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Nanocelebrity - De File
Does Collecting Make You Feel Dirty?
12:44 am August 25th, 2005
cbertsch
cbertsch
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Nanocelebrity
My friends catfishvegas and kdotdammit have already spilled the legumes on this one, but I thought I'd better wait until the new Tucson Weekly was officially live before directing you to my presence within its pages. Thanks to the graciousness of music writer Annie Holub, I have become the latest individual subjected to "Nine Questions." Not only that, I'm sporting my best deranged rabbinical student look, from a self-portrait taken this past winter, when I was beset with maleficient maladies. I'm hoping that even those of you who know me well will be surprised -- whether pleasantly or not -- with some of my responses. I'm not going to tell you how long I held that proverbial gun to my head for the final question, but rest assured that I gave it tremendous thought.

I'm happy with my choice of the 2-CD reissue of Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted as my favorite album of all time. Runners-up included two other Pavement albums, The Beatles' Revolver (which would have annoyed Steven no end), Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, The Cure's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Wilco's Being There, The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet, Prince's 1999, and -- I almost picked this one in Joel's honor -- Fleetwood Mac's Rumors. There would have been something from Joy Division and New Order in the list of finalists as well, but I'd want a greatest hits selection from either band and felt that, while I could cheat a little by picking an expanded reissue, I couldn't cheat a lot by opting for something that was never released as an album. Besides, if I started going down the greatest hits path, I would have to have thrown in The Clash. And if I'd thrown in The Clash, I would have to have thrown in Buddy Holly. And if I'd thrown in Buddy Holly, I would have to have thrown in Elvis. How does that children's book go? "If you give a mouse a cookie..."

Mode: bemused
Muse: A Rose For Emily - The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle (Expanded)
22 comments or Leave a comment
Comments
Thread started by marcegoodman
From: marcegoodman Date: August 25th, 2005 08:51 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Congrats! This must conform to some notion of "having arrived". I confess to having fantasized about being asked to answer "Nine Questions" myself. Confluences/coincidences:
a) Darn near grabbed S & E Deluxe off the shelf to listen to in the car today-grabbed Jason Faulkner's "Can You Still Feel?" instead (another of the great Nigel Godrich-produced records along with Mutations, Terror Twilight, and the many Radioheads).
b) Decided while walking across the Costco parking lot this evening that New Order's "Brotherhood" would be in my top ten if anyone ever asked me
c) I've been thinking about the Cure recently having never given them their due respect at the time besides liking everything I've ever heard of theirs on the radio. Must say I've loved their New Order "hommages" as much as I love Wire's, Pete Yorn's, etc.
d) Hey, I've got Scoundrel Days too. Even the Penguin Jazz Guide guys have had a nice thing to say about a-Ha.
e) I'm guessing your Revolver is the UK version which raises it that much higher in the pantheon.
f) Daydream Nation did seem to announce something dramatically new at the time, didn't it? I bought my cassette copy at the late lamented Leopold's, how about you?
(Reply) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 25th, 2005 02:10 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Great minds obviously think alike. . . :-)

I haven't heard that Faulkner in a long time. Brotherhood is probably my favorite New Order album as album. But too many of my favorite New Order songs are not on it for me to include it. I've been a huge Cure fan since before starting undergrad. They are definitely an acquired taste. But once one has acquired it, most other pop music sounds bland and lacking in individuality, particularly where the vocals are concerned. Scoundrel Days is really quite beautiful. My sister -- four years my junior -- was really into a-Ha in junior high, the record with "Take On Me" and its follow-up. By the time Scoundrel Days came out she had largely moved on. But I remain nostalgic for her youthful taste. I was thinking of the CD version of Revolver, which has those great songs like "And Your Bird Can Sing" that were left off the American LP. Daydream Nation I purchased at Rasputin's my freshman year at Berkeley. This is fun. We need to do it more often.
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Thread started by zoe k.
From: zokah Date: August 25th, 2005 10:22 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I mentioned to Steve R. sometime ago in a comment far away how easily star struck I am. My star struckness with regards to you is only increased with this music feature in your local weekly as I was already struck with the latest issue of Tikkun

Sir, it's mighty good to know you!

(couldn't disagree with a one on your list of gun-to-your-head favorites!)
(Reply) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 25th, 2005 01:55 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Thank you! You're up rather late. I hope it's not insomnia. Is Tikkun out? I had a review I wrote back in May that had been delayed. I hope I don't get Kim's bug.
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From: zokah Date: August 25th, 2005 03:34 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Yes, the Sept/Oct issue is on the newsstands. It's great to see your name in there! When did Joel become the managing editor? I pick it up every couple of months as I'm not the biggest M. Lerner fan, but I wanted the Uri Avnery interview on hand while writing about Gaza.

Insomnia. Thinking about CATS. Thinking about writing. You know the usual.

Take Vitamin C!
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 26th, 2005 06:47 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I already wrote a reply to your comment this afternoon, but it never showed up. . .

Joel started there last year. The magazine has gotten a lot sharper as a result of his presence, if you ask me, particularly where its cultural coverage is concerned. It now appeals to people of our generation in a way that it never did when the Boomers had total control.

I'm taking so much Vitamin C I feel like a box of orange juice.
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Thread started by the third hour of the night
amnesiascope From: amnesiascope Date: August 25th, 2005 02:24 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Rush, 1984.

We are everywhere.
(Reply) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 25th, 2005 02:29 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
How I remember the lighter held aloft for "Closer To the Heart"!
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amnesiascope From: amnesiascope Date: August 25th, 2005 02:35 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Do you remember the video for "Sugarcube"?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 25th, 2005 02:47 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
No, I don't. I have a spotty history of video watching. What was it like?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
amnesiascope From: amnesiascope Date: August 25th, 2005 02:50 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
The cast of Mr. Show plays record label execs who send Yo La Tengo to "Rock School" to teach them to rock out and, so, earn more cash for the label. Odenkirk and Cross play the Rock School teacher, Odenkirk's face painted Paul Stanley-like. There's a moment in the middle of the video with the rock school class sitting around a tree on the quad and Odenkirk's reading the lyrics to "Closer to the Heart" as poetry. Brilliant.
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amnesiascope From: amnesiascope Date: August 25th, 2005 02:52 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
You can find it here.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
bitterlawngnome From: bitterlawngnome Date: August 25th, 2005 02:38 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
So funny. To me they will always be the stoners from the susburbs who played grad parties when I was a kid. I forget that Americans actually know who they are.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 25th, 2005 02:47 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Most of them, of course, were either stoners from the suburbs or wanna-be stoners from the suburbs. I fell into the latter category, alas.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
Comment by So What? Kim Dot Dammit Live
kdotdammit From: kdotdammit Date: August 25th, 2005 02:57 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Rush sucks.
(Reply) (Thread)
Comment by marcegoodman
From: marcegoodman Date: August 25th, 2005 08:37 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
On the face of it this is hard to dispute, but as a belated convert I prefer to say they rock with a pathetic grandeur. Oh, and I should have said I've got Hunting High and Low and still "need" Scoundrel Days.
(Reply) (Thread)
Thread started by Anonymous
From: (Anonymous) Date: August 26th, 2005 05:03 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

what, no sandinista? no tago mago?
lord, the desert has done wierd things to you. at least you didn't include Tumors. I mean Rumors.

MC Kosher P
(Reply) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 26th, 2005 05:34 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Re: what, no sandinista? no tago mago?
My goodness, MC Kosher P, don't you realize that all but one of those "finalists" -- Wilco's Being There wasn't released until 1996 -- would have been on my list a decade ago, when you were still in Toronto? It's no secret that I'm a Cure/New Order fan who turned into a Pavement fan because they rip off the Cure and New Order with equal aplomb. Remember how I made you listen to Wowee Zowee as we approached Death Valley on that endless drive to see the comet?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
Thread started by tpratt
tpratt From: tpratt Date: August 26th, 2005 03:26 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Charlie Bertsch Superstar
I got a real kick out of that article. You're the only famous person I've ever met who isn't a douche.

I especially like the question about downloading music illegally. You've written about your stance on downloading on your journal, so I know where you're at with all that, but jeez what a dopey question. I suppose there are people who answer "yes, I steal music daily, what of it?", but I can't say that would be a good idea in these days of dwindling privacies.

Your honesty about your musical tastes I find to be as punk as it gets. You are an inspiration, even though I don't really care for just about everything you put down on your list. I loved being at shows with you back in the day because you understood the fact that it was a time to hear some (hopefully) good, live music - hopefully a time to turn onto something new and good, and occasionally a time to take cough medicine and smoke dope and drink generic vodka and kool-aid - and NOT show off one's outfit and/or look cool.

And Your Bird Can Sing is my favorite Beatles tune, by the way.
(Reply) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 26th, 2005 06:28 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Re: Charlie Bertsch Superstar
Thanks for the extremely kind words, Tim. I owe a good portion of my identity to your influence, so it's a little like getting a "Nice work, son" from dad!

Surely you like Daydream Nation a little bit, right? Or perhaps the noisier portions of Slanted and Enchanted? Maybe The Cure?

It's a shame Schlong didn't do an album of a-Ha covers. Which reminds me: someone stole my copy of Punk Side Story. Do you have that one?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
tpratt From: tpratt Date: August 27th, 2005 06:24 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Re: Charlie Bertsch Superstar
I'm not that big on Sonic Youth. I don't hate them or anything, they're just kinda meh. Same goes for Pavement. I often feel dumb listening to both of them, like it's a joke going over my head. I like several Cure songs, too. Maybe you can make me a mix tape or CD of your favorites - not necessarily the stuff you think I might like, but your true blue favorites. Hint, hint.

Which reminds me, sorry I couldn't make you a cd for shit. Fucking WMA format bullshit.

Oh, and I think I might have Punk Side Story on a record. If I do you can totally have it when we see you next.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: August 27th, 2005 03:23 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Re: Charlie Bertsch Superstar
That joke-going-over-your-head thing is interesting. I understand it better with Pavement, though even there the music retains enough visceral pleasure for me that the irony is counterbalanced. Sonic Youth for me is pure bodily abandon, as it is for Kim. Then again, I was always a lot more of an arty hippie than you. I love all that Summer of Love shit.

I can make you a Cure sampler! I favor the more dense, trippy songs that only the "real" fans like in concert.

I don't have a record player, alas.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
22 comments or Leave a comment
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Charlie Bertsch
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ABOUT DE FILE
You're looking at content from my Live Journal, which I have been keeping since 2003. I consider it a personal blog, though it lacks stream-of-consciousness revelations that typify that genre.

That said, if you manage to discern the confessional mode within entries that are superficially tight-lipped, I will reward you handsomely. Or at least pretend to do so.

In addition to reflections, however mediated, on my daily activities, De File features periodic excavations of material from my "files," a revelation sure to disturb anyone who has seen my garage. It's an experiment in integrating past and present, perhaps with a little redemption along the way.

Politics is always on my mind, but rarely explicit here. I’m working on a theory about what personal writing like this does to literary identification and why some people resist its pull so powerfully. But my goal is to make that theory dissolve in my practice, a density in liquid.

You'll note that I have links to blogs not on LiveJournal directly above, as well as assorted websites of note. The blogs I read regularly on LiveJournal itself fall under "FRIENDS" at the top, for those of you unfamiliar with LJ’s workings.

You can write me. I'm "cbertsch" before the circle-a and "comcast.net" after it.
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