Every End Is a Beginning

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08:12 pm February 8th, 2008

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			De File Does Collecting Make You Feel Dirty?

cbertsch


	Every End Is a Beginning
	I was going through some old computer files from the 1990s today and came across one of my favorite "fan mail" messages: When I received this message, I was surprised to be getting a response to a three-year-old piece, particularly on a topic that had made such a rapid retreat into the past. But now, twelve years after getting this e-mail, I feel closer, in some ways, to the heyday of grunge than I did in 1996. It has been said by many, far better than I can say it, but the perception of history is a long, strange trip. Tags: autobiography, clips, history, music, nostalgia Current Location: 85704 Muse: memories of The Lonesome Crowded West

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From: babyiwasshot	Date: February 9th, 2008 02:31 pm (UTC)		(LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Being a HUGE Nirvana fan in high school (a member of the "Kurt cult," let us say), I'd recommend Michael Azerrad's book as a good jumping-off point. Within, there's acutally an account of how Kurt debated signing with K records RATHER than geffen, which would've likely been a better move, in retrospect, given that his celebrity is often cited as a "cause" of his suicide/disintegration. Further, the book does what your article does in fully establishing the roots of Nirvana's sound in 80's college rock (kurt was a HUGE raincoats fan, for instance).

I'd also make a distinction between "alternative" and "indie," re-naming them "first wave" (all the bands you cite in the article) and "second wave" (neutral milk hotel--also from athens--; MODEST MOUSE; etc.) alternative, respectively.

The DC scene is also significant (FUGAZI, bad brains, nation of ulysses, etc.) as the nominal "birthplace" of hardcore and emo (rites of spring).

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From: babyiwasshot	Date: February 9th, 2008 02:45 pm (UTC)		(LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Also, how do you get .jpg screen captures on a mac? I use the grab utility, but it always saves the pics as either .pdf or .tiff files, which I can't upload to photobucket.

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	From: cbertsch	Date: February 9th, 2008 07:18 pm (UTC)		(LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

I just use the built-in OS X one, with --<4>. I know it saves as PDFs at work. But on this computer it saves as PNGs -- portable network graphics -- which can be viewed by Web browsers without trouble. I think there are better free/share ware utilities out there.

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	From: cbertsch	Date: February 9th, 2008 07:22 pm (UTC)		(LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)

Great points. Of course, when I wrote the piece, which hasn't been changed since it was published, the "second wave" you describe -- an especially apt term -- hadn't happened yet.

I considered writing about D.C. back at the time. But, being from that area, at least for grades 6-12, I was aware of the ways in which the D.C. scene wasn't a geographically proud manifestation of regionalism as the scenes in Seattle, Chapel Hill, Athens etc. were. Even Chicago, a much bigger city, had more of that regionalist self-understanding than D.C. I think it's because D.C. is a place where much of the middle-class is in temporary residence.

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PROFILE


User: cbertsch Name: Charlie Bertsch

CALENDAR

LINKS (INCLUDES NON-LJ BLOGS)

FEATURED LINK

Elliott Berry

PHOTOGRAPHS

Picture of the Moment

PUBLICATIONS

Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life

Printculture

io9 (a sci-fi blog)

Other magazine

Morphizm

McSweeney's

Left Business Observer

The Believer

DEGREES OF SEPARATION

Steven Rubio's Online Life

Joel Schalit

Super Bon! (Jonathan Sterne)

Annalee Newitz's column

Mark Sussman

Justin St. Germain

I Cite (Jodi Dean)

Michael Bérubé

Eensy Weensy (Ann Powers)

Jill from h2so4

Jessica Suarez

Mike Kolakoski

Fredoluv

K-Punk

Ted Friedman

Scott McLemee

Catfish Vegas

MUSIC

Zoilus

Simon Reynolds

Boblog

Flaskaland

RockCritics.com

LITERARY

Ron Silliman

ACADEMIC

Intellectual Affairs (Scott McLemee's Column)

The Valve

Crooked Timber

POLITICAL

CNN Political Ticker

Blog Left

Nathan Newman

GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT

Tim Goodman (SF Gate)

Culture Blog (SF Gate)

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.