1999-12-15. . . Cholly Kokonino reporting

Money talks, democracy gives up waiting for the MUNI bus: Worried that even wheeling the Willie Brown Disco Truck through the Mission and the Castro ("A vote for Willie Brown is a vote for dancing!") might not be enough to head off the Red Menace, concerned San Franciscans such as Jesse Jackson and Bill Clinton deluged the mayor's constituency with phone calls yesterday. (via Christina La Sala)

I was hoping that Ammiano would win, myself. It's important that San Francisco maintain its position as a national laughingstock, and, although Brown has done his best under the circumstances, the fact is that nowadays an openly progressive politician is even more of a curio than a pro-wrestling politician.

Why do biographers have such a hard time reconciling the limitations they find in their subjects' lives with the importance of their subjects' works? After all, biographers are nothing but prying voyeuristic parasites who incessantly second-guess people smarter and more talented than themselves, yet their work can still be useful.

. . . 1999-12-16

My Penguin edition changes the subtitle to "Genius or charlatan?", but that's a stupid question when you're talking about a fiction writer. Symons's is more accurate: this biography is emphatically experimental in ways that gain Cholly's full approval:

1. Primacy of primary sources

Rather than going omniscient on us, Symons makes room for quoted documents and testimony (with the first-person account of his own research as a bridge), preserving subjectivity and increasing the odds that the reader will actually learn something.

As a leeching paranoid, Rolfe/Corvo thoughtfully minimized the formal difficulties of implementing this approach, dividing his life neatly into sausage-shaped episodes wrapped around one (and usually only one) acquaintance who was first obsessively latched onto and later obsessively tied off.

2. Sympathy for the subject

Most biographers suffer from wildly inappropriate self-righteousness, and Rolfe/Corvo, who wears his faults not just on his sleeve but all over like a paisley three-piece suit, has been a particularly efficient self-righteousness vector: none of the books I've found by him have escaped a mean-spirited introduction. But Symons, bless 'im, bears in mind, through all storms of icky gossip, the gratitude befitting anyone who's been successfully intrigued by another human being.

Symons bends over backwards to interpret the life's events as Rolfe/Corvo might have, and, on top of that, as his first-person sources might have. And if his Unified Corvo Theory (all the Baron's problems stemmed from being born gay into an intolerant world) seems excruciatingly naive (I'm pretty sure Symons had plenty of gay acquaintances who didn't act like Rolfe/Corvo), at least it's helped bring other sympathetic readers into the fold.

You know, it's been said many times:
Seek and ye shall find.
Well, I have sought,
And yet I'm still searching for the one.
And you know?
I guess my search has just begun....

. . . 1999-12-17

To our left and right, we see samples of Christina La Sala's and Steven Elliott's Cootie Catchers, published by Chronicle Books. Perfect ice-breakers for the tasteful yet shy, these cunning hand-and-eye-developers are sure to replace Dan Savage and the Magic 8-Ball as your mystic advisor of choice. Arthur Lee once asked, "Pictures and words: is this communicating?" Well, if he'd been talking about the pamphlets of Juliet Clark, we'd have to reply that they're even better than communicating! And at only $5 each, including postage, they're cheaper, too! Give three copies and their grateful recipient can shelve 'em under "Comix," "Memoirs," and "Small Press Collectibles" for easy access. The perfect stocking stuffer for those with large flat stockings. Ray Davis's and Christina La Sala's much bruited about film The Ichthyoid Syndrome ("THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT OF OUR TIME!") is finally available for home entertainment centers. I'll ship a copy on a videotape or Zip disk at cost -- that's only 14 dollars! (Actually, it sounds like a lot to me, too, but that really is the cost, if you include the envelope and all.) Sure to be a collector's item, since normal people don't buy five-minute-long movies!

• And Anselm Dovetonsils makes this ruggedly handsome offer: for every little magazine in which you publish one of his poems, he will pledge to provide a rave review of a book published by your small press -- and if you publish him in an anthology sold in real book stores, he guarantees that his review will appear in the New York Times! No other poet can match such a promise this late in the holiday season! Remember: Dovetonsils will not be undersold!

. . . 1999-12-20

Except loose like a goose.

And value-oriented like a goose bought at Costco.

For only eight bucks, we got two hours of solid value-goose-laid sonic gold: gorgeous, funny, sentimental, beat-crazy 100%-meat-based clockwork.

More surprising than the quality of the band was the quality of the engineering: this was the best sounding amplified-instruments show I've ever heard. Sometimes I think jazz or string quartet when I hear the Thinking Fellers, but this show made me understand for the first time what Lou Reed was getting at when he called loud rock "symphonic": big rich deep wide clumps and flows writhing precisely around each other like some special cross-over event between the Ballets Russes and the Lair of the White Worm.

Top This Nightmare: I dream that I'm in a bookstore and I find The Uncollected Works of Laurence Sterne. But only Vols. VI and XXII! And they're still expensive! And there are travel ads in them!

. . . 1999-12-21

"Bare lists of words are found suggestive, to an imaginative and excited mind" - Emerson

Adequate to Adults Advance to Affairs Altered to Amatory Amphibious to Anglo-Saxons Arbiters to Army Army to Artery Atmosphere to Attire Attitude to Autobiography B--, Aunt to Banquets Beast, Beauty and the to Becky Stow's Swamp Birth to Blurs Bonny to Bosses Boston Advertiser to Brazier Budgets to Byzantium Chilblain to Christ's Jesus Class to Cloisters Close to Coldness Coleridge, Samuel Taylor to Combustion Compliance to Conducts Cones to Consciousnesses* Consubstantiation to Contriving Control to Copula Copy to Countless Court to Creature's Cuba to Czars Day, Commencement to Deadness Deaf to Declaring Degenerate to Demonstrator Desirable to Devotions Distemper to Doctrines Drank to Driving Droll to Dyspeptic Effeminacy to Elicits Eligible to Employs Emporium to Enemy's Energetic to Englishwomen Eustachius to Everywhere Evidence to Excessive First to Fitting Flowing to Forborne * Link via Juliet Clark

Foundation to Fowls Gladiators to Go-Carts God, Almighty to Goitre Gold to Good Good (continued) to Grab Graze to Great Desert Habeas Corpus to Handling Hand-Looms to Harms Heat to Hemispheres Hole to Hooted Hung to Hysterical Infantry to Inmates Intrusion to Intelligences Jabber to Joyfully Joying to Juxtapositions Law to Lax Leather to Leg Librarian to Life Line to Littleton Look to Lost M. C. to Magnanimously Maladies to Man Meal to Mechi Medal to Memphis, Egypt Menace to Methuselah Mince-Meat to Minded Negotation to Nevermore Nothing to Nymphs Once to Opium-Shop Opponent to Organisms Organization to Overwork Ovid to Oysters Passenger to Pays Peace to Penury Permutation to Perspire Poets to Polls Pollute to Positives Proprietary to Puberty Public to Purlieus

Quack to Questions Remedies to Replying Restricted to Revolutions Revolve to Rigging Romes to Ruling Rum to Rylstone Doe Sail to Samos Samples to Saxons Seize to Sensations Separable to Set-To Shatter to Short-Sighted Shot to Sidewise Sinful to Skills Sockets to Sometimes Spirits to Squid Squint to Stars Steady to Stimulus Strong to Subduing Subject to Suetonius Surprises to Sweeps Taverns to Tempestuous Templars to Testify Testimonies to Thin Tidal to Timely Toledo to Tow-Head Town to Trains Truth to Turnips Ubiquitous to Unexhausted Unexpected to University, Yale Unjust to Usages Vat to Victory Wave to Wealth Wept to Whithersoever Wit to Wolves Woman to Woo World Fairs to Wormy Worn to Writings Writs to Wyman, Jeffries Yeoman, Middlesex to Yunani

. . . 1999-12-23

Someday soon we'll all be dressed in leather If the fates allow, So have yourself a merry little Christmas cow.

Movie Comment: Meet Me in St. Louis

1. Probably the only example of Technicolor that's both classically MGM and unironically beautiful. Much more than the chintzy Americana of the script or the schematic performances, it's the impossible combination of impossibly rich and impossibly restrained color that fuels the movie's nostalgia. Vincent Minnelli's crew must've worked like mad to coordinate sets, costumes, lighting, and lab work to such an extent.

2. I've seen Judy Garland's rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" described as an "attempt to comfort her sister." On the contrary, it's very clear that Garland's character is intent on making her sister hysterical with grief, and not at all adverse to getting a little weepy herself. It's a sadomasochistic impulse I remember as pretty common in childhood (telling horror stories that scare the teller, making emotional threats that threaten to isolate the threatener...), but it's not usually depicted with so little editorializing.

   Of course, Minnelli was in no position to criticize. While Garland's fictional character struggled on screen to induce childish hysteria and adult melancholy, he was sweating bullets on the reality of the set toward the same ends.

   Aside from artists of the sentimental, the need for this kind of boundary testing mercifully tapers off in adulthood, only springing out in romantic crises (e.g., "I don't like you -- but I love you"). Which brings me, as I'm brought so often, to thoughts of that master of mature collaborative pain, Frank Borzage... and there is something Christmasy about that ridiculous sublime last shot in Man's Castle....

. . . 1999-12-28

Support Our Sponsors: A dark alley in North Beach. The camera frames above the waist a grinning midshipman swaying against the wall.

Voiceover: "What do they really do with a drunken sailor? Find out. Join the Navy."

Three good years in Cincinnati, Ohio:

He was born April 27, 1996, the day of the Bad Religion show....

... an' anotha thing ...

... then again ...