Book Sounds

Shelving has its own madness. Bumbling, fumbling with new titles. Pushing, shoving old ones. It all deserves a theme, a song, a tune. Perhaps this?

All hail the Devil's Chord!

Tritone. The Devil’s Interval. Augmented fourth. It’s a musical interval that spans three whole tones and was known as diabolus in musica for much of the mid-section of the last millennium. The Church was nervous that it caused demonic ecstasies and banned it for a long time. Now it’s everywhere: Rush’s “YYZ,” Liszt’s “Dante Sonata,” most of King Crimson’s albums, West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and the theme music to the Simpsons. Appropriately, its most comfortable home is heavy metal. Metal-influence Jimi Hendrix used it in “Purple Haze,” Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath” (called the first modern metal song by a certain reader of this blog) is all over it, as is Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” And I’m sure most of you know that Slayer even has an album called Diabolus in Musica. What does this all mean? Probably that Satan likes to rock out but isn’t too uppity to enjoy a good musical or classic science fiction film. What about the store? Well, even though we love the Taschen Icons: Devils book and the crazy Krampus postcard collection, Subterranean Books is not and never will be a Satanic bookstore…officially…yet.

Sunday Bicycle Club

A young Frank Zappa on the Steve Allen Show gives a demonstration on how to play the bicycle. Note: no facial hair.

--Jason

Notes From Home series

We're selling tickets for the Jessica Haines, Mark Kaiser & Friends show at the Sheldon. It's part of the fabulous Notes from Home series that the Sheldon runs every year. The tickets are $6.00 (plus$.75 if you want to charge or debit them) and the show is Tuesday, July 25, at 7:30 pm. As a bonus, Mark Kaiser and friends will be playing at 6pm outside the store today (Saturday) for free. And what a lovely day it is.
---Kelly

Walk Right Up, Step Right In

Our photo album is now go. Do yinz want to see pictures of the store? Are y'all dying to see Matt Kindt do his thing? Click here or

Four Way Seven

No change in the top six this week, but four books are tied for seventh. They’re all good, and they’re all within one sale of Mr. Moore’s loving tribute to Guy Fawkes.

John Perkins : Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Haruki Murakami : Kafka on the Shore
Chuck Klosterman : Killing Yourself to Live
Frank Warren : PostSecret

Storm of 'Aught Six

Electricity is good. I don't care what John Zerzan says. And, boy, do we have it here. The air conditioning is so cold, I have a sweater on. Somehow the Loop escaped Mother Nature's wrath and we are living the high life. Feel free to join us. And don't let the five thousand non-working traffic signals between there and here deter you. It's worth it. The hair, though, not so good. Have they invented battery-powered hair dryers, yet?

---Kelly

There’s a used copy

…of Jessica Abel’s La Perdida in the store, and one of you folks should be its next parent. Abel (of Artbabe fame) gets that perfect balance between text and image—a true graphic novel. The story is of a half-Mexican, half-American who heads south to Mexico City to discover her roots. At times she plays tourist, other times ex-pat, and ultimately she finds herself a “lost girl,” seemingly naïve in a culture that is both hers and not. Abel has a really nice expressive style, and her story is exciting, sad, and disturbing all at the same time. There’s also an extensive set of notes in the back that defines Mexican Spanish terms and gives a cultural brief of everything from the Blue Demon to Mazunte. Not to be missed.

And now...In The Gallery...

...The Fabulous Marianne Pepper. Starting this Friday, July 21, with a fun and exciting opening reception at the store from 7-9pm. I really really like Marianne's work. She is a local photographer with a long St. Louis history and quite the cult following. The work she will be showing in our space is called Attempts to Communicate and will feature paired photographs that somehow visually relate to one another. They are great fun. The show will be up through Sunday, August 20. And a bonus for all you less-than-wealthy, she will offer both framed and unframed prints for sale. Yes! And, Marianne's opening is the same night as the way cool ArtLoop Gallery Hop. That means there will be 12 (or so) spaces up and down the Loop with free food and wine. Art is good.

---Kelly

Four Words

Superman is a hunk. Wolverine has been replaced.

---Kelly

In the womb chamber this weekend

Today the eight millionth film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel opens at the Tivoli. PKD adaptations have come in every form from groundbreaking (Blade Runner) to Hollywood big budget (Total Recall, Minority Report) to utterly forgettable and passed by (Imposter). It’s a little irritating that by the time I’m fifty almost every Dick novel or story will have seen the screen. Especially since it all comes after he’s been long dead. However, I have hope for A Scanner Darkly. Linklater is a Dick fan, and the trailer makes the film appear to be faithful to the novel (though I’m not always sure that’s good). I’m a little nervous about Keanu. Neo and Agent Fred/Bob Arctor are miles apart. But here’s hoping for at least some minor entertainment.

Also, there’s a real gem playing at Webster Saturday night: Louis Malle’s Ascenseur pour l’echafaud (it’s gone by different English titles—Webster’s calling it Elevator to the Gallows). A perfect murder is only perfect until one loose end is left dangling (literally!). Beautiful noir goodness with an excellent jazz score by Miles Davis. Don’t miss this one chance to see it on the big screen.
--Jason

She Used to Have A Carefree Mind of Her Own

I started reading Veronica by Mary Gaitskill (which JUST came out in paperback). I'm enjoying it although it is a really fast read. I wish I understood how that is accomplished--how it is that if you were reading it out loud you would be speakingveryquickly. Anyway, the only issue I have is that Elvis Costello is now CONSTANTLY in my head. CONSTANTLY. Which, on the whole, is not so bad. Who hasn't had some horrible (which Elvis is NOT) and terribly addicting song stuck in her mind? Lately I've been obsessing over some things I really ought not be thinking about and (on the upside) I'm hoping Mr. Costello will purge all that. He's certainly making a go of it. And since it's reading so quickly, I'll probably be done with it by the weekend, and the whole issue will be moot. So, I'm giving you a head's up, expect a little Elvis thrown in with your Veronica when you get to this one.

---Kelly

Old Time Religion

When I was in graduate school, Dennis Covington’s Salvation On Sand Mountain was a controversial book. My school was quite particular about “human subjects.” If you merely wanted to conduct a short interview with someone for research purposes, you had to go through a lot of red tape with a department of human subjects that monitored such a process. In theory, this was all for the protection of both the interviewee and interviewer, and everything had to have clear boundaries. For instance, say you wanted to research religious snake handling in Appalachia, you certainly wouldn’t have been allowed to handle snakes yourself or, perhaps worse yet, actually preach at one the churches you’re studying. Luckily, Covington wasn’t an academic at my school, he would have been thrown out, but he did stir up a lot of debate there when his book came out. Why? Because he did handle snakes, he did preach, and he was constantly crossing personal and professional lines. Somehow while researching and writing about the Glenn Summerford attempted murder trial (Summerford was convicted of trying to kill his wife by forcing her at gunpoint to stick her hands in the cages of venomous snakes) for the New York Times, his quest to find family identity and ethnic roots got tied up with a group of snake handlers meeting in the rural areas of Alabama. What follows is a strange and honest essay about his own relationship with the Spirit, the intricate and political relationships in rural church life, and patriarchy. Not a small task or a light subject.

But if your tastes are less exotic, you may prefer Jack Miles’ God: A Biography. Miles knows his stuff; he’s a former Catholic seminarian. He takes the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures and looks at it from the point of view of a literary critic. What kind of character is God? What are Her/His motivations? What can we tell from His/Her actions? It’s all really fascinating stuff. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), God isn’t always clear in conviction, action, word, or promise. And He/She often exhibits the same fears, angers, loves, and frustrations as humans. But is that surprising from a literary character? There's also a sequel: Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God.

--Jason

Super Spy is About to Escape

I'm finding it almost impossible to believe that an entire month has passed since the Super Spy Exhibit went in but, alas, it has. This is your LAST WEEKEND to catch Dead Drop if you have not already done so. It SEEMS like the entire world has stopped in--more of the Super Spy artwork has sold than any other show by far. And it is so worth it. The drawings are amazing and the concept is so very clever. It has been a fun show to host. Soon (I promise) I'll get some pictures up from the opening.

---Kelly

Fun With Numbers

If you haven't yet noticed, Jason updates the store's bestseller list every week. It's located on the sidebar to the left. For the past several weeks it has been mostly the same titles jockeying back and forth (although Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs is FAR AND AWAY the consistent # 1. Still.) Jason and I were talking yesterday about what an odd list it is. There can't be any other store in the country whose bestsellers are the same as ours, and WE LOVE THAT. It's one of the things, I think, that makes indies so cool. Probably every store has a unique bestseller list that reflects its staff and its customers. And I know we wouldn't want it any other way. Our list is so "High Culture to Subculture" it's almost funny. How often does Orwell rub up against Klosterman? And V for Vendetta in the same room as Better Off? Cool. And who on earth sells as many copies of Hesse's Fairy Tales as we do? That one stumps us every week.

---Kelly

Sale? SALE!

For those of you on our mailing list you got a very subdued heads-up on our forthcoming sale. But this really is a HUGE DEAL. From Wednesday, July 5 through July 31 we are slashing the prices on the USED BOOKS in a number of sections, including: military history, American history, civil war, American political biographies, Native American studies, African-American studies, sports, antiques and collectibles, and design. REALLY. And the sale books are all 30% OFF. Yippee! So if you've been eyeing that obscure, but very necessary, civil war tome, now's your chance. Or, if you've really been wanting to get into interior design and want to start building a cheap library, get 'em while they last.

---Kelly

Long Live Firecrackers

Hooray for Firecracker Press. If you go here you can see a replay of their wonderful segment on Channel 9. And if you look closely, you'll see the giant poster in the background for Manual Feed, the show Eric had at Subterranean.

---Kelly

A Musical Interlude

Dude, Jason's right. YouTube is a GIANT can of worms. It is a major timesuck and it totally rocks. I came across this English bookseller's blog and he has some sort of tradition of posting a music video on Mondays to wake people up (I presume). Well one of the videos he had posted was from my other current musical obsession Gogol Bordello. So I thought I would pass it on to you. Those fabulous dj's at KDHX were the first to turn me on to them and I was lucky enough to catch their show at The Creepy Crawl. Although my aversion to the pit during the show painfully reinforced the fact that I am aging. This is them performing Not a Crime live on Later with Jools Holland, which appears to be a British TV show. Ooh, now I'm going to check for some Brazilian Girls footage.

---Kelly

Gogol Bordello - Not a Crime

In Psych Low Pea Dee Awe

I’m no A.J. Jacobs, but I do enjoy reading a good encyclopedia from cover to cover. They often have the same appealing qualities as a fine novel: character development, thematic unity, and the occasional brilliant non sequitur or subplot. Two of my favorites are the Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices by Brenda Love and R.A. Wilson’s Everything is Under Control. The first made me realize that everything from the smell of rotten apples to hairy backs to the color green is a fetish for someone. The second made me realize that I’m a MK-Ultra experiment gone wrong, Ronald Reagan was a robot, and Truth is as debatable as scores in figure skating.

Now I’ve never been much for subjective sports like skating, but I do have a certain fondness and sympathy for the marginalized in society. With that in mind, I’ve been reading Marc Hartzman’s American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History’s Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers and enjoying the heck out of it. He covers the three main eras of circus oddities and sideshow performers: Golden Age (1830s-early 1900s), Silver Age (1919-1970s), and the current rival. So everyone from Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy and Tom Thumb to Michael Wilson, Jim Rose, and the Bindlestiff Family. By the way, Javier and I once left a Bindlestiff performance completely scandalized. Well, I left scandalized, Javier left with a Bindlestiff t-shirt.

Anyway, the book is fascinating. I’ve learned that in Barnum’s day (the Golden Age), many of the performers were real celebrities and earned more in a week (even in the 19th century) than I do now (are you reading this K & J?). That’s not to say there wasn’t any exploitation. For instance, Julia Pastrana, a Mexican woman billed as “the Ugliest Woman in the World,” married her manager Theodore Lent, who seemed mostly interested in her market value. Proof? Well, when they had their first and only child, he was ecstatic that the boy had the same maladies and bodily afflictions as his wife (she was not). Both the boy and Julia died shortly after the son’s birth, and Lent continued to exhibit their embalmed bodies as evolutionary “missing links.” He also married another hairy woman, re-christened her “Zenora Pastrana,” and claimed she was his dead first wife’s sister.

--Jason

Snakes On A Plane

I knew nothing about the film until I heard this story on NPR back in March. I didn’t think much more of it until recently. I was at the Esquire, seeing a film in the main theater, when the trailer played and the audience cheerfully erupted. Later, I looked around on the net and found all these blogs, songs, parodies etc. All about a film that hasn’t been released yet. So what’s the deal? Is it the kitsch factor? Is it Samuel L. Jackson? Is it the combination of two great fears—flying and snakes? Do you even care?

--Jason