Playbill: “Rocker John Mellencamp spent much of November working on The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a new ‘play with music’ the singer-songwriter is collaborating on with novelist Stephen King.” (via Galleycat)
Return of the Reluctant has obtained information on the first song from the play.
JACK TORRANCE & DIANE
Words and Music by John Cougar Mellencamp
Little ditty about Jack Torrance & Diane
Two American adults holing up in the Westland
Jacky’s gonna be a writing star
Diane’s a ghostly fuck in a room with a bar
Tryin’ to write a novel; all work and no play
Must kill the little boy by the end of the day
He’s got his axe and there’s Diane’s skull
There’s a ghostly bartender and he’s quite tall
Inside a giant maze
Dribble off those REDRUMS
Let me drink as I please
And Jacky say
Oh yeah death goes on
Long after the thrill of writin’ is gone
Oh yeah say death goes on
Long after the thrill of writin’ is gone, the ghosts walk on
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.
I thought you wrote “The Ghost Busters of Darkland County” which I think might go something like this
When the bungalows are strange
In your neighborhood
What ya gonna cal ‘em?
Pink houses!
I ain’t afraid of no little pink houses
I ain’t afraid of no little pink houses
Little pink houses for you and me