203. Bows, outfit of the night, don’t call me cutesy
November 17th, 2009 § 6 Comments
Evening (or morning afternoon middle of the night) to you all. I’ve been a shut-in and there’s always the temptation to be more of a hermit crab than I already am. An eternal part of me wants to live on my own magic mountain cabin a la Aleksander Hemon.) I already missed last week’s Brenda Hillman, and seeing as there’s ten minutes to get to the Eileen Myles reading, I’ll probably end up missing that one too.
I still have last week’s Mount Eerie show in my head. The setlist consisted of every song on the new album, Wind’s Poem, which is a very apt soundtrack to these past few days. I wake up and drink coffee and feel frantic about the day’s to-do and then it’s dark and the wind outside sounds like a person with tape over their mouths trying to tell me something.
The band that opened for Mount Eerie was kind of awful. Maybe I was just embarrassed for the band because they reminded me of bands I used to like in high school like Jejune and Christie Front Drive and the Promise Ring and Jimmy Eat World. (I loved the song Lucky Denver Mint because a boy put it on a mixtape!) It’s embarrassing to admit that I still like those bands a lot, which might be the reason why I was slightly repulsed when the opening band for Mount Eerie ended up playing a set that was the hokey dollar bin sister to all of the already hokey bands I loved in high school. (I’m paranoid now that this band is going to read my blog post and send me a vitriolic email!) We ran out midway through the show and wandered through the halls and found a room with some cute art. Michael and I have a little debate over cute versus cutesy, and while we both think cutesy is always bad, he thinks sometimes ‘cute’ is also bad and often has insulting connotations when used to describe a work of art.
Vintage dress from Roulette Vintage, Marc Jacobs coat, Alexander Wang oxfords, Hansel from Basel tights, & vintage horse bag.
Some random thoughts throw into a short list:
+ Sometimes I feel really susceptible to other people’s opinions and even though that’s vague, it’s something that makes me feel trapped in a sad way.
+ Aurelia is a sad and frustrating book.
+ A lot of books are self-masturbatory but you aren’t supposed to point that out.
+ I got these beautiful velvet green bow clips (bottom left of my terrible collage) from the lovely Etsy shop: Little Red Fox, and totally stole the idea from the always lovely Gina and her always thoughtful and beautiful blog.
+ I wish I had upper body strength so I could play gongs for Mount Eerie. Don’t you think they are cool? (Bottom right, photo from Librarianguish’s flickr.)
Love, Jenny
Thanks for the blog-love, Jenny! I really love YOUR post for a number of reasons:
1.) Some books ARE self-masturbatory. YES! I recently completed Infinite Summer’s reading of Infinite Jest (Summer through Fall for busy bees like me) and while I will say that DFW was a genius, a master of language and by all accounts, a very big-hearted and sincere gentleman, I would call the experience “A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again.” Left me wanting…less…But I feel bad for saying that, you know?
2.) Oh my gongs! GONGS! Artfully banging away on a gong would be so satisfying at the end of a rough week.
3.) It’s true. Art is cute these days. But I think that’s just fine. I don’t think it means creativity is eroding…. We can’t be Neoclassical forever, right?
4.) Oh, your description of the morning wind–just gorgeous.
5.) And your tender-thought about feeling trapped in a sad way: Who doesn’t feel that funny interviewy-validation stamp way sometimes? It’s yucky.
6.) Pretty bows for your long pretty hair! High-five!
Write on!
Gina! I love your list! This is way too much love pinging back and forth. Also, don’t get me started on David Foster Wallace. I love him but also the first thing I ever read by him was his collection of short stories in The Girl with Curious Hair, and geez my steez, it’s awful (I felt so embarrassed for one of the stories in the collection that my whole face turned red!) I love your blog, and I’m so happy I started blogging and learned of your blog and your wonderful world.
I’ve been a big of this site for some time and am quite pleased with the new format. Jenny, you are a wonderful addition to what was already a top-notch site. Am officially an even bigger fan after reading the mention (in passing) of Brenda Hillman. She is my cousin and a wonderful poet so once again, I am reminded of the superb level of taste FFW exbihits so frequently.
Veronica! Thank you so much for your comment. I’m so amazed that my little passing mention about Brenda Hillman somehow actually reached you! Her cousin! I’m so happy you like my inchoate rambles, and if it’s not too geeky of a request, can you tell her that someone in Iowa (well a lot of people in Iowa) loves loves loves her poetry.
Jenny
Aw, shucks! Likewise, sister.
Hearts and flowers all around!
What a frankly amazing piece of writing…