Monster Eyes

A couple nights ago, my Tootie and I attended the last of the Seattle Arts and Lecture series for 2007, Jonathan Lethem talking about 'insteadness', which is the concept of talking about something instead of what's really going on. I interpreted this as an extension of his essay called "The Beards" (from The Disappointment Artist,) which talked about his writing about anything but the elephant in the room (the loss of his mother at a young age.) Lethem confessed as much last night.

Last night? Lethem provided the keynote address at the 2007 Pop Conference, at EMP here in Seattle. Beforehand, I had a chance to ask him about "The Beards" and it's relationship to 'insteadness,' and he admitted that's an extension of that thought. Where "The Beards" is more a personal 'code ring' to reading the earlier works of Lethem, 'insteadnes' is meant to apply to mass media and our propensity to want to be diverted from looking directly at 'the blood.' Instead we get celebrity gossip, who's baby's daddy, Don Imus, Simon Cowell's rolling of the eyes, and now Alec Baldwin's phone message to his daughter.

Anyway, back to last night, Lethem spoke of the inherent charlatanry of Rock, and our need and want to be thrilled by the poses that our favorite artists put forth. Lethem likened his writing to that, saying he likes to jump into things he's certainly no authority on, because what comes forth from walking that tightrope is far more interesting then the comfy nest of what you know, and thus he's sort of 'faking' it. To that point, his latest novel, You Don't Love Me Yet is set in Los Angeles and is about an indie rock band, two things that Lethem felt interested in, but not too knowledgable in. After I told him about my Novel Sndtrck project I did on his book, and the double-cd's I made for my bookclubbers (he also did one,) he handed me a mix cd he made for You Don't Love Me Yet, called "Monster Eyes," (download via The Village Voice) which is the title of the one semi-hit that the fictional band in his book acheived.

Playlist: Monster Eyes (Novel Sndtrck from Lethem's You Don't Love Me Yet

This Novel Sndtrck features tracks from The Vulgar Boatmen (where the book title comes from,) Yo La Tengo, Spoon, Wire and Camper Van Beethoven, so it's another good one.

After the talk, we all went out for dinner down the street, and I found myself across the table from this man I admire very much, sharing similar stories about vivid memories of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door." I maintained composure and didn't fall into 'fan boy' mode, but I think he could tell I was at least somewhat in awe of him (I am.)

Previously:
The blog is a beard (Lethem's The Disappointment Artist)
Novel Sndtrck: Lethem's Fortress of Solitude

tags: books, jonathan lethem, music, 2007 pop conference, soundtrack, you don't love me yet, insteadness