Isolation Day 33: Man or AstroMan?!

Mr. Brown sent me this link a few days ago, but I've only just got around to watching it. This went up six years ago, which is probably around the last time I saw Astroman live, at the Echo in LaLaLand. It'd been years before that since I'd seen them play live. Astroman was one of the staples of artists I saw on what feels like a regular basis in the late 90s, thanks to Mr. Brown's excellent taste in curating live shows. I guess that era has been on my mind, because two nights ago I broke out some Reverend Horton Heat - who I don't listen to nearly enough these days, and who was also a staple live show back when we'd frequent Chicago's Double Door, Empty Bottle, Lounge Axe, Metro, etc. Anyway, great set from a great band. KEXP: You fight the greatest fight! Thank you for all these wonderful live sessions; you are the John Peel of the PACNW.

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Reading:

I blew through Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives in a matter of days. Now I'm tucked into Juan F. Thompson's memoir Stories I Tell Myself, about growing up with Hunter S. Thompson as his father. Great book, but much like Will Bingley and Anthony Hope Smith's Gonzo: A Graphic Biography of Hunter S. Thomspon, or rather Alan Rinzler's forward to that book, Juan Thompson's book doesn't always paint his father in the best light.

Not that it's trash-talking. No, JFT very obviously loved and looked up to his father. And to be clear: Obviously we are all multi-faceted organisms, with ups and downs, lights and darks, successes and failures. But seeing the first-hand ugliness of someone I consider a literary inspiration is tough. This is especially true as, after my recent viewing of Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas film adaptation, I am further possessed of an idea that first began setting in back about fifteen years ago - the fact that maybe Hunter S. Thompson wasn't a very good person at all. Does that matter? Was Burroughs a 'good' person? Martin Amis? DOES IT MATTER?

Well, yes. A bit.

The first time I had this sense that maybe Hunter S. Thompson was kind of a fucked up person who did things that weren't very cool was the opening chapter of the Literary Greatest Hits Songs of the Doomed. 'Let the Trails Begin' tells the story of Thompson's late night arrival at a library, and his manipulations of the poor sod working there border on the actions of a narcissistic sociopath. Even if that poor sod was a criminal and a plagiarist. Then again, in re-reading Let the Trials... this morning while penning this, it occurs to me, is any of this supposed to be taken at face value? That's the the thing with Gonzo as an aesthetic/mission statement/lifestyle choice: to what extent are we supposed to take what's written at face value? There's metaphor, prose, fact, all manner of lingual possibilities, but truly, all of this may have happened and none of it may have happened. The entire scenario is so outlandish it seems impossible. Then again, a lot of what HST is known for exists in a fringe-state of mutated factoid observation. What do we do with that? I've always taken the man's work in at the gut - kind of an amalgam of the heart and the brain - but that leaves the rational, box-checking part of me hesitant in discussing the actualities of all this.

Certainly JFT's memoir of the late night, intoxicated fights and psychological bullying sessions his mother and father put on during his childhood and early adolescence are harrowing to insert into my understanding of someone whose writing makes me infinitely happy, so there's a bit of cognitive dissonance that needs sorting out as I read this. That said, as I'm sure the man himself would appreciate, the truth is the truth, but ultimately the truth may not need interfere with the work.

Or is that also the problem with our current moment? Alternative facts? No, Thompson didn't traffic in that. Neither does his son. Both are worth reading.

Dipping back into the world of HST is long overdue and absolutely wonderful. Like Irvine Welsh, HST is one of my all-time favorite writers, one I purposely do not read much of anymore, as both author's tones influence my own writing in a way that doesn't quit gel with what I have been working on for the last seven years or so (genre). That said, what I am working on at the moment, during the COVID ordeal and this long moment of isolation is actually something I originally penned in 2007/8, back when I was still reading both Thompson and Welsh on a daily basis, so picking up JFT's book might have seemed a tangent at first, but now stands revealed as, well, perfect.

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Playlist:

TV On the Radio - Dear Science
Code Orange - Underneath
Drab Majesty - Careless
White Lung - Paradise
Paramore - Riot
Paramore - All We Know Is Falling
Brand New - God and the Devil Are Raging Inside Me
Arthur Albes - Gold
NIN - Ghosts V: Together
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Disclosure - Ecstasy EP
Sofi Tukker - Treehouse

Card:

Opening up good things and finding more good things inside of them.

Isolation: Day 16 - The Return of Joe Bob Briggs!

Man, this could not come at a better time! I cannot wait for weekly event viewing with Mr. Briggs.

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I've been on a reading tear. I finished my re-read of Inferno, the mini series that ran through all the X-books in 1989. I even through in the What If...? Issue that contemplated what would have happened had the X-Folks lost to S'ym and Madelyne Pryor. Mr. Sinister remains my favorite X-Villain, however, it's unfortunate that Mr. Claremont never had the opportunity to fully explore his backstory. I know subsequent X-writers did, however, I don't know that I'd ever be interested in reading beyond Claremont's X-Men again. Louise Simonson works well writing X-Factor inside Claremont's domain, and I don't want to belittle what she did, but really, she began as Claremont's editor on the books, so it makes sense that when he had to hand the reins of one book over to someone, it would be her. And Ms. Simonson's contributions are fantastic. I even like a bit of what Fabian Nicezia added closer to the end of Claremont's tenure, but most of what other creators did at that time grew organically out of the seeds Claremont had laid. Who knows? Maybe I'll find the one of those Sinister-related trades on sale for Kindle at some point and take a chance. I know they took him back to the Victorian era - an immediate 'Pro' for me, however, the subsequent convolution of all things X after Claremont and the editorial insistence on 'Status Quo' just makes me want to pretend the characters were part of a finite series. (Although Morrison's stands on its own as a three-volume masterpiece, and I suspect that may be just about up for re-read as well).

Possibly my favorite splash in the entire series

Next up was the complete Alien/Predator/Prometheus Fire and Stone saga, which was pretty awesome. 

One of my favorite elements of this was when the construct Elden - similar model to Bishop or David from the films - is injected with the Engineer's Life Accelerant "Black Goo" and begins an evolutionary journey that sees him become something almost as monstrous and distressing as the Xenomorphs themselves. Check this out:

More wonderful Nightmare fuel from the Alien Universe!

Next, the first installment of Warren Ellis' 2016 serial novel Normal, which I've had since its release and which I've just realized, is now only available as the collected novel. So, apparently in order to continue, I'll just have to pick that up, which is no problem, as it's readily available on Kindle:

Although I won't be doing the rest of Normal just yet, as reading the first part awakened in me a rabid desire to re-read Charles Stross' Atrocity Archives, which I believe I first read back in... 2007 or 2008, and which has perpetually been on my mind since setting up a Feedly account a few months ago and following Stross' blog (HERE).

If you're unfamiliar with Stross, his Laundry Files books follow an employee in the IT department of a company that deals with Necromantic Arts and Lovecraftian Elder Gods the way Silicon Valley companies deal with Technology. It's fascinating, and I'd been meaning to re-enter Stross world for sometime. I'm only a few pages into this re-read, but I may do more of the series afterward.

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Playlist:

The Birthday Party - Mutiny/The Bad Seed EP
Fenn - Epoch
Balthazar - Fever
Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox
Tennis System - Lovesick
Spotlights - Love and Decay
Various Artists - The Void OST
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
NIN - Ghosts V: Together
Rammstein - Eponymous

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No Card.

2019: September 14th - New Pixies!

The new Pixies album came out yesterday. It's fantastic.

Long time Pixies fan, but I've always been a bit disappointed that their reconvening has pushed Black's solo career out of the picture. So there's that. But I loved Indy Cindy, and all the weird, negative shit I'd see online, like, "This isn't the Pixies I remember!" felt so ridiculous to me. It's that, no-matter-what-when-a-band-reunites-I'm-gonna-hate-it attitude that I don't get. I mean, I always approach long-awaited reunions with skepticism, but some bands pull them off. Off the top o' me head, Bauhaus' Go Away White in 2006 was fantastic. And I put Indy Cindy in that camp as well. Then Head Carrier came out and I tried multiple times but just did not get it. Until, several nights ago in Chicago, Mr. Brown recommended I give it another chance. This time, I did what I had not previously done - headphones. Late one night while staying at my parents' place, I had a late night writing session and put Head Carrier on the old Apple Music.

Instant fan.

And now, here's Beneath the Eyrie. And although I'm still spending most of my Pixies time with Head Carrier on repeat, the one somewhat choppy listen I've been able to give Eyrie lead me to believe it is more of the same.

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It's been a while. Where do I even start? How about currently reading:

This is research for the second book in my Shadow Play series. The first book has ties into historical events, but in a much smaller way than I always knew subsequent books would. And of course, John Dee and Edward Kelley are going to play a part, because I've been obsessed with them off and on for almost two decades now. Although, their presence may largely be in an indirect way.

Regardless, I needed to brush up and expand my Dee/Kelley knowledge, and Benjamin Woolley's The Queen's Conjuror has turned out to be not only the best historical narrative I've seen yet of the duo, but a very well-written, enjoyable to read book.

Another book I grabbed on the day of release but haven't started reading yet came by way of a recommendation Warren Ellis wrote in his most recent Orbital Operations email newsletters. Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth had me at this blurb by author Charles Stross (also awesome):

"Lesbian Necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!"

Sold! Can't wait to read this one; my deep dive into Alan Campbell's Gravedigger Chronicles earlier in the year left me seriously hungering for some strange SciFi/Fantasy, and Gideon sounds as though it will fit the bill.

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I watched Gaspar Noe's Climax a few nights ago. With heavy trepidation, might I add. I ended up really liking it; there's a social, "getting to know the characters" scene after the first dance number that I hated violently, but aside from that, Noe crafts a harrowing hell on earth that can only be described as modern de Sade. Also, the choreography in this flick is fucking amazing:



**

K and I finally caught Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood last night. I have to say, I went through most of the film not really liking it; the film often felt aimless. Some of QT's more 'experimental' approaches to editing seemed sloppy. And Kurt Russell's narration appears in a way that made it feel like a rather sloppy device. Then the final, "Cielo Drive" sequence began and I LOVED it so much that this one sequence completely turned the entire experience around for me. I feel like I have to see it again, for sure, even if only to indulge in that final scene. Man! So good. Made me really miss Brad Pitt, so that I'm working it into the remaining days of September to re-watch both Twelve Monkeys and Fight Club, two flicks I haven't watched in ages, and in which Pitt really shines.

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Highlights of music that is new or has been important to me since my previous entry:

The Pixies - Head Carrier
The Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
Black Sabbath - Sabotage
Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave (Vol. 4 alternate, cassette release I've had for decades)
Black Sabbath - Eponymous
Fantomas-Melvins Big Band - Millennium Monsterwork
Ghost - Seven Inches of Satanic Panic
Purity Ring - Lofticries (single)
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
M83 - Temple of Sorrow (pre-release single)
M83 - Luna de Fiel (pre-release single)
Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog
Pale Dian - Narrow Birth
Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
Algiers - The Underside of Power
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
Moderat - II
Nabihah Iqbal - Weighing of the Heart (ALL I listened to on the flight back to LA)
Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
Venom - Welcome to Hell
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust

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Card of the day:

A nice apocalyptic image that fits right in with my delving back into Enochian Magick.