On Shivering Sands, Etc.

I started reading Warren Ellis's Shivering Sands this morning. Between a couple bus rides and a lunch break I'm a little more than a quarter of the way through it (that's 50 pages or so). I had every intention of reading the whole thing and then writing a proper review (you know, wherein someone actually reads something front to back before passing judgements).

But then I found myself thinking Thoughts a couple chapters (essays? braindumps? thingums?) ago, and so I wanted to get them out there, in case I accidentally start thinking different Things fifty pages from now and forget what I cooked up the first go round.

Shivering Sands is interesting for a couple reasons. One is the use of Print On Demand (namely Lulu.com), but I'll have more on that further down the hole. The other is what is being accomplished (so far, anyway) with the choice of articles. The various pieces (I guess I'll call them pieces) are theoretically utterly disconnected; they were written at different times, for different outlets, and none but the Afterword were spawned with any notion that they'd all be bound in one volume, or indeed even printed to page at all. Shivering Sands is a greatest hits package of Uncle Warren's online output over the last seven years (may have just made that number up, but it sounds right to my brain-box).

I just (meaning yesterday) finished reading Eating The Dinosaur, the newest book by Chuck Klosterman. Eating The Dinosaur is similar to Shivering Sands in that it is a set of short (though not as short) essays on a wide range of topics, and different in that they were (as far as I know) written for the book, and as such, and more relevantly, for each other.

The irony here is that Ellis, with his editor/publisher/creator-of-things-what-work-and-such Ariana Osborne, is more thoroughly achieving by vague accident what Klosterman was attempting deliberately: to build an at least partially coherent point from fabric woven of fundamentally disparate rambles.

"Accident" is probably the wrong word here. I'm sure there was plenty of thought put into choosing pieces that made sense together, rather than random disparate essays on purely individual merits. It seems like the kind of thing they do. But on some level my point still stands.

As best I can tell, this works because on some level Ellis is always making the same point, or at least acting within the same parameters. He says as much, in ratStar (p. 42, 2004):

For as long as I can remember, the primary goal of my work has been to force outbreaks of the future.

So far this book has described a city better designed for machines than man (modern Los Angeles); publishers who were ahead of their time in a time before now (Savoy); an unwillingness to let failure of progress stand in the way of attempts at progress; parallel worlds an infinity away where progress is more satisfactory; two-way collapse of the fictional fourth wall; the beginning of the end of Big Media as we know it; and now, in ratStar, the deliberate action of inventing the future in fiction.

Different pieces. Different topics. But they all strike the same chord, at least in me. It's the same chord struck by the chatter surrounding the publication of the book itself: the desire to Get Excited And Make Things. To invent the future by living in the increasingly astonishing present we spend so much time ignoring. Shivering Sands was published largely because Ellis and Osborne got tired of watching something happen and talking about something happening and decided to make it happen a little for themselves.

Ellis has been writing about POD, reading about POD, pushing his friends' POD, encouraging people to try their own POD, for as long as I've been following him in bloggery and message boarditude (admittedly only about a year). And the end result of this was inevitably creation. He says as much in the introduction (of sorts), titled How It Works:

Here's the deal. I flood my poor ageing head with information. Any information. Lots of it. And I let it all slosh around in the back of my brain, in the part normal people use for remembering bills, thinking about sex and making appointments to wash the dishes.

Eventually, you get a critical mass of information. Datum 1 plugs into Datum 2 which connects to Datum 3 and Data 4 and 5 stick to it and you've got a chain reaction. A bunch of stuff knits together and lights up and you've got what's called "an idea".

With enough of the same stuff rattling around, something's going to come out of it. In this case it was a book, and since he has a genuine creator-of-things-what-work-and-such close at hand it's a pretty and well-constructed and sensible book. It's fun to read because Warren Ellis is the sort of guy who thinks smart thoughts and writes well about them. But largely it's about building the future he lives in. Being a part of the evolution of his own medium in a very real and tangible way. And the content echoes this throughout, whether that's intentional, or colored by form of publication, or just because it's what he's doing every single time he sits down to write.

I'm banking on reason three, which is why I feel like I can write this now. Because I could be way off base. I could get a few pages deeper and find a piece with no connection to anything at all. I could get to the bit with the recipes (I hear it has recipes) and realize I was full of crap from word one. But I doubt it.

I may or may not have a point in all this, but if I do, it's probably something like: help Warren Ellis. Help Ariana Osborne. Help build some future. That doesn't just mean Give Them Money Buy This Book And Read It Yes (although that, too). It means make stuff. Cause objects to be. Take advantage of these spikes in technology that take away the barriers between you and what you want to do, that shred your excuses and give you an outlet for every ridiculous new idea and urge.

You might not make lots of money at it, whether because you're Not Warren Ellis or because that's not what you're going for or any number of reasons. But you'll be living your own present, and building tomorrow's framework yourself, which beats the living hell out of sitting around staring at the less-interesting parts of the past.

I'm still fighting my own excuses, my own apathy. But I'm getting there.

Cold Fusion

Like music? Like vegetables? Like freezing your tuches off? Then you, my imaginary internet friend, are in luck. Oh yes!

Mr. Fusion (that's me and a guy named Erich Sachs) will be serenading the early-bird attendees of the Proctor Farmer's Market tomorrow, Saturday the 10th, from 9-11 A.M. Two guys. Two acoustic guitars. Two percussion instruments. Two things that are shaped like pianos but aren't pianos.

My handy dandy weather widget currently predicts a starting low for the day of 28°F. So by the time we start it will be what, 35? With luck (and direct sunlight) by the end of the set we may sneak toward 50. But look on the bright side: your vegetables will come pre-refrigerated, and your Pig Lady meat packs won't thaw while you stand and listen to the music for a bit.

Come watch us play, and tune, and sing, and re-tune, and drum, and tune some more (cold weather + guitars = adventures in tuning).

Post Artwalk Rock Out

Looking for something to cap off an evening that is surely filled with Artwalk goodness in downtown Tacoma? Why not hop the Link down to Freighthouse Square and take a two block stroll to the New Frontier Lounge to catch:

• Mr. Fusion - Original acoustic music by longtime songwriting partners Joe Izenman (hmm, sounds familiar...) and Erich Sachs, featuring the debut of some of our latest material.
• Sordid Sentinels - balls-out (not literally) rock music from front to back, and one of my favorite local bands. The Sentinels are nearing completion on their debut EP, so keep an eye out.
• Shotgun Kitchen - making the Tacoma debut of their recently overhauled and expanded lineup, Shotgun's blues-laced rock includes, among other things, that Izenman guy on keyboards and keyboard-shaped items (even an accordion).
  

The New Frontier is 21+, and located on E 25th and C Street in the Dome District. Show starts at 9PM and will I believe cost $3 at the door, with money going directly to the bands.

Star-Spangled Girl: Conventionally Funny Is Still Funny

Tell most people who've been doing theatre for awhile that someone is doing a Neil Simon play, and a lot of the responses you'll get back are "Again?" There is a perception that, as classics, his work has gotten overdone, between Lost In Yonkers, the Odd Couple, his Bbbbbbb series, Barefoot In The Park, and on and on and on. And on some level this is valid. They get done a lot. They are easy, recognizable fallback comedies, neither challenging nor confusing to the audience. And without the risk and challenge of producing something new and innovative, people eventually get bored of doing the same works by the same writers.

But here's the thing: there is a reason Simon's plays get produced repeatedly. There is a reason why they are classics, household names, studied in literature courses and made into films. There is a reason, and it is this: they are really damn well-written, and they are really damn funny. Not absurdist comedy or avant garde comedy or black comedy; just, "Hey, that person said/did something funny. I will laugh at it."

I saw Tacoma Little Theatre's production of Simon's The Star-Spangled Girl on Saturday. They said and did funny things, and I laughed at them.

Don't get me wrong above: when I say "unchallenging" I don't mean it can be phoned in. I've seen Simon done crappily with bad and non-actors, and it is not worthwhile. But director Elliot Weiner found a cast that has the capacity to nail every joke. Blaire York's Norman is hilariously absurdly obsessive, from his lines to his faciel expressions to his body-language, and hopelessly inept, down to his excellently ridiculous outfits, just the kind a fashion-ignorant nerd would select (and I would know). Luke Amundson fares well as the nominal straight-man Andy. He is a little weak in convincing the audience of his passion for the political cause of his magazine (though that point is also not terribly well addressed in the script), but he makes up for it in his play off the characters of Norman and Sophie, played to a neurotic, wigged-out t by Gretchen Boyt.

The play has weaknesses. The moral theme of open debate and seeing past political differences is forced already by the script, and the staging of the close just hammers. It in. To your face. With a 2x4. And on night two of week one, the inevitable technical flubs poked out. But it is still a worthy start to new Artistic Director Scott Campbell's first full season, a season populated with nothing but comedy to stab at the gloom and doom of the economy for a while. Worth the cost of admission, and, if the cost of admission is too high, tonight (Thursday, September 3) is Pay What You Can night. However you get there, I suggest that you get there. You see, there's these people up on the stage, saying and doing funny things, and you'll laugh at them.

(And if you want to balance out your common fare with something a little closer to the edge, TLT has recently announced a full slate of second-stage and late-night productions, starting with ghost story Woman In Black directed by mainstay John Munn and ending with a production of Elliot Weiner's own Brunch)

PLEASE NOTE: if you are a longtime patron of TLT, that starting this show, and presumably all season, night show curtain is at 7:30, not 8, with house opening at 7.

Minus 5 @ Hell's Kitchen

The Minus 5 can't really be accused of being conventional, or doing the expected. Listening to their last four albums in sequence reveals a broad range of genre and soundscape experimentation. One gets the sense that the group has always been a clearinghouse for its songwriters' "other" ideas, the ones that don't quite fit in with the guitar-rock core of the bands that made them legends: R.E.M. (Peter Buck) and Young Fresh Fellows (Scott McCaughey).

So when I say that their new record, last week's Killingsworth, is different, well, I'm ultimately saying very little. What Buck and McCaughey have done this time out is make an alt-country album. Sort of. Kind of. A little. In some ways, it is unique among their records in its consistency of tone and instrumentation. This is helped along by using the same crew of backup musicians for the whole of the record (the Minus 5 have a tendency to rotate to whichever of their friends are best for a song, and they have a LOT of friends. Like the whole of the Seattle music scene).

With a focus on horrible death and doom (song titles range from The Dark Hand of Contagion to I Would Rather Sacrifice You to The Disembowelers), it is appropriate that Killingsworth's auxiliary musicians be made up largely of the lineup of disturbed Portland balladeers The Decemberists. The slide guitar and banjo that fill out this record's particularly mellow sound (NOT something you'd necessarily expect out of musicians from the Decemberists) are complemented by harmonies from further Portlanders the Shee Bee Gees, ultimately pulling together as a relaxed, well-crafted record.

I'm most curious to see how this record pulls into their live show, where they have proven a consistent ability to distill the lush soundscapes and diverse lineups of their previous records into a four piece driving rock show. However they choose to perform this album, one thing is certain: it will be bitchin'. All the members of the Minus 5: Touring Edition have a long-standing and broad history of rocking the crap out of everything from tiny clubs to the largest arenas in the world.

The Minus 5 are playing Hell's Kitchen (3829 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, WA) with Canon Canyon, the Joshua Cain Band, and James Hilborne and the Painkillers, tonight at 9PM. $10, 21+, and well worth seeing on this, a rare occasion wherein a band actually stops in Tacoma between Portland and Seattle shows.

Mmmarket Fresh

Giant rib steak, red potatoes and fresh corn, all from the 6th Avenue Farmer's Market. Topped off with some Thelonious Monk (bought at Buzzard's) and Doctor Who (rented from Stadium Video).

This awesome evening in brought to you by Living In Tacoma.

Pierce Transit Overhaul

Every few months Pierce Transit releases a new schedule, mostly consisting of minor timing changes to more accurately reflect the real running times. This time around, however, there are a few significant changes in store. Two stood out immediately, as they have direct effect on me:

2 vs. 57

Truth be told, the effect of this change is relatively minor, but it is worth knowing about, lest confusion overtake your morning commute. As it stands, heading toward downtown, the 2 comes in from TCC and the 57 comes in from the Tacoma Mall. They meet at 19th and Alder, and share the next four stops before the 2 breaks off toward 25th on Trafton, and the 57 carries on down 19th. Starting July 12th, these two routes (post-Trafton) will switch. The 2 will take the more direct route, while the 57 will swing around to 25th.

So the rundown of those affected is this:

• If you live in the S 25th neighborhood currently serviced by the 2, you'll need to catch the 57 coming from downtown, or transfer from the 2 during the 4-stop crossover period between Alder and Trafton if you're coming from TCC and beyond.
• If you are heading to the DSHS or the News Tribune, you are likewise better off on the 57, though it's only a couple blocks off the new 2 route.
• If (like me) you take the 57 to the top side of UWT, you will now want the 2
• If you are going straight from one of the shared stops to 10th and Commerce, there's no reason not to take the 2, as it now has both the shorter route and the more frequent trips (every 15 minutes much of the day).

The main problems I see are these: firstly, this feels like something of a death knell for ridership of the 57. Given other changes being made to less-ridden routes, I can't help but wonder if this change will likewise see the 57 eventually relegated to hourly trips. Secondly, more than one PT driver has complained that stops and distance have been added to the 57 route, but the time allotted has stayed basically the same, severely tightening up their schedule.

So Much For UP

The big victim of failed urban design is University Place. The heart of suburban UP is served by precisely one bus route: the 53, running down Cirque to Grandview. It split time with 53A, which cut over to 40th rather than Cirque, and now that route will be the only survivor, with the 53 replacing much of the 59's service to the Manitou area. The only other route through UP is the 2, which slices through the business districts on Bridgeport but largely avoids the sprawling residential areas. For me personally, this means I can no longer catch the 53 a block from work to get dropped off three blocks from my mom's house. Of course, I'll survive an extra mile or two of walking, so don't feel bad for me. Feel bad for people like Doris Jairala instead.

Now, I've ridden this bus a lot, and I can understand the reasons for the switch. The vast majority of riders that have gotten on by the time the 53 leaves the mall are gone by the time it reaches the splitting point at Orchard. As mentioned, this is an urban design problem as much as anything: University Place just isn't built to be lived in without a car. It is hilly suburban sprawl, with much of the retail clustered together away from the residentials. But it's still unfortunate that this area has to be completely given up for lost by the public transit system. And it just means it will be that much more of an adventure rescheduling and rerouting buses as the larger golf tournaments roll in down the line (the 53 was the only bus that came anywhere near Chambers Bay).

And many more...

I'll just do a quick run through the rest of the changes that look like they're worth mentioning:

• The 61 to NE Tacoma will lose its Bus Plus status, and be restricted to a fixed route.
• If you take the 59 to Manitou anytime out of the conventional commute hours, you must take the 53 instead (see above)
• Riders of the 60 to the Port of Tacoma are now restricted to two available trips to in the morning and fro in the evening, rather than the current six
• Routes 26 (weekday), 51 (weekday), 220 (weekday) and 501 (weekday midday) are being cut in half, and will now all run hourly

The Bottom Line

Pierce and Sound Transit have spent a lot of money recently upgrading bus systems with GPS, Orca support, and similar gadgets to increase efficiency. The hope is that these improvements will lead to an easier riding experience (no requirement to buy a full month pass to avoid carrying quarters is a BIG step), thus increasing ridership. However, in the meantime we are stuck with a transit system that has depleted its funds on internal improvement and doesn't have the fare revenue to pick up the slack. As such, the longtime riders in suburban areas are being left stranded.

So what's to be done? I read an interesting article recently that the King County Council has called on Metro Transit to seek outside partnerships. I personally think this is a great idea. Not something to do in lieu of current subsidy (I believe that a functional transit system truly benefits every member of the community, and is thus deserving of our tax money), but in addition, to take some of the edge off. The first example we've seen are the "skinned" buses, that have been turned into roaming billboards for Venture Bank, Verizon Wireless, etc. I have said repeatedly that I am all for these. I'll take painted up buses generating ad revenue for a valuable local service over the hideous stationary (and illegal) billboards benefiting no-one but Clear Channel any day. And the fact is, let's be honest here, the buses are not exactly designed for aesthetics anyway, so billboard blight is not a concern when using them.

Other options include leased use of passenger facilities to private transit companies (is there really a need for a Greyhound facility right next to a Pierce Transit facility?), technology partnerships (Metro Transit's fancypants One Bus Away arrival timing website was developed by UW graduate students, and lordy lordy could PT use a new website), and probably plenty of other things that I can't think of because I don't know a lick about business. Something needs to be done to keep progress moving in a positive direction, and if partnerships like these are what it takes, then I am all for them and more.