BREAKING NEWS: Rebecca Abernathy is doing publicity for ALARM. See overheardpublicity.com .
Listen to "Drum Machines" by O'GRADY (M. Daily, jDUB, Francis Plague, Sub-Sic), on the O'GRADY page. The track was recorded live at Ash Street on July 6, 2006. Mastered by Antreo Pukay at Tell Tale Recording.
Watch a live performance video of it HERE on YouTube.
"The Life & Times of Major Fiction" was recorded in October 2005 by Daily, Moscovich & Strahota. Larry McCaffery called it the " FC2 Fightsong". The track can be heard HERE .
"Mike Daily and Co. have produced an MP3 called The Life and Times of Major Fiction. It’s a great (and long) track that mentions every title put out by FC2 (and its predecessor, Fiction Collective). Since it’s endorsed by FC2, and even Raymond Federman, you simply must check it out."
-- fade theory
Some Feedback on the Track:
congrats on the fabulous fc2 fightsong!
-- Larry McCaffery
Okay, I finally got onto a fast enough connection to listen to this rather than just read it like a poem--geesh!--the poem so doesn't do the song justice. You're a real renaissance man, Mike--so cool, but so slick as well; I mean really put together in a way I'd want to listen to just as music....
-- Steve Tomasula
It wasn't working at first, it is now however!!! i took a listen that was wicked just awesome.
i dig the beats.
-- Beki Clash
Your collages of FC titles are wonderful, remind me of cadavres exquis of the surrealists. Would love to get a CD and hear your music.
-- Yuriy Tarnawsky
mike, finally back at the computer to listen to the great Fiction Collective, FC2 rant. Not since Sinead O'Connor tore up the picture of the pope has anything so justifiably obtuse appeared. You should do a reggae version she does reggae now
-- Steve Katz
I tell you this is the beginning of something big.
-- Raymond Federman
I quite like it. It cranks.
-- Lily James
BIO: Mike Daily is a novelist and freestyle fictionist who frequently performs his work in Portland, Oregon. He is currently vocalist for the experimental fiction indie rock band, O'GRADY . His second novel/first full-length CD, ALARM, will be released in June 2007 (Stovepiper Books Media). Daily apparently uses Mick O'Grady to write about himself in the third person. And first. The Mick O'Grady Blog resides HERE on the WWW.
Some of My Favorite Writers, Poets, Musicians, Rappers, Taggers, Comedians, Collagists, Photographers, Bloggers, Cat Burglars: Mark Amerika , Chicky Arad , Paul Ash , Mark Axelrod , Greg Barbera , David Barker , Steve Barone , Donald Barthelme , Samuel Beckett , David Berman , Wallace Berman , Richard Brautigan , Johnny Brewton , Isaac Brock , Daniel Buck , Buttery Lords , CAC (Biff Pocaroba & Johnny Wockenfuss) , Lori D. , Denis Diderot , Trevor Dodge , Dave Eggers , Kurt Eisenlohr , Stephen Elliott , Raymond Federman , Craig Finn , Redd Foxx , Kenneth Gangemi , Tim Harrington , George Herms , John Brinton Hogan , Brian Howe , Jemiah Jefferson , Andy Jenkins , Tim Kasher , Steve Katz , Bob Kaufman , Greg Keeler , Jon Konrath , Kool Keith , Tad Kubler , Meme Lamb , Comte de Lautreamont (Isidore Lucien Ducasse) , d.a.levy , Mark Leyner , Sam Lipsyte , Rick Lupert , Gary Lutz , Stephen Malkmus , Larry McCaffery , Nora McCrea , Laura McMuffneck , MF DOOM , Rose Miller , Pete Miser , Dan Monick , Travis Morrison , David Noel Moscovich , The Narrator , Conor Oberst , Lance Olsen , Kenneth Patchen , Lisbeth Pedersen , Ted Pelton , Robert Pollard , Bern Porter , Magdalen Powers , Peter Quinn , Will Sheff , Smokebox , Ronald Sukenick , Yuriy Tarnawsky , Steve Tomasula , Zoe Trope , Adam Voith , Chenard Walcker , Lew Welch , Joe Wenderoth , Saul Williams , X-Ray , Lidia Yuknavitch ...
Reading, writing , arithmetic.
I repeat myself sometimes. I repeat myself sometimes. --Daily
NEW VIDEOS: My band O'GRADY opened for The Plants and Wooden Wand at Someday Lounge on October 17, 2006. Hosted by Noah Mickens. Filmed by Kurt Eisenlohr.
1) YOUTUBE VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch Part I of IV: "A Man and a Woman in Southern California's San Fernando Valley Wrangle with Relationship Concerns in the Immediate Aftermath of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks"
O'GRADY
10.17.06
Runtime: 00:07:59
2) MYSPACE VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch Part II of IV: "Oh for Fook's Sake!"
O'GRADY
10.17.06
Runtime: 00:03:14
3) MYSPACE VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch Part III of IV: "Follow Your Heart"
O'GRADY
10.17.06
Runtime: 00:06:01
4) MYSPACE VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch Part IV of IV: "Brautigan"
O'GRADY
10.17.06
Runtime: 00:01:14
Mike Daily / Fiction
A. L. Hungate / Electric Guitar
jDUB / Drums (Full Kit), Sampler
Francis Plague / Bass, Saxophone, Casio, Sampler
HERE is O'GRADY's "Performer" profile on the Someday Lounge website.
Here is Someday's VIRTUAL STAGE where all shows stream LIVE.
"If you can't be here physically, you can still catch the show. Always streaming live shows, always archiving performances after they happen."
--Someday Lounge
O'GRADY's 43-minute set was not archived. It was broadcast to the universe live but it was not able to be archived because apparently sound was not recorded that night for us--only video. Someday rocks. Regardless.
www.somedaylounge.com
VIDEOS: O'GRADY PERFORMANCES AT PHASE TWO/ FC2 WRITER'S EDGE (JULY 29, 2006)
photo: linda
As part of the Writer's Edge Innovative Fiction Workshops, here's a reading by the highly respected R. M. Berry (Leonardo's Horse), and music from Mike Daily/O'GRADY. Plus: an open mic from workshop participants. ASH STREET SALOON, 225 SW Ash St., 226-0430, 10 pm. --Portland Mercury
VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch Set I of III : O'GRADY ( Brian Crowl /Sitar, Mike Daily /Fiction & Vocals, jDUB /Percussion, Francis Plague /Casio keyboard) do "God Is My Friend", "War" (listen for the d.a.levy reference) and "Oh For Fook's Sake!" at Phase Two/ FC2 Writer's Edge on July 29, 2006. Hosted by Garett Strickland at Ash Street Saloon in Portland, Ore. Filmed by Mike Sprigo. Brought to you by Sub-Sic Productions. M D's Note: The sound of O'GRADY is different every time we play. Words freestyled from the forthcoming small press novel/CD, ALARM. Length of Clip: 14:47.
VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch Set II of III at Phase Two/ FC2 Writer's Edge on July 29, 2006. Runtime: 10:08.
Our third set didn't get filmed but I think Francis Plague recorded it on mini-disc. We did two new tracks ("Follow Your Heart" and "Cut to a Commercial") and closed with "Drum Machines".
VIDEOS: O'GRADY FILMED AT DISJECTA ON JULY 20, 2006:
VIDEO: Click HERE to Watch : O'GRADY (Brian Crowl, Mike Daily, jDUB, Francis Plague) do "Archivalism" and "Major Fiction" on 07.20.06 for the Northwest Edge III: The End of Reality Anthology/DVD ( Chiasmus Press ) Publication Party at Disjecta Gallery in Portland, OR. Filmed by RM.CLR .
VIDEO: Click HERE to watch the second half of our Disjecta performance on YouTube. We did "Alarm", "Anthrax", bits of "Los Angeles" and "Oh For Fook's Sake!"
Here's the Anthology (I have two short fictions in it: "Only Girls Can Smoke in Here" and "Your Arms Are the Forklifts"):
NEW! [Northwest Edge III]
CHECK OUT CHIASMUS PRESS ' FICTION ANTHOLOGY/SHORT FILMS DVD HERE (Amazon) and HERE (Powell's City of Books) ...
chiasmus press, portland's independent publisher committed to crossing the literary with the visual, brings you its third anthology: NORTHWEST EDGE III: THE END OF REALITY, a fiction anthology and film dvd compilation.
www.myspace.com/chiasmuspress
LID
northwest edge iii: the end of reality was edited by Lidia Yuknavitch , Trevor Dodge and Andy Mingo.
O'GRADY played a show at Ash Street Saloon on July 6, 2006. We opened for Hello Lobster and Portland hip-hop sweethearts CAC . Here's our set in four video clips . . .
VIDEO: PART I of IV: Click HERE to Watch "Only Girls Can Smoke in Here" in O'GRADY's Videos. O'GRADY: Brian Crowl (Sub-Sic), Mike Daily, jDUB, Francis Plague. Filmed July 6, 2006 at Ash Street Saloon in Portland, Ore.
VIDEO: PART II of IV: Click HERE to Watch "The Life and Times of Major Fiction", "Alarm" and "Anthrax" in O'GRADY's Videos. Filmed July 6, 2006 at Ash Street Saloon in Portland, Ore.
VIDEO: PART III of IV: Click HERE to Watch "Los Angeles" in O'GRADY's Videos. Filmed July 6, 2006 at Ash Street Saloon in Portland, Ore. HERE's a bit I wrote about moving from San Fernando Valley to Portland (I moved in December of 2001). It was published by Slouch .
VIDEO: PART IV of IV: Click HERE to Watch "Drum Machines" in O'GRADY's Videos. Filmed July 6, 2006 at Ash Street Saloon in Portland, Ore. O'GRADY: Crowl, Daily, jDUB, Francis Plague.
AN EARLIER INCARNATION OF O'GRADY PLAYED AT TOWNE LOUNGE ON JUNE 18th / WATCH VIDEO CLIPS FROM THE SHOW / "THE LIFE & TIMES OF MAJOR FICTION"
VIDEO: Click HERE to watch "The Life & Times of Major Fiction" Pt. I from the Phase One: Words and Music show at Towne Lounge on June 18, 2006.
The band at this show was:
Mike Daily /Fiction
A. L. Hungate /Guitar God
Chutz Ponderosa /Bass
Jason Waugaman /Drums
VIDEO: Click HERE to watch "The Life & Times of Major Fiction" Pt. II on 06.18.06.
All of the above is what I would call Kevin Sampsell American Poetry.
NEW MP3 ON [ALARM][DAILY][NOVEL] : "Sampselliana Pt. I" [8:03] by O'GRADY (Mike Daily, Luke Strahota, Chutz Ponderosa, A.L. Hungate) featuring Kevin Sampsell!
SAMPS
YOU NEED TO READ SOME KEVIN SAMPSELL
"Kevin Sampselliana" Part I and Part II are about How To Lose Your Mind With The Lights On (Future Tense Publications, 1994) by Kevin Sampsell . His middle name is Patrick. I am one of the world's most fastidious collectors of Kevin Sampselliana.--M D
NEW! Beautiful Blemish: Stories by Kevin Sampsell
http://www.wordriot.org/
Watch archival footage of Kevin Sampsell reading new short stories at Mississippi Pizza on May 24, 2006. Filmed by Kurt Eisenlohr.
Click HERE to watch it.
Runtime: 4:25
I'd like to meet:
Jerome Klinkowitz
Don't just search. Fiend.
www.myspace.com/mickogrady
Music:
The Hold Steady , Lifter Puller, Okkervil River, Arab Strap, Modest Mouse, Caustic Resin, Giant's Chair, Christie Front Drive, The Mighty Rime, Opium Taylor, Mercy Rule, The Sound of Rails, proudentall, Gang of Four, Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Psychedelic Furs, Girls Against Boys, Pavement, Stephen Malkmus, Guided by Voices, Robert Pollard, The Pixies, CAC, Buttery Lords, Atmosphere, Ironic T-Shirt, The Dearling Darlings, The Streets, Tricky, Ape Shape, Six Foot Sloth, Pete Miser, Stuntdoubler, Beck, The Apes, The Good Life, Bright Eyes, Cursive, Desapareceidos, The Jade Shader, Henry J. Kibit III, Nirvana, Les Savy Fav, The Candy Machine, TV on the Radio, The Doors, Silver Jews, Boilermaker, Plural, Point Juncture WA, Junior Private Detective, BLACK NASA, Ugly Casanova, Circus Lupus, Apocalypse Hoboken, Built to Spill, Radiohead, Sawing for Teens , Looper, The Brokerdealer, The Smiths, Morrissey, The Wigmen, Rites of Spring, One Last Wish, I Can Lick Any SOB In The House, Sunny Day Real Estate, Autolux, Menomena, Heatmiser, Elliott Smith, Tobin Sprout, Outkast, Dismemberment Plan, The Chest Pains, My Obscene Baby , The Cure, Pecos B, MF Doom, Saul Williams, The Narrator, Statistics...
CAC .
Books:
"Congratulations on the latest addition to your karass."
" Mike Daily packs so many stylistic smash cuts into Valley, MTV dulls by comparison."
--RAY GUN MAGAZINE
"Mike Daily's sensibility is seriously skewed. It allows him to swing from Jack Kerouac, Leonard Cohen, Kenneth Patchen, and proto-Surrealist misanthrope Lautreamont to Beat Happening, Jethro Tull, Fantasy Island, and tenth-rate Italian gladiator films, with only giant elliptical potholes in place of continuity between his wildly disparate reference points. Daily's novel Valley <[b>Bend Press, 1998] reads like a travelogue into the space between the ellipses, or into every dense and erratic mechanism and quirk (of which there are plenty, thank you very much) of its author's mind. It's an epic of fragmentation and disjointed thought processes, cutting in fits from genre to genre (screenplay, poetry, journalism, even college science lecture), with deliberately unrelenting commentary in the form of writing in the margins, footnotes, snapshots, bludgeoning headline-size type, and illustrations bleeding off the page. It should logically be a jarring, disjointed read.
"Miraculously it isn't. The reason is Daily's uncanny fluidity and rhythm. Valley episodically relates the action and inaction of Mick, writer for a BMX magazine (and more valorized ends) and the author's thinly-veiled alter ego, and his run-ins with a motley, to say the least, barrage of friends, co-workers, and strangers. As Daily skates from one hilariously baffling and convoluted episode to the next--accelerating to white-knuckle speed, slowing to near-deadlock, or gliding at a sweet mid-tempo--the dizzying jumps between mental associations that should register as assault with a deadly amount of brawling clutter, here, inspire, thanks to his dextrous splicing, and giddy, disbelieving stupefaction. His protagonist, Mick, collects used books for the marginalia, or remnants left by past owners. Like the act of shaking a book to see what topples out, Daily shakes Mick's numbingly banal daily life for all it's worth--eking out so much exotic result that flashes of color that have nothing to do with anything (a young black girl screaming 'It sure was a big-assed bite taken outta that Pop Tart!' or a conversation with a doltish stranger degenerating into a ludicrous exchange on Hungarian, Polish, Irish, and Italian descent) end up being commonplace, and actually add to the book's rhythm. As do the amazing rapid-fire exchanges between Mick and his girlfriend, Freya, that make up much of the early part of the book. Not only do Mick and Freya complete each other's every sentence, they do it without ever missing a beat. It doesn't seem to be merely the sort of understanding that old married couples tend to have, but genuine telepathy. Daily's knack for telepathic dialogue comes out elsewhere, if to a lesser degree, in Mick's exchanges with his dizzyingly neurotic friend and collaborator, Earl Parker; the anonymous co-worker that he constantly trades quips with; and even in the interviews with the fictional--and hilariously hostile--'legendary' poet referred to as 'The Giant' in the gorgeous Tales of a Giant chapbook in the book's center (complete with lavish illustrations by Evan Hecox ).
"While the book's rhythm hits something of a lull midway in the temporary abscence of such rapid-fire dialogue, it ends up being a great service to the running text in the margins. Here the sideline text goes from being a mantra-like reiteration of, and wry commentary on, the action in the main narrative, to completely exploding it in one incredulously brilliant sequence where all hell breaks loose between Daily's straight diary of a party and the psychedelia spewing from Mick's booze-addled mind as a guest at that party. If this is Valley's most genius-like feat, it certainly isn't its only. Daily manages to stupefy again, and again, even in the mellower, more lucid tone that marks much of the book's end, right up until the epilogue indirectly explaining why dubbed Italian B-films are crap but entertaining crap. If one hadn't already been taken in by the book's charms, how could they possibly resist its last sentence: 'You scumbag.'?"
-- Brian Baltin , Blend Magazine (UK)
"I remember this Mike Daily from STOVEPIPER magazine, which included the likes of Charles Bukowski . It was impressive. This is Daily's first novel, if you can call it a novel. It rather resembles a fictional documentary with slacker elements to it. His style is so blatantly autobiographical as he carefully threads his way through the trappings of everyday life. He seems to be a literary magpie as he collects everything and anything. In the first few pages the names of John Fante , Gary Snyder , Jack Kerouac , James Joyce , Robert Creeley , Kenneth Patchen and others are thrown up. American readers might not readily recognise the reference but VALLEY immediately brought to mind Nick Hornby 's HIGH FIDELITY . While Hornby is a music obsessive Daily is books crazy and fancies the little details of books. He knows his Beat and literary history and his mind is a fascinating archive. VALLEY is a pastiche, a variety of approaches and anyone expecting a straight narrative will be surprised. Even the typefaces change about. And in keeping with his penchant for buying old books with 'marginalia' in them (bits of paper, bookmarks, annotations etc) Daily makes continuous footnotes in the margins of VALLEY. How best to give a thumbnail sketch of this book? Really it comes across as a quirky but thoroughly engaging take on a type of literary life in California, a slacker's literary life maybe. In artistic terms VALLEY must rank as a book of remarkable vision and genre bending. William Burroughs avids may rejoice in the cutting and splicing that occurs. The actual text, while episodic at points, remains intact, the cutting remains in the styling between chapters. In his appreciation of various writers Daily may well spark off debate amongst his readers about his evaluations and observations. Not your average novel and if it got coverage in the mainstream press Daily might have a hit on his hands. Also a footnote, I couldn't resist it! about the presentation standards Bend Press have given us, the quality is nothing short of stupendous."
--Kevin Ring, Editor, BEAT SCENE , No. 33, Warwickshire, England.
"Practically everyone between the ages of 18 and 30 has a story to tell. Few, however, have the unique ability to pluck out the more absurd moments as their world turns to create an eternal home for them. With his first novel, Mike Daily proves that he does indeed have an eye for these valuable snippets. But what exactly makes his story different from anyone else with this talent? I mean, why should you even care about his silly little life in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California; especially since the only noteworthy achievement the Valley has ever produced is the porn industry. Well, I'll simply forego the literary critique and tell you this: If you have been an avid reader of BIG BROTHER since day one, then you will definitely want to pick this book up, because it contains two chapters about someone very near and dear to your heart. And that someone is Earl Parker .
"Despite Mike's claim that Valley is an entirely fictional work, I can assure you that it is not. You see, I was a charter member of the 'Third-Rate Artist's Colony' to which a brief segment of the book refers, and having lived through the rise and fall of Earl, I'm well aware of the time period documented by Mike in the fifth chapter of Valley entitled, 'Writer's Workshop.' Seeing this account in print brought a sentimental smile to my face, I must say, because it reminded me of the time Earl ran away from his home beneath the bench at World Industries to reside with Mike in Northridge, a small community that occupies a smidgen of the crummy urban landscape beneath the polluted airspace of the Valley. His heart had just been broken by Tracie, a wonderfully brash salesgirl at World and the 'flaxen punk' to whom some of Earl's reprinted 'poetry' revolves. Here's an example:
It was a cool summer.
The summer of '94.
It was the one I liked the most.
Because I met a girl,
and she slept with me.
Now I like her a lot.
But she not me.
"So, in order to avoid his obsession with her, he joined Mike in a goofy little thing they called the 'Writer's Workshop.' Eventually, Earl drove Mike crazy. We already knew this would be the case. Recently, Earl checked himself into a mental health clinic in Los Angeles. They diagnosed him as being kind of crazy. We already knew this too.
"I was actually in the same room the evening Earl lost his virginity to Tracie in that fateful summer of '94. (Thankfully, I was passed out a safe distance away.) The next morning, when Marc McKee arrived at World, he couldn't help but notice that Earl had long, red, freshly made scratches etched into his back. This just so happened to be Tracie's sexual trademark, but Marc was clueless to the previous night's escapade. So he innocently asked him what the hell happened to his back. Earl replied that he had been sleeping outdoors in an El Segundo public park and attacked by a wild racoon. Marc actually believed him, which still surprises me to this very day."
-- Sean Cliver , BIG BROTHER
DAILY IS A PROUD PARENT
Baby daughter born in August 2006. Two months old in this photo. Bunny bird.
