BBC: “They say rock and pop stars live life in the fast lane and now researchers have proved it. A Liverpool John Moores University study of 1,050 US and European artists found they are twice as likely to die early than the rest of the population.”
Year / 2007
Samples and Covers
Second Hand Songs — a very helpful database for those interested in pop music antecedents.
Levi Asher on Kerouac
Levi Asher: “Why does it seem necessary to emulate Jack Kerouac’s travels in order to write about him? I’ve read much critical work on Joseph Conrad, but I’ve never yet heard a scholar claim to have first read Heart of Darkness while actually steaming up the Congo.”
I wish Levi had cited specifics about the professional critics who “still view Kerouac condescendingly when they praise him,” but I suspect he didn’t have enough space to go into detail. Overall though, it’s a nice piece, and I hope Levi expands his considerable thoughts on Kerouac elsewhere.
And You, Michiko, Are Ostensibly a Literary Critic, Not a Sleazy Hollywood Producer Pitching to Executives
Michiko Kaukutani: “Junot Díaz’s “Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” is a wondrous, not-so-brief first novel that is so original it can only be described as Mario Vargas Llosa meets ‘Star Trek’ meets David Foster Wallace meets Kanye West. “
A Query on Dysfunctional Pricing
Levi Asher is quite determined to get an answer on the subject of book pricing. Accordingly, he’s initiated the first in a lengthy series of posts attempting to wrestle with the question, with the first installment featuring Richard Nash, Mark Sarvas, and agent Scott Hoffman. I have my own considerable thoughts on the subject and hope to offer my input in the near future.