Sarah got denied entry into Creekside last night while using her own passport and I was going to post some diatribe about the Texas TABC, but I’d rather be positive.. here’s one for our team…now it’s off to mimosas…

Jackie Gleason Feature in Modern Drunkard

Gore Vidal (Thanks to Cowboyz ‘N’ Poodles for the link)

Literary Lion

Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON

Q: At the age of 82, you will be publishing your new collection of essays this week, which seems likely to confirm your reputation as one of America’s last public intellectuals. Why do you think that critics have traditionally praised your essays more than your fiction, which includes “Burr,” “Myra Breckinridge” and 20 other novels? That’s because they don’t know how to read. I can’t name three first-rate literary critics in the United States . I’m told there are a few hidden away at universities, but they don’t print them in The New York Times .

And what about Mr. McCain? Disaster. Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?

Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. That’s what he tells us.

Why would you doubt him? He’s a graduate of Annapolis. I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, I’m West Point, where I was born. My father went there.

So what does that have to do with the U.S. Naval Academy down in Annapolis? The service universities keep track of each other, that’s all. They have views about each other. And they are very aware of social class and eventually money, since they usually marry it.

How, exactly, is your cousin Al Gore related to you? They keep explaining it to me, and I keep forgetting.

What about your grandfather, Thomas Gore of Oklahoma ? He invented the whole state. It was Indian territory. There was no state until Senator Gore.

In 1968, during the Nixon-Humphrey race, you became the voice of liberalism in a series of televised debates with William Buckley. Any plans to be a pundit at the coming presidential conventions? No.

How did you feel when you heard that Buckley died this year? I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred.

You live in California , where last month the State Supreme Court overturned the ban on same-sex marriage . As someone who lived with a male companion for 50-plus years, do you see this as a victory for equality? People would ask, How could you live with someone for so long without any problems of any kind? I said, There was no sex.

Were you chaste during those years? Chased by whom?

Are you a supporter of gay marriage? I know nothing about it. I don’t follow that.

Why doesn’t it interest you? The same reason heterosexual marriage doesn’t seem to interest me.

If we look at the situation apart from you — It’s my interview, so we’ve got to stay with me.

Have you ever considered leaving the United States permanently? No, it’s my subject.

Do you read a lot of contemporary fiction these days? Like everyone else, no, I don’t.

Anyone in the 20th century you might have a kind word about? Yes, I liked Italo Calvino, and I thought he was the greatest writer of my time.

Your new collection includes an essay in which you note, “Calvino does what very few writers can do: he describes imaginary worlds with the most extraordinary precision and beauty.” What about American novelists? Can’t think of one.

Norman Mailer? Oh, dear, we’re not going to go into pluses and minuses now.

Philip Roth? Ditto.

I admire Roth. He never became complacent. He had no reason to. He’s a good comic writer.

What do you think is your own best novel? I don’t answer questions like that. Ever. And you ought not to ask them.

Well, it was a great pleasure talking to you. I doubt that.

INTERVIEW CONDUCTED, CONDENSED AND EDITED BY DEBORAH SOLOMON

I just finished watching King of Kong and besides my overwhelming enjoyment in the story, and direction of the film, I was struck with a second response, an unanswered question in that has stuck with me…
Is there a High Score record for Revolution X?
For those unaware, Revolution X is the Aerosmith arcade game, brought to you by Midway. (The urge to put some part of that in quotes to highlight how completely and utterly absurd it is betrays my plan to remain objective on this one.) It’s a post-apocalyptic, part live-action, light-gun shooter that features brief but badly acted cameo’s by Aerosmith, and is punctuated with a whopping 4 songs, most of which are broken into few-second loops.
I would like to state here that I am by no means an avid “gamer”, and as I’m not, I would not normally tread the dangerous ground of commentary due to lack of experience. I haven’t actually owned my own console since an N64 that is in a box somewhere. I can count the games I’ve beaten on all of my digits, most likely without removing my shoes, and even when I lived with someone that owned a “modded” console filled to the brim with emulators I mostly started games of Earthbound never to be finished, or came home drunkenly from a bar and played the Punisher Final-Fight rip-off while giving myself unlimited credits. If you want to ask me about a rapper, an obscure noise band, or an episode of CSI Miami, I will probably be quick to have an opinion, but generally I try to leave stuff like video games to those that have knowledge to back it up. I’m usually content to watch them play anyway. It’s less frustrating.
But Revolution X is different. It’s overwhelming stupidity was so… well overwhelming, that even though I have only played it a couple times, right after it got installed into our neighborhood arcade, I remember it clearly. It had terrible controls, an insanely muddled plot, clumsy tie-ins (you shoot CD’s at people!!!), and painfully boring loops of music and characters. I would go on, but it’s had a better, and more elaborate skewering by multiple others. A quick google search will get you plenty.
The point I wanted to make is that It DOES have a high score registered on the Twin Galaxies web-site. This makes me so happy. There is nothing that speaks more highly of man’s (and in this case, it looks like one women’s) quest to compete and be the best at something, that there is an actual entry, as well as for two runners up, for what may be the WORST arcade game ever hoisted on the quarter palmed masses. That two individuals dueled to the death (the top two scores are the same date and time, and in front of a referee) at a game that is offensive on every possible level of taste and decency, one that’s almost un-playable, speaks not just of the human will, but the human spirit. Someone get a camera ready.

15. John Wiese- Soft Punk
One of the things I have always liked quite a bit about John Wiese is his ability to perform harsh noise, a genre that has always carried a very aggressive, dark, and twisted image, without any of these trappings attached. All of the violent bursts of sound, all of the abusive sounds, and all of chaos, feel refreshingly clean and almost sterile in his hands. This record follows suit, blending harsh sound collages, drones and glitching samples into a sound that is at the same time abrasive, painful, and beautiful.

14. Celebration- Modern Tribe
This is an album that will make minimalists cry. Celebration take a more is more approach, filling every moment with at least one sound, and often many layered on top of each other, and Katrina Ford’s vocals on top, which are anything but simple, often leaping in pitch at a moments notice. All of this works to their advantage, as all of the members (plus Nick Zimmer, and all of TV on the Radio in guest spots) prove more then capable to fill each song to the brim with intricate and challenging arrangements, while still letting Ford’s vocal prowess shine. Sure, during Modern Tribe the room may feel a little too full at times, but given what it’s full of, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

13. Deerhunter- Cryptograms
12. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna You are the Destroyer
It’s interesting after ordering this list that these two would end up book-ended. Both put out earlier in the year, overly hyped, and over-shadowed by non-musical aspects. Both front men used their songs as grounds to explore and vent some of the darkest places of their psyche, and the audience garnered the reward. In the Deerhunter it was dense, arresting and bleak world, punctuated alternately by sudden urgency, and stretches of aimlessness, almost emptiness. Of Montreal, on the other had, turned his breakdowns into a pop carnival, twisting and turning, and while tight, it seemed on constant danger of imploding in on it self. Often madness leads to great art, but rarely this directly.

10. U.G.K.- Underground Kings
There is no way to write about this record and not acknowledge the elephant in the room of Pimp C’s death just months ago. Much has rightfully made of the tragic irony of him passing so quickly after gaining his freedom, and then releasing what is not just U.G.K.’s return, but also a return to the roots of southern rap. While the album may be a little too expansive, the double disc allows ample space journey across the south, from the bass and synth two punch of “Grind Hard”, to the spacey bass guitar and nervous percussion on” Cocaine”, to the almost new wave bass line and synth for “Like That”. And on all of these styles Pimp and Bun seem right at home, deftly handling the nuances of each song like the weathered professionals they are.

9. Black Lips- Good, Bad, Not Evil
Easily the most fun record on this list, and one of the most fun this year. Unlike revivalists, the Black Lips seem truly of a different, simpler era, like the house band in club somewhere that time has just forgotten. I think they do this not by trying to replicate the feel and style of the past, but by finding it in the present, or even better, remaining blissfully unaware anything has changed at all. Sure the drugs are different, and it’s easier to book gigs now, but when you’re on the tour driving across the county, drinking, pissing and playing every night, it’s still just rock and roll.

8. Kanye West- Graduations
Kane was never one for an understatement, and on Graduation he’s even louder. The diamonds are brighter, the beats are bigger, the brags are grander and the wordplay is even more self-indulgent. It makes for a hell of an album. From start to finish you are immersed in Kanye, and for anyone with less talent this would be overwhelming at best, and potentially annoying, downright obnoxious even. And it is obnoxious, but in the best possible way, like the hundreds of monogrammed LV’s on his precious luggage. It’s obnoxious done right, so that it’s glorious, and even awe-inspiring. When you’re making this grand of a statement, (or in this case many statements) subtlety isn’t really an option.

7. Lil Wayne- Draught 3
This double-disc mixtape is the equivalent of an MC obstacle course. Weezy ducks and dodges through track after track of other rappers songs, time after time making them his. It’s no secret that he is very hot and cold, and lately has been veering more and more towards the frosty end of the spectrum, but here he’s fire the entire disc, Using the different beats to show off his huge stylistic range, and killing it about everything you could think of, and plenty you never would think of at all. And it’s that that makes this record genius. No other MC can jump from reference to reference, barely holding on to sanity, and still make something this engaging. He may be high, may slur his words, but when you’re the best rapper alive, that only helps.

6. Liars- Liars
The biggest surprise, from a band known for surprising, is how straightforward this record actually is. Sounding like a stripped down, rock amalgamation of their sound until this point, the deftly pound through each track, in a tense barrage, sounding chaotic, yet tightly restrained. Straightforward however thankfully doesn’t mean easy to digest, and this record is no less noisy or ugly then it’s predecessors, just more focused in it’s attack.

5. Wu Tang Clan- 8 Diagrams
This album is mess. All over the place really, soaked with bizarre lyrics (even for Wu standards), out of place loops, and a drugged out psych feel at times that feels more 90′s Bristol then 90′s Brooklyn. So why number 5? Because even at it’s most strange, it’s eight MC’s and one ghost all on fire, spitting like it’s their last verse the entire time, and for most of them, it’s been far too long since the sounded half this good. (Method Man I’m talking to you.) Every one is straight killing it the verse after verse, and though it may sound like it’s built around beats from another planet, we probably just haven’t caught up. Give us another 6 years too see.

4. L.C.D. Soundsystem- Sound of Silver
This is what happens when dance grows up. Only his second record, and it sounds like more of a definitive statement that most could produce in their entire career. Both the single tracks, and the whole record are painstakingly crafted and sequenced, letting each moment breathe, and lead into the next from beginning to end. James Murphy has long positioned himself above his peers, both in technical and aesthetic proficiency, and with this record he maximizes yet another trait that most artists don’t even know to have- Patience.

3. Prodigy- Return of The Mac
This record is the opposite of patient. Immediate, urgent, and sudden, it’s an explosion of gunshots, blood spatter, and dirty wads of cash forced at you track after track. Prodigy never sounds comfortable, though often sure, he’s still dripping with paranoid energy, which is expressed more often then not with an itchy trigger finger. The New York of this record is painted so gritty that it nearly leaves dust on your eardrums. This is a pretty joyless record from an MC that has always been at his best when he’s at his most serious, and though he never feels celebratory as a result the album feels satisfying. It’s not easy to listen to someone frankly lament that it’s hard to kill these days, but the uneasiness is part of the attraction.

2. Burial- Untrue
To the casual listen this may come across as straightforward beat oriented garage, but it’s anything but. As the song progresses the vocals waver and quiver, and the music pops and hiss. This is your pleasant dream gradually falling apart, lulling you into something much darker. Nothing seems solid or even stable, everything constantly sounds ready to fall apart at any moment, or even disappear completely. The music, while progressing forward moves in every direction at the same time, ending up with the listener awash in sound, rather then focused on a single track.

1. M.I.A.-Kala
Unlike any other “best of” list I’ve ever made, I know which record would occupy number one right from the start. In fact, I’ve known for many months now. No other artist wears so many different influences and sound openly on their sleeve, and for good reason, it’s near genius to make it all work. Sounding like millions of things at once and still completely original, Kala takes the blueprint of Arular and makes it a day-glo manifesto, proclaiming itself with every beat. Most amazingly it manages to truly encompass our present culture and our future, and stay timeless while doing it.

25. Muscles- It’s big and loud and stupid and makes me want to dance around in my room in my underwear and snatch glances of my sweet moves in the mirror while I’m getting ready, and then go out and do a bunch of crazy drugs I haven’t done since I was young enough that that wasn’t sort of pathetic. And there’s NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT…at all…

24. Japanther- Scuffed Up My Huffy
When I lived in Florida I have all of these awesome memories of riding our bikes house shows with a back-pack full of beer, and kids crowd surfing in living rooms and breaking ceiling fans, and everyone eating big plates of shitty undercooked pasta then getting stomach cramps from all running to go skinny-dipping in the ocean, and everything glowing from the phosphoresce in the water… and even though the bands that played these shows were mostly screamo and hardcore bands, in my mind all I can hear is this record when I picture them playing…

23.Cam’ron- Public Enemy #1
It’s tempting to just put this record on here for “Just Us”, but it turns out the rest of the records really fucking good too. Cam’ron may be all crazy and stuff but as long as he’s spitting fire I still love the man. No homo.

22.Wolves at The Throne Room- Two Hunters
I haven’t been really interested in new any black metal releases in while, and based on listening to this record, I’ve been missing a lot. Brutal, beautiful, and completely indicative of both the Olympia independent scene they’re surrounded by and the dark and scary Washington forest they live in.

21. No Age- Weirdo Rippers
Of course any record with a picture of the Smell as the cover warms me over, but this blend of noisy, psychy, hazy punk odds and sods really manages to encompass more then just a little slice of an amazing D.I.Y. experimental scene, but a deeper running current of willfully independent thought and attitude that provides a stark and needed contrast with the usual bullshit and glamour associated with The City of Angels.

20. Radiohead- In Rainbows
After listening to OK Computer to the point of abstraction Electioneering became my favorite track. That pretty much sums up how I feel about this entire record.

19. Clockcleaner- Babylon Rules
Another band that’s press has fallen victim to it’s own crazy antics, violent stage show, obnoxious interviews, etc. The difference between them and so many others, is that instead of the record standing out in contrast, or being over shadowed by all of this, it stands in perfect accompaniment to all of it, a glorious slice of hatred, misery and anger. Thank you may I have another.

18. Grinderman- Grinderman
In trying to make hero’s out of the more renowned of the jazz and blues greats, and in rightfully singing their praises as influences to all of the music we love now, it’s easy to forget that one of things that provided a staple warm up to both genres was the impromptu jam about fucking. Nick Cave didn’t.

17. Ghostface Killah- Big Doe Rehab
“Next thing you know I’m in this bitch’s crib chillin’
Told her my story and like this I had her legs in the ceiling
Cookin’ me fried fish sticks, hot side of them biscuits
While she doin’ this, the bitch still slidin’ on lipstick
Now I got the fat stomach on, she crackin’ a dutch
I’m playin’ with her pussy on the couch, I’m ready to fuck
Like come here miss lady wop, where you put the condom box?
She finished off the last one, oh shit I hear the cops
Handcuffs and talkies, I mashed her white Yorkie
Jettin’ up the stairs, them pigs want revenge like Porky’s
So I slid, hid behind the wall, opened the door
Like ooo I seen my man Meth goin’ in raw
So he jumped up balls out, I hid in the closet
I’m dyin’ laughin’, he said “Yo Starks be quiet! “

16. Dan Deacon- Spiderman of the Rings.
Holy fuck, I feel just like I drank like thirty cups of coffee and snorted a bunch of pixie-sticks and then ran a marathon through toon-town, not the annoying part of Disneyland, but the actual one from roger rabbit with singing bullets and sexy cartoon ladies and weird acidic dip. Nope, just listened to the
Dan Deacon Record. Weird, man.

15. Jay Z- American Gangster
I have yet to see the movie, and have to admit that if there was any hope that this record would act as a tool of promotion, it’s totally had the opposite effect. I somehow doubt that Ridley Scott communicates the same symbiosis of braggadocio and desperation that Jay-Z brings to the table, while still finding time to comment on
Al Sharpton. The King is back.

More…