Review: Psychic Confusion - The Sonic Youth Story by Steve Chick

Sonic Youth have always been a band shrouded in mystery. Spanning a career that's about to finish off its third decade, the band have carried with them both the avant garde and experimentation of the indie underground, as well as the commercial excess of the 1990s "Alt-rock" scene. With over 15 studio albums and countless EP's, solo, and side projects, the band is still strong today -- and not only strong, they're still influencing young indie rock acts and bucking the trends of commercialism. Even though band members are now in their fifties, they exude an energy not seen in many aging rock bands, and they continue to seek out new trends and sonic explorations.

My first experience of Sonic Youth came, as it did for many Americans, when The Simpsons did a parody of the band and the scene that made them a mainstream success in the episode "Homerpalooza." The Simpsons nod was the ultimate 1990s compliment of success, and for many of their young fans (like myself), it was an opportunity to seek out the band's back catalog, especially their most successful albums up to that point, Dirty, Goo, and Daydream Nation. As the band continued to inspire and mature beyond the confines of the grunge era, albums like 1986's EVOL and 1985's Bad Moon Rising were also cited as influences on many burgeoning indie rock acts.

Psychic Confusion - The Sonic Youth Story by Steve Chick tracks Sonic Youth's career from the dirty New York venues of the early 1980s to the band's recent resurgence in the 21st Century, and everything in between. Chick's exhaustive research and ability to connect the band's musical evolution to cultural changes makes this book an excellent read, one that would interest both fans of Sonic Youth and casual music lovers.

Psychic Confusion starts off with back history of where, why, and how Sonic Youth came about. Chick gives a background of some of the bands and movements within the punk rock community that go back to The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, tracing everything up to the New York punk movement No Wave, which bred Sonic Youth. From there, the book goes in chronological order, covering every major album release along with the band's personal and professional side projects.

While Sonic Youth relied heavily on bizarre alternate tunings and mind numbing effects (including an amplified power drill, of all things) on their early albums (Sonic Youth and Confusion is Sex, specifically), the band would go on to fashion these bizarre sounds into veiled political messages (Bad Moon Rising), accessible melodies (EVOL), and commercially accessible "grunge" rock (Goo and Dirty). As Sonic Youth forged their sound into the 21st Century, they'd take a slight detour (A Thousand Leaves and NYC Ghosts & Flowers) only to come back with their tightest and most familiar sounds since their early to mid career (Murray Street, Sonic Nurse, and Rather Ripped).

Chick's research shows that he is not only concerned with giving an exhaustive biography of the band's successes and failures, but also with putting everything in its social context. Chick reveals the social forces surrounding the band in America and around the world, and how Sonic Youth remained socially conscious without being obnoxious or preachy. In the midst of the Reagan era, the band, like many in the punk and hardcore community, felt disillusioned by the politics of the time. 1985's Bad Moon Rising (the title a reference to Creedence Clearwater Revival's socially conscious song of the same name) would be the album that revealed the most about the community's disillusioned feelings. Later, as the band experienced New York's lock down in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the band's 2002 album Murray Street would express some of their most intimate thoughts about the attacks. Equally, the band would tap into pop culture through their lyrics, and although the band has remained distinctly "alternative," they have always used pop culture and mainstream attitudes to shape their songs.

Psychic Confusion also reveals a band not afraid of the latest trends in the indie underground. Throughout their career, Sonic Youth always brought young indie bands along with them on tour, giving the band a reputation for being the "Godparents" of indie rock. Some of the bands they helped nurture have had their place in rock history, such as Nirvana, who always cited the band as a main reason for their success (Nirvana was signed to Geffen records on the advice of Sonic Youth, for example). Although the band are practically the grandparents of many young new bands, they continue to inspire; musicians like Devendra Banhart and Cat Power owe their success to Sonic Youth's influence and support. While many fans of the band may already know of their influential status, Chick is able to show that their influence continues and may not waver for a long time.

Although Psychic Confusion is exhaustive in its approach, there are times where Chick's historical account digs deep in the cultural history while forgetting to reveal much about Sonic Youth. For example, Chick spends part of the book discussing the grunge movement of the early 1990s, and even discusses the profound influence of heroin on some of these young acts. But in the process, he fails to mention that Sonic Youth was moving away from this scene, a rock scene that had morphed into everything they once railed against. Chick only briefly mentions the band's purposeful move to the art underground, but doesn't go into the profound changes going on in their perspective, even as they continued to release albums on major label Geffen. At the same time, Chick does a great job of explaining Sonic Youth's latest anti-Bush projects, but doesn't give enough background information about the many bands who feel disillusioned by current events, or how these bands are influencing the indie community and spurring activism.

Either way, Psychic Confusion is an excellent biography of Sonic Youth that is both exhaustive and entertaining. Chick not only covers Sonic Youth's many changes over the years, he also reveals a band that's thriving and alive. Although 2006's Rather Ripped was the band's last release on Geffen, Chick taps into the band's profound indie connections to show that they'll still thrive, even if they choose to return to their indie label roots. Even though Psychic Confusion summarizes everything the band has done so far, it leaves open the possibility of many more years of Sonic Youth history, and I'm sure Chick would be just the music writer to continue the story in the future.

Originally published on Blogcritics.org.

Mix Bag #2: Fictitious Non-Fiction, Cake, and a Bloody Massacre

Mix Bag is a weekly feature that brings together a random collection of media and highlights why it all matters to you.

After an extended weekend off and a handful of other things to write, I haven't had too much time to peruse what's interesting out there this week. Usually, I'd say it's disappointing to put off a feature for a few days, but then I remind myself that with only a handful of readers to brag about, There There Kid is still too little of a start up for anyone to complain about Mix Bag coming out late. But I digress...

Anyway, we might as well jump right in and examine the world of cultural activity that I've found interesting lately. First, The New York Times' literary blog Paper Cuts has an interesting article up about yet another fabrication coming to light in a major non-fiction book. This time, it's not one of the infamous memoir fabrications marketed for mass appeal. Instead, it's a work of journalism that takes some liberties at truth or, as Stephen Colbert would put it, truthiness (that word makes a lot more sense now than it did when it came out). It's a book called Bringing Down the House, and it's the book that the latest blockbuster 21 was based on. But as it turns out, many sections were exaggerated to the point of being completely false; at one point in the book, for example, the team of gamblers supposedly strapped thousands of dollars to their bodies before boarding planes, which apparently never happened. There are other dramatic scenes that the real-life characters of the book deny ever happening, and this is all coming out right when 21 is out in cinemas across the country. Ouch.

There's also a collection of essays that just came out called I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. They sound quite interesting, blending comedy with the mundane parts of daily life. Sloane works as a publicist for Vintage/Anchor books during the day, so her understanding of the absurdities surrounding literary publicity and the 9 to 5 office job could make an interesting read. I've ordered a copy and hope to read it soon. Sloane's Web site is also a lot of fun, adding art and excerpts/blurbs for her book.

There's also a book coming out in May that takes our current generation to task, called The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein. Despite the pretentious sounding title, the book actually looks like it smartly dissects exactly why, with more and more information at our fingertips, we keep getting dumber. Is there really a reason, or is this guy just a cranky old man? I hope to find out, and I'll probably have a review up later on.

In the world of music, things keep getting more and more interesting as the year continues. People seem in awe of R.E.M.'s latest (I'm still on the fence, personally), but most reviews seem to recognize that it's just about the best you can get from a band that's become increasingly less relevant over the years.

In jazz, I like Pete Robbins' Do the Hate Laugh Shimmy, and the album title gives the vibe of the album away. It's quirky and experimental, yet rooted in something whole and tangible. It's an excellent album that comes out later in the month.

And there are a lot more albums coming out this week. I've been on a Sonic Youth kick lately, so it's nice to see that Thurston Moore is releasing another solo album called Sensitive/Lethal. The Microphones and Man Man have new albums out as well.

Next week, the eclectic weirdos that make up Brian Jonestown Massacre are releasing their 13th album called My Bloody Underground. It's very experimental, and gives off a different vibe from some of their past work; to be honest, it sounds more like a collection of demos than a full-length LP. But there are some gems, and the experimentation is more in line with TV On the Radio than some of the blues influences of past albums. It took a few listens for me to get into it, and I'm still not fully convinced. But that doesn't matter, it's still a lot of fun.

That's about it for now, I'd love to see what everyone else finds interesting out there in the internet world.

Review: Nick Vayenas - Synesthesia

Nick Vayenas is a jazz musician who, at first listen, sounds straightforward and conventional. A closer listen, however, reveals some intricate and complex compositions, and Vayenas is anything but another jazz musician; he's a musician that's willing to cross bridges into new musical territory, and doesn't hold anything back.

Vayenas' debut album Synesthesia offers a mix of synthesizers, horns and percussion that ties together around a central theme, one that Vayenas describes in his liner notes as a "type of stimulation [that] evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing a sound produces the visualization of a color." With that far out explanation, Synesthesia is an album that is multi-dimensional, forcing the listener to participate with all of his senses. That's an adventurous claim, something that Vayenas pulls off well.

The album begins with "Voyager," and the opening synth noises suggest a sci-fi epic voyage--possibly a voyage "where no man has gone before?"--until Vayenas breaks in with steady, triplicated beats, piano and bass. It's an opening that hints at the larger things to come, and as the album moves forward, Vayenas sprinkles the music with synth motifs and moments of pure jazz.

Synesthesia continues with "Assembly Line," giving the album its first feeling of exploration. The song starts off with another synthesized riff, bringing in a trumpet and organ to keep it grounded. It's not quite like prog rock, or overly experimental jazz, yet it has a vibe of experimentation that leads the listener into the title track "Synesthesia." In "Synesthesia," Vayenas slows down a bit, adding his smoky background vocals as he hums along with the horn section. He fills the band out with keyboards and a guitar, and although these parts are subtle, they seem necessary.

Other times, Synesthesia feels like a conventional modern jazz album. On "Odeon," a swinging jazz drum beat plays on while the horn section takes turns improvising solos. Equally on "The Essence," Vayenas lets the band loose to forge new paths while the keyboard parts accentuate and direct the horns into these new territories.

Vayenas also changes the mood of the album several times. "Along The Way" has an eerie vibe, almost like the backing track of a scary movie. The pianos climb as the strings build the tension, and then segues into "Circuit Dialog," another eerie track that uses synth noises once again. "Circuit Dialog" breaks up the album, and Synesthesia mellows out for "Staircase," another straightforward jazz song that focuses on the piano and bass.

As the album comes to an end, Vayenas turns in a different direction once again. On "Gone From Me," he fuses keyboards with horns and strings, and guest vocalist Gretchen Parlato adds a sultry sound to an album that, up to this point, has remained strictly instrumental. Parlato sings "why have you gone from me now? / you never said you'd go," suggesting loneliness, but also suggesting the overall theme of Synesthesia: that adventure can be both exciting and abandoning.

Synesthesia is a great debut album, and it should establish Vayenas as a serious jazz musician. Even though it strikes out into the territories and forces the listener to use all of the senses, it also stays well grounded in the roots of jazz. With its changing pace and unique style, Synesthesia is an album that won't lose you.




Originally published at Blogcritcs.org.

The "Fake Empire" of Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End and The National's Boxer

"We're half-awake, in a fake empire."

So declares singer Matt Berninger of The National in "Fake Empire," the song that kicks off their latest album Boxer. The entire album continues in this vein, suggesting that American life has become a life "half-awake," one of suburban efficiency and catchy marketing.

And that's essentially where the members of The National are coming from, having endured the life (career, rather) of catchy marketing; most of the members gave up the high life of a career in marketing to form a band that tackles the issues facing our "fake empire." There's something wrong with us, and it's kind of ironic that those who once helped with marketing the things that supposedly will make us feel better are now the ones trying to warn us that we are about to collide into a brick wall.

Boxer is an album that digs deep into the upper middle class life of corporate America, the guy who is stuck, but has a numbing acceptance of it all ("I can tie my tie all by myself / I’m getting tied, I’m forgetting why"). The National have tapped into a sentiment that simmers on the surface, but rarely gets discussed directly: that conformity becomes numbing, and none of the quick fixes we give ourselves will work. It's an essential question that goes to the heart of what it means to be American: to conform -- chasing the elusive "American Dream" -- or not to conform, and transcend societal expectations.

Equally, Joshua Ferris' latest novel Then We Came to the End speaks to the essential questions of conformity and what it means to be American. In the epigraph, Ferris quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson, who urges against being "reckoned in the gross, in the hundred, or the thousand, of the party, the section, to which we belong." This quote shows what we face within our society: we celebrate independence, but expect conformity. It's both the essential elements of human nature and what makes corporate America tick, yet we put up with it all, accepting it as reality and popping pills along the way.

Since this lifestyle is so deeply embedded in the American consciousness, it was only a matter of time before a novel would attempt to tap into the reasons why we've let ourselves become obsessed with work. Ferris' Then We Came to the End is such a novel. Chronicling the office lives of a marketing agency in Chicago, Then We Came to the End is both a hilarious and heartwarming account of how and why we endure such work-focused lives.

Ferris' novel follows the copywriters and art directors of the agency as they endure cutbacks in the wake of the dot-com crash, and as they watch their colleagues get the ax -- or, as they coin it, "walking Spanish" -- they huddle in the corners of offices speculating why, how, and who is next to go. In the midst of all these layoffs, the agency takes on a mysterious pro bono breast cancer awareness case at the same time they discover (through office rumor, of course) that their supervisor Lynn Mason has breast cancer. Their task is to create ad copy that will make a breast cancer patient laugh, but the group is experiencing an extreme case of writer's block.

The novel is written in first-person plural to reflect the collective "we" of modern corporate culture. As each character goes through his or her own personal conflicts, the group experiences these as a whole, or so it seems; Ferris' "we" is actually an ironic critique of the groupthink that pervades throughout corporate America. "We were corporate citizens," Ferris writes, "buttressed by advanced degrees and padded by corporate fat...What we didn't consider was that in a downturn, we were the mismanaged inventory, and were about to be dumped like a glut of imported circuit boards." So essentially, this "we" is nothing more than a commodity, the worker bees whose only goal is to keep the colony alive and fed.

Ferris uses two characters in particular to stress these distinctions between independence and conformity. Tom Mota, a disgruntled office worker who tries to shake things up through pranks, tries to find a level of transcendence but is eventually fired and doesn't handle it too well. Although those at the office have termed him the office Emerson scholar (he quotes him throughout the novel), Tom never actually transcends anything, and eventually falls back into conformity (albeit in a completely different way). Even though Tom can never bring himself to fully reject societal pressures, he does introduce his office friend Carl Garbedian to the words of Emerson. Carl suffers from depression, and the pills designed to level him out never work, so he takes matters into his own hands, resigning from the agency and starting a successful suburban landscaping company. He ends up transcending the politics of corporate groupthink by returning back to nature, so to speak. Essentially, these two characters represent something profound about America: that conformity is difficult to understand, but even more difficult to break away from.

The National's lyrics, like Ferris' novel, don't tell us how to live -- rather, they show the parts of society that are numbing and inconsequential. In their song "Apartment Story," Berninger sings about the apathy of a society that is "tired and wired" and "ruined to easy" where "we’ll stay inside 'til somebody finds us / do whatever the TV tells us / stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days." And fuzz is a good way of putting it; it's comfortable, but not entirely exciting. It's shopping at Target and golf at the country club, but not life to the fullest, or the elusive "pursuit of happiness" promised to us.

It seems relevant that in 2007 -- in the midst of a war with no end and the glut of a sub-prime mortgage meltdown -- two works of art come out and to the same concerns about society. And here we are in 2008, our politicians promise "change" and our artists recognize that this numbing groupthink is hurting America (Then We Came to the End was nominated for the National Book Award and The National's Boxer was voted album of the year by Paste magazine), and we still don't have any definitive answers. Just like Emerson didn't advocate changing society, but rather, removal from society, so to do artists in the 21st Century point out the absurdities and inconsistencies of our society and hope that someone out there is listening.

Don't buy EMI's upcoming Radiohead release, The Best Of

I wouldn't usually advocate not purchasing an album that has Radiohead on it, but this is too much.

Radiohead's former record label, Parlophone/EMI, plans to release a greatest hits compilation to coincide with Radiohead's upcoming world tour.

Now, this wouldn't be a problem, except that it reflects the ongoing rivalry between Radiohead and its former label. Radiohead left Parlophone/EMI after the two could not come to terms on renewing their contract (which have been controversial and mysterious). Radiohead subsequently released their latest album In Rainbows independently, first as a name your price download on their Web site, and later through TBD Records.

The rivalry has continued because EMI still owns the rights to Radiohead's back catalog, and continues to milk the Radiohead buzz for their own corporate gain. First, there was the Radiohead box set, which included their entire discography (minus In Rainbows).

Now comes this, a "best of" collection that exists only to profit from Radiohead's growing success as an independent act. True fans will see through EMI's attempt at profiteering from Radiohead's back catalog, and lets not forget that EMI isn't doing so well right now.

Frankly, I'm tired of the major labels trying to catch up to the success of independents, and Radiohead's success is just one more reason why going independent is better. The best musicians out there are already on independent labels anyway.

So don't buy this best of collection. EMI doesn't need your money, and Radiohead is doing fine without them anyway.

Mix Bag #1: Elbow, Books on the Music Industry, and Games to Waste Time and Sharpen Your Mind

Mix Bag is a weekly feature that brings together a random collection of media and highlights why it all matters to you.

Mix Bag #1: Elbow, Books on the Music Industry, and Games to Waste Time and Sharpen Your Mind

Since this is our very first Mix Bag here at There There Kid, we'd like to explain the purpose for this weekly feature. As you may know, There There Kid distinguishes itself from other entertainment related blogs by attempting to connect otherwise disparate works of art or media through central themes. Since there's so much going on out there, Mix Bag is our opportunity to just throw everything we find interesting out there, allowing you to find something new or make your own connections. So, this first Mix Bag might be a little rough, but as we get going, we hope it will develop into an important event on its own.

Let's get started...

The first thing of interest involves music, and there are (finally!) some interesting albums coming out this year. First, Elbow have finally released their third studio album, The Seldom Seen Kid. It's been four years since we've seen this band release new material, so this is nice to see. The thing is, the album's only out in the UK, and won't be released in the US until April 22. However, I have a copy of the album in hand, so expect a review soon (trust me, it's good). Cloud Cult will release their latest, titled Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), on April 8. Plus, there's been a lot of buzz surrounding R.E.M.'s latest Accelerate , which comes out tomorrow. Will Michael Stipe and crew actually wow us, or will Accelerate be as stale as its predecessors? We'll know soon enough. Other interesting new releases include Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks' latest Real Emotional Trash -- which is much more upbeat than the albums that came before it, even if some of the tracks (especially the title track) feel a little stale -- Destroyer's Trouble In Dreams, She & Him's Volume 1 (which has actress Zoey Deschanel on vocals), Spoon's Don't You Evah EP, and the good albums just keep coming. Which is great, because 2008 started off with a lot of disappointment.

On the jazz front, I've had a chance to listen to Dave Douglas & Keystone's Moonshine, and it's a great album, albeit a little weird (but I like weird).

Speaking of all of this great music, I can't help but notice how a majority of it comes from indie label acts. Is there a reason why all of this great music comes from indie labels, while the major labels eat each other whole? According to Dan Kennedy's latest memoir Rock On, the reason is because the music industry is still completely oblivious to what people in the 21st Century still want. Ever since that whole Napster debacle, the RIAA has imploded on itself, causing the rise in indie labels that snatch up the good acts before the "man" gets them. Just take a look at that little Radiohead experiment, or the recent move by well established artists to the Starbucks label. According to the New York Times Book Review, Kennedy "doesn’t expound on the music industry’s decline; instead, he simply lays out reams of damning evidence," and although that seems fairly obvious, Rock On is here to hilariously confirm our worst fears and further the music lover's move to indie.

All of this music industry talk reminded me that Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins is suing his former record label, Virgin Records, for using the band's music in an advertising campaign the band did not approve. We'll see how that one turns out.

In other books news, Owen Shears' Resistance is a novel that, like Phillip Roth's The Plot Against America, revises the history surrounding World War II and Nazi Germany. Shears' novel has the British losing against the Germans in the D-Day invasions, and as German forces attempt to establish themselves, a secret movement against the Germans forms in Britain. I haven't yet read this, but there's supposedly a love story thrown in there as well. Also, I've just discovered Stephanie McMillan, an excellent graphic novelist and comic writer. Blogcritics.org has an interview with Stephanie McMillan up on their site right now, where she explains how she connects comics to the larger good of society: "I think many people want more art that challenges the status quo, and they appreciate it when they find it." True True.

Even if art isn't specifically challenging the status quo, can't it at least challenge the mind? According to the makers of Guest House, there are games that are challenging, yet seem simple on the surface. Of course that seems kind of obvious, until you've played Guest House, then you'll understand that this game is much more complex than it seems. What seems like a simple flash game turns into a real difficult challenge that moves from the surreal to the sublime.

There's so much more we have to cover, but for now, that's it. Next week, we'll dig through a couple more CD's, take a look at some new books, do some critiquing of the media, and find some new time wasters.

Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke and the Endless War in Iraq

Out of all the major upsets, tragedies, and failures America has experienced in this new century, none will be as damaging to American morale as our current war in Iraq. We've just marked two major milestones in Iraq--five years of direct conflict and war, and four thousand troop deaths--and yet, the powers that be, those taking on the unenviable task of trying to fix this mess, have not improved conditions for the Iraqi people or for America's safety and standing in the world.

And yet, we knew it was inevitable. We knew that our relationship with the Middle East was contentious and multi-layered, and that a military occupation of a nation that did not provoke or attack us would stir up resentment and anger in that region. We may never recover from these fractured relationships, much less win militarily.

Those who warned against war in 2003 had their patriotism questioned and their voices silenced, and now that their fears of the worst have come true, they now seem to represent the mainstream opinion. Yet, the Bush administration and Republican Presidential nominee John McCain continue to support this war without an end, and their poll numbers continue to fall.

Of course, the War in Iraq is not the first war America has messed up. The obvious one was Vietnam, but there were plenty that came before that, and even the ones that we won had their problems and setbacks. These wars, and the effects they have on an entire population of people, seem to come and go throughout history. Yet nothing seems to change; every other generation or so, we start the pattern of fear, war, remorse, and peace over again and then promise that we'll never do it again.

Denis Johnson's 2007 novel Tree of Smoke speaks to a war-torn generation in the ways that previous war novels have spoken, and all the elements of a classic are built right in. First, Johnson writes of a different era (the Vietnam war), a grand but elusive objective controlled by the mythical powers that be (the CIA's secret operations), and a resolution that leaves our heroes as washed up failures. Like Joseph Heller's World War II novel Catch-22, Johnson's characters are left without a definitive purpose or objective except to stay alive and trust their commanders. The commanders, and those who assume the roles of authority, have their own things going on and no one knows exactly what might happen.

The novel follows several characters that are directly involved with the Vietnam war effort, but mainly focuses on CIA operative William "Skip" Sands and his uncle Colonel Sands ("the colonel") as they attempt to win the war. The colonel is essentially operating a proxy war through the psy-ops division of the CIA, attempting to attack the Vietcong through double agents and their own superstitions. But as the colonel operates in the shadows of the war, he becomes a larger-than-life myth himself. Those around the colonel see him as much more than a mere operations manager, and the colonel begins to lose focus of the war on the ground.

The colonel will eventually die, but his death will remain a mystery that Skip and the colonel's confidant, Sgt. Jimmy Storm, try to understand and figure out. After the war, both Skip and Storm will attempt to discover the truth behind the colonel's disappearance, and their lives will become muddied versions of the lives they led before the war. The end of the war brings with it disillusionment and sacrifice that is far removed from the idealistic beliefs of morality and justice they were taught.

Just as the title suggests, Johnson's characters operate under the false myths that America's might will ultimately win, and that in a war against an inferior nation, America automatically assumes the role of morality and righteousness. These myths, like the tree of smoke, are abstract; they are impressions of the thing itself, just like a tree of smoke isn't actually a tree, but rather, smoke plumes shaped like a tree. Equally, the title shows Johnson's grasp of the intricate complexities of war. "Tree of smoke" is biblical (“'There shall be blood and fire and palm trees of smoke' - from Joel, wasn’t it?” says a Catholic priest in the novel), but it also represents a philosophy of warfare that the colonel embodies, a "sincere goal for the function of intelligence--restoring intelligence-gathering as the main function of intelligence operations, rather than to provide rationalisations for policy." Essentially, the colonel's proxy war in Vietnam is a war of conflicting cultures and myths that fails, and leavs the characters that surround him confused about their purpose in Vietnam.

It's this idea that permeates throughout entire novel. Johnson's fluid prose style, mixed with the grander themes of war and morality, point to our current war in Iraq. They leave open the many questions we now have about the Bush administration's flawed logic that got us into this war in the first place. Just like the colonel's flawed philosophy regarding the "function of intelligence," the Bush administration's flawed philosophy of pre-emptive war has turned out to be a "tree of smoke" in its own right. The "smoke" just happens to be claims of weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein's plans to attack America, and the exploited fears of American's living in a post-9/11 world.

Most Americans see the war in Iraq with much clearer eyes, and a strong majority of Americans believe it's time to withdraw. As the major characters in Tree of Smoke become confused about their role in the Vietnam War, Americans at home doubted the purpose of the war as well. Sound familiar?

Tree of Smoke may use a historical turning point in American history as a way to tell a fictional story, but its story feels more relevant now than ever before. Five years into it, the Iraq war has no major turning point or sense of resolution, leaving Americans uneasy about the future. Denis Johnson knows this, and so do his readers; the myths that shaped our policies in the past continue to shape our policies now, and America will continue the cycle throughout the rest of the century.

Review: Willing by Scott Spencer

Of all the great thinkers of the 20th Century, Sigmund Freud's theories on the inner workings of the mind have affected our perceptions of reality the most. Freud's psychoanalytic theories have become such a prominent aspect of culture--both pop culture as well as critical theory and analysis--that it has shaped how we view our world, and we've all become a little more self-conscious as a result.

In Willing, author Scott Spencer is clearly playing with some psychoanalytic ideas. He follows in the footsteps of authors such as Vladimir Nabokov and Saul Bellow by revealing plot through the skewed lens of his protagonist Avery Jankowsky. Of course, what we are allowed to see is never the full truth, and we must take Avery's experiences at face value.

Willing follows Avery, a 37-year-old Manhattan freelance journalist whose young girlfriend Deirdre cheats on him with her grad school classmate Osip. When Avery finds out about the affair, he falls into a deep funk. Unable to find decent freelance work, his uncle refers him to his longtime friend Lincoln Castle, who hosts (at $135,000 a trip) a world sex tour for wealthy executives. Avery sees a book opportunity, gets a book deal, and embarks on the sex tour to "research" for his book.

Of course, Spencer doesn't let his protagonist off with an easy assignment like that, and Avery faces his own personal demons along the way. Despite declaring himself as "the guy in the stands at the World Series, ...[with] his hand on his heart and his eyes bright with belief," Avery has a past that haunts him. The first sign that something is not all right with Avery is the way he internalizes his mother's four past marriages, his "four fathers" that he wears with pride in public but rejects in private. Not only does Avery deal with his own father issues, he has to face his mother's overbearing nature both directly and indirectly.

As a result of Avery's inner struggles, Spencer suggests that what's more important in Willing is not the bawdiness of a sex tour, or even the outright hypocrisy of those rich CEO types on the tour, but the conflicts faced by a man who has never actually confronted them. For example, Avery's mother seeks him throughout the novel (Avery keeps "seeing" his mother in various locations around the world) and Avery must face her directly in the middle of his sex tour escapades. Avery's response is not to assert himself as an adult male, but rather to seek her comfort. He also never faces his reaction to Dierdre's infidelity; even as he desperately wants to be with her, he assumes that his own insecurities will never allow him to connect with her directly. Avery's whole bizarre, textbook Oedipal complex approach to life is both pathetic and comic at the same time.

One of Willing's strengths, and a strength of Spencer's prose style in general, is that we never know where reality and the fantasy of Avery's narration actually meet. There is a dreamlike quality to the entire novel, and Avery's self-deprecating tone and recollection of events is full of the random and surreal. Spencer reflects this dreamlike quality on a technical level as well through his lack of quotation marks and stripped-down dialog.

Even though Spencer is successful in creating a bizarre, psycho-sexual narrator and protagonist, he is not as successful with some of the basic elements of continuity and plot. At times, Avery's experiences don't make sense. For example, Avery is able to secure a $400,000 book deal within 24 hours after sending off his pitch, justifying his sex tour trip. I wish I lived in that type of world, where a struggling freelance journalist can sign an amazing book contract deal that fast. Spencer also loses the reader at the end, when Lincoln Castle kicks Avery off the sex tour because of a string of unfortunate events and because he was "pulling the plugs out of computers" at his Reykjavik hotel. Seems like such a minor reason to be kicked off a sex tour. At the same time, Spencer's comic portrayal of Avery's antics makes up for it, even if it's a bit unbelievable.

Willing may have its flaws, but it is, for the most part, an enjoyable read. Spencer's portrayal of Avery is hilarious, and Avery's personal demons interweave with the plot well. Willing leaves the reader with an understanding that, in this world of psychoanalysis and obsession, there is still hope to laugh at our mistakes.

Rating: 6/10

Originally published at Blogcritics.org: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/27/050653.php

Old articles now up

I've added a few older articles up here to give you readers a perspective on what we're looking for on this site. It's a start, but still not fully what we'll be doing here.

In the next week, I'll have some original articles up here that will give more perspective.

For now, send me an e-mail if you'd like to make a suggestion or want more information.

Also, check out our submission guidelines.

Just getting started

Yesterday, I kicked off this blog with a brief introduction and statement explaining what I hope to do with this thing. Now comes the fun part: getting started.

I've posted a submissions guidelines page because we'd like to get more writers on board. I don't think this thing will work the way I want it to without some varying perspectives on the world.

Right now, I'm leaving this thing open to all types of media and art. However, you'll notice the sub-heading at the top says this site is "A weblog of mixed media + cultural criticism with a literary bent," well, that's just my own perspective because of my own experiences. I know literature, I don't know other forms of art nearly as well (except music, I guess). So that's another reason why I want other writers. The "literary bent" I'm looking for is that I think literature works best when it's allowed to connect with the society that created it, and I think the same applies for other works of media/art.

You'll see a lot of archived reviews, opinions, and essays on the state of the world show up on the site in the next few days. Once I have some of those older articles up, I'll start posting some original stuff that'll be exclusive to the site. Of course, if I get any new writers, I'll add their stuff as well.

For now, sit back and enjoy.

--Kevin