When I started reading Kim Gordon’s Girl in a Band for the upcoming book club show, I was skeptical. I was never a Sonic Youth fan and didn’t know much about Gordon’s career. As I read the book, many of Gordon’s words stayed with me. I wanted to talk about the book. I needed to talk about the book.
In the back of the room at most every show sits a common fixture: The Merch Table. Here bands display their wares, but the table serves purposes beyond mere commerce. From performers growing their e-mail lists to visiting and connecting personally with fans, there is a social angle that can offer rare access and provide tremendous value for both artists and fans alike.
For Valentine’s Day this year Bushwick performed original music inspired by Anaïs Nin’s Delta of Venus. Even though that event was last month, I’ve been left haunted by Anaïs Nin’s work. I’m not so interested in her erotic fiction, and instead have been thinking about the honesty found in her diaries. I needed to know more about her life, so I took to the Internet to find out which of her works I should read next. Expecting to find salacious gossip, what I read was a lot more interesting and inspiring.
As part of a New Year’s type resolution, I’m taking part in a reading challenge with my super-secret online girl gang. The reading challenge is a list of different suggestions for book topics, with the end goal of supporting each other in reading more and reading different subjects.
In preparation for the next Bushwick event, Original Music Inspired by Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, I read the Complete Persepolis. It left me wanting to know even about Marjane Satrapi’s life. Those of you who have read Persepolils know that it tackles some serious stuff. But does a softer, sillier side of Satrapi exist?
I took to the Internet to find out. Here are a few fun facts I discovered about Marjane Satrapi.
I have a confession; I really disliked The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I finished it, but it was a struggle. I know it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner and is critically acclaimed receiving positive reviews from everyone who matters. There have been other important and popular works that I couldn’t finish including Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, which I hated so much I haven’t been able to pick up any of his other work, and 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. I fear that these two books will someday be a Bushwick Book Club Seattle selection and I’ll have to attempt to read them again.
My opinion on these well-known great novels says more about me and my lowbrow taste than it does about the novels themselves. It got me thinking.
Do other people secretly despise famous award winners?
I asked this very question to many Bushwick artists and volunteers and here is what they had to say.
The most common question I get about Bushwick is “what books are you going to do next?” It’s a very good question. Probably the best question. The fact that we get asked this ALL THE TIME means that we need to do a much better job of letting you know what is going on (sorry about that, we are working on it).
Good news, everyone! The Bushwick Book Club Seattle has now joined the world’s best mobile photo-sharing social network — the one… the only… Instagram.
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