I finished GR, then read The Moor's Last Sigh by Rushdie, which did nothing for me (other than kill some time, eh).
I've begun The Burn by Vasilii Aksyonov, who sadly doesn't appear to be widly known. I'm only about 200 pages in, but it's gold so far. I taste a little Pynchon and some Burgess in it, but also it's very very Russian. Aksenov is still writing and I must seek out his more recent work, as must you, bookish types. Unfortunately The Burn seems to be hard to find. I can't believe it since it's so good. Another outrage.
Interview with Baltimore saxophonist John Berndt:
Ian Nagoski: To what extent do you think of your own music as erotic?
John Berndt: There is a strong element in common , which I think is centered on what happens to the self during "fascination." The extension of the sense of present time, the focusing of attention, attention-as-pleasure, the sense of being entranced, the shedding of "alert social personality," and much more. So I would relate it more to the idea that eroticism and certain music are windows onto reconfigurations of the self which are extremely varied and complex. Then there is also some music which has an almost sexual drive to it, the "ecstatic" side, more than fascination, loosing yourself in the pleasure of an ever forward rushing current of sensation--as in the really good free jazz, or some polrhythmic music, which incidentally can bring tears to my eyes (a breakdown of social guardedness). I guess the distinction I am pointing to is the quality of time experience as a component of fascination. In either case (music or eroticism), for me it relates to spirituality (in the non-superstitious sense of having all your faculties, of feeling alive and beyond the banal--not crushed or numb); and I'm very aware that it can be degraded or minimized very easily (perhaps because these "private" experiences are so marginal, poorly understood, in our civilization
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Neil Feather, Sound Mechanic.
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Along the same lines, Eric Leonardson, composer, performer, instrument inventor. Here's a page with some really neat MP3's - check out the tracks with the un fucking real singer, Carol Genetti, in particular.
posted by Brad Larcen 9/17/2002[edit]
