Douglas Coupland–Player One: What Is to Become of Us: A Novel in Five Hours (2010)

SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Now for Plan A (2012).

This is the latest Tragically Hip record and it bounces back from the more country feel of We Are the Same and provides eleven solid rocking songs (two of which are actually ballads and not rocking at all but are still good).  ”At Transformation” starts with a big bass notes and some feedback, like an alternative indie rocker, but as soon as Gord Downie’s voice comes in it is unmistakably Hip.  This is one of their rockier songs and shows that they are back in fine form.

I recently wrote about “Man Machine” and “Now for Plan A” but I think they both work better in the context of the record.  ”Man Machine” contrasts nicely with “At Transformation” and “Plan A” gives the album a chance to relax before the more rocking second half.  ”The Lookahead” is the other duet with Sarah Harmer, although I fear she may be a little underutilized here.  It’s a great big chorused song that The Hip do so well.

“We Want To Be It” has a recurring “drip drip” section that I find mesmerizing.  I like the way drip drip turns into click click and then cricket and how it is alternately whispered and screamed.  I’ve never really heard a song where words were used in this way before.

I love the way “About This Map” starts slow but adds a great bridge/chorus that adds a lot of tension.  Take Forever” is a straightforward rocker which along with “The Modern Spirit” and “Streets Ahead” really exemplify the modern sound of the Tragically Hip–simple rockers with big choruses and thoughtful lyrics.  On the other end of the spectrum, “Done and Done” is a simple ballad that works nicely as the song before the closer.  ”Goodnight Attawapiskat” (an aboriginal settlement in Northern Ontario) is the kind of amazing minor key, could-be-an epic that Hip fans always love.  It’s scaled down to 4 minutes, but it lets us know that they still have this kind of song in them.

The Hip will never release another record like Fully Completely or Day for Night and while there is something sad about that, it’s nice to see a band evolving and modifying their sound.  This album isn’t going to blow anyone away, but it is a solid collection of great songs.

[READ: May 15, 2013] Player One

I didn’t really understand what a CBC Massey Lecture was.  It was kind of explained, but I was confused how his lecture would have been a full length novel.  And while it is described as a novel in five hours, I doubt his lecture lasted five hours (the story takes place in real time over five hours, but surely no one would have listened to him read for five hours).  Well, thanks to Wikipedia: Each of the book’s five chapters was delivered as a one hour lecture in a different Canadian city: Vancouver on October 12, Regina on October 14, Charlottetown on October 19, Ottawa on October 25 and ending in Toronto on October 29. The lectures were broadcast on CBC Radio One’s Ideas, November 8–12.   Coupland felt that “a narrative seemed like the most efficient and accessible way of putting forth a large number of propositions about life in the year 2010.”

So this turns out to be a story that takes place over five hours, although like many stories with this conceit there are flashbacks (how could there not be).  There are five main characters: Karen, Luke, Rick, Rachel, and Player One.  Although Player One is a confusing character who may or may not really exist.

Karen is a divorced mom and has decided to travel across the country (from Winnipeg to Toronto) to meet a man in an airport bar for a possible fling.  She’s not proud of it but she thinks, why the hell not–she still feels good about herself.  In fact, on the airplane a boy takes some pictures of her with his phone, because she looks pretty hot.  And in the last one she gives him the finger.  (The whole reality of that–that someone may take a picture of you anywhere for any reason is pretty bizarre).  She arrives in the airport bar where she meets Rick, the bartender.

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle–The Sign of (the) Four (1890)

SOUNDTRACK: GOAT-”Run to Your Mama” (2012).

I was intrigued to hear this song by Goat (whom I don’t know) because of the picture below.  Now that is a band photo!

Goat are a Swedish band and, like a bunch of Swedish bands recently, their guitar sound is very retro–a big open clean guitar sound.  But the riffs that they play are also very retro, this song sounds incredibly 70s–classic rock/heavy metal 70s.

The lead singer is the female of the trio, and she has a great raspy voice (and I assume she does the backing vocals as well).

The song feels like it could be an epic workout (especially when the solo kicks in and it is lengthy and, apparently, on a xylophone).  But right after the solo (at just under 2 and a half minutes), the song just ends.  It’s fantastic and I’m looking forward to hearing more from the album.

[READ: May 12, 2013] The Sign of (the) Four

I recently found out that the Sherlock Holmes book that I was supposed to have read in high school (from a reading list that I know I read at least some of) was actually not by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Rather The Seven Per Cent Solution was a relatively recent (1974) book by Nicholas Meyer.  The only thing I remember from the book was learning that Holmes was an addict (and passing that news along to my mother with a tone of “see people have always been bad”).

Anyhow, in The Sign of (the) Four, the book opens with Holmes shooting up a seven per cent solution of cocaine.  The reason being that the cocaine kept his brain active when he had nothing else to do.  Holmes is bored, just waiting for something new to come along.  But Doyle doesn’t keep us waiting long.  A young woman, Mary Morstan, calls on Holmes for help with a case.  Or actually more like a series of interesting puzzles.  The first is the disappearance of her father, Captain Arthur Morstan in December 1878.  He came home from the war and then disappeared.  Holmes asks if he could be hiding, but she says no, he was very excited to come home and see her.  Since he has been gone, she has been employed as a governess and the family she assists have more or less taken her in as a member of the family.

The second puzzle is that she has received in the mail one very expensive pearl a year since 1872.  It always comes on the same date and the sender has remained anonymous.  This all started when she answered an anonymous newspaper ad that asked about her.  With the last pearl she received a letter that said she has been wronged and the sender asks to meet her.  He also says that she shouldn’t come alone.  So she asks Holmes and, by extension, Watson to accompany her.

Through a series of vehicles, they meet Thaddeus Sholto, a friend of Captain Morstan, who confirms that the Captain died in 1882.  Sholto’s father and Captain Morgan were in the war together.  Six years ago they had a fight over a treasure.  During their argument, the Captain suffered a heart attack and died.  Sholto’s father totally freaked out and hid both the body and the treasure.  Some time later, in declining health, his father confessed his sins, but on the night he died, he saw a man out the window who later broke into the house and left a note that said The Sign of Four (incidentally, the title of the book is variously The Sign of The Four and The Sign of Four; Doyle himself had written it both ways).  Thaddeus and his brother Bartholomew take over the treasure.  Well, Bartholomew takes it over and allows Thaddeus to send Mary the annual pearl as a payment for what happened to her father.

On the night that the story takes place, they travel to Bartholomew’s because he is in declining health.  But when they arrive, they find him dead–from a poisoned dart.  And the treasure is missing.

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Wim Wenders–Places, Strange and Quiet (2013)

SOUNDTRACK: GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES!-”Fucking Ants Man! Where They Coming From? (Let’s Hang The Carroll Footnoteitsists)” (2005).

I just learned that there is a band named Giraffes? Giraffes!, which is the name of a silly book published by McSweeney’s.  I was so delighted to find out about this band, that I immediately went to their band camp site, where I was further delighted to find out that they are an instrumental post-rock kind of band with some great tunes.  And, of course, when your songs are instrumental, you get to make up the best titles.  Like this one.

There’s only two guys in the band which must mean overdubs (I hope so, otherwise they defy physics).  This song starts out with a riff in what I think is 5/4 time which discombobulates for a while until it becomes a wild guitar riff (and the drums come more to the fore).  While that speedy riff is going on, another more pleasant solo plays over the top.  Then the song plays some really fast drums with chords that sound like mid 70s Who, which is followed by another pretty guitar solo.  The end resorts back to some mild chaos and fun until it ends very prettily.

If you like post rock, give Giraffes? Giraffes! a try.

This song comes from their debut album, Superbass!!!! (Black Death Greatest Hits Vol. 1).  Which you can hear here.

[READ May 5, 2013] Places, Strange and Quiet

This is a book of photographs by Wim Wenders, filmmaker extraordinaire.  What I fouond very interesting about this book is that it is not a book of art (as far as I define it).  It is rather a book of documentation.  These pictures are not beautiful, they are not artistically arranged, they are not profound.  Rather, it is the combination of picture and text that really makes the story.  In some ways this becomes a book of stills from a never-to-be-made film.  And as such, it’s very cool.

The first one is a picture of a family in front of a dinosaur (which looks like it is from the 1970s—huh turns out to be 1983).  It is under-lit and not very impressive.  Until you read the sidebar: “A picture is defined twice.  When you see the whole at first glance: “A dinosaur!  A family!” And then when you find a detail that changes everything…Mom reading in the backseat.  He’s absolutely right.

I loved “Sun Bather” with a crazy scene of polka dotted sun benches in Palermo.  Wender’s text: “Nothing exists without its opposite…But what could the opposite of this be?”  To me the most profound pictures are the series Ferris Wheel from two different angles. His comment “Sometimes only the reverse angle tells the truth” is really powerful, because from one angle the Ferris Wheel shows one scene and yet from the other the background is entirely different.

I loved the wall with sink and the Armenian alphabet—although the Armenian cemetery was even more impressive.  And the gorgeous gorgeous (this one is art) pictures of the islands off of Japan is simply beautiful.

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McSweeney’s #20 (2006)

SOUNDTRACK: SUGAR-File Under: Easy Listening (1994).

I  always thought File Under: Easy Listening was a very funny title.  But it’s possible that people took it too literally as it didn’t sell all that well. And in Mould’s autobiography he says he didn’t have much time to write songs for this disc and he thinks it suffered.  Of the three Sugar discs, this is definitely the weakest, although there are some great moments on it.

The disc opens with “Gift” which has some ragged distorted guitars. It’s got some noises and grungy sounding solos showing that FU:EL was a joke.  Although, the overall sound is kind of a cleaner version of the angry songs on Beaster.  “Company Book” is kind of a pounder, until the voice comes in and you realize…it’s not Mould!  It’s got a catchy chorus, but after the kind of underwhelming opener, it’s a strange place for a song that’s also not so dynamic.  Especially when it’s followed by “Your Favorite Thing” another great pop song from Mould—not top tier but a really strong second tier (although that bright, simple guitar solo is a real winner).  “What You Want It To Be” is a another decent song (the addition of that extra guitar playing the melody line really makes the song shine.  “Gee Angel” is also a high point.  A catchy song, but which never quite reaches the heights of the previous albums.

“Panama City Hotel” has the same feel as the opening of Beaster: bright acoustic guitars and a similar riff.  But it never really goes anywhere, and the 4 minutes seem.  The “do do do do’s” that open “Can’t Help You Anymore” are certainly the brightest spot on the album, and a big pop song as well.  “Granny Cool” has a nicely abrasive riff although it seems kind of mean spirited.  It’s funny that he tucked “Believe What You’re Saying” at the end of the album.  It’s a minor song but it sounds so bright on this album after the other songs. It’s really quite pretty.

And the closer, “Explode and Make Up” is one of Mould’s great angry songs.  Unlike Beaster, this one has a happy acoustic field—bnright guitars with that raging distorted guitar underneath.  It’s a great slow burner of a song and at five minutes it ends a somewhat lackluster album in a great way.

[READ: March 31, 2013] McSweeney’s #20

McSweeney’s #20 is an issue that I have read before.  At least I think I have.  My recollection is that it was the last one I read before I started writing about them on this blog.  I was hesitant to read it soon again, which is why I waited until now.  And while I remember the issue itself (with all of the art), I didn’t remember the stories.  So who knows if I actually read it six years ago.

Anyhow, this issue comes jam-packed with art.  Every fourth page has full-color artwork on it–many of them are quite famous.  It makes for a very beautiful book.

In between these artworks are a number of stories–ranging in size from 2 pages to 30-some pages.  There are no letters, and the explanatory and copyright information is on the cover of the book–which would be fine, except that it is covered up by a kind of 3-D artwork.  I wonder if the whole text is available anywhere?

The book also comes with a separate pamphlet–an excerpt from Chris Adrian’s Children’s Hospital.  I intend to read the novel eventually so I didn’t read the excerpt–although maybe if I put off the novel for six years I should just read the excerpt now.

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Mcsweeney’s #16 (Summer 2005)

SOUNDTRACK: SUGAR-Beaster EP (1993).

I didn’t know that Beaster, the Sugar EP was recorded at the same time as Copper Blue.  Mould’s biography was very helpful in explaining all the details of the timing and styling behind these two recording.  As well as how the super pop of Copper Blue could be followed right on the heels with the very very dark EP of Beaster.

I have often thought of this disc as being really dark and insular and Mould confirmed as much—he was really airing out some demons with this disc.  But they thought it would be better to put them all in one place rather having them bounce around the poppier full length.  What must fans (like myself) have thought to hear this dark album after the pop of Copper Blue.  I mean just look at the cover!

I hadn’t listened to this in a long time, so I was surprised by how cool “Come Around” sounds—Mould’s acoustic guitar high in the mix with some appropriately grungey guitars in the background.  There are lyrics but for the most part I think of it as just Mould making sounds with his mouth.

It’s followed by the blistering “Tilting.”  It’s got superfast drumming with aggressive guitars, it’s like we’re back to the early Hüsker Dü punk sound (with a little more clarity).  The drumming is great in this track.  The song ends with a preacher being interrupted by dissonance and what sounds like electronic interference. And this song morphs into “Judas Cradle” one of Mould’s darkest songs.  It’s very claustrophobic-feeling with echoed vocals, lots of feedback and lots of compression on the overall sound—quite different from the big open sound of Copper Blue.  And yet for all of that, the chorus, “Have you seen the Judas Cradle, ah”is really quite catchy.

“JC Auto” has some buzzsaw guitars which make it seem like it’s going to be quite an angry song and yet the bridge is quite welcoming (all this talk of holidays) and then the chorus is amazingly fun to sing along to (Mould always finds pop in anger): “Passing judgment on my life you never really got it right/I can’t believe in anything / I don’t believe in / Do you believe in anything / Do you believe me now…  Look like Jesus Christ / act like Jesus Christ I Know I Know I Know Here’s Your Jesus Christ I’m Your Jesus Christ I Know I Know I Know.”  And, as always, I love when Mould repeats his lyrics in the background (the “I Know I Know” surfaces throughout the end of the song).

“Feeling Better” has weird synth blasts that kind of works in the song but sounds out of place on this record.  This song flips between really aggressive guitars and a very bright poppy chorus.   At 6 minutes this song is a little long (because it’s primarily repeating itself by the end), whereas Judas Cradle and JC Autos’ 6 minutes are well justified.

The final song “Walking Away” is a strange one. It is comprised entirely of organs (church organ it sounds like) with Mould delicately singing “I’m walking away back to you”  The end starts to wobble giving a bit of a nauseous feeling but then it’s over.  So even in his most downtrodden and questioning, Mould still has the chops to write some great music.  Down be put off by the cover, Beaster is a great album.

[READ: March 28, 2013] McSweeney’s #16

After the fairly straightforward Issue 15, McSweeney’s was back to fun with Issue #16.  The issue opens up into a kind of quad gatefold which has , in order–a comb, a book, another book and a deck of cards.

The main book contains nine stories, by the typical McSweeney’s roster at the time.  The other booklet contains a lengthy story by Ann Beattie.  The deck of cards is for Robert Coover’s “Heart Suite” and the comb is a comb.  It’s a nice one, although it has never touched my hair.

The MAIN BOOKLET

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Jonathan Fetter-Vorm–Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb (2012)

SOUNDTRACK: DEAD CAN DANCE-”Children of the Sun” (Live at KCRW, April 24, 2013).

Dead Can Dance are timeless.  Their music sounds ancient and modern at the same time.  And Brendan Perry’s voice has an unearthly majesty to it that never seems to age.

I’ve known the band for decades (during which time they have broken up and reunited and broken up and reunited).  And in all that time, while their sound has changed in subtle ways, the band is instantly recognizable.  I’ve never really thought of them as a live entity–they just seem like such a creation of the studio that it would be impossible to do justice to their wash of music live.  Of course that was truer three decades ago before it was easy to fit an entire orchestra on an iPod.

You can watch this song on NPR.  It’s fun to watch a band with two keyboardists (and Lisa Gerrard on…autoharp?) and see all of them making very different sounds.  The only disappointing thing about watching this is that they have so many cool instruments strewn about which do not get used on this song (you can see the whole show here and watch him bust out that bouzouki).

This song is a new one and it doesn’t have quite the ponderous nature as their older material.  Which is a bit of a shame, as they were so over the top it was fabulous, but maybe they’re just settling into New Old Age.

[READ: April 20, 2013] Trinity

Sarah brought this book home because it was on YALSA Hub Reading Challenge for 2013. I’m unlikely to do the challenge as I have so many other books to read, but I have already read 5 of the required 25.  Not too bad, although since the challenge is from Feb to June and I read a couple last year, I don’t even qualify for some of the ones I DID read.  Anyhow, she told me I’d like this and she was right (as usual).

Trinity is the story of the development of the atomic bomb done as a graphic novel.

It outlines how we came to develop and test the bomb and of course, the aftermath of its use.  What I liked about the story is that leading up to the detonation of the bomb, the quest for its discovery is presented in a fairly neutral way.  Essentially, once it was discovered that we could split the atom, it was deemed inevitable that someone would make a bomb out of it.  It stood to reason that if Hitler or the Japanese figured it out before us they would use it on us (since we were at war with them).  The intention was that America would be decent and not use it with impunity (which is not to say we wouldn’t use it at all).  The book presents that American can do spirit that the forties seem to be all about–a sort of gee whiz, let’s figure this out mentality.

I knew some of the history of the bomb, but there was a lot here that I didn’t know: that thousands of people moved to New Mexico to work on the bomb—housing was put up and families moved in, some 80,000 people in all.  And most of the people had no idea what they were working on.  It’s hard to fathom that there were thousands of people whose work helped to create a nuclear bomb and yet they can feel neither pride nor shame because they had no idea that’s what they were doing.  Weird.

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Nelly Reifler–”Supreme Cloud Ear” (Lucky Peach, Issue 5: Fall 2013)

SOUNDTRACK: WRECK AND REFERENCE-”Absurdities & Echoes” (2013).

I followed Lars’ blog on NPR and after listening to yesterday’s Altar of Plague and I wound up here with Wreck and Reference.  Lars describes this song as the band’s “most melodic and mysterious.”  If this is the band being melodic, I can’t imagine what the rest of it is like.

The song opens somewhat conventionally but quickly shows something unexpected with some rapid fire drums.  And then the vocals come in.  The guy sounds like he is drowning–both in his angst and in the recording technique–he’s either under a ton of reverb or just buried in the mix. The lyrics are incomprehensible, although they seem quite impassioned.  After the verse there’s a lot of noise and snare drums–martial without exactly being military-like.

I guess there is a melody in there, but it’s not an obvious one.  The song has an accompanying video which you can watch at the link above.  It’s as peculiar as the song.  Incidentally, this song comes from their 7″ called Content, which is pronounced “No Content.”

[READ: April 18, 2013] “Supreme Cloud Ear”

This issue of Lucky Peach was the China Town Issue.  So all of the contents were about Chinatowns across the country.  I really enjoyed it, as there were so many interesting things to read about.  This short story was set in a Chinatown.  A young couple is planning to meet Beverly.  Well, actually Andrew has met Beverly but the narrator is meeting her for the first time.  There’s an air of power around this meeting, Beverly is practically a mythical figure as far as the narrator is concerned.  We enter the room where she is preparing something and there is stilted and awkward dialogue.  And indeed, for the longest time, we don’t really know why everyone is so secretive (it’s very well done).

Beverly maintains a detached aura no matter how much the narrator tries to talk to her.  After a few minutes, Beverly says she has to go on a delivery.  The narrator says that she has forgotten to get wine for their dinner, so she’ll tag along.  Beverly is clearly not happy about the company, although again, we don’t know why, exactly.

Beverly says that there’s a wine store down the street but the narrator won’t leave her side.  Resigned to the company and making sure that the narrator is prepared for whatever might lie ahead, Beverly invites her along.

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Douglas Coupland and Graham Romieu–Box of Pain Presents: Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People (2011)

SOUNDTRACK: FAMILY GUY-”Everything is Better with a Bag of Weed” (2009).

I recently posted about the song “Me Ol’ Bamboo” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  When I was looking it up, I discovered that Family Guy had created a song called “Everything is Better with a Bag of Weed” that is sung to the tune of “Me Ol’ Bamboo.”  And holy crap I nearly busted a gut laughing when I watched it.

Of all the weird songs to parody, this was a brilliant choice.  The song is catchy and fast paced and absurd and just adding these new lyrics has made it funnier and more absurd.  There’s even the same odd instrumental break which they animate as playing glass bottle with drumsticks and as far as I can tell that’s really what it is.

My o my, this is very funny indeed.

I can’t seem to embed the video here which is a shame, but by all means check it out here.

[READ: April 9, 2013] Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People

I have read most of Douglas Coupland’s work and I like him quite a bit.  But I have discovered from re-reading his books recently that he’s not exactly the author I thought he was.  And one thing is that he’s really not very funny.  Existential? Yes. Comically absurd?  Yes.  Funny?  Not so much.  So I was surprised to see that he made this book with the rather funny title.

I assume this book is supposed to be funny since the inside flap says “Seven pants-peeingly funny stories featuring seven evil characters you can’t help but love.”  And indeed, the premise is funny, the title is funny.  But the stories are really not funny at all.  Here’s the list of the seven stories: Donald the Incredibly Hostile Juice Box; Sandra, the Truly Dreadful Babysitter; Hans, the Weird Exchange Student; Brandon, the Action Figure with Issues; Cindy, the Terrible Role Model; Kevin, the Hobo Minivan with Extremely Low Morals; Mr. Fraser, the Undead Substitute Teacher.  Judging from the titles of the tales you may think there’s humor in them…a juice box as a main character?  But there’s something about them that falls flat.

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Jason Planer–”Arach niD (to be one thing)” [updated] (unpublished, 2013)

SOUNDTRACK: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE-”SexyBack” (2006).

I don’t know much of Justin Timberlake (he’s not my jam).  Although I have found him very enjoyable in the last few years when he’s been acting.  His comedy skills are great.  And Of course, I love him with Lonely Island (the guy can sing).

This story mentions this song as the main character’s favorite song so I gave it a listen.  It strikes me as an extremely unlikely single.  The music is really erratic and mechanical.  There’s just bursts of sound that keep the beat going.  Although the music is very visceral..

Indeed, the main melody seems to be his voice, which doesn’t let up a lot.  The first time I heard it I thought there was no way it could have been a hit, which shows what I know about popular as it was #1 for 7 weeks. It’s such an unusual song, and musically I find it very odd, which I like quite a bit.

I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed the song (maybe I’m a dance diva at heart).

Take ‘em to the story.

[READ: March 25, 2012] Arach nID (to be one thing)

Almost nine months ago, Planer asked me to read this short story.  He has since revised it and expanded it, making it about 16,000 words.

It’s funny to read something that has been revised and which now makes you think that the original wasn’t nearly as good.  I enjoyed the first version a lot, but the revisions improved the story so much it makes the first draft seem pale.  This is obviously good news for the revision, but it means that when referencing the original it makes it seem less than it was.

The same story is in place–the main character is a sentient spider who grows to human size and believes, because of his sentience, that he may indeed be human.  After leaving the web and his (dangerous) mother and sisters, he seeks his fortune in the human world.  Luckily for him he lives in the 2000s, where he can do most things remotely and virtually.  But he manages to pass in the human world (especially on Halloween, a great scene indeed).  He even manages to meet someone interesting (who is almost as smart as him).  Ultimately he must decide is he is really human or arachnid.

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Kurt Vonnegut–The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2011)

SOUNDTRACK: SURFER BLOOD-”Demon Dance” (Live at SXSW, March 27, 2013).

I’ve liked Surfer Blood since I first heard them.  They write catchy, mostly short, poppy songs.  And usually after a few listens, the hooks really grab you.  The strange thing about the band is that the hooks aren’t always readily apparent, which makes their songs sound kind of samey sometimes.

Of course, samey isn’t a bad thing, necessarily.  Surfer Blood is quite distinctive and I tend to enjoy everything they do.  This new song sounds like their other stuff, which is fine.  But the most distinctive thing about the band of probably their singer who sounds like a less-affected Morrissey.

Having also listened to the song from the album I can say that the singer is far harder to understand live, so maybe live is not the best way to hear a new song from them, but for an old favorite, Surfer Blood has a great energy live.

Watch the show here and hear the studio version here.

[READ: March 27, 2013] The Last Interview and Other Conversations

Melville House has published a number of these “Last Interview” books, and as a completist I feel compelled to read them.  I have read criticisms of the series primarily because what the books are are collections of interviews including the last interview that the writer gave.  They don’t have anything new or proprietary.  The last interview just happens to be the last one he gave.   So it seems a little disingenuous, but is not technically wrong.

There’s so far five books in the series, and I figured I’d read at least three (Vonnegut, David Foster Wallace and Roberto Bolaño–the other two turned out to be Jorge Luis Borges–who I would be interested in reading about and Jacques Derrida (!) who I have always loved–I guess this series was tailor made for me).

At any rate, these interviews are from various times and locations in Vonnegut’s career.  There are six in total.  I don’t know if the titles they give here were the titles in the original publications but here’s what’s inside:

• “Kurt Vonnegut: The Art of Fiction” from The Paris Review, Spring 1977 (by David Hayman, David Michaelis, George Plimpton, Richard Rhodes)
• “There Must be More to Love Than Death” from The Nation, August 1980 (by Robert K. Musil)
• “The Joe & Kurt Show” from Playboy, May 1982 (by Joseph Heller and Carole Mallory)
• “The Melancholia of Everything Completed” from Stop Smiling, August 2006 (by J.C. Gabel)
• “God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut” from U.S. Airways Magazine (!!!), June 2007 (by J. Rentilly)
• “The Last Interview” from In These Times May 9, 2007 (by Heather Augustyn)

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