RawkRollWhateva

So summer's come to this... I need a job. I finished restructuring my manuscript + finished the rewrites on a chapbook (two of the main reasons that I didn't want to have summer employment- I know, grad school was supposed to be for writing but it seems like I was always WORKING!) nonetheless, it doesn't appear that I'll get my backpay from Eos anytime soon, which would allow me to enjoy summer unfettered by a job & the unemployment checks simply don't support my lifestyle & by lifestyle I mean doing anything other than checking books out of the library and scanning for free events then ducking out as soon as they are over so I don't have to explain that a drink or a poetry book isn't currently in my budget. Now really what kind of summer is that?

I will teach two English Comp courses at LaGuardia/CUNY in the fall + start a business with my Ph.d genius friend, Melissa, but until then I'm going to suck it & find summer employment. Any suggestions?
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July is going to be all about music reading. I just checked out Dean Wareham's book from the library and so far it's pretty good. The book begins with an infamous (that is if you were a fan of Galaxy 500- which I LOOOOOVED) statement from Damon talking about Dean suddenly wanting to become a star and bathing himself in the spotlight. It's a ballsy move & a perfect way to start the book- bring on the drama, turn on the amps, cue up the guitars... "it's no fun giving the middle finger to the blind." Can't remember what Luna song that it is from, but it remains forged in my brain and has given me much delight over the years and still does.
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More rock- a ways back Thurston Moore put out a book exploring the mixed-tape culture and what was lost via no longer making mixed taped. My friend, Julia, and I recently reminisced about making or receiving mixed tapes from past lovers/crushes/heart-skippers & how you'd sit around trying to decode why the person put THAT jam on the tape...

With a c.d. you put on your ipod & just skip over those songs without ever worrying the brain. Anyways, the book was o.k. coulda been much better but was geared towards an Urban Outfitters crowd (unlike Back in the days- which just wound up having an audience at UO, but when the book first came out- we flipped with joy at Powell's City of Books)

Well Mr. Moore is back at it, & even though this doesn't go down until July I'm marking my calendar now for it. A book about Sonic Youth and about the No Wave scene. I love reading this stuff. & the jump-off at McNally Robinson should be pretty damn good:

Friday, July 11, 7 PM

Sonic Youth and No Wave

David Browne, author of Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth (Da Capo Press)

Thurston Moore, author of No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York 1976-1980 (Hna Books)

Thurston Moore is a founding member of the seminal band Sonic Youth and the author of several books. His book No Wave visually chronicles the collision of art and punk in the New York underground scene of the 70s and 80s. David Browne, a journalist and author specializing in music and pop culture for over twenty years, writes about the history of Sonic Youth and its huge influence on this scene. The two will discuss the band and the scene, perhaps with some audio and video.

A Quick But Productive Drop-in at Teachers and Writers

Today was the going away party for Bruce Morrow, assistant director at T&W so I swung by there for hellos and some wine. Sat in "my office" realized how much I miss that job but one has to make at least enough chedda to pay the bills and have a little luxuary left over, right?

I had a copy of T&W newest book, Structure and Surprise, which I did a ton of work for and it made me inexplicably happy to have a copy sitting on the desk with a yellow post-it saying "Steven." I also had the new issue of Rain Taxi which has an interview with fiction writer David Markson (DO READ HIM!) and an envelope from Wave Books-Thanks Monica!!! Enclosed was a copy of Sawako Nakaysu's book, "So We Have Been Given Time Or" I'm thinking of trying to put together a reading with her maybe next year to correspond with AWP... we shall see.

Well both my body and beer are sweating. Goddamn I really need to remember to get an extension cord for my air-conditioner... ah summer you feckled fuck!

Summer & Random Thoughts

I found myself sitting outside of The Bean (I'm staying in the East Village- cat sitting for my friend Kiely) reading Paul Violi's new book, Overnight, and couldn't help but notice how much like Summer today is... honestly, i'm not a "shorts" person and prefer to not even think about them until, um July- but I have a feeling that I'll be heading back to my apartment in Cobble Hill to get some shorts and slip-on Vans and just roll like whateva...

Last night my ex, Sandy, and our friend, Monica came over and I realised I had absolutely nothing to offer them in regards to refreshments so I sauntered over to Whole Foods fully cafienated on a iced cap and bought a variety of juices.. now this has happened to me a few times already, but why o why would you ever put five or six bottles of liquid into the same bag? Do you realize how fucking heavy and noisy it is to lug that around? of course, by the time it takes the cashier to reassemble into two bags you know you could be half-way home already- all that is to say, i'm really enjoying this pomegranate/blueberry juice,