Okay, so the following info isn't so much going to be about me, because I tend to be mercilessly private about personal stuff. However, I have no problem talking about the narrator of my book, so let's make it about him, at least most of the time. Obviously, I have tremendous interest in this narrator as I've spent the last year breathing him into life out of the woods that surround me and the music of Jandek. I think he's an intersting guy.So the narrator of this book comes out of unreal early distress to develop unique techniques in tuning and playing guitar, though through much of this book he is the crazed leader of a garage-rock group. His other interest becomes Jessica, Frank Stanford's sister and his first real fling. She distracts him from his original interest, his vocalist and Frank's wife Nancy.
Really, I enjoy meeting lots of people. I believe, really, that there's something interesting about everybody, and I like to find out what that is. And yeah, I've met people who are utterly uninteresting but I prefer to believe they don't exist.Also anyone who wants to read!
As anyone who knows me knows, I'm a music fanatic. Basically I like anything where the artist is passionate, and the music isn't derivative. That's something I can say about all the music in this book. Like it or not, every artist here has something to say. I might add that I listen to absurd amounts of jazz, blues, punk, and garage rock music, not to mention loads of stuff that would fall under "unclassifiable."The book, by proxy, is filled with loads of music. In addition to Jandek, the book is largely based on traditional folk and blues music, particularly from such Delta bluesmen as Son House, Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, etc. It is also something of a tribute to the garage rock musicians of the sixties and seventies - people who weren't afraid of a lack of budget and equipment.Of the people who play music in this book, only two have any training, and the narrator is playing an instrument (guitar) he wasn't trained on (piano and bass). The music is loud and drenched with reverb. It has been my experience, being around people recording "garage music," that there is a great temptation to soak things in reverb. Such is the case here.
Having two kids I rarely get to watch them, but I'll take a moment to shout-out Terry Gilliam and uh...well Alfred Hitchcock stuff is still great. I like lots of movies. I can still quote an embarassing amount of 'This is Spinal Tap,' instantly driving everyone else in the room insane. Do NOT watch this movie with me.To my knowledge, the movies play no part in this book at all - oh wait, there's one scene where John the drummer goes to catch a flick instead of watching Son House. But I don't know what he saw. I bet he regrets that now, the punk.
I'm not much into TV. People tell me it's better now than it ever has been. I'll take their word for it. If I have time, I prefer to read and listen to music. Just who I am. If I watch something, I like it to be a movie.Oh, for those with an interest in Jandek's live show, here's a link to a YouTube clip of "Real Wild," from his Glasgow Sunday DVD, recorded at his first ever live performance in October 2004: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5hJ8LFMCbINo TV at the narrator's house, but there is one at the Center for the Developmentally Disabled where Josiah, the narrator's brother, ends up living and working. Josiah gets addicted to cartoons and basketball.
Loads of books. I love books. Right now I'm digging Michael Ondaatje and Kent Haruf. I dearly love Alice Munro, Lucie Brock-Broido, all those damn Russians, David Rhodes, a slew of Arab-based authors ancient (the ego-tripping Ibn Hazm) and modern (late poets Nizar Khabani and Agha Shahid Ali). Plus all the authors listed below - I could go on for hours!As for the novel, there's lots of books mentioned and lots of people who wrote books who have parts. Principle characters include the late poets Frank Stanford and James Whitehead, but lots of books are mentioned, including those by Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Baudelaire, Kerouac, and more.
The narrator's hero is Blind Willie Johnson - the man never gave up hope in the midst of struggle, keeping to his beliefs in spite of blindness. He died of pneumonia after being refused entry into a hospital because he was blind. His scratchy blues are also the greatest influence on the narrator of this text. I can easily support this guy as heroic.