Book Review: Psycho-Yawnography

Will Self
PsychoGeorgraphy
Illustarted By Ralph Steadman
Published by Bloomsbury
255 Pages







This... is unintentionally a coffee table book.

My admiration for Will Self is:

1. Long Standing
2. Well Deserved
3. Well Documented

He is one of the great writers of our time and has written some of the darkest, funniest and most brilliant things which have been scribed in the last ten years. Find him, read him, enjoy him. Start with something like “The Quantity Theory Of Insanity” and then “My Idea of Fun” or even his recent book “Dorian”.

So I was excited to find and buy this book. Steadman has been one of my favorite illustrators since the master wrote Fear and Loathing. There is something stark and upsetting about even his simplest and most pastoral images. I figure you marry him to Self and instead of darkness squared you get darkness cubed. Win/Win.
Wrong/Wrong it turns out.

Instead, I didn’t get much at all, dark or otherwise. It is a cute book and a clever book. Self is like a less self impressed David Foster Wallace. He does not have to write three page paragraph describing the type of “dust” he is trying to define. He is succinct. it helps that he is British and American and Jewish and Gentile and smart. But this muttness of his seems to have screwed him up and he is constantly coming up with theories about why he and the world are so fucked up. The key thing about his theories and his observations are that they tend be salient and wickedly funny, and sometimes very cruel. I mean this is a guy who was kicked of British Prime Minister John Major’s plane for snorting heroin in the bathroom.

In “The Quantity Theory Of Insanity” for example, he opined on the theory that there was only so much sanity to go around and thus you could put insanity and sanity where it was needed by moving groups of crazy people (or sane people) to certain locations and thus you would effect the balance of sanity as needed.

PsychoGeography also has to do with location as his theory is generally that the place makes the person. the place where you are from... the place you are going... the place you once took a dump. They all form and shape you and make you who you are now and more importantly make you how you are now. He got off drugs and started to walk on long sujourns following this theory that we all have become deconnected with “place”. It makes sense but he does not do much to flesh out why we should care.

The most (and perhaps only) worthwhile part of the book is the first chapter which is him walking from London to New York. He does it by leaving his home, walking to Heathrow, getting on a plane, Flying to JFK and them walking the 26 miles into downtown Manhattan. It is an introspective story with typical problems you would not consider such as modern airports are not meant for people to walk in and out of. It simply does not work. This story like amny of the others turns on his observations and the people he meets and it reads like a travelogue.

But... it never gets any better then the first story and his twenty mile romps around London, Iowa etc... do not reveal a lot and you kind of get a sense that he is mailing it in. Steadman’s illustrations are great but ultimately the book tells us very little, reveals very little out us to ourselves and... god forbid, gets kind of boring.

So. Though I love Self and love Steadman. Miss this one, unless you just like to have cool looking books for people to look at laying around like a pretentious prick... like me. then buy it.
6 Slingers on the 10 scale.

Eat Rite (Eat Somewhere Else)

The Eat Rite Diner
Cheateau and 8th
Downtown








Soooooo.... I have waited a long time to review the Eat Rite downtown. There are many, many reasons for this but they can be summarized in one phrase:

“I wanted to like it”.

Other then the Courtesy on Kingshighway there is no other diner in town that has the same authentic feel. It looks from the outside like a White Castle, or like an old White Castle, one of the little ones, cut in half, or maybe quarters. It is tiny.
It is also incredibly convenient for me as it is on my way to work and I pass it every day. There were years when I thought of it as being in a “bad” neighborhood until I realized that it is really in no neighborhood at all. Other then Ralston Purina (Nestle) or our Lebanese friends at St. Raymonds there really is not a whole lot going on down in that neighborhood, unless there is a baseball game and then people often park around it.

It has a small yet disasterous parking lot with steep grades and spots that are too small. The place, well, to be pleasant... lit looks like shit. It is formerly a white building but is now caked in dirt. The windows are...dirty. There has been a sign in the window for years saying that they sell 4 Hamburgers for $4.80 dollars. There is rarely more then one or two cars in the lot. There are normally people in there then cars and you get the feeling that some of them walked... and that some of them might have no other place to go. They are open 24 hours which explains some of the patron as they have probably been drinking coffee there since the 3 A.M. bars closed but it is still a little icky. Don’t get me wrong, I like characters but these characters are of the trite, uninteresting (even to themselves) variety. If you are a person who is afraid of dirty, surly people (and I am talking about the staff as well as the patrons) don’t go there.

When you go in you will be impressed (apalled) by what you see inside. There is one excellent griddle, a fridge, a back room with a fan and either one or two nasty looking, women of indeterminate age. These women must live under a bridge near the place. They are not rude, so much as they clearly do not give a shit. Inquiries such as “do you have iced tea” are at first met with silence followed by “only in summer”. She will then look away without inquiring if you want anything else. They will of couse serve you hot coffee without even asking. On the plus side the food is cheap. The food is served quick. The food is greasy. The hash browns are shredded. The food is cheap. They have a pin ball machine that is older then me. They have a juke box that is even older.

But... it is dirty. it feels dirty and worst of all for me...iced tea is seasonal. How can that be. If you are downtown and need the experience, go there. If you need a nice breakfast, served by nice women... go to Bog Ed’s Chili Mac Diner on Pine.
AOL’s City Guide has some nice comments, even compliments:

http://cityguide.aol.com/stlouis/restaurants/eat-rite-diner/v-111714489

The Eat Rite has the slinger... they have cheap greasy food. It is “authentic” but authentic in a sad way. There is very little joy at the Eat Rite.

Erata: Bad Music Update

Sooooo like I said I listen to a lot of music and I try to read a lot and I rarely get to listen to enough or read enough but it strikes me that... well... you do not believe me. I guess what it comes down to it, I do not believe me either. So in a follow up I want to give you a heads up and brief diatribe about some things I have consumed which... did not merit the Diner Reviews rather exacting specifications.

****
Sun Kil Moon: April
Great name for a band and all the people like I like and respect have told me that I “have to” love them... or love him as it were. What I did not know was that the “band” was merely a vehicle for Mark Kozelak who used to head up the Red House Painters (another great band name. In a gust of indie rock arrogance i had purchased two Red House Painters CD’s which were labeled as “genius” only to find them lethargic, pretentious and overly arty. Not surprisingly so is Sun Kil Moon. The CD April comes with a highly prized bonus CD and they both will be solidly parked in my basement until I die and my children sell my CD collection, or pawn it, or throw it away. In any case that will be the next time it sees the light of day unless my pretentious indie rock snob sun decides he is interested. This is like Jay Farrar on quaaludes and if you know Farrar’s music (some of which I like) that is a particularly unattractive reference. I picture this guy staring at his shoes while a cellist noodles and he mumbles. Miss it.
http://www.sunkilmoon.com/welcome.html

****
Elvis Costello: Momofuku
I love Elvis Costello. I have a predisposition to like everything he puts out. This must be one where he is ahead of me because it just seems banal, unnecessary and not breaking of any new or interesting ground. He is another guy I could listen to as he sang the phone book but.... that does not make it rock and roll. He plays with The Impostors (his long time band which includes 2 of his original band The Attractions) and it is tight and can be sweet but it is unremarkable and you wonder what motivated this effort. Pitchfork did not even review it. released on Lost Highway, miss it unless you are a completist.

*****
Patty Hurst Shifter: Coma La Grava (EP)
The Patty Hurst Shifter (aside from having the coolest name ever) is an excellent rocking band. They have put out some excellent CD’s including the classic “Too crowded On The Losing End”. They kind of have a Stones vibe with some good garage guitars. This E.P. Non essential. Sadly.

****
Murray Hammond: “I Dont Know Where I Am Going But I Am On My Way”
Murray Hammond. Very talented. Bass player for the Old 97’s who I have an admitted affinity. Hammond has been contributing a song or two on each 97’s album for years and in the context of those albums his songs are a nice break. He has a true love for “real” country music and reaches back all the time to Merle Haggard and other classic country artists. there are few cuts on this CD (such as his cover of the classic “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down”. He covers a couple of Carter Family classics but does not do much more then establish authentic cred. Over all, it tries to hard and takes you no where. Miss it...too.

*****
So there is a little sample of how i regularly suffer for this blog. 75 bucks worth of music... for nothing. I have suffered in silence too long.

James Mc Murtry: Our Next Poet Laureate? " Just Us Kids"

Sooooo... Mc Murtry is just the best. Very simple, very straightforward. Just the best. While the Old 97’s never change and I love them, Mc Murtry simply writes the best, most cogent songs at any given time, in the whole country. Steve Earle might come close but even he is erratic and only good when passionately outraged. Mc Murtry on the other hand writes two to three classics on every CD. Some rock, some lilt and all of them stab you in the heart. His catalogue of music is something to be owned and cherished and this is not exception.

Ronnie Johnson and Darren Hess on bass and drums are rock solid as always. These guys have had excellent careers with other bands. Huss was with the Silos and Green on Red as well as Poi Dog Pondering and Dave Alvin. Ronnie Johnson spent time playing with the Ronnie Lane Group, The Shakin Apostles and Ron Wiley Hubbard. These guys can play and he has played with them for quite a while. There is a lot to be said for solo acts having the same band for years and years. Elvis Costello comes immediately to mind as well as Graham Parker. people come in and out but there is something about playing together over time and tightens the screws.... is a good way.

He kicks off and I mean kicks it off with “Turtle Bayou”. Though it is no “Choctaw Bingo” it is just another night in poor white trash land. The title cut is a lilting and rollicking romp about success and never growing up. He hits a couple of political songs about our failed administration in “God Bless America (Pat Macdonald Must Die)” and “Cheney’s Toy”. The latter has drawn a lot of conservative ire but he really is just singing about the President. “Freeway View” is a nice song but “Hurricane Party” is a heart breaker and is just a great, great song, story, novel, ode...:

“My one great love, my God, I can feel her still
She ran off to California and now she's living in those Hollywood hills
With some bullfrog prince, I've not seen her since
Though she calls when he's out of town
And there's no one to talk to when the lines go down”.
Indeed!

He follows with the best song of the album (in my humble opinion) “Ruby and Carlos”. What makes Mc Murtry so great are the characters he draws and in this one he draws a star-crossed romance which you would call a spring/winter romance, were not both of them so dead inside. Beautiful, sad stuff. Carlos is a drummer and has left Ruby to live in Nashville after coming back from the war.

“Lately he’s been staying high.
Sick all winter and they don’t know why.
They don’t know why or they just won’t say.
They don’t talk much down at the V.A.”

He follows that with a little instrumental. “Fireline Road” is a bleak story of poverty, addiction and loss. “The Governor” is a troubling song about some guys killed by a rich guys boat in Texas.... unsolved. “Ruins Of The Realm” is just another biting commentary on... us.

“We got the National Guard with the bayonets
We got the ten commandments on the State House steps
We shalt not steal and we shalt not kill
Dancin' in the ruins of our own free will
Dancin' in the ruins of the South
Confederate flag taped over my mouth.’
he closes with “Leonard Cohen Must Die” which is... self explanatory. I always liked the guy myself.
Bottom line. Buy this one. If you do not buy it then download 3 or 4 of these gems. Drink some bourbon, smoke a Camel and smile.

9 Slingers on the 10 scale.

JUST US KIDS debuts on FOUR Billboard Charts!
James McMurtry's new album, JUST US KIDS, debuts in Billboard Magazine on the following charts:
Heatseekers Chart #2
Tastemaker Chart #6
Indie Label Chart #18
Top 200 album sales chart #136

The Old 97's: Blame It On Gravity and at The Pageant

I have had a long time affair with Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s. It has gone through a lot of ups and downs overcoming him dropping out of college, starting a band, getting semi famous, getting a model for a wife, trying and failing at a solo career, getting back together with the band and well, kind of mailing it in. I would estimate that I have seen them play live about 12 to 15 times. More then any other band. I think Los Lobos would be second and Wilco is in there somewhere.

So it is always with some trepidation that I see that they have a new album coming out. Additionally they are of course touring behind it and I need to see them live. Trepidation comes because they are a very unlikely band to break through to new ground. They have a nice rocking, twanging sound. Ken Bethea gets better on guitar but he is not a virtuoso but he is just what the band needed. Miller is good looking, Murray Hammond adds heart and earnestness. Not a bad combo but also not a group you can expect to evolve like say... a Wilco.

And they have not.

Lets make clear. I still love these guys and Rhett is still cute but... there is not much growth. Still, growth is not all it is cracked up to be and certainly not for everyone. The new CD “Blame It On Gravity” came out last month and it is an excellent tuneful yet unremarkable collection. It starts with “The Fool: which rollicks along like ANY Old 97’s song. It tells a story of a guy in love. A fool in love. Who would have thunk it? Dance with me is Rhett Miller, breathy, I am singing about the girl but want the girls to be thinking about me, song. Only a girl could like it and maybe not even them. The third song “No Baby I” is much better and gives you hope. It has the poetry of Millers best work with the tag line “blame it on gravity, blame it on being a girl”. It is soft, lilting and works.

”My Two Feet”... I don’t know. I like it but seems a lot like all their new songs since Satellite Rides. The rhymes, work, the songs cute, Bethea's guitar jangles but, do I really give a shit anymore? “Ride” brings it back with quality again but there is very little rawness and it is still kind of a “look at me” song though Bethea gives us some high points as Rhett takes us on a ride. “She Loves The Sunset” is at best, insipid. “I love a girl, she loves the sunset”. Seriously? it tries to do an island hawaii thing. Lets just call it a mistake. “This Beautiful Thing”, Murray contributes... sort of. Murray is big, funny looking and bespectacled. he is married to singer songwriter Grey De Lisle and... I have never know what to do with Murray and this song does nothing to clear up the riddle.

“I Will Remain” finds Miller heading back to surer footing and is a good listen for someone who loves his voice like I do. I could listen to him chant the phone book but this is just a pleasant little ditty and an ode to eternal, lost, and unrequited love. “Early Morning” tries to become another “Four Leaf Clover”. Perhaps time will make me love it. I am not counting on it. “The Easy Way” might be the best song on the CD. It finds Rhett singing about love, Texas, jukeboxes and things he knows best. No guitar heroics, just Bethea slashing away the way he does best, in perfect time. “Heres To The Halcyon” seems to be about a ship, it tries to be too poetic and does not work. “Color of a Lonely heart Is Blue” is Murray Hammond at his best, which is singing just about the same note. If you didn’t listen to the words you would think he was singing “West Texas Teardrop”. But do not listen to the words. Fittingly they close with the best song “The One”. Miller sings about the band and relationships and bank robbery. My recommendation would be to download three or four of these songs from iTunes and call it what you need. Strictly a CD for a fan and a completist.

So that leaves us with their live show. The bottom line is that if you love them it is great live show. Rhett is still cute, albeit pudgier. He still can sing. Bethea is finally comfortable as a lead guitar player and is no longer embarrassed of his chops. Murray Hammond is talented and air tight on Bass and rhythm if needed and always solid on backing vocals and his songs where he sings are always a nice break from Rhetts too pretty vocals. I know I wrote all this without mentioning their longtime drummer Philip Peeples. He is a non entity on album or stage but like Mike Heidorn from Uncle Tupelo, it is not the band without him and if they lost him they would probably be done. Drummers are funny.

Tim Russert: R.I.P.

Sooooo... I was in a bar a few Fridays ago (odd) on a Friday afternoon (odder) when I started getting emails and voicemail's. “Russert died”. “Heart Attack in his office”. I had consumed a few beers. I answered back that i had nothing to do with him passing away. I do not know what it says about me that my friends knew Russerts death would matter to me. Probably nothing good. Fortunately I was up in Michigan all week and busy but now, after a week and sitting in front of my TV on Sunday morning I have a full understanding of the loss.

I miss this guy. Russert was one of the good guys and by that I do not mean liberal or conservative or anything else in regard to political leanings but in regard to delving quality to the American people. Journalism has been stomped by capitalism over the last twenty years because it is not cost effective to have researchers and reporters out there from 10 different news sources to give us balance. So we have pool reports. We have one source in a foreign country giving news to everyone. We have budget cuts and of course we have “Fair And Balanced” Fox News.

Russert was like a beacon on Sunday mornings. Most Sundays I watched him while reading m paper and in most cases put my paper down and listened to whomever he was interviewing. He was polite and also no nonsense with no bullshit. Inevitably he would put up the interviewees own headlines, quotes and comments to question them about their current pose. It did a lot to educate me as to how the political winds and positions ebb and flow... and blow. He was not bombastic but he could get pissed off and when he did it was genuine and did not have the obnoxious “look at me” quality you see from so many of the talking heads, Fox and non Fox.

Watching the “Meet The Press” memorial to him... the sense of loss was heightened. I did not even know what a devout Catholic he was and that is a good thing. He carried a sense of righteousness about him that did not require that he wear it on his sleeve. Jeez, the guy was a Buffalo Bills fan for God’s sake. Most of the city of Buffalo has grown out of that but Russert had those qualities of doggish loyalty that changes everything. He clerked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan. According to Wikipedia:

“Russert, a devout Catholic, said many times he had made a promise to God to never miss Sunday Mass if his son were born healthy. In his writing and in his news reporting, Russert spoke openly and fondly of his Catholic school education and of the role of the Catholic Church in his life. He was an outspoken supporter of Catholic education on all levels. [27] He said that his father, a sanitation worker who never finished high school, "worked two jobs all his life so his four kids could go to Catholic school, and those schools changed my life." He also spoke warmly of Catholic nuns who taught him. "Sister Mary Lucille founded a school newspaper and appointed me editor and changed my life," he said. Teachers in Catholic schools "taught me to read and write, but also how to tell right from wrong."[27]

That is very good stuff. It just always seemed like he was something that the people he was covering. But he was not smug about it. He had a law degree which automatically makes him suspect but he overcame those formidable odds along with overcoming a Jesuit education to just become a nice, insightful committed guy. He lacked pretense and there was never any sense that he had anything but scorn for the cults of personality established by some of his contemproaries whether in “Hardball” or “The No Spin Zone” he was never bigger then the story, he never was the story. He reported the story. He will be impossible to replace but you hope NBC tries hard. We were lucky to have him. Light a candle, say a prayer. We are poorer without Tim Russert. GO BILLS!

There were a ton of eulogies for him. I think this is the best:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25249357#25249357

erata: June

Soooo... is the diner review dead? No is the sad and annoying answer. May... for a parent, especially a parent of teens May is the month of nightmares for a teens parent and really any parent. Graduations, confirmations, mothers day, birthdays... it just goes on and on and frankly with all the drinking, partying and celebration I have been mentally vacant and not fulfilled my bloggers duties. I apologize to all 5 of you who occasionally stop by. Upcoming we are going to have some new music reviews on CD’s I have received, a little Twangfest which is also fun and a review of this book Blue Highways which has taken me like a month to get through. Ooops. I just did the Blue Highways one...sorry.

****
So lets catch up. Obama is the “presumptive Democratic nominee”. I know I have been waiting for it but the Obama, Hillary race has made it tiresome and anti-climactic. Hillaries capitulation speech was well done and showed again how smart and possibly evil she is. Obama will have a hard time not picking her as VP, with all the baggage that entails. I am still hoping he takes that crazy, ex-army, fiction writing, former Republican, middle class white guy James Webb but at this point Hillary has (finally) positioned herself. She gave a good speech, seriously. And you have to take that seriously from a guy like me, I hate her like poison. I would still promise her the first Supreme Court opening (Ruth Bader Ginsberg is old and Hillary could screw with Scalia and his toadies) and make Bill Ambassador to... I don’t know, Venezuela a Sweden or some other place with hot women that is far away. That is just me. My brother has opined that if he picks her he signs his own death warrant. I don’t know. I hope that is not the case and I think he is going to have a tough time not picking her now. Go Webb, beat Hillary.

****

We had our 25th Anniversary and we had our party. The party was a a combination of Pat’s high school graduation, Jon turning 21 and of course Sandy’s and my 25th anniversary. It was a huge pain in the ass getting ready for. My wife wanted things “just so” and I was just excited to get together with friends. My in-laws, God bless them wanted to have a nice sit down dinner for us and some friends but that did not seem to summarize our 25 years OR take into account all the nice people (or even a part of them) that God had tossed into our lives. That being the case we had a band (Jakes Leg) and a keg of Busch, and a keg of Schlafly India Pale Ale, and 4 cases of Bud Light and some other girly lime beer. We also had about 150 waters. The party was from 5 till whenever and predictably most of the old people and people interested in Pat’s graduation showed up early. We got a lot of family through the house before the band was supposed to start.

For those of you who do not know Jake’s Leg, shame on you. Randy Fuhr used to own a bar called 20 North down on (get this) 20 North Vandeventer backing up to SLU’s campus. 29 years ago it was a right of passage to sneak in with a fake ID and hear his band Jake’s Leg play the Grateful Dead catalogue. Thankfully, they are still doing the same thing even though Father Biondi (should such a capitalist be called “father”) eminent domained them out of business. It was very sad and they play around town now at a lot of different venues on Thursday-Saturday. They should not be missed. Although there are other quality dead cover bands that have developed (See Schwag and Dark Star Orchestra) these guys are still the real deal and three of them have been playing together for 20 years so they play tight and sweet.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day and I had set the band up back by the pool where people could either come down close or sit up on our patio and watch from a safe distance. They showed up and set up and were just so pleasant and accommodating. I showed them where the outlets were and they set up and then after setting up... the sky grew unexpectedly dark and everything got tense for me. it started to drizzle, and I found tarps to cover their stuff... we stared at Doppler on the computer (twice) and then made the call and they moved to the garage. We had the back part of the driveway tented so people were able to sit on the driveway and watch. I was very tense, until they moved and started to play and then it became for me at least... a party.

We have an eclectic group of friends and relatives but the band turned it down and played some nice tunes and did whatever requests I called out for (Tore Up, Sugar Magnolia, Mama Tried, Big River and Dixie Chicken) and did a great job. The food was good, the beer flowed and it was a fun time. the rain stopped and people (at least some people) stayed till about 12:30. We cleaned up a little and were in bed by 1:30 but the planning and setting up along with other May events kept me busy and grumpy for most of May.

****

We hit Chez Leone for our actual anniversary on June 4. It was empty, the food was great and we split a fabulous bottle of Margeaux. the price fix there for three course is like 38 bucks and the food and service were excellent. We will go back and I heartily recommend it for a nice night out.

****
Coming up next is going to be what else kept me busy in May. Stay tuned. It will be graphic.