Hallelujah and Hail Satan
Mark Asch04.25.08
It’s not unusual for a rock musician—like Robert Johnson playing the blues—to have sympathy for the Devil. Mark Asch takes us to the crossroads, where Black Sabbath, The Mountain Goats’s John Darnielle, and the Man of Wealth and Taste himself commune.
Sitter
Rachel Sherman04.22.08
Like the teacher who thought you’d amount to nothing, or the boy in the third grade with the runny nose you couldn’t help having a secret crush on, it isn’t easy to forget your babysitters. Bet none of them were like this one. Fanzine first encountered Rachel Sherman, author of The First Hurt (a finalist for the 2006 Frank O’Connor prize), on Jaime Clarke’s Talk Show column. Here she brings to the table a flash work of fiction. Art by Danny Jock.
American Experience: Roberto Clemente
Dallas Hudgens04.20.08
Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente had a laser arm, a champion’s career, a humanitarian’s way, and a tragic end to his life in heroic fashion. Dallas Hudgens, author of the recent novel Season of Gene, explores the man’s life through the lens on the new special on PBS’ American Experience that premieres this Monday the 21st of April. Drawing by Danny Jock.
Hockey Night: an occasional column
Michael Louie04.17.08
Procrastination be damned! Mike Louie is an unabashed Philadelphia Flyers fan and this column is one in an occasional series he will write on sports, particularly the NHL Playoffs, which have been underway for about a week now. This time he responds to the Washington Post’s Mike Wise, who, in a bad attempt to imitate one of Louie’s favorite writers, ended up looking foolish across the Internet by scribbling not the best informed column about the Flyers-Capitals game Tuesday night.
Talk Show 11: with Jon Clinch, Don Lee, Robert Anthony Siegel, Alix Strauss, & Sean Wilsey
Jaime Clarke04.13.08
My first car was a ’76 Toyota Corolla "Honcho" station wagon, bright orange with faux wood siding. You could start it with a butter knife and when going down hills you could turn it in such a way that it would slide like a good grind on a skateboard. Threw a rod on it, then it sat till the Chatahoochee flooded it… Anyway, this ain’t my story… Jaime Clarke talks to writers Jon Clinch, Don Lee, Robert Anthony Siegel, Alix Strauss, and Sean Wilsey about their first automobiles. Art by Danny Jock.
Tom Fischer is Dead (but still giving interviews)
Adam Ganderson04.07.08
Though he may blog now at a site called fischerisdead, Hellhammer founding member Tom (Warrior) Fischer, one of the originators of the black metal sound, is still very alive and talking. Adam Ganderson catches up with Fischer on the cusp of the launch of a book about Fischer’s short lived, legendary band.
Gatlinburg
Douglas Light04.03.08
Here’s a deft dab of a story by Douglas Light, author of the 2006 Benjamin Frankling Award winning novel, East Fifth Bliss. In it, a couple, soon to be ‘Life-mate’s, find themselves at an impasse of words.
Entrance Wounds: Richard Foreman’s Deep Trance Behavior in Potato Land
Thom Donovan04.01.08
Richard Foreman’s productions from his ontological hysterical theater are experiences of ideas, rather than psychodramas. Difficult to surmise (and harder to blurb), Foreman’s most recent play Deep Trance Behavior in Potato Land delves further into the director’s – of late – multimedia fancy. Orient yourself here with Thom Donovan’s review, then if you can, go see the play (which has been extended til April 27th) where you can expect to be disoriented (orientalist pun?…sic).
Curtains for Richard Widmark
Kevin Killian03.28.08
“Has any star, bar Arthur Kennedy, been so unjustly forgotten?” writes Kevin Killian about screen legend Richard Widmark, who died this week at age 93. If you’re under 40, you probably know Widmark only as a staple of 1970s schlock—a supporting star in everything from Murder on the Orient Express to Rollercoaster to The Swarm and Coma. But as Killian argues, Widmark was a precursor of the Robert DeNiro school, an actor who plumbed the timorous and venal corridors of the American male psyche before it was fashionable to do so.
Talk Show 10: with Brock Clarke, Elizabeth Gaffney, Felicia Sullivan, and Jen Trynin
Jaime Clarke03.26.08
Well we’ve all had ’em, shitty jobs, and more often than not that’s been the case for those illustrious folks self-proclaimed as or who have otherwise earned the title "writer."…because writing, often doesn’t pay, well, shit. Or that’s this editor’s experience anyway. But enough from the blurber, let’s hear the shizzle on scheisse jobs from a batch of fine true writers – Brock Clarke, Elizabeth Gaffney, Felicia C. Sullivan, and Jen Trynin, all in conversation with host Jaime Clarke. Art by Danny Jock.
