I Always Get the Details Wrong

I just finished reading Kurt Loder's Bat Chain Puller. It kind of takes me forever to get through any book really because I have stacks all over the house, so I tend to read whatever is randomly at my fingertips wherever I am. A lot of reading I do at the kitchen table but that's usually magazines and newspapers, because I don't want to get food on my books. It's funny that I would be so particular about that considering I'm really hard on my books. I fold them this way and that, maneuver them into weird positions if I'm reading laying down on my side, and sometimes I even mark them up. In fact, often when I lend a book to somebody I forget entirely and then when they present it back to me, I'm often like "You can keep it or pass it along to someone else." It's just that there are so many books in the world that I want to get to it's rare that I would want to read the same book twice. There are few books I will go back to, unless it's for research or something. Let me see, what books have I read more than once? OK, so Fargo Rock City. Jane Eyre. The Tao of Pooh. Any of the HH's Guide to the Galaxy books. And I kind of do the same thing with movies; like it's rare that I'd see something more than once, which is why I prefer renting or Netflixing or whatever instead of buying DVDs. In terms of movies, a lot of it depends on what Joe (my husband) will be watching that he has on while I'm doing something else and I get pulled in to watching because he watches things more than once, and for me, it's like Hey, moving pictures!


Anyway, this version of Bat Chain Puller was all fucked up because the cover was bound to the book upside-down so every time I opened the book I was all disconcerted and felt like it was the first time I ever read manga or something, all like Hey! It starts at the opposite cover! Or like maybe I was reading some Hebraic text or whatever. It was an interesting book, published in 2002. For some reason I had gotten it into my head that Kurt Loder died. I don't know where I learned that. He did in fact, not die. Where do I get my information? He's like, in his 60s and still writes about culture...Oh! Wait! Call off the dogs! I just did a little web research and it was Ken Ober, the host of Remote Control that died! How could I possibly have confused the two? Ober was the host on Remote Control, the game show on MTV. And they found him dead in his home at the age of 52. Undisclosed causes. Which we all know what that means. Attacked by killer wiener dogs eating cheesecake.

OK! So the book. Some delightfully salacious yet informative with the journalistic slant as one would expect from someone who writes about music for a variety of publications and websites. Poor Kurt Loder! He's a smart writer and I wonder if maybe people judge him for his involvement with MTV.

Anyway, there were a few pieces that I found particularly entertaining, like the Don Johnson one. I don't think it was supposed to be funny but I think maybe looking back at it (that particular piece was written in 1986) some of it seems ludicrous. Like listening to Don Johnson talk (notice how every time I refer to him I can't just say "Don," I have to say, "Don Johnson") about his experience making his music while his Miami Vice co-star Philip Michael "Tubbs" Thomas' reggae-ish album (Living the Book of My Life) flopped. Don Johnson had more than one album! Did you know that? I didn't know that. And he also has a suite of offices (or at least he did in 1986) devoted to making him famous, run by women that he called his Hen Squad. And Keitch Richards! There was a piece about him too. Surprisingly articulate, I must say. I didn't expect that! And! There was a piece about Cyndi Lauper which was interesting because I had just listened to a Celebrity I-Tunes Podcast with her (now that's another whole topic, that podcast!). She seemed much less Brooklyn-y She's So Unusual-ish, and mature. Wasn't she on MTV's The Surreal Life though? Isn't that pretty much admitting defeat when you go on one of those shows? Like you're admitting that you're a "washed up" star? (What does "washed up" really mean though?) I guess you're pretty much admitting that your career is over when you go onto one of those shows, no? I feel bad for Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos 'cause she went on it. No Joan of Arc no! Come back to us! With your sexy fetish gear and all! And you're being all cute and like a smart Winona Ryder! Come back, come back!


Anyway, so Cyndi Lauper. I-Tunes podcast and piece in this book. So on the podcast she was all talking about all the research she did for her newest album, which is like this blues album. And she had a lot to say about who she talked to, records she bought, her vision of what she wanted with each of the songs. She goes to record stores and still buys vinyl because she likes the way it feels. Like so much smarter than all the other celebrity podcasts, and much longer, because she had a lot to say. That Cyndi Lauper, I admire her smart and goofy. She's older and smarter now. Do you think she regrets having gone on that show? Wait a minute. It might not have been The Surreal Life she was on but the Apprentice. Oops. Or maybe both? I have noticed that some people, celebrity or not, are reality show horrors. They'll go on any reality show. I myself have been part of 2 already. One was Starting Over which I wrote about in my zine (so does this admit my career is over? What career? I made one appearance, and when I talk about going on a reality show is admitting your career is over, I was specifically talking about celebrities, not um, me). The other reality show experience was that the cinematographer from our wedding was a former Wild Chicago host and he asked us if he could use some of our wedding footage on some show like America's Craziest Weddings or something like that. (Sidenote: One time he had some offer from some other show, like America's Worst Weddings for some footage from our wedding. And we turned that down. Then they offered us $100. And I still said no. They could have offered us a million dollars and I think I would still turn that down. Well. Maybe a million dollars...No! I would still turn that down.)

Anyway, good book. I skipped the Sean Connery piece though. He's boring.