no one is listening
WHEN:
Thursday, May 31
8PM - 9:45PM
WHERE:
WHAT:
FREE Low-Tech Renegade Karaoke! Portable screen and projector, youtube lyric videos, no microphone, on the stage at Stern Grove.
Come feel like a star!
Best of all, NO ONE IS LISTENING, because no one else is there!
WHO
Come one, come all! Tell anybody, bring some folks. Sure, you can post it to your social medias, if that is your think these days. Please bring low expectations, and a fully engaged sense of humor.
RSVP
Sending me an email reply letting me know one way or another is helpful, and I'll send you a calendar invite. But just showing up is ok too!
WHY
Because singing in a beautiful park that is totally open at night until 10 PM is something that could bring joy to your soul.
Am I the last to know about
Samuel R. Delany?
Or, the new trick I am using to find new authors (Spoiler: read the favorite authors of my favorite authors…)
I have a problem when it comes to reading - I get MAJOR decisions paralysis. This happens in book stores, music stores and video stores. I just never know where to start, or how to make a “good” decision. (And I got spoiled in Brooklyn by Greenlight Books, the staff is VERY knowledgeable and if the book is on the shelf, it’s worth reading.)
Now that you can download TONS of stuff digitally (No, really, go get a library card now! - so much freely available high quality digital stuff) this is a little easier. But, I still get to a point of not knowing what to pick.
I started listening to an audio book “Distrust That Particular Flavor” by William Gibson. In his introduction he talks about how he learned to write, and some of the authors he compares his work to. “Wait, what?” was went through my head. Of course William Gibson pulls inspiration from his favorite authors!
One of the first named mentioned was Samuel R. Delaney - who I don’t remember ever hearing of before. I like to think I’m conversant around science fiction, so I’m a bit flummoxed that I didn’t know someone the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named a Grand Master - and now I humbly have a lot of work to do to get down the rest of that list...
I also realized a character in Saga, one of my favorite comic book series, is loosely based on Delaney, so that’s two authors who I like referencing him!
I just got through Delany’s “Empire Star” - and it was staggering to see that a number of the tricks I thought were totally unique to William Gibson were right there in Delay’s work! And for being written in the mid-60’s, Empire Star felt as fresh as it could have been written this year. With one notable caveat: it really works best as a printed book: in trying to read it on the screen, the formating didn’t really carry over, and for this story, that was particularly important. Also it was meant to be half of an Ace Double: two book bound together, but both starting from the cover and meeting in the middle! (Makes it look like you are reading the book upside down!)
I’ve read most of books William Gibson has written, but I’ve been saving some because the idea of reaching the end of the list of the books he has written makes me a bit sad. But, in finding a few of his favorite authors, I feel like I’ve stuck a new gold vein!
I think that is going to be one of the ways I start finding new things to read: find out who my favorite authors’ favorite authors and books are, and then go read those!
