Better Than Friday - 31 (Patreon)

Hello everyone, how are you? 

I just touched down in PDX after an arduous journey driving across the country, wondering if we were about to be quarantined. 

The best thing that happened on my 31st birthday was getting recognized by a fan. Since we were going through Las Vegas I decided to stop by a Barnes and Noble at around 8:30 or so at night in the pouring rain in Phoenix and pick up a copy of Hunter S. Thompson's 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. 

I was recognized in the store and the guy (young guy with backpack) followed me out to the parking lot. 

I thought I was going to be either: 

a. robbed/stabbed, 

or at least b. asked for money (though he looked clean cut so I thought perhaps just stabbed). 

He just wanted to see if it was indeed me. 

I think I jumped and just started laughing, beyond flattered. 

A Barnes and Noble in Phoenix on a Tuesday night? Glad I'm having an impact. 

We briefly talked about Dostoyevsky. 

Then I went to Las Vegas and promptly lost the $20 I had set to try my luck with.

Pictured - me, shortly after crossing the California/Oregon border.

Just kidding. Best Birthday card ever from my Mom. 

1 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 

I haven't read this. I'm not sure how. I was talking with a patron recently about Hunter S. Thompson and decided I need to read this as soon as possible. 

It's an account of two men on a road trip to Las Vegas high as fuck on all sorts of substances in search of the American Dream. 

I think. 

Seems difficult to summarize. 

I grew up in a house with Hunter S. Thompson on the shelves, and have known more than one person who knew him. 

The film adaptation with Johnny Depp and Benecio Del Toro was also a favorite of mine growing up. 

If you haven't seen it, here's the beginning. 

Excerpt from the book:

“Hallucinations are bad enough. But after awhile you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth. Most acid fanciers can handle this sort of thing. But nobody can handle that other trip-the possibility that any freak with $1.98 can walk into the Circus-Circus and suddenly appear in the sky over downtown Las Vegas twelve times the size of God, howling anything that comes into his head. No, this is not a good town for psychedelic drugs.”

2 Genesis P. Orridge has Passed Away 

One of the most radical performance artists/musicians I know of. 

An influence on like, everybody. 

Throbbing Gristle were pioneers of the industrial music genre, and this performance of 'Discipline' probably changed my life - I didn't know you could do that kind of thing on a stage. 

I watched it over and over again for quite some time. 

3 Compelling Article: Things I Can Say About MFA Writing Programs Now That I No Longer Teach in One  

Excerpt:

If you aren't a serious reader, don't expect anyone to read what you write.

Without exception, my best students were the ones who read the hardest books I could assign and asked for more. One student, having finished his assigned books early, asked me to assign him three big novels for the period between semesters. Infinite Jest, 2666, and Gravity's Rainbow, I told him, almost as a joke. He read all three and submitted an extra-credit essay, too. That guy was the Real Deal.

4 The Folio Society 

A viewer pointed out this site to me. 

Beautiful editions of books from famous authors. Pricey, but good for gifts, it seems. 

5 Shintaro Sakamoto's Funky Mask on Mask 

Strange, funky, odd song that I love.