Very amusing: Dick Cheney plays poker.

From my darling wife:

So, don't forget to tell your online buds that David Sedaris let all of the smokers get their books signed first at the June 17 Austin book signing. The book store where it was held encouraged people to get there as early as 3-4PM to get a number for the book signing, and to get a good seat for the 7PM reading. Reasonable enough.

After the reading (which was as wonderful as you'd expect) David decides that smokers get to go in front of everyone, even those who had been there since 4PM. Proof of smoking WAS required. You had to show a pack of cig's before you could get in the super-long "express lane." I myself, did not get to the reading until 5PM (late compared to those that got there at 4PM), but I left at 10:15 right after I got my book signed. MAN!

If David had wanted to give smokers a priviledge then he should have allowed Book People to call people up by their numbers in groups, and then let the smokers in each group go first.

Yes, I'm bitter, but I took off work so I could get there as early as I did. The slack-ass smoker that got there at 6:30 got out of there by 8:00.

Meanwhile, the people who planned, did as Book People suggested, and got there early were punished for their non-smoking status....any many of them didn't leave until after I did. I called at 11:00 and people were still in line.

SO--below is a list of all of his next book readings. TELL ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS IN THESE AREAS TO PASS THE WORD THAT PEOPLE GOING TO HIS READINGS SHOULD BORROW A PACK OF CIGARETTES TO TAKE TO THE READINGS.

My friend suggested that he get a little more creative and give express status to all of those with prescription anti-depressants with them. Now that I could have gotten behind. How often are depressives given preferential treatment?

David Sedaris is obviously a thoughtful and caring guy, but man was that smoking thing a BAD call.....maybe he IS the "rock star of the literary world." With a move like that, which rock star would you compare him to?

********************
June 18 - San Francisco, CA. A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books 7:00 PM

June 19 - San Francisco, CA. Cover to Cover, signing 1 PM

June 19 - Berkeley, CA. Cody’s Books 7:00 PM

June 20 - Menlo Park, CA. Kepler’s Books 2:00 PM

June 21 - Santa Fe, NM. Lensic Theatre, go to http://www.tickets.com or call
(505) 988-1234

June 22 - Scottsdale, AZ. Scottsdale Center for the Arts, call (480) 994-2787 or
(888) 464-2468 or go to website: http://www.scottsdalearts.org SOLD OUT

June 23 - Denver, CO. Tattered Cover Bookstore 7:00 PM

June 24 - UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. Evening reading. For tickets call (310)
825-2101 SOLD OUT

June 25 - UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. Evening reading. For tickets call (310)
825-2101 SOLD OUT

June 26 - Carmel, CA. Sunset Theatre, call (831) 624-3996

June 27 - Iowa City, IA. Prairie Lights 7:00 PM

June 28 - Atlanta, GA. Chapter 11 Bookstore, signing at 1:00 PM

June 28 - Atlanta, GA. Borders Books & Music - Buckhead 7:30 PM

June 29 - Nashville, TN. David-Kidd Booksellers 6:00 PM

June 30 - Shakespeare & Co. 7:00 PM

HAPPY BLOOMSDAY!

For your entertainment: James Joyce's Ulysses, one page a day. I'll add a link on the left.

Here's a fairly thorough Joyce website, too, for your reading pleasure.

The Fiery Furnaces were stunning last week. As some of you may be aware, their set these days consists of a 40-minute medley of about 30 songs, some of which are repeated at different points throughout the medley. The musicianship on stage was flat-out astounding, and the songs at the end (including a lump-in-the-throat closer of "Rub-Alcohol Blues") left me wishing for at least another hour of music. Just great stuff.

Music today:

* Mix CDs from John Tataryn, Andy Axel, and Scott Von Doviak
* Can Box Music
* The Definitive Ray Charles
* Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation

You are JOHNNY CASPAR! They think you're just some
guinea fresh off the boat, and they can kick
you, but you're too big for that! You're in
charge now, and you're sick of the high hat.


What Coen Brothers character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Not too surprising, all things considered.

Listening to today:

* The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat. Not yet released - this is an advance copy. Good lord, are they brilliant.

A couple of mp3s are available here and Fluxblog has a live medley of several songs.

* The Liars - They Were Wrong So We Drowned. This is starting to grow on me. I'm still disappointed that they didn't give us an album as sharp as their last one (They Threw Us In A Ditch And Stuck A Monument On Top), but I'm glad that they're challenging themselves and their audience.

The New York Times obituary for Bob Quine pointed out that the philosopher Willard V.O. Quine was his uncle. I had no idea. I mean, I had a longstanding idea about naming my firstborn son "Quine" after the two (n.b. my wife is far from signing off on this plan), but I didn't realize that they were actually that closely related.

I can remember a quote of W.V.O.'s about a particularly convoluted argument regarding essential qualities (I forget whose) where Quine said something like "This offends the sensibilities of those of us with a taste for desert landscapes."

Both Quines, though presumably opposites in their personal lives (in that W.V.O. was reputedly a cold fish, while Bob was fairly volatile), had a certain cleanness in their approaches to their work. Neither could stand unnecessary flourishes or grandstanding. Bob's guitar tone, as mostly naked as it was, and style, as cobbled together from Mickey Baker, Lou Reed, and On The Corner, were as direct and free from window dressing as W.V.O.'s masterful use of Occam's Razor and ultra-clear writing style.

Anyway, for your enjoyment:
A Robert Quine retrospective on WFMU.

A great American and giant among giants died this past weekend.

I'm speaking, of course, of Robert Quine, the man who redefined the possibility of the electric guitar. Please pull down that copy of Blank Generation and crank it while checking out the following links:

Robert Quine fan page

Perfect Sound Forever interview

Another Quine interview

Hey, it's my once-a-month post, and I don't have much of anything to say. The High Hat still isn't done, mostly because my home computer is on the fritz.

Anyway, recent events:

* Shearwater/Okkervil River/Centro-Matic show at the Parish, May 29, 2004. Excellent. Bought a tour-only Okkervil River/Shearwater CD, and you can almost tell that they're conceptually different bands with mostly the same people.

* Richard Buckner at the Cactus Cafe, May 7, 2004. Buckner was too high. His first set was about 20 minutes long, then he disappeared for an hour, then he played for about an hour & a half without stopping. His sense of timing was further off than usual. Not one of my favorite Buckner shows by any means.

Listening to today:

* The Best of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers: The Beserkley Years
* Fivehead - Guests of the Nation
* The Clash - Sandinista!
* Lee "Scratch" Perry - Arkology, Vol I
* David S. Ware - Surrendered
* Yo La Tengo - Painful