…Wes Anderson doesn’t make “white” movies. You win. They are incredibly diverse. Stop with the e-mails. And this should tell you something about standing in lines: I was waiting in line at the book store, and overheard two progressive housewives talking about Cornel West “rapping” on Real Time with Bill Maher. They referred to it as “really cool.” I incorrectly figured that they knew the difference between Dr. Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson (author of over-academic Hip-Hop books that I don’t want to read and a man that finds the existence of Benjamin Franklin biographies to be “racist”), the latter of whom DID recently make a complete ass of himself on the show, rapping about Alexander Hamilton being a “pimp.” Maybe Cornel West dropped some science on Bill Maher as well, though I don’t feel like IM-DIBBING him to find out (he did in fact, put out a Hip-Hop album this year). My style of blogournalism includes using misguided strangers as primary sources. That’s what you’re going to get here at failedpilot.com
I did enjoy Maher referring to 90% of Hip-Hop as “affirmative action for the ego.” Duh, but nicely put.
Nor do I have the energy tonight to fix the italics problem on this page. Like they say on Fire Island, “Get Used To It.”
Is there anything, at this moment, more embarrassing than Dr. Cornel West’s rap album? YouTube his recent Real Time with Bill Maher appearance…also embarrassing.
Does this make me a racist? Or does it make you a racist for having the sensitivity to assign “racism” to my opinion?
I believe that Mr. West Is At His Best when commenting/writing/what-not on Hip-Hop, and not performing it.
In an effort to justify my failed attempts at pitching a review of this book to every single magazine in which I have a relationship, you now have this post to read. Get the book.
Joe Carducci
Enter Naomi: SST, L.A., and All That…..
Redoubt Press P.O. Box 276 Centennial, WYOM. 82055 (redoubtpress.com)
I will preface this review by stating that Carducci’s sorta-infamous Rock and the Pop Narcotic is the only lengthy piece of rock writing, and only non-fiction book, that I’ve read three times. I don’t agree 100% with RPN, but it still delivers personal inspiration, and has been a big influence on my writing. It was a book that awarded the proper amount of intellectualization (some say too much, but I disagree) and heart to metal and hard rock during a time (1990) when these forms were weathering an especially unfair phase of disinterest. If you haven’t read it, do so. You cannot borrow my copy. The book has gone through three printings. Rollins did a printing for his house in the mid-90’s, and Redoubt released the most recent version. Get it!!
There are Carducci works between Rock and the Pop…. and his brand new Enter Naomi: SST, L.A. and All That (Get your rundown here: www.joecarducci.com). Even so, this one will be endlessly compared to his previous epic. They are different animals. Instead of a highly-enjoyable, dense monster, Enter Naomi is an equally enjoyable, rather straightforward bio of three distinct subjects: Deceased photographer Naomi Peterson (she was essentially SST’s inhouse photog), SST Records, and the underground L.A. music scene from about 1975 up until around ‘86 (when Carducci moved away).
It’s sad book. It will hopefully encourage all of us to be better to our livers. Enter Naomi also proves that the “outsider” of, say, 1981, underwent extinction long ago. Regardless of shady business dealings and an intimidating anti-social personality, the cloth Greg Ginn was cut from is nowhere to be found in the “underground” of 2007, if one can even find the underground in 2007.
I finished Enter Naomi in three while trying to read three other books. I spent long stretches staring at the photos.
Carducci deserves exposure and some book sales. In the face of publishing industry indifference and public’s (and publishing industry’s) poor taste in music books, Joe has toiled along.
That’s it. And that was a very loose interpretation of a “book review.”