The fine folks at VoyagePhoenix recently ran an interview with me. Go on and feed the Click Beast: He’s hungry.
VoyagePhoenix: Check out Ashley Naftule’s Artwork
Bookburners Of The World Unite And Take Over
My latest full-length play, The First Annual Bookburners Convention, opened last night at Space55 theatre in downtown Phoenix! It’s a play that’s inspired by my time working in used bookstores around the Valley; It’s also inspired by John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies, Twilight Zone reruns, Richard Linklater movies, the music of Sandy Denny, Lovecraft, and Borges. It runs from Sept. 7-30 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm). If you’re in the Valley (as a resident or visitor) and you’re looking to spend a mind-altering, hilarious, and spooky night at the theater, come down to 18th Ave & McDowell and check it out.
Online tickets available here:
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/31495/1535774400000
(If you’re buying tickets for tonight or tomorrow’s show, put the promo code BOOKS in at checkout for a discount)
And if you want to get a taste of the process behind the play and see some rehearsal photos, check out this piece that Hardest Working Man In AZ Show Business Serene Dominic wrote about the show for Phoenix New Times:
Phoenix New Times: The First Annual Bookstore Convention Turns Bookstore Work Into a Supernatural Romp
Queneau, Oulipo, Kool Keith, and Monica Bellucci
My latest pub: A combination book review/critical essay for Cleveland Review of Books on New Directions’ reissue of Raymond Queneau’s classic “The Blue Flowers.” It touches on a wide range of subjects: the history of the Oulipo movement; the chance operations of John Cage and Philip K. Dick; Lars Von Trier’s “5 Obstructions”; Kool Keith; and even smuggles in a bit of “Twin Peaks” for good measure.
Cleveland Review of Books: The Cleverest Rat In The Maze: On Raymond Queneau’s “The Blue Flowers”
The Magick of Jazz
This week marks another big “drop” for yours truly: My first column is up on Spiral Nature! They brought me on as their music columnist to write two columns a month (plus compiling a monthly mixtape) about the intersection between music and the occult. For my first column, I focused on jazz: Pharoah Sanders, Coltrane, Ayler, Kamasi Washington. I also go off on tangents about druggy hippies, metal, voodoo, and esoteric fascist Julius Evola.
Spiral Nature: Always Ascending: The Magick of Jazz
The Art of Being Julee Cruise
My latest piece is up today, and I couldn’t be happier about it: my first byline with the fine folks at Pitchfork! It’s an interview with singer Julee Cruise about her work with David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti, her “Art of Being a Girl” LP, her thoughts on country music, and when she learned how to be a pilot.
