reckless renegade on the emergent margins of the Ohio-into-NYC first wave punk scene back in the 70s, and it was against all odds that he would come up with one of the most readable, empathetic, and clever summations of the period and lifestyle.

Also on board tonight is The Pagans' own Mike Hudson, whose Diary Of A Punk is also one of the very best North American punk memoirs I've read, and I regret I've never been able to do a more extensive write up on it. The Pagans are one of those truly underground rock bands your raw power heroes have plenty of vinyl classics from, even if you may not have heard them yet. Like Chrome's autobiography, Diary doesn't flinch from the crime, grime, gashes, grit, and spit of the daily life of OG punk rockers setting a bonfire out in the heartland. Trust me, you'd much rather hear their (vividly told) tales than another spoken word performance/comedy set/political harangue by Henry Rollins or Jello Biafra (no offense, but this is truly a special night).

TIG wraps up the year with the Best Music Writing tour

Imaginary Nicky — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:30:42 +0000

There is a feeling of neurotic helplessness I sometimes suffer from; when I realize I live in a world where I have the freedom to make infinite choices over what music I listen to, what gigs I attend and what literature I choose to delve into. There is such an overload of witty, critical music journalism that I find myself frozen in indecision – is it best to skim over everything via twitter, trawl through my RSS feed, or simply spin around in circles at the local bookstore and randomly pluck a glossy magazine from the shelves; at the expense of all the zines, blogposts, podcasts and other potential gems floating around the internet?

Here's a book that will make the decision making a little easier - now in it’s eleventh year, Best Music Writing 2010 presents a knowledgable yet accessible array of thinking that represents a diverse range of recording artists from Michael Jackson to burlesque’s elusive Eva Tanguay. Likewise, the writers included within range from musicians, scholars, and roadies to self-confessed superfans. Filled with rich prose, music scholars and geeks alike wax lyrical and share personal stories of how music has shaped their lives; as The Stranger’s Sean Nelson details in his contribution, “Let’s (Not) Get It On”: “Still, for those who are attuned to it, pop music is more than just the background noise of our development. In an indirect but essential way, it teaches us how to live, by offering codes that we’re free to decipher as we choose.”

Far from being the ramblings of an idiot savant, buried in liner notes and arguing long redundant Blur vs. Oasis-style fanwars, those published here use music as a means to examine a broader view of our society – music is the yardstick by which we can measure standings in current events, language, technology and self-expression. Anyone who dismisses pop music and culture as frivolous should read on – BMW2010 addresses such pivotal music issues as royalties, music as an avenue for feminism, marketing personas and more. It examines how our use of technology has shaped the way that we communicate, and how musicians are changing their view of success to adapt to a post-napster music market.

Guest Editor Ann Powers opens the book with a powerful introduction that (forgive the pun) strikes a chord in the reader and emphasizes the fact that although the world of criticism and analysis is often thought of as exclusive, music is still an inclusive, uniting force: "Music itself is a call that demands response. It organizes desire, sorrow, and joy into a form both primal - the ear is the first sense organ to begin working when we are in the womb - and intensely communal; in every known culture, some form of music has been a constant in everyday life. Making music or listening to it is a part of how we grow; sharing music is what helps us create community. You don't have to be a musician, or even a major music geek, to exist within that realm".

I don't usually agree with most "Best of" lists, and I would not expect to be enamoured with every piece in this book, either - but the call for submissions included "essays, profiles, news articles, interviews, creative non-fiction, book reviews, long-format reviews, charticles and other creative blends of language and image, blog posts, tweets, and other thoughtful and well-written work on music and music culture" - resulting in a diverse and at times truly amazing array of responses to music. I normally wouldn't blink twice at an article about The Gossip either, but Michelle Tea's writing is so accessible that by the end of the chapter, I find myself looking up Music for Men on YouTube. How could you not giggle at Beth Ditto's shenannigans during Paris Fashion Week: "After breakfast, the wearing of socks throughout the Westin continues. "We're adults!" Beth hoots, waggling her feet. "We're punk!" She references her friend the Portland zinester Nicole J. Georges, who holds punk as a trapdoor that lets you escape any breach of good conduct or manners. "We're punk!" Beth explains to strangers as we board the elevator and return to our rooms for a nap before the Nina Ricci show that night."

One of my favourite pieces is Tim Quirk's My Hilarious Warner Bros. Royalty Statement, in which our hero battles against The Man in an attempt to find out simply how his defunct band is generating revenue for the company. I cannot help but think of Vonnegut's dark humour when reading Quirk's lament: "People in the record industry are very good at making bands believe they deserve the hundreds of thousands (or sometimes millions) of dollars labels advance the musicians when they're first signed, and even better at convincing those same musicians it's the bands' fault when those advances aren't recouped (the last thing $10,000-Is-Nothing-Man yelled at me before he hung up was, "Too Much Joy never earned us shit!" as though that fact somehow negated their obligation to account honestly). I don't want to live in $10,000-Is-Nothing-Man's world. But I do. We all do. We have no choice".

My other favourite would have to be Phil Ochs Greatest Hits, penned by TIG's very own Chris Estey. Again, I'm no fan of the artist, but the sentiment-driven prose is beautiful to read. This unique track-by-track analysis of the record also doubles as a gritty, moving autobiography of the writer himself, who makes the wry free-writing within crystalize into something quite moving: "He touches a live battery on his little brother's tongue while they listen to the descending third side of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Everyone who lives in a trailer court loves to hear songs about paradise going rotten for the lucky few. They plan a suicide pact in the woods behind the trailer court to John Denver songs about reincarnation in the mountains in a sad voice he had borrowed."

This book resonates with me, and I know I will be returning to it throughout the new year. BMW2010 is the perfect gift for your very own Rob Gordon – but why make do with the book alone when you could join a few of the writers for a night of unabashed dialogue, discussion, and readings from the book? Perfect for shaking that post-Christmas lull, we at Three Imaginary Girls are super excited to have Seattle writers Chris Estey and Sean Nelson included in the lineup for this year's reading - hope to see you there!

Best Music Writing 2010 – Seattle reading with Ann Powers, Chris Estey and Sean Nelson:

Tuesday December 28, 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Elliott Bay Bookstore

1521 Tenth Avenue

Seattle, WAThere is a feeling of neurotic helplessness I sometimes suffer from; when I realize I live in a world where I have the freedom to make infinite choices over what music I listen to, what gigs I attend and what literature I choose to delve into. There is such an overload of witty, critical music journalism that I find myself frozen in indecision – is it best to skim over everything via twitter, trawl through my RSS feed, or simply spin around in circles at the local bookstore and randomly pluck a glossy magazine from the shelves; at the expense of all the zines, tweets, blogposts, podcasts and other potential gems floating around the internet?

Now in it’s eleventh year, Best Music Writing 2010 presents a knowledgable yet accessible array of thinking that represents a diverse range of recording artists from Michael Jackson to burlesque’s elusive Eva Tanguay. Likewise, the writers included within range from musicians, scholars, and superfans. Filled with rich prose, music scholars and geeks alike wax lyrical and share personal stories of how music has shaped their lives; as The Stranger’s Sean Nelson details in his contribution, “Let’s (Not) Get It On”:

“Still, for those who are attuned to it, pop music is more than just the background noise of our development. In an indirect but essential way, it teaches us how to live, by offering codes that we’re free to decipher as we choose.”

Far from being obsessed fans, buried in liner notes and arguing long redundant Blur vs. Oasis-style fanwars, those published here use music as a means to examine a broader view of our society – music is the yardstick by which we can measure standings in current events, language, technology and self-expression.

Anyone who dismisses pop music and culture as frivolous should read on – BMW2010 addresses such pivotal music issues as marketing, royalties, music as an avenue for feminism, marketing personas and more. It examines how our use of technology has shaped the way that we communicate, and how musicians are changing their view of success to adapt to a post-napster music market.

Resonates

An enthusiasm that is infectious

Where is the music industry headed? Feminism, marketing

Issues addressed in the music industry include royalty runarounds by Time Warner, what exactly is indie and the impact social networking is having on music and music journalism.

I normally wouldn't blink twice at an article about The Gossip, I'd usually just turn the page - but the writing at work here is so accessible and masterful that by the end of the chapter, I find myself looking up videos on YouTube. Musicians are people too.

If you'd ever wondered what a record store guy or the superfan in the front row was thinking, pick up this book.

Personal favourites would have to be The Gossip, Twitter and Timothy Quirk

Best Music writing 2010 is the perfect gift for your very own Rob Gordon – but why make do with the book alone when you and your favourite music geeks could join us for a night of unabashed dialogue, discussion, and readings from the book? Perfect for shaking that post-Christmas lull, we at Three Imaginary Girls are super excited to have our own Chris Estley included in the lineup for this year's reading - hope to see you there!

Best Music Writing 2010 – Seattle reading with Ann Powers, Chris Estley and Sean Nelson:

Tuesday, December 28 · 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Elliott Bay Bookstore

1521 Tenth Avenue

Resonates

An enthusiasm that is infectious

Where is the music industry headed? Feminism, marketing

Issues addressed in the music industry include royalty runarounds by Time Warner, what exactly is indie and the impact social networking is having on music and music journalism.

If you'd ever wondered what a record store guy or the superfan in the front row was thinking, pick up this book.

Personal favourites would have to be The Gossip, Twitter and Timothy Quirk

Best Music Writing 2010 – Seattle reading with Ann Powers, Chris Estley and Sean Nelson:

Tuesday, December 28 · 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Elliott Bay Bookstore

1521 Tenth Avenue

Seattle, WA

{On Tuesday, December 28 from 7:00pm - 8:30pm, get yourself to Elliott Bay Bookstore in Capitol Hill for a Seattle reading of the book Best Music Writing 2010 with Ann Powers, Chris Estey and Sean Nelson}

Guest Editor Ann Powers opens the book with a powerful introduction that (forgive the pun) strikes a chord in the reader and emphasizes the fact that although the world of criticism and analysis is often thought of as exclusive, music is still an inclusive, uniting force:

"Music itself is a call that demands response. It organizes desire, sorrow, and joy into a form both primal - the ear is the first sense organ to begin working when we are in the womb - and intensely communal; in every known culture, some form of music has been a constant in everyday life. Making music or listening to it is a part of how we grow; sharing music is what helps us create community. You don't have to be a musician, or even a major music geek, to exist within that realm".

Best Music Writing 2010

Seattle reading with Ann Powers, Chris Estey and Sean Nelson

Elliott Bay Bookstore

1521 Tenth Avenue

Tuesday, December 28
7:00pm - 8:30pm

'Tis the season for celebrated mythology: The Secret History of Rock 'N' Roll

Chris Estey — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:25:46 +0000

Christopher Knowles is the author of the recently published book The Secret History of Rock 'N' Roll, which ties the rock-era music scene back to mystery cults formed "since the Stone Age." Christmastime is a festive season when we party hard, glory vicariously in exciting fables, and when some of us even shove our mystified beliefs in others' faces in the broader culture. So chatting with the award-winning writer of this elucidating tome on tropes behind our rock idols seemed like a great way to chop up myth, music, and magic just at the right moment in 2010.

Knowles has been a writer and editor for some time, and his Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes is also an excellent analysis of how ancient archetypes become cheap everyday thrills. But it was his tenaciously intense engagement with a certain UK punk-into-pop band in Clash City Showdown: The Music, Meaning, and Legacy of The Clash that got me into his work. I admire his passion and fierce intelligence at dissecting culture we enjoy and use to transcend our lives habitually. Below is our chat with Mr. Knowles about all these things.

Freak out "Medieval Thinkers" at Fantagraphics 4th Anniversary Party {12/11}

Chris Estey — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:06:52 +0000

Seattle-based, world-slobbered, excellent comics and dazzling-arts publisher Fantagraphics is really going all out for their 4th Anniversary Party this Saturday, December 11, 2010. It will be thrown at their awesome store in Georgetown, and promises "the season’s most festive party featuring amazing music, comix, art, and more!"

Coinciding with the Georgetown Art Attack, and featuring a probably incredible (and very rare) turntable set from famed Fall Out Records founder DJ Russ Fallout, the evening includes performances by cherished troubadour and Low founder Zak Sally, who has comics published by Fantagraphics as well as from his own exquisitely hand-made La Mano imprint; also on board is Pacific NW legend and firebrand Mark Pickerel.

Deep Focus: Books on They Live and Death Wish give you lots to think about and geek out on

Chris Estey — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:32:42 +0000

Deep Focus is a new line of small but richly rewarding studies, the first one about a favorite film by a great writer, Christopher Sorrentino. They're cheap and hot little books perfect for reading at the bus stop, before a movie or concert, and especially along with a DVD of the flick being playfully examined. It's an exciting new attempt at film studies. And the fact that the first two authors are superb essayists and worth reading over and over, and the films are the kind you have to own and watch again and again, means Deep Focus has scored with the perfect $13.95 each gift this season for film and modern literature fans.

Jonathan Lethem's They Live is the first volume in the series, and the media-massaged author of novels The Fortress of Solitude and Chronic City scribes a scene by scene, anarchist polemic via extended hobo punch out, delineation of the Reagan-era, rabble-rousing science fiction/horror classic by John Carpenter. (Carpenter is a dependable guy for shockingly intelligent genre films, from the original Assault on Precinct 13 to Escape from New York and Los Angeles to Vampires.) While dismissed by some as over-the-top B-movie shrill political paranoia, very few people who have seen it have ever gotten over the scene where wrestling star "Rowdy" Roddy Piper first discovers the ugliness of the alien race attempting holding us in submission to consumerism and resigned to the 9 to 5 world. It's everywhere and in everything, even makes the homeless bow to it, dispossessing all of us on a gratingly precise regularity, and like most great SF They Live is a timeless explanation for how the future is shaping the present. Like how the pernicious and opnely known but accepted MK-ULTRA program tried to create disassociation in people by the CIA back in the 1960s, so that mind control kills off the host in the personality of those they've experimented on, our created "core" values of greed and fear are against us. They Live is extremely (and to some, comically) blunt about how we are more programmed than we'll ever know, unless we dream something new in a very direct and violent way (symbolized by one of the most awesome one-on-one brawls in an alleyway in They Live than you'll ever find in another movie).

Frequent magazine freelancer Lethem is a practiced and extraordinary pop culture critic, combining riffs on the rhythms of revolution in James Brown and the uncanny-everyday unveiling of Edgar Allan Poe behind genre by reports set to the exact pace of the movie. You can literally read this book while watching the film, page by page and scene by scene, as he's timed his assertions to each explosion of imagery or plot development at the minutes noted. The entire origin story of satirical science fiction (from The Time Machine to Idiocracy) is also described, as Lethem remarks on the film's funniest bits (such as the then-standard bearers Siskel & Ebert being alien agents for conformity on the almost entirely corrupted television medium). He also finds some quotes to back up his claims of They Live being the most powerful kind of subversion in entertainment, such as G.K. Chesterton's observation that people "should resistance injustice, something more is necessary that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd, above all, they must think it startling. They must retain a violence of a virgin astonishment."

This tightly ties in conceptually with the second book in the Deep Focus series, Death Wish, a Michael Winter 70s thriller which is all about injustice and violence and like Carpenter's They Live, wasn't particularly respected by mainstream liberal critics at the time of its release. Death Wish is often thought of as a guilty pleasure by smart film fans, being the Godfather of all contemporary vengeance films. (Man lives with woman in paradise; paradise is lost by the violence of hoodlums; man obliterates the evil that caused the damage, and these days goes even further by blowing everything up within two hours.) But writer Christopher Sorrentino (novelist, Harper's, McSweeney's) rebels against the grumpy ruminations of critic Vincent Canby regarding by explainging the reasons why its simple plot and one-dimensional characterizations have made it part of the essential American cult canon. A lot of this has to do with Charles Bronson, and his fierce performance, but also the universal unconditional truth of an eye for an eye, which historians say is the beginning of civilization (and well, probably the end of the world, too). Still can't get over the fact that Jeff Goldblum was the rapist bad guy in this movie, but even he is convincingly creepy with the kind of loathsome Me Decade-spawned animalism that Americans of the time projected into the New York City "wilderness."

I have a library full of music books but don't buy that many books of film criticism because there's often little zest for ideas or language; movie reviews are often just synopses and studied opinion, or tautological exposition. And the writers rarely feast on the imagery and milieus around a film to assimilate and even illuminate its point of view. Most film critics try to ethically run before they can morally crawl. That's why these two endlessly entertaining and inspiring films have passed under their wire, and get plopped into our players more than the big, cinematic "good for us" exercises in polemics. There are my own personal examples of course of film critics who rise above (Pauline Kael, Robin Wood, Kathy Fennessy, and yes, current Ebert), but I do look forward to the future when my library will be well stocked with titles as fun, fetching, and fearless as these first two Deep Focus ones.

Friday Night Film Recommendation: Punk's Not Dead

Imaginary Rich — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:14:16 +0000

Sometimes you've just got to say "Respect" for a couple of folks perusing a crazy dream to completion. The launch of the book Destroy All Movies!!! The Complete Guide to Punks on Film is one of those cases. It's a comprehensive guide to every appearance of a punk onscreen in the 20th century, and a standout example of the true DIY spirit of punk.

Sure, I've seen/loved Repo Man and Surburbia, along with many of the other films they viewed as their inspiration for the concept - but watching thousands upon thousands of movies to compile a guide of movies where a punk character pops onscreen (not to mention reviews) would have never have occurred to me. The end result is the ultimate movie coffee table book - filled with writing and art that is going to make you want to pick it up just for fun, and as a serious research tool to boot.

These hometown boys made good are swinging through town on a national tour. On Friday, November 12, they'll be signing books at Scarecrow Video, who collaborated in the sense of both making garbage bags full of videos available for the project and contributing content. The signing starts at 5pm and then they'll be hosting a quadruple feature of classic examples of punks on screen including Valley Girl, Get Crazy, Class of 1984 and Urgh!: A Music War at the Grand Illusion theater beginning at 8:30pm. A great value at $12 for the whole shebang (for Grand Illusion members - $20 general admission, $17 students, $15 seniors).

Celebrating Chris Estey's Awesomeness {RE: The Best Music Writing of 2010}

Imaginary Amie — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:55:23 +0000

Better late than never, us Imaginaries would like to say CONGRATULATIONS to one of our favorite music writers, Chris Estey, for landing a coveted spot in the upcoming compilation The Best Music Writing of 2010.

Of course it's no suprise to us at TIG, as Chris's writing is awesomesauce. So DUH. Of course he's in here! We'll be reviewing the book later, but we already know his included piece (on Phil Ochs Greatest Hits) rocks. Chris is a frequent contributor to KEXP, The Stranger, and of course, here on Three Imaginary Girls. In addition to all that writing goodness, he's an asset to the Seattle music scene, and just an all-around great guy. YOU RULE CHRIS! We love you, man.

There's a lot of other great music writers packed into this book too (which should be obvious from the title, non?), including Sean Nelson, Nikki Darling, and Maura Johnston - just to name a few.

Wa can't wait until November when we can get our hands on this and crack it open for a cozy afternoon of reading!

You can pre-order your copy at one of our fine local bookstores or on Amazon.

Girls To The Front: Sara Marcus talkin' about revolution at Elliott Bay Book Company tonight (October 11)

Chris Estey — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:49:22 +0000

Brooklyn-based writer and musician Sara Marcus comes to Seattle tonight (Monday, October 11) to party with us for the release of her new book, Girls To The Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution (Harper Perennial). It begins early, at 5 p.m., and features a musical performance from the band Led to Sea.

Even without the addition of live music, this would be an exciting event, as Marcus was one of the very best presenters and presences at the EMP Pop Conference the past few years, giving fired-up papers and dialogue on punk politics and women, and presenting some of the best panels.

Girls To The Front is the most substantial and thrilling of the histories that have been published about the riot grrrl movement. Marcus puts you in between the legendary first meeting between late, illuminating avant-garde writer Kathy Acker and a just-awakening Kathleen Hannah, who lied about working on a magazine with legendary Seattle rock photographer Alice Wheeler in order to "interview" (i.e., meet) her hero at the Pike Place Market back in the early 90s. That's just one of the scenes that are expertly described and ruminated-upon in the book's 325+ pages.