I think it takes a few weeks to get settled in. Today I started school and am realizing how f*cked up it is not being able to drive. The cat's have fleas... I haven't been able to finish a book in days. I stormed through Norwegian Wood and Just Kids, but only made it 2/3 of the way of Monkey Wrench Gang and halfway through Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. I wasn't even able to finish 86 pages of Kerouac's Tristessa , but that's somewhat forgiving. Richard Yates short stories have been amazing, but short stories aren't satisfying me at this moment.
Ever since the clusters show and spending time with my passionate friend/coworker/art meandering creature - I have been trying to make more things. One being a life size "Geeshie Wiley" that was accepted into this blues house show in San Jose.
Title of Art: Geeshie "Geechie" Wiley Medium: Mixed Media Creation Date: 01/09/11 Size: 70"x42"x2" Weight: For Sale?: for sale Price: $400 Original?: original Comments: The only remnants that are left of Geeshie Wiley are her handful of songs, which include one of my blues favorites "Last Kind Words". Her legal name is unknown, and there are no photos of her that exist.
An incomplete version....
The characters of this book were fantastic... on the cusp of being outsiders and clinically insane. All living in a type of surreal world. I think I would have adored this book in college...the protagonist just turned 20. Hypersexed, conversational, and without a f***ing climax.. Did I say sexual? casual sex written all over.
I have never listed to a Patti Smith album in my life, and am afraid to. Yes this is the cafe/ hip/ beatnik thing to read...but it did win the National Book Award. It is a sweet story of the relationship of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe..full of photos and elbow rubbing with famous folks - complete with a stay at the Chelsea Hotel and hanging at the same diner with the Factory kids. The starving artists, book hounding, blurbs of noteworthy times in history, and innocent relationship early in the book is beautiful. Patti's later rants are a bit dry - you can tell she likes to name drop Ginsberg, Burroughs, Hendrix, and Joplin - just to name a few. I did feel something was missing - like she held back her true emotions, but it is after all a book devoted mostly to Robert. Yea the cool girls that walk around Oakland have some resemblance.
Geez this is good and f***ing hilarious! And its all about fighting the man and saving the canyons. Yes...the Monkey Wrench Gang is out for the kill of nature's destroyers. I really only was able to make my way through 2/3 of the book, before I got distracted with the 2 titles above. I did have to cop an anniversary copy for myself w/ Crumbs illustrations. I will get back to this.
Drug addicted - Mexico City meanderings... its an attractive book, but its god dammn Kerouac. I know I'm jaded - and I would have loved this before - but it's so stylized I can't handle it.. one day when I'm drugged.
I'm reading this book right now.. over 200 pages in - on the fifth character -and I am soooo tempted to put this sh*t down. Well I want to know what happens and how all these 9 characters in different cities around the world are interlinked. I am starting to feel like I am becoming engrossed in some cryptic, secret society situation - and I hope and pray that this is NOT the case! sigh.
I have yet to read his novels, but just five stories in and already I can tell this is going to be amazing...timeless like Dorothy Parker but in a wider range of situations and with less cynicism.
Edit: This has been one of the best collections of short stories I've read yet. I fucking love this book. I LOVE THIS BOOK.
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