Book Review: Jonathan Franzen: Freedom

Books....yes... books are supposed to be good. People used to read them. Fiction (for those of you who do not know "fiction" is a term where people make up a story and it is not necessarily a self help book, or a tell all, or anything based in the real world. people used to read fiction. Books like "Old Man And The Sea" and "The Great Gatsby" and "To Kill A Mockingbird" were formerly taught in our schools and were considered... I don't know required reading for intelligent conversations. That was a long time ago. "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest" and other books were debated. they were not Korans yet people felt the need to discuss burning them for their..."ideas".

Fortunately, those days are gone. Every "successful" man I have known for the last 20 years has proudly told me "I don't have time to read fiction." They have dug in and read books about management, marketing, time useage, economics, motivation.... and on and on. It is all claptrap. It can all be found in the Bible but the Bible is too hard to read so they get fed bits of the truth that they can digest, implement...and disregard.

Fiction on the other hand forces you to pay attention. Look for nuances. try and think about what you read and perhaps what they are trying to show you... has nothing to do with making money or acquiring material goods. Then we have Jonathan Franzen. He wrote book 9 years ago called "The Corrections" about a mid American family. The book was awesome. Ophra loved it and then disdained it and took it off her book list. It was a really good book and got as lot of acclaim as it walked you through a midwestern family. It lost the National Book Award to Richard Russo and although I love Richard Russo... Franzen should have gotten it for "The Corrections". It was an awesome book. There were so many times, and situations where you wer reading and said... "thats me". A lot of aha moments and it said so much about vacuous consumerism, self involvement and ultimately the complexity and beauty of families and the human situation.

Nine years later he wrote the same book with a different family. Again... it is awesome. It is the same book and it is awesome all over again. Every nine years we need another book about a complex, extraordinary, unhappy family. This time the themes are slightly different. Greed, environmentalism, Alterna-Country music, the Bush administration and ultimately over population. It gets really heavy into over population at the end. He takes us through a nice couple in St. Paul Minnesota who gentrifies a neighborhood with him working and her being super mom and house wife.... and everything goes south for the next 25 years.

It is a really good book and a great read. Sure, he wrote it before and updated it but damn... this boy can writer. Buy it, read it, own it... or borrow it from me.

Franzen's writing tips:

The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator.
Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money.
Never use the word "then" as a conjunction – we have "and" for this purpose. Substituting "then" is the lazy or tone-deaf writer's non-solution to the problem of too many "ands" on the page.
Write in the third person unless a really distinctive first-person voice ­offers itself irresistibly.
When information becomes free and universally accessible, voluminous research for a novel is devalued along with it.
The most purely autobiographical fiction requires pure invention. Nobody ever wrote a more auto biographical story than " The Metamorphosis ".
You see more sitting still than chasing after.
It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction (the TIME magazine cover story detailed how Franzen physically disables the Net portal on his writing laptop).
Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.
You have to love before you can be relentless.

Where In The World Is Michael Becker?

Sooooo... exactly what has Mike been doing?

1. Quitting his job at Hepler Broom;
2. Going "Of Counsel" at Waltrip & Schmidt
3. Filing his first Hotel Chapter 11 (Sheraton Downtown St. Louis)
4. Attending a wedding of my nephew in Cancun
5. Taking a final trip to Michigan for the year for another wedding;
6. Attending too few of my daughters tennis matches (2)

There has been very little time for anything else. Going "Of Counsel" for the moment means I am a tenant working in a cube at the firm. I have a laptop. I have the services of a secretary/receptionist and I have some back up from some very competent attorneys if needed, and it already has been...needed. It has been a really busy month and I still have not even gotten to order my business cards. That is bad.

On the other hand it has been a great deal of fun.

Here is the dream.

I spend most of my time practicing law in my specialty of banking and bankruptcy.

I spend a portion of my time setting up myself to do pro bono bankruptcies and supervise some law students and show them how to do Chapter 7 bankruptcies for free. Perhaps for the immigrant population in St. Louis. Perhaps under the auspicies of SLU Law and and perhaps a Lutheran organization (I need someone to fund their filing fees).

I will report as the experiment continues. So far I have been too busy to pursue most of the dream in month number one. Finished up a couple of the pro bono cases I had started at the old place.

We will see how it goes. In the mean time what I want people to remind me often... is that September 2010 was a pretty good month.

Michigan v. Notre Dame And Other Morality Plays

I find this time of year delightful inso many ways. On the cusp of fall. Football, everywhere, professional and of course college. Naturally my well documented aversion to Notre Dame comes into my play with a withering, unjustified and smug dislike of this storied program I have beaten that dog to death so I will leave it alone. Michigan on the other hand has been on incredible hard times. A great program of which less and less has been expected and every year they have disappointed recently. So naturally I wanted to be sitting in a bar watching this game and instead I was working and working but am now sitting at home and watching the fourth quarter. Michigan dominated once the first series (with an ND score and losing their quarterback for a while) but are now in jeopardy of having the Irish march down for a last second score. Go BLue! On the road and in the home of touchdown Jesus and all those... those people...who come to South Bend expecting miracles and more because... they are entitled.
###
I have been watching the bullshit for the last two weeks about this idiot at a tiny church in Florida announcing he was going to burn Koran's or Quoran's or Qoran's, depending on your belief in correct spelling and political correctness. I cannot fault the preacher. He is clearly mentally ill with a strong (but not too strong based on the size of his church) instinct for self promotion. it is a shame and a pity that this man got any press at all much less the full Katy Perry 15 minutes for this despicable display. If they burned Bibles in Iran I would hope that no American press would cover those crazy people either. But for a 24 hour news cycle and the desire to create controversy none of us ever would have heard of this idiot and his hateful, little, offensive church that has the audacity to call itself Christian. God will have mercy on his soul but i would have to pray a lot more to show this guy any grace. Which brings me to point 3.

###

The Glenn beck Rally was annoying. Tomorrow the tea party gets together in St. Louis. "tea party Patriots". I guess the rest of us are not patriots. "Real Americans" according to Sarah Palin which i think also means that since i disagree with them makes me a...'Fake American"? I DON'T FEEL LIKE A FAKE AMERICAN. Listening to Glen Beck (and I do) I am realizing that one of the things I find so offensive is this culture of victimhood he cultivates among the middle class. YOU are victims! THEY are taking things away from you! YOU MUST FIGHT BACK! What kind of bullshit is that? What has been taken away from whom? A lot has been hogged by the top 1% with the assistance of their government stooges and complacent people who believe that their interests are the same as these oligarchs. But what is really bothering me is that Tea party people I see almost to a man (or woman) self identify as Christians even while they follow the rantings of their Mormon profit Glen Beck.

Where is the Christ in the much vaunted "Christian" values? Why is the ten commandments so much more important, as well as all other old testament law regarding women, homosexuality, marriage etc....all so important, quotable and indictable but Jesus own words and examples are forgotten. the Tea Party and conservative Republicans are all about government getting out of the way...so they can gather as much wealth as possible for the benefit of themselves and their families (see the much hated DEATH TAX) where we keep kids from inheriting things they did not work for from their parents. Where it is in Christian values and Christ's example to gather up wealth while on this planet. I know you can interpret "render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's" but when we are talking about money and taxes how else can you read it but that these are not things of the kingdom that we are to be concerned about. I am not going to quote the Bible any more then that because I question people who do it for their own purposes. Go to Matthew Chapter 5. read the next four chapters of the Bible where Christ gives us a short course on how to live your life. read it in context and read the whole thing. See how your conservative Christian values stack up against the real thing.

Alas, with 3:45 left Notre dame just scored on a 95 yard play. Michigan missed two field goal tries. All might be lost soon. My poor, poor Wolverines.

Now the Wolverines have Marched down to the 2....TOUCHDOWN! What a game! What a life? perhaps there is hope for our country after all. I am not sure how this result relates to anything but allow me my ramble.

LOU FEST: First Annual (We Hope)

Soooo...LouFest. And the now ubiquitous wantonbecker twitter feed. I tweeted for two days and followed the LoufFest and STLNATION Tweets. I guess it was a happening. I was orifginally just going to publish the Tweets like I published the guys stuff on the Restoring Honor Rally and then do a separate blog about the even but it now seems like a modified amalgamation of the two might be better. Who knows. Twitter is still an oddity but it does allow me to recapture what was going through my somewhat sketchy brain at the time so lets call this a Twifollowup.

Headed to 1st Annual (we hope) LouFest. Bottlerockets open for noon "wake and bake" show. It will be cool to see a locally set up show
LouFest in slight disarray, not letting people in yet. No clouds, lack of shade could be a challenge and which old person did bring a chair?
aiting in the shade for Brian Henneman to kick it off. Soundcheck of "she's so perfect far away". Event seems to be working.
11:50 AM Aug 28th via txt
Loufest opens..."Workmens comp".
12:04 PM Aug 28th via txt
Bottlerockets...best ever verion of "welfare music". All electric. Stephaies id doing an ani di franco thing from asheville. Hot here.
1:00 PM Aug 28th via txt
OK. So we headed down there around 11:00. Although they had encouraged us all to be green and ride uor bikes or take MetroLink I had not budgeted time for MetroLink or energy for a bike. I am with my intrepid colleague Todd Raymond King, lately of Zaneville Ohio and recently divorced for the third time. We were coming off a reasonably serious hangover as a result of the prior nights frivolity at the Venice Cafe with Jakes Leg. We drove down and came into the park off of Kingshighway and immediately saw signs for LouFest parking which we disregarded. We ended up parking on the street and walking about a quarter mile to Central Feild and then hitting the entrance by 11:30 to find out that they were not leting people in yet. This was slightly disconcerting but the area seems clean and well run. We went and parked under a tree and heard Henneman tune up. We realized we had not brought chairs or .... shade.
They let us in and after a quick tour of the merch stand and getting a cerveza we got up front and waited for The Bittle Rockets. There was much milling about on stage and I noticed that the VIP areas were right next to the stage and thought I might need to consider that for next year, especially if I took the wife. Henneman's wife was there as well as the wife of one of the band members and it seemed very Lou-Like because we were all fans. The set he played was great and there was only one minor note of alarm for me... WHERE WAS BEATLE BOB?!!! LouFest without Bob seems wrong. I wonder if the promoter would not give him free tickets or if he is boycotting. Very disconcerting.

Moved on to Stephanies Id out of Asheville. She had some gauzy material up on stage and channeled Ani DiFranco in a very VERY good set. Once agin I was unfamiliar with her work but she had a very good band and powerful girl power/angst filled songs. She was sporting a princess Laia type do and a short dress and some boots and was charming and captivating. Had never been to the Lou before and said some nice things and turned in a nice set.
Stephanies id put on sweet show. There is no shade at LouFest. "So many dynamos" now pleaseing crowd boring me. Turnout at this point low
2:23 PM Aug 28th via txt
Adam Reichmans guitarist is best thing I have seen all day. Don't know his name. Band called "ghosts of electricity. Chanelling Tweedy.3:12 PM Aug 28th via txt
So, Adam Reichman comes on and he has a full band with him. Concert organizer Cohen said he would surprise a lot of people. The main thing I am surprised by is that the band sounds so tight but it is great alt-country. Adam formerly had a band called "Nadine" which was highly acclaimed, locally worshipped and likely "big in Europe" but never broke through. He has a great voice, writes a great hook and put on an expectedly great show. He capped it with my favorite Nadine song, "Through The Night".
Titus Andronicus "You will always ne a loser". He plays an excellent noise guitar. Said there had been a lot coubtry and western music today
August 28, 2010 4:24:09 PM CDT via txt
@lefsetz. You are missing LouFest. Locally produced...awesome music...two stages fenced off in a park. Google it.
August 28, 2010 3:48:08 PM CDT via txt
@okkervilriver. I do not mean to chide but...you should be at Loufest...I am just saying.mm
August 28, 2010 3:14:05 PM CDT via txt
A few shout outs to people about LouFest and then Titus Andronicus. These guys are from Jersey. They rocked. They put on a show that had the crowd going. It was hot. I got some food and stood in the shade of the SONY PS3 booth. I missed the show. it was nothing great. Nothing bad. they were from Jersey. that does not make it right.
Lucero...from Memphis tenn. The day starts to get really good. Further on...
August 28, 2010 5:06:16 PM CDT via txt
August 28, 2010 5:55:56 PM CDT via txt
Nice discussion of "puking all the way from Memphis". Could be added bonus as they live and emody Allman Brothers and DBT.
August 28, 2010 5:10:38 PM CDT via txt
ugust 28, 2010 6:09:47 PM CDT via txt
Luceros lead singer Ben could not make the whole set. Needs an IV. I did get to hear them pl "Drink Till Were Gone". Short show but sweet.
OK... so I was really excited to see Lucero. I had caught them three times before. Once in a small club in Columbus, once at the Duckroom and onceat the bar owned by the hipster who plays the sppons. A bar down off Chipewa. I am having a stroke. It was right across from Pauls bait and Tackle. Anyway, always a great loud show. They all looked rough and southern when they came out but the band is really one guy, Ben Nichols. his voice, his ebergy and his guitar carry a very tight band...and his lyrics. i love the guy. But he was not feeling so good. He walked out with a trash can and set it next to him in case he had to puke and explained that he had been sick all the way from Memphis. And it apparently was not a drunk type sick. Anyway, he still moved me through a few songs, then went and laid down. He came back, announced he would be getting and IV, worked his way through one more tune and then apologetically limped off. Still, I love the guy.

August 28, 2010 8:25:40 PM CDT via txt
Passed out in shade listening at a distance to "Toxic Airborne Event". Pleasant. Waiting for Doug Martsch and Built To Spill.
I remember nothing about this show. Built to spill was up after Toxic Airborne Event and i have seen them a million times and was looking forward to 1,000,001. I am just a little gay in that way. Doug Martsch came out in sunglasses and cap looking like Castro but quickly had to peel off in the heat...and the beating sun. he tore through a normal set with some high points off of "There is Nothing Wrong With Love" including "Car" and ""Twin falls Idaho" which he always seems to dedicate to his mom in the crowd. I wonder if she lives around here. Anyway, great little set.

August 29, 2010 2:27:23 PM CDT via txt
Sooo they let Built To Spill play another 20 minutes and I got to hear drive. Waiting for much vaunted Broken Social Scene.

I do not get this group. Lots of energy, great rhythm but it a cacophony. A poor mans "Arcade Fire". I love the guy from the Shins but would prefer he just play with the Shins. Can you really call it a Canadian "supergroup" without Neil Young? I left half way home but what a great day!


August 29, 2010 4:06:47 PM CDT via txt
@loufeststl. Ok...so the heat kicked my ass yesterday and I am laying in the pool...but I will be there for the Fruitbats. Get off my ass!

I missed the carolina Chocolate Drops and a couple of other bands. i did get to go to Church and lay in the pool with King before packing him off to Ohio. i then soldiered down there all alone....with a chair.
August 29, 2010 4:21:34 PM CDT via txt
@LouFestSTL. Corey Chisel...Jason Mraz? John Mayer? Jack Johnson? Better? Worse? Dofferent? Help me. Such a nice fest. So proud of the Lou.
August 29, 2010 4:15:42 PM CDT via txt
@loufeststl#loufest. Corey Chisel kicks off day two with what appears to be relentlessly "pleasant" set. Crowd seems better post heat stroke
I really do not have anything more to say about Corey Chisel. the crowd once again ate him up and I, sadly... did not. Any time I use the word "pleasant" it is like my wife when she uses the word "interesting". It only means one thing, that is bad news. By the way, my chair is broken.

@LouFestSTL. Fruitbats...who I had never heard of...tearing up a nice set. Channeling the Shins...via Lucero. Nice...and who would know?
August 29, 2010 5:10:25 PM CDT via txt
@LouFestSTL. #LouFest. Higher hipster quotient today but still tolderable. Old people ratio tolderable. Kid ratio...high but cute.. I guess.
Fritbats. Nice surprise of the show. Was unfamiliar with them so I downloaded a couple of songs but live they have a nice presence. It is probably my favorite combination on indy/alt-country which really summarizes the over all offerings of LouFest. Their lead singer was also playing guitar along with another guitarist and this big creepy albino. The sum was in their eyes, they were all wearing shades and just frankly tore up a really sweet set. One of the great things about a concert like Loufest is your chance to get introduced to new acts and these guys are definitely worth buying and following in the future.
@loufestSTL. Standing next to 70 year old man from Austin watching Escovedo...vaguely sureal and all good.
August 29, 2010 6:30:35 PM CDT via txt
@loufestSTL. As Alejandro strikes up the band. Fruitbats. Nice set. This should be better.
August 29, 2010 5:57:07 PM CDT via txt
@LouFestSTL. As expected Alejandro tearing it up. Who is lead guitar? Pleae advise.
August 29, 2010 6:16:37 PM CDT via txt
OK, this was clearly the high point of the weekend. Alejandro Escovedo. 69 years old. Former punk. Hepatis C survivor. Alcoholic and drug abuse survivor. Rock and Roll survivor. He has written some of the most beautiful and poignant songs of the last 20 years and with a stolen Chuck Berry riff in the sonf "Castenets" has given me a perennial car and jukebox favorite. He was appearing in the third to the last show with a band with a bass player who looked like a new wave (skinny tie) player (including the "Flock of Seagulls hairdo) and a lead guitar who looked like an Allman Brothers refugee. David Pulkinham is the guitarist of his back up band which is known as "The Sensitive Boys" and they did a nice job with his ballads as well as his rockers. My personal opinion is that Alejandro should never go anywhere without his cellist. But that is just me.One of his new songs was "Down In The Bowery" which he says he wrote for his son with the poignant line, "I hope you live long enough to forget half of what they taught you". As I said, the high point. You should catch this man's shows whenever you have an opportunity.

Proof of that is the guy I was watching the show with who was a former St. Louisan but now is a 70 year old rocking denizen of Austin Texas. he was up there with his sone and daughter in law, rocking the Lou for two days but he was mainly there to see Alejandrom and like me he knew the words to every song and song loudly, and badly. I loved him. He gave me hope.
@loufeststl. So jeff won me over on a beautiful night @ #LouFest. The crowd went apeshit for him. Everyone waiting for "She and Him".
August 29, 2010 8:25:20 PM CDT via txt
@loufeststl. Tweedy with a new spin on "Casino Queen". Once agin trying out the Dylan.
August 29, 2010 8:11:45 PM CDT via txt
Jeff Tweedy..."Passenger Side"."Take me to the store and then the bank". Funniest line rea: Ciceros "I should have sent them my rehab bill."
August 29, 2010 8:10:07 PM CDT via txt
@loufeststl. Tweedy finally threw me a bone and played "New Madrid". Most songs from what I see as "awkward years" between a.m. and Foxtrot.
August 29, 2010 7:33:39 PM CDT via txt
@loufeststl. Tweedy chanelling Dylan...as best he can and crowd loving it. "Girl From North Country" next? 5 guitars?
August 29, 2010 7:10:00 PM CDT via txt
@loufeststl. I hate to be a downer but people who sit for a tweedy homecoming show suck. There. I guess I said it.
August 29, 2010 6:59:10 PM CDT via txt
Jeff Tweedy was really supposed to be one of the, if not THE high point of LouFest for me. Tweedy from his early days with Uncle Tupelo to the beginnings of Wilco, through today has been a powerful pleasure of some joyous songwriting and emotion. His music, as much as anyone has been a sound track of my adulthood. I love this guy. He has come to town dutifully with Wilco but not always joyously. Also Tweedy with a band was never the same as Tweedy solo, in a small club like the Lounge Ax in Chicago. I have several recordings of his solo shows and the level of intimacy was impressive.

What I got at LouFest was Tweedy solo and for me it was just to big of a venue for his gifts solo. He needed a side man who could tear up an acoustic guitar occasionally and provide some solidity to his plaintiff' vocals. I don't know. It was a great show and it was great to see him but I was looking for/hoping for, something transcendent. For most of the audience based on the rapturous tweets posted it was transcendent so perhaps I am just an elitist asshole with too great of expectations but... he could have used a side man. That's all I am sayin.
k. So its really packed for "She and Him". Various mail and female groups chanting "ZOEY, ZOEY". I say go M. Ward...beat Zoe. With a stick.August 29, 2010 8:32:04 PM CDT via txt
I know she is a movie star and has nice pipes but really...M. Ward as a sideman to her preening... Pains me. @loufeststl.
August 29, 2010 8:40:05 PM CDT via txt I really have never "gotten "She & Him". I know they are indie darlings. She does have a really great voice but for some reason (and I know this should not matter) I have never found her that pretty but I do find her kind of odd looking. I will never get over her performance in "Almost Famous". M. Ward on the other hand has been a rumbling, stumbling and bumbling god of mine for years. I just have loved the guy but he has never had much stage presence...just brilliance. For an excellent taste of M. Ward, go download his version of Creedence's "Green River". Just a suggestion but an excellent one. Also anything from his CD "The Transfiguration of Vincent.

Anyway, having these guys close out the show was a no brainer for Cohen. The whole music loving part of the town showed up. I did not feel the need to stay the whole evening but understand that M. Ward gave the crowd a little Chuck Berry to wrap it up.
This was an excellent festival. I know I am old and sappy but it did make me proud of the town for a couple of days and gave me the chance to see us through someone's eyes who just comes here for a few day event. This is a great town in it's own self deprecating way. There are lots of cool places to eat and a lot to do, for a visitor and we should sell it harder when we get the chance. More importantly we need to find a way to this Fest again year after year. It would be an awesome St. louis tradition.