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Hi, everyone!
Lots
of things are happening with the Hipster Book Club right now,
and they're sending us into a flurry of activity. For one,
it's summer and the HBC corporate office is swelling with
both the heat and the shelves of books we're trying to sort
through for the following months.
More
importantly, the HBC is co-hosting a bit of a party with Vroman's
Bookstore in Pasadena, California, and you're all invited.
Yes, all of you—even those reading our humble little
website from the Netherlands (you know who you are). For those
of you who didn't already check out the current splash page,
here's the info:
| WHAT: |
The
HBC and Vroman's
Bookstore present
RED
PONY CLOCK |
| WHEN: |
Saturday,
July 12, starting at 4 p.m. |
| WHERE: |
Vroman's
Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91101 |
| WHY: |
Books
+ live music = WIN! |
| COST: |
It's
absolutely free! |
This
is the HBC's first public shindig, and we're extremely excited,
so we hope you guys come out to support us. Vroman's has also
asked that Kyle and I do a little talking and read a few selections
from this issue of the website, too, so your appearance would
help us feel like the rock stars we've secretly always wanted
to be.
That
said, I have to admit that I'm glad that we chose a music
theme for this month. The two of us actually have a longstanding
relationship with music. We even met at a concert (though
I have absolutely no recollection of who played that night).
I dare say we'd be able to spend hours talking about music—Kyle
especially. Music is a big part of his life, as he is a DJ
and former music director for one of Southern California's
most influential college radio stations, KUCI.
My first
love is literature, but there was a time when books and writing
took a backseat to music. If literature is my husband, music
was (to borrow the CSS lyrics) my boyfriend, my girlfriend,
and my hot, hot sex. And because I was an entertainment journalist
for a while, music coursed through my bloodstream 24 hours
a day. I spent my days interviewing musicians such as Modest
Mouse and Weezer, and I spent my nights at concerts for Jets
to Brazil and Radiohead.
The
ties between music and literature are obvious, I think. As
I tell my students, songs are poems with instrumentation—stories
told to music. And for many musicians, books serve not only
as tools to pass the time but as vessels of inspiration. Consider
the bevy of bands whose names reference literature: the Doors,
Hot Water Music, Rainer Maria, the Velvet Underground, the
Divine Comedy, Belle and Sebastian, Steely Dan, Fantômas…Harry
and the Potters. I also once knew a drummer who used the Norton
Anthology of American Literature as his bedside table
read—it's good for long tours, apparently.
 It
should come as no surprise, then, that the books we're presenting
to you are so rich in content. We're covering several books
written or co-created by musicians, including Grandmaster
Flash and Matt Maust from Cold War Kids. Others examine rock
history, both culturally (The Heebie Jeebies at CBGB's)
and personally (Perfect from Now On). Many of our selections
were a bit personal, too. For Marie Mundaca, flipping through
Thurston Moore and Byron Coley's book on the New York City
no wave scene meant waxing nostalgic about her own music roots.
Meanwhile, Kyle got to interview one of his personal heroes:
John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats.
My contributions
were unexpectedly personal, too. Cecil Castellucci's Beige,
for example, is set in my hometown of Los Angeles, and the
references to the city's punk and indie rock landmarks really
struck a chord. And Lavinia Greenlaw's The Importance of
Music to Girls reminded me of how difficult being a female
music fan can be. Even as a professional music journalist,
I've endured plenty of disparaging groupie jokes and advances
from salacious musicians (attention, rock stars: "You look
like my wife; let's make out" is not a good pick-up
line). That said, I must confess that I have a little crush
on Marty Donald of the Lucksmiths, and it is 90% based on
the favorite books he has listed on his band's website. As
he tells us, some of those favorites would find their way
to a desert island with him.
There's
still so much we haven't covered, though, and I have a feeling
that music will resurface as the HBC's topic du jour
some time in the future. I'm excited about that prospect.
And, if you guys are lucky, maybe we'll celebrate it with
another rock show. Come out and hang with us on July 12, and
we'll start brainstorming for the next music issue.
Stay
cool, kids,
Yennie
(July,
2008)
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