What's Too Painful To Remember
I promised I'd update you on my writing progress, and I always keep my promises. On Sunday night, I put the final touches on a short story called Marty's Drink Or Die Club, which will appear in Chicago Noir, a volume of original Chicago crime fiction that I'm editing for Akashic Books. It should come out sometime this fall, and I'll be talking more about it in the coming months. The story is somewhat dark and somewhat funny and somewhat reminiscent of the work I used to to, before the dawn of time, at the Chicago Reader. It takes place in various bars, and then in a home movie theater.
My other current fiction project is a story called Jewy Jew that I've wanted to write for some time. It's my satirical take on the hipster Jew movement, exemplified by the makers of the "Jewcy" line of clothing, by the Comedy Central movie The Hebrew Hammer, and by Heeb Magazine, which I like. In my fondest dreams, the Jewy Jew story will put an end to hip Jewry once and for all, but that would mean someone would have to publish it in a publication that people actually read. Those odds are small.
As a sort of eulogy to the glory days of the Neal Pollack Invasion, I present this account of our album's recording by Jim Roll, my former bandleader. As Neil Cleary, my former drummer, said, it's like Penthouse Forum for recording geeks. It's also an amusing account of one of the most unlikely rock non-success stories ever. If you haven't heard the "music" of The Neal Pollack Invasion yet, you can download any or all of the tracks from the album here. In general, I recommend Emusic.com. It's a download site devoted only to indie labels. Plus, and my secret can now be revealed, I write a monthly column for Emusic's "Soundtracks/Other" section. Yes, a monthly column about novelty music. Betcha Jonathan Safran Foer doesn't do that now, does he? Huh? Huh?