Don’t ask me why I was looking at James Frey’s MySpace page, but I was, and I found out he’s flying right over Chicago on the tour for his latest book. I’d like to think he’s avoiding us because he knows we’re too discerning for him, but I know it’s really because he’s scared of Oprah.

From today’s Tribune:

When First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna read to Naperville 2nd graders Monday for a national tour promoting their new children’s book, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience…”I see right now in the country there is so much competition for children: television, computers, video games. Children are not sitting down with a good book like I used to do. Reading is a wonderful way to improve yourself,” Laura Bush said.

I hate that I agree with Lar about anything.  Shudder.

I remember the first time I caught a glimpse of The Facade Project on Western Ave., as I was stopped at a red light underneath the brown line tracks. I hadn’t been in Chicago long and didn’t know who was responsible or what the building was, but clearly the black & white grid of faces mounted on the windows was meant to remind the rest of us that there were a lot of dead soldiers in Iraq. It was hard to look away. Compelling in its blunt simplicity, the Facade Project is an unhappy reminder delivered in the form of a thoughtful art piece.

Poet Jennifer Karmin believes it’s an artist’s responsibility to remind people what is happening in the world, and show them how to think about these things in new ways. For 4000 WORDS 4000 DEAD, she’s collecting 4000 words for a public poem to read aloud at Looptopia this weekend, then she’ll distribute the words to passing pedestrians. Says Karmin, "For Looptopia, I want to literally bring this war back home to people in the United States and create a memorial for the dead. In an era where we don’t see images of our dead — of body bags and coffins, I think the number 4000 is a smack of reality."

Art & politics don’t always mix well. But politics can be powerful inspiration, and projects like 4000 WORDS, 4000 DEAD can be a more convincing & effective form of protest than, say, confrontational marchers waving "fuck bush" signs, who often alienate people with their anger instead of giving them something to think about. Agree? Then contribute to 4000 WORDS: Karmin will be taking submissions until Wednesday, April 30. And check out the reading at Looptopia on May 2, where Karmin will also be performing her companion piece to 4000 WORDS 4000 DEAD, Revolutionary Optimism.

Friday, May 2nd
5pm beginning in front of the Vietnam War Memorial
Wabash & Wacker along the Chicago River

8:30pm ending at the DePaul Center
1 East Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL

SUBMISSION DEADLINE
*April 30, 2008

SUBMIT:
*Send 1 – 10 words

CONTACT:
*Email submission with subject 4000 WORDS
to jkarmin@yahoo.com

Time magazine just published an article about that internal battle between (”sensitive” “paranoid”) writers and (”cloddish”) editors. It’s written from the point of view of a freelance writer who was an editor for many years. Truth on both ends, I’m afraid. But I’m an editor–what do I know?

I was watching a video of a David Foster Wallace lecture from 2006 (please don’t hate me) when I realized something deeply disturbing. Draw your own conclusions:

Mac Arthur-Sanctioned Genius David Foster Wallace (b. 2/21/1962)

Poison Frontman/Rock of Love Star Bret Michaels (b. 3/15/1963)

Whether it’s objectively disturbing or one in a series of signs of my decaying mental state is not for me to judge. I would like to say that Rock of Love takes irony to dizzying new lows, and I would like to take us back to this 1993 interview with DFW, where he says something that should serve as a warning to all we sneering Rock of Love fans:

Postmodern irony and cynicism’s become an end in itself, a measure of hip sophistication and literary savvy. Few artists dare to try to talk about ways of working toward redeeming what’s wrong, because they’ll look sentimental and naive to all the weary ironists. Irony’s gone from liberating to enslaving. There’s some great essay somewhere that has a line about irony being the song of the prisoner who’s come to love his cage.

In other news, Daisy is TOTALLY going to win.

Date: Monday, April 7, 2008
Time: Performance at 8:00 p.m.
Location: Weegee’s Lounge 3659 W. Armitage Ave.
Participant: Mark Grapey

by Edward Hemingway, illustrator

The Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago continues to celebrate its newest selection, The Long Goodbye. Veteran Chicago actor Mark Grapey will be reading a scene from Chandler’s Noir classic. I for one am excited to see the library venturing out to neighborhood spots. Weegee’s, named after photojournalist Arthur Fellig a.k.a. “Weegee,” seems perfectly suited to the genre. Fellig is best known for his black-and-white street-life photography, which captured everything from crime scenes to car wrecks during the 40s and 50s.

I’m sure Chandler would agree. Be sure to have a gin gimlet in honor of the man.

From The Long Goodbye:
“I like bars just after they open for the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny and the barkeep is giving himself that last look in the mirror to see if his tie is straight and his hair is smooth. I like the neat bottles on the bar back and the lovely shining glasses and the anticipation. I like to watch the man mix the first one of the evening and put it down on a crisp mat and put the little folded napkin beside it. I like to taste it slowly. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar — that’s wonderful.”

I agreed with him.

“Alcohol is like love,” he said. “The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl’s clothes off.”

Chicagoist already posted about locally-based American Library Association’s goofball videos for National Library Week, but I’d like to add the links to a few of the individual ones that have been making me giggle over the past week. I’d also like to note that some of my favorite people are quirky ALA‘ers. Long live libraries!

Read the recent New Yorker with the Jeffrey Eugenides story set in Chicago? Opinions I’ve heard thus far have been mixed, but I like that it evokes Chicago’s class issues and deal-making traditions in a classic storytelling-tradition kind of way. And the Tocqueville stuff is pretty cool. (It’s a long one; print it out at work.) And thanks for the tipoff, Jeb!

Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m. / $10, $8 for students, call (312) 899-1229 for tickets.
Location: Rubloff Auditorium / Art Institute of Chicago / 280 South Columbus Drive
Participants: Mary Oliver (sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and the Poetry Center of Chicago)

Mary Oliver is known for work based in the natural world. Humorous and frank, she sometimes addresses poems to her dog, which, amazingly doesn’t serve to lower her status as a first rate (and highly acclaimed) poet. In fact, she just sold out a 2,700-seat concert hall in Seattle. According to the Poetry Foundation, thus far in the 21st century, Mary Oliver’s only competitors for “bestselling American poet” have been Billy Collins and whoever is the current U.S. poet laureate. Her work and an ode to it can be found here and here.

Oliver’s bio can be found here, and her honors include an American Academy of Arts & Letters Award, a Lannan Literary Award, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Prize and Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. If you’ve never seen her read, well, keep in mind that she’s 71, and this event is a middling $10. Just saying.