"Where would Spenser's "Faerie Queene" be without fairies? Where would Shakespeare have been without fantasy—his spirits, his ghosts, and his proto-Orc Caliban, the misshapen villain of "The Tempest"? You can't have Macbeth without the witches three."
7.29.2011
Fantasy is Real Literature -- It's ALL Literature
Writing the libretto to Final Fantasy VI: The Opera and falling in love with Westeros has given me occasion to think about the "art" status of fantasy, of fantasy as capable of being just as good as "high literature." Lev Grossman, true to form, explains why sneering at fantasy is not just wrongheaded, but shows an actual ignorance of the heritage of what we read today. To use a Sullivanism, money quote:
"Go Cubs Go"
plenty of versions out there, but I picked this one because it shows Wrigley and features Kerry Wood.
On the Sorry State of the 2011 Chicago Cubs
I tweeted most of this yesterday, but wanted to write it long-form -- hopefully more coherently.
The 2011 Chicago Cubs really depress me. I didn't have lofty expectations for this team, even with the signing of Carlos Peña and trading for Matt Garza. I had some hopes that, in a relatively weak NL Central, they could at least compete with the Cardinals and Reds of the world. Those hopes were dashed by late April.
Starlin Castro is on the way to becoming a legitimate star (no pun intended). He could develop more power, yes, but is a deft shortstop who generally doesn't swing at bad pitches, hits for average, gets on base, and can run. Darwin Barney, the rookie second baseman (whose name alone I adore), seems like a keeper -- good with the glove, also can hit and can run. Beyond those two younguns -- well, it doesn't look good.
Aramis Ramirez is probably the best hitter on the team (still), and as much as I love him, the Cubs should deal him now, while his bat is hot and while he still has value. After a disappointing 2010 season, he's really lighting up opposing pitchers lately, but he's 33 and -- let's be frank -- the Cubs are going nowhere this year or the next few. Trade him, and get some value in return. I would say the same for Carlos Zambrano, who has yet to be his old self, but could bring some value for a contender in need of an innings-eater (albeit volatile) starter who still throws a mean 4-seamer and slider. Love the guy, despite his tirades, but the firesale needs to commence sooner rather than later.
As for the rest of the rotation, Matt Garza seems like a keeper. Yes, he's struggled with control all season, but in terms of raw "stuff," he's the best on the staff. Great fastball in the 94-95 range, wicked slider. Randy Wells? Despite the 6+ ERA, still have hope for the young chap -- he just needs to tweak his mechanics. Wish Larry Rothschild were still here to help him with that. I've been referring to Ryan Dempster as "Ryan Dumpster" for over a year now, but to be honest, that's not fair to him. He had a really awful start to this season, but another guy the Cubs should deal sooner rather than later. He doesn't have Zambrano's stuff, but he's wily like, say, Tim Hudson is, and is always good for at least six innings. A contender in need of a starter would trade for him.
The bullpen. Oy. I've been saying this for weeks now, but we need to get rid of Carlos Marmol, and the sooner the better. Or relegate him to long work, or a seventh-inning gig, or anything that keeps him from deciding ballgames late. His slider is still one of the best in the game, but the man has clearly lost his confidence. He seems terrified on the mound right now. Kerry Wood -- whom I love, whose 20 K game I will always remember, whose return start from Tommy John I was in the first row third-base side for -- looks washed up. I hate to say it, but it's true. Some mid-level prospects could be had in return. Sean Marshall is a keeper -- he's been great all season. John Grabow -- deal immediately. He's overpaid and underperforming. Not a favorable combination. As for the great enigma Jeff Samardzija, he's exactly that -- an enigma. I'm not sure what I think about him. Some days he's unhittable; some days he looks like Rich Garcés circa 2002. That's not a good thing.
As for the outfield, we all knew the minute he was signed that Alfonso Soriano would be one of the most overpaid, overrated, and unproductive hitters in the game. He has lived up to those standards. Sadly, there isn't a team out there that will eat the remaining years of his deal. We live with him and his nonchalance. Kosuke is in Cleveland, clearing the way for Tyler Colvin, who also gets the honorary Samardzija enigma crown. Decent fielder, has power, but has problems getting on base -- and more importantly -- playing with any semblance of consistency. Marlon Byrd has shown flashes of brilliance and flashes of epic fail. Also not sure about him, yet we're probably stuck with him for two more years.
Geovany Soto behind the plate mystifies me. Here's a guy who won the NL Rookie of the Year Award with a .285-23-86 line in 2008 with an .868 OPS (stats courtesy of baseball-reference.com), yet who has seemingly forgotten how to hit. He's reliable as a catcher, has a decent but not overwhelming arm, and he's far preferable to Koyie Hill. Just wish he'd remember how to hit.
All in all, the picture isn't going to make Cubs fans happy. It's been 103 years, and will likely be at least a few more. For this year and the next few, the pieces just aren't there. Deal our assets now and get some value in return. Fire Jim Hendry, and plan to try again in three years. Sadly, the "Go Cubs Go" song isn't going to be played as much as my heart would like it to be before I'm 30, but in the long run it'll give us a fighting chance.
Nubuo Uematsu
Was really a genius. I can't stop listening to his compositions. If I listed them all, it might take up the entire page, but I recommend Tour de Japon's version of Aria de Mezzo Carattere Part B as something that rivals anything Puccini or Verdi ever composed. "Terra's Theme" is also stunningly good. "One-Winged Angel" is overrated, but still excellent, and "Dancing Mad" is perhaps his signature achievement. Really a giant of our times.
All of the above are available on YouTube.
7.28.2011
First love?
Waxing nostalgic, perhaps because of the thunderstorms, perhaps I'm old enough to appreciate the wonders life has granted me. This goes out to the first person I truly loved, and the first person who, upon kissing for the first time, made me feel like I could move mountains. That moment is something I will smile at when I'm 90.
I met her when I was all of 13. A short, skinny boy, precocious some would say. Awestruck the minute I met her -- she herself was somewhat scrawny, but beautiful (still is), and it was her humor and wit that drew me. Might sound cliché -- and it is -- but I'm attracted to those who intrigue me and tease what intellect I have rather than titillate my naughty bits. There was a summer I rode my woefully inadequate mountain bike to her house just to see her. Helped me get in better shape, yes, but it was about seeing her. Did everything short of a John Cusack "Say Anything" moment to catch her attention -- and we watched quite a few John Cusack flicks.
Anyway, it took over two years of pursuing her before our first kiss. I'm pretty sure she knew all along. It was perfection. I drove her home -- in my bright teal '95 Nissan Sentra -- I forget where from. She got out of the car, paused, then opened the passenger door and sat down. Told me -- words I will never forget -- "I think I'm in love with you." I can't for the life of me recall what I said. I hope it was something pithy at least. What I do know is that the kiss that followed was perfect, like straight out of a rom com, just passionate and anticipated and dreamt about for (literally) years. I hope whomever I spend the rest of years with can match that kiss, but it's a tall challenge. To this day, I still don't know how I made it home -- my legs were gelatin. I distinctly remember driving down North Alpine Road thinking to myself "did that just happen? did she actually kiss me?" Obviously it didn't work out -- mostly because I was a jackass (a common theme among my U-20 years), but that moment will live with me forever. --The latter not trying to be overly dramatic, but because it's true and meant that much and means that much still.
What's your defining "first love" moment?
7.26.2011
At least I know where my next project's headed
Its chance of success is practically zero, but no sense in not trying, right? Penning the libretto to the operatic version of Final Fantasy VI. Perfect story for an opera -- plenty of drama, love, loss, sympathetic yet flawed heroes/heroines, and a villain for the ages. Greatest game ever made in my opinion. Let's see it performed by professionals.
7.25.2011
They're not "entitlements," they're a promise
I posted a diary a while back on why it's important to frame same-sex marriage as "marriage equality" instead. Not because "same-sex marriage" isn't factually true -- it is. That's what it is. Framing the issue as marriage equality, however, presents it as a matter of basic equality. Which it also is. The same issue comes to the fore when we on the left discuss Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. I freely admit there's something vaguely Orwellian about these sort of language games; yet, like it or not (I don't), this is the way postmodern politics in the United States work.
Frankly put, we on the left must and absolutely must work our hardest to change this concept of "entitlements." This is the right's language. They've employed it with welfare reform and have been using it for years now to demonize the concept of a social safety net. Why it works so well: there's this concept surrounding the word "Entitlement" suggests getting something you haven't earned. It's been racialized with anti-immigrant hysteria and lingering hatred toward the African-American community on the part of white politicians and white right-wing media types. Beyond that, however, "entitlement" has been used by the right quite effectively to demonize what little social safety net we have here.
As if those benefits are things you and I haven't paid for out of each and every paycheck we've been fortunate enough to earn.
This is a classic political language game, and it's one defenders of what the preamble to the Constitution would call "the general welfare" have been losing on multiple fronts. The way forward is to stop -- for all time -- the use of the word "entitlement." It may not be right that that particular word has acquired the negative association it has, but as we're a fact-based community, we deal with it and move on. Instead, we refer to "the social safety net" or even "programs that promote the common good." Or "the bedrock of the New Deal." Because that's what those particular programs are -- the assurance that we, as a society, will sacrifice as a whole to protect our elders and the poor. The most vulnerable. Beyond that, Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid represent the idea that in the United States, the most vulnerable among us will not be left behind by the least vulnerable. To do so is not only ethically reprehensible, but frankly un-American -- another Orwellian term I don't use lightly.
Anything that refutes the notion that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are somehow programs that are unearned is incorrect and equally reprehensible -- the fact is that every working American pays into them. And as far as cuts go -- we do not accept them in any form. We march, we protest, we call our representatives and senators, and we let them know we're as mad as hell and we will not take this anymore. I have no expectation of enjoying Medicare or Social Security, and as a 26-year old, I think that says more about the America we live in than it does about my natural pessimism. Ladies and gents, we fight. Otherwise we're all screwed, young and old alike.
(Originally posted at DailyKos.com)
7.24.2011
Jeff Sharlet is brave enough to read the "2083 manifesto"
Of suspected Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik, and @JeffSharlet has some pointed and sage analysis. Check it out.
7.22.2011
7.21.2011
7.20.2011
iTunes Thou Art My Master
Periodically I find it instructive to take a look at my top 25 most played in my iTunes -- granted, these differ between my laptop and iPod due to different uses, and since I don't have my iPod handy, as of 07.20.11, here are my top 5 most played on iTunes (this data encompasses only the last 12 months, as I purchased this particular laptop last summer).
1) "The Temptation of Adam," Juliana Richer Daily (originally by Josh Ritter), 224
2) "Just Dance," Lady GaGa feat. Colby O'Donis, 199
3) "Boyfriend," Best Coast, 162 (became obsessed with this song toward the end of summer '10 and listened to it non-stop)
4) "New York State of Mind," Jay-Z (feat. Alicia Keyes), 140 (see above)
5) This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), Talking Heads, 139 (favorite song of all time, pretty much guaranteed to turn up in any top 5 of anything of mine)
Honorable Mention: "Ready to Start," Arcade Fire (this would be higher, but I have to listen to The Suburbs as an album, so individual tracks get left out), "Cities in Dust," Siouxsie and the Banshees (another favorite song of all time), "Satellite Mind," Metric.
7.18.2011
IL Judge Rules DCFS Must Continue to Refer Foster Children to Catholic Charities
Sangamon County Judge John Schmidt ruled today that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services must continue to refer foster children and adoption cases to the odious Catholic Charities, which gained notoriety earlier this month when it threatened to no longer provide adoption services, due to its contention that the state's new civil unions bill would force it to place children with gay and lesbian couples (heaven forbid), potentially putting 60 people out of work and leaving 350 foster care and adoption cases in the cold. Judge Schmidt ruled that the DCFS's subsequent decision to terminate its relationship with Catholic Charities following a Catholic Charities lawsuit (follow all that?) must be stayed until an August hearing regarding Catholic Charities' obligations regarding placement with same-sex couples under the new civil unions bill.
And all of that sucks, and allows Catholic Charities to continue its bigoted and evidence-less discrimination against same sex couples willing to adopt children in the foster system. It's Catholic Charities playing the politics of bigotry, and as always, the real victims are the ones who have no say in the process -- the children who desperately need a loving family and a stable home situation.
7.16.2011
And On "Super Sad True Love Story"
(originally published in the Rockford Independent Press)
“Shteyngart melds romance and terrifying satire in Super Sad True Love Story”
by BENJAMIN TAYLOR
Having built a reputation as one of the nation’s foremost and sharpest-witted comic satirists in his previous novels The Russian Debutante’s Handbook and Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart seems an unlikely candidate to author the most frightening novel of the past decade.
Super Sad True Love Story, however, seems a likely candidate for the distinction, though – true to its title – Super Sad True Love Story explores a complex relationship with compassion as it terrifies.
Super Sad True Love Story takes place in a radically-altered America sometime in the 2020s. The dollar has lost practically all its value, and only currency pegged to the Chinese yuan has any value. The US military is bogged down in a military adventure in Venezuela. Secretary of Defense Rubinstein (in an echo perhaps of 1984’s Emmanuel Goldstein) has created a sprawling bureaucracy known as the American Restoration Authority which functions as a sort of secret police. Global corporations pretty much run the show, and they’ve gotten bigger, leading to monstrosities like UnitedContinentalDeltamerican Airlines. The protagonists’ parents flip back and forth between FoxLiberty-Prime and FoxLiberty-Ultra. In other words, it’s pretty fucking bleak.
Even more horrifying, though usually in a comical way, is the manner in which social mores have changed in this new and improved America. Practically everyone, young and old alike, is plugged in constantly to their äppärät – the nightmarish device smart phones have evolved into. Most text-based elements of the world have become obsolete, and people use their äppäräti to”stream,” and to monitor the worthiness of everyone around them. That’s another terrifying element of Super Sad True Love Story – the disappearance of privacy as a concept and social media have reached their logical end, and individuals can be “scanned” to discover practically any personal information, income, credit, “fuckability” and personality, the latter two of which have a point rating system based on others’ opinions. Everyone monitors everyone else at all times. Who needs Big Brother?
And it’s in this world that the reader is introduced to Lenny Abramov, a 39-year old anachronism of sorts – he apologizes on one occasion for still owning books – who works in the Indefinite Life Extension division for a conglomerate. Returning to the United States after a year in Rome, Lenny is desperately in love with Eunice Park, a 24-year old daughter of Korean immigrants he had met in Rome, where she was studying. Lenny – himself a second-generation American and invariably described in reviews as “schlubby” – moves uneasily through this hyper-youth-and-status-oriented world, longing to be a High Net Worth Individual in order to afford the services of his employer to appear younger while mentally quoting Chekhov and reading to Eunice The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He is sweet in a place where men and women in the same room are ranked by hotness, bumbling in his earnest affections in a time when prep schoolers attend “Assertiveness Class.”
At first sight, he’s also a complete mismatch for Eunice, who’s slight and “super-hot,” as one of her friends reminds her several times. She, like most of her generation, has a bad spending habit and a predilection for skimpy clothing. As Lenny notes, she’s also, however, in her own way, damaged goods. She’s at a point many 24-year olds can relate to – done with school, sort of considering law school and halfheartedly looking for work while not really knowing at all what the hell she wants to do. Her relationship with her family is complicated. Her mother is very stereotypically (almost too stereotypically) first-generation Korean – stay-at-home, very religious, and devoted to the strict social values of her homeland, while her father is an alcoholic podiatrist.
The stories of Eunice and Lenny, interestingly, are told from the first-person perspective, the two alternating narration in their respective diaries – Lenny, true to form, writing lyrically with pen and paper, Eunice in various posts to friends and family on her GlobalTeens account (the social network of choice) and peppered with the argot of the young and disaffected.
Some Thoughts on 80s "bad-boys" Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney
“The Californication version of American literary history”
(Originally published in the Rockford Independent Press)
By BENJAMIN TAYLOR
So I’m normally going to use this space to highlight the amazing work our stellar crop of contemporary fictionists do, and will do so again in the next issue. Lately, however – and pursuant to a personal project – I’ve found myself lingering lovingly on the age-20ish works of Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis. And I will readily admit, I loathe Ellis with a passion verging on mania, but Less Than Zero and The Rules of Attraction are undeniably magnetic and – at least to this 20something born in the 80s – represent my impression of the decade better than anything John Hughes ever filmed (though may he RIP). Pretty sure only Heathers even comes close.
And Bright Lights, Big City remains the novel Hunter S. Thompson would have written had he not burned himself out and had he been U-30 in the 80s. Precise, evocative, frankly brilliant writing that just captures everything it must have been to have been young in New York in that era. And yes, I freely admit to romanticizing the idea of the drug-addled, promiscuous, quite insane writer wreaking havoc on him/herself and everyone he/she knows. But Bright Lights, Big City is authentically brilliant.
McInerney I only encountered a couple years ago, working at an indie outside of Boston when he published his (too-soon) retrospective short story collection How It Ended. Picking that book up and reading about the unnamed narrator (whom it is safe to assume, is Jay McInerney) in the story “It’s 6 A.M. Do You Know Where You Are?” – the first and best-penned chapter of Bright Lights, Big City – was akin to being 17 and randomly coming across Fear and Loathing and Bob Dylan. Just electric.
Less Than Zero offers a similar experience – one of those novels you come across at a certain age and think to yourself “holy shit, I didn’t know you could do this with fiction.” Yet where McInerney’s characters – in the purview of Bright Lights, Big City for the purpose of this column, but I think applicable to his characters broadly – are tragically flawed in the Hank Moody sense, where you pretend to avert your eyes from the trainwreck, yet sympathize deeply with the flaw part, Ellis’s are just nihilistic in the most straightforward definition possible.
Clay, the narrator of Less Than Zero, is an unmitigated ass. His attitude toward copious quantities of coke – similar to the narrator of Bright Lights, Big City – is, to keep it understated, liberal, and his attitude toward women is that they’re walking holes into which he will do everything in his power to insert himself. For McInerney, the desire to fuck anything that moves is no different – yet the narrator of Bright Lights, Big City feels deeply the loss of Amanda. He recognizes that he fucked things up, but actually feels. Clay’s attitude toward Blair, for instance, is that she has a vagina.
This is an extremely important distinction between Ellis and McInerney, and illustrates how thin the line between asshole with a pen and “bad-boy” writer is. McInerney deals with actual people, flawed to the extreme, yes, but believable, and people with whom even the casual reader can identify with in some sense. There’s a sense of universality about his work, which resonates – yes, the 80s are over, and to quote Eric Stoltz as Lance, “coke is fucking dead as… dead,” but the damaged fuck-up capable of real emotion is a character who’s been with us since Odysseus. Ellis’s characters are familiar as well, just never that interesting. Yes they’re “depraved,” but with reference to an era most of us are unfamiliar with, and are unimpressed by. They fuck, snort, use each other, blow cash on blow, etc. etc. etc. It just isn’t compelling once the shock value becomes dated.
I mentioned Hunter S. Thompson earlier and for a reason – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a book that centers on extreme drug use and otherwise insane behaviors, but is a book about the end of an era. The peak of Thompson’s writing – in that book, any others, and any article with the possible exception of the Derby piece – comes in the passage where he’s sitting at his typewriter, thinking about San Francisco and the 60s – “that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply PREVAIL. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...” McInerney perfectly captures that elegiac lost idealism; all Ellis can do is wank off about his fantasized version of it. With Ellis, there’s no passion, because there’s no belief in anything but the pleasure of the moment. And no, it’s not ironic – he’s made quite a successful career out of nihilism. His recent sequel to Less Than Zero, Imperial Bedrooms, just reconfirms that. Yes, the few-standard-deviations-from-your-typical-Midwestern-family behavior is a draw, but Thompson and McInerney get at the human being shit. Ellis, I’m sure, fancies himself quite an aficionado of assholes – the human shit, though? Negatory.
While Armageddon Rages
A stop on the deck with some basil-infused lemonade, some tuna ceviche, and a good read (Henderson the Rain King in this case) on a golden summer day redeem so much. Rockford, Ill. takes its fair share of shit (much of it deserved), but on a perfect July day, this is the most perfect place in the world to be outside.
7.14.2011
On The Bright Side
I've read David Foster Wallace, Dostoevsky, Proust, Joyce, Faulkner, Pynchon (enough to get a commemorative tattoo), Barthelme; I've listened to Sonic Youth, Broken Social Scene, and Bob Dylan live -- I've had the fortune to hear stunning albums by Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and gems by The Smiths, Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. Seen works by Jaspers, Rauschenberg, Twombly, Richter. Brilliant films from everyone from David Simon to the Coen brothers. We live in an era of extreme riches. I wish I could honor it as it's due, but as aforementioned, time constrains that ambition.
Juliana Richer Daily
Belatedly posted, but here's the transcript of an interview I had recently with one of my favorite musical artists out there, and one who's destined for big things, Juliana Richer Daily. Check her music out, because she's that good. Originally published in the Rockford Independent Press.
As far as singing goes, I’ve always liked singing to myself, but I’ve never had any voice lessons – in high school I was never that into music, I wasn’t in chorus or in band – I was more into painting and visual art. I’ve always been sort of shy about singing – I started playing open mikes at Cornell, and when I got back from being abroad, I started playing more live, and it was just sort of a personal thing, but once I started performing, I just loved it. My voice is the only instrument I have actual control over – the guitar is just sort of a sidekick.
Q: Who are your most important influences? Like the artists/songs who gave you that “holy shit” moment?
This is a relatively faithful transcript of a phone interview with the extremely talented Juliana Richer Daily, 22, conducted by the Rockford Independent Press’s Benjamin Taylor, who is not a musician in the least. Daily is a graduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Her work is available on iTunes, amazon.com, and at her website, julianaricherdaily.com
Q: When/how did you get started?
I’ve been playing piano since I was four, I just started playing. I did that for 11 years, did the whole Mozart/Chopin classical business. I had a guitar in high school, but I only got as far as really basic chords and easy songs to play. I went abroad my junior year in college to Copenhagen, brought a guitar with me, had a lot of extra time, and just started playing. I love music period and just made the effort to learn how to play guitar. I’m not an expert – I can’t shred or anything – I picked it up as a means of accompanying myself while I sing. I took to it, had a blast with it, and started writing my own material.
I listened to a lot of my parents’ music – Joni Mitchell, Dylan. I love Josh Ritter and dream about being the female equivalent of his sound – I really like Florence and the Machine and that kind of folky sound. I want to marry the music I listen to into something fuller that says something. I’m kind of struggling with what direction to go from here, actually – songwriting is kind of difficult for me, it kind of comes out in fits and spurts – once I can work with a band and other musicians who can help pull my vision out of me, I think my sound will work out.
Q: Touring – what are your intentions?
I played here in Ithaca and in the city a few times. I don’t have a definite plan, but I’m definitely going to head down to New York for a few years, and get a “real job.” I have these two degrees I want to make good on – if the music thing doesn’t work out, I’d like to have a career path to fall back on. I’m definitely going to take the music thing seriously when I’m down there. I have a couple friends who have some studio space, and are involved in production. So ideally for a year or two, I’ll hold down the real job and do music on the side until it works out, hopefully. And I don’t want it to be on the side – my biggest fear is that it’ll be a hobby. Just trying to take a realistic approach. I really want to try and do this for real, I’ll be kicking myself for the rest of my life if I don’t make a real effort to do this. I want to travel and play, and I know it doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s what I want most to do.
Q: What are you listening to now? Your covers range pretty far, from Dylan to Jeff Buckley to Dr. Dre/Bruno Mars. What’s the best show you’ve caught of late?
In the last month and a half, I’ve been listening to a lot of new albums that have dropped lately. So many good albums -- The new Fleet Foxes [Helplessness Blues] and Bon Iver [Self-Titled]. The new Cults album [self-titled].
Josh Ritter, Mumford & Sons – just to mention two I have on heavy rotation. I listen to a pretty broad spectrum of music and musicians.
As far as the best show recently, I’ve been working so much on this thesis that I haven’t caught as many as I’d like. I caught the Flaming Lips here, and they were pretty epic. I have plans to go to the Newport Folk Festival again, but it’s close to my thesis deadline, so unfortunately, whether or not I make it down will depend on where the thesis is at.
Q: So the music industry – like pretty much every creative endeavor – has changed a shit ton in the past even five years. You’ve been on top of this through your YouTube videos (how I came across your work), twitter, myspace, etc. How do you think this new landscape affects up and coming artists like yourself? Where do you think the music industry is going and how does it change things for young artists like yourself?
I think that it’s really cool that anyone in the world who has an internet connection and a means to record has access to an audience. I think it’s an amazing thing that you don’t need to have corporate production pumping money into your project to get an audience – anyone who can record can make a name for themselves. You can listen to the brainchild of any musician out there – anyone and everyone who wants to try and make it can try and make it. On the other hand, you’re competing with hundreds of thousands of musicians out there -- you’re one more of any other artists out there.
Yet from a listener’s perspective, it’s amazing – I can listen to any number of artists out there and watch their journey. I just celebrated my two-year anniversary on YouTube, and it’s funny to see how I’ve grown as an artist since then. The landscape is an interesting animal to wrestle with. As far as exposure goes, it’s great – that’s why I give my covers out for free – it’s an awesome gateway to get my music out there.
There’s no end to exploring concepts and developing as a musician – that’s my favorite thing about music – it evolves all the time. The musician I am now will likely not be the musician I am a year from now.
Q: Word – how do you feel about someone like Rebecca Black blowing up in the “YouTube era” when a much more talented singer like yourself doesn’t have that kind of instant exposure?
As far as someone like Rebecca Black goes – it’s a little frustrating, but I’m not trying to aspire to that kind of thing. YouTube is by no means grassroots, I like that this has been a growing experience, and my listeners have gotten to get to know me, and there’s not one video that’s blown up. I don’t know that my music is ready to be heard at that level. Personally, I have a lot of growing to do as an artist, I’m glad this journey has been a gradual thing.
On one level, it’s a bit frustrating, but at the same time, it’s part of the experience to let it take shape, and to let my listeners get to know me. I know as a listener, we all like to be part of the discovery of an artist. So the Rebecca Black thing just isn’t where I want to be.
Q: Band? On your last post on your website you mentioned looking for a band/moving away somewhat from acoustic – where do you see yourself going?
Getting a band together at Cornell is tough – people are so busy, and during breaks people scatter, and after graduation it’s even harder. It never really took shape here, and I’m still figuring out music and just wasn’t ready. I don’t really know what direction I’m going to go in artistically – those tracks were my first real stab at songwriting. I know I have some work to do as a writer, and I definitely think I want to have a much fuller sound.
Q: LP?
I’ll be releasing another EP later this year. I’m working with a European production company and pressing a vinyl collection of 3 EPs. I didn’t have any physicals released of my work, so I’m excited.
Frankly though, I want to release this stuff and move on from it. As I said, these tracks were my first foray into songwriting, but it’s not the end all and be all of where I want to be as a musician – I’d like to move on and explore different things. I don’t know that any of the songs I have out right now will come together as a full album – I didn’t write them with an album concept in mind.
I absolutely love when albums tell a story as an album, and it grows with you as you listen. Each album can tell a different story, there’s a rise and fall and movement in them. There’s something great and unique about sitting down and exploring an entire album, and you can get a full sense of where the artist is going. There’s definitely merit to having some standout singles, but I love to sit down and listen to an entire album. Letting yourself just hang out with that music I love.
Q: How’s your injury healing? [Daily suffered a fractured spine in January 2011 as a result of a snowboarding accident]
I’m doing all right, I’m not back 100%, but as far as breaking your back goes, I’m doing all right. I’m titanium-reinforced now, which is pretty cool. Doing a lot of swimming, biking. I’m grateful the accident didn’t turn out a different way.
Ben: Thanks so much, Juliana!
04.12.12: Way belatedly updated to change "skiboarding," which, as Juliana helpfully informed me does not exist.
On a Cultural Embarrassment of Riches
the fact that our current age suffers from an embarrassment of riches in terms of culture -- broadly defined to include everything from food to sport to literature to tv to architecture, et al -- and that it's literally impossible to consume everything worthwhile remains something that infuriates and confuses me. the most gratifying experience short of sex is watching/reading/eating/listening to something that makes you just appreciate how talented its creator is, and to think to yourself "this is fucking good." yet the number of cultural artifacts that elicit that response -- in my mind at least, and perhaps that's a function of maturing, but I think fairly objectively true contemporarily -- seem to keep growing. It's simply not possible to fulfill the cultural obligations to which I feel obliged. I haven't watched Breaking Bad, nor have I read Being and Event, though I feel deeply that I must do both, and I want to. I haven't listened to Lil Wayne or played Call of Duty. I haven't tried to cook a soufflé yet. I know jack shit about wine or spirits (beer, on the other hand, I am well-versed in). These are things I need and want to know about, I just don't know where to find the time. I can barely manage to keep up with literature and politics, my two supposed fields of expertise.
On the one hand, this makes me dizzy with happiness -- I feel so privileged to live in this era, have access to so much information, and to know people who care about their interests and pursue them with passion, skill, patience, and a willingness to learn. On the other hand, it can be overwhelming. On days when I let myself read all the blogs I'd like to read, listen to the music I'd like to listen to, watch the shows I need to catch up on, check out the visual art blogs that represent the artists I whose work I most enjoy, stock up on recipes and restaurant fantasies, there's no time at all to read books, make music, think, write, or cook. It's a conundrum.
There's no point to this post, other than observation, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else suffers from the sort of anxiety I do at not being able to experience as much cultural excellence as I'd like/need.
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