Babylon By Bus

No, not the live album by Bob Marley (with the cool map graphic on the inside album sleeve showing a Syracuse tour date). This is a book by Ray Lemoine and Jeff Neumann about their experiences in “Mission Accomplished-era” Iraq. Check out this cool excerpt from Outside magazine

Two young guys in post-war, early occupation Iraq. Are they with the military? Foreign Service? A respected NGO? No, they were the guys who sold the “Yankees Suck” t-shirts outside Fenway Park in between adventures traveling and playing high stakes poker. These guys bluffed their way into Iraq and within a couple of days talked themselves into a job establishing a network of indigenous not-for-profit charities in the “new Iraq.” Their story is an interesting microcosm of the problems facing the United States in their sad attempts at nation building in the Middle East.

While well-meaning and full of entrepreneurial spirit, the guys don’t speak the language, have little knowledge of the history and customs of the country and have no real plan on how to set up a non-profit sector (and no superiors with any real interest in planning.) However, they are blessed with the ability to relate to people, are totally free of any ideological/political baggage and are unconcerned about how to take credit for their activities.

Their party hearty spirit and thirst for adventure allowed them to meet a wide variety of people–government officials, military personnel, press folks, NGO employees and assorted drunken ex-pats and shady characters. As such, you get a much more in depth look at what is going on in Iraq than some more traditional press accounts. They give a terrifying portrait of the private “security” forces: beefy guys pumped up on steroids and drugs, out of control at all times, whether it’s shooting at convoys or starting bar fights. While they run across some stock military types that seem right out of central casting, they also highlight the work of what they call the new breed of military officer: highly educated, resourceful, helpful and dedicated. Many of the officers are so dedicated because they realize what a mess our country has made of this situation and feel obligated to make amends, somehow.

While the guys may be short on political analysis, they do manage to ask a number of pertinent questions and accurately assess the problems they themselves caused in Iraq. They wonder why nation building and the promotion of democracy is being done by the military, an organization that seems to be ill-suited to the task and often inflames the ire of those we are trying to help. They also acknowledge that the activities that they undertook were actually counter-productive.

Through their connections, they located small charitable groups around Baghdad and helped them distribute supplies donated from the United States. The guys realized, largely after their time in Iraq, that most of these groups were religious groups and the aid they supplied helped strengthen their reputations within the community as power brokers. The guys didn’t establish a network of Iraqi run NGO’s, but rather helped to exacerbate the tensions that exploded into all-out religious civil war shortly after their departure.

The book ends when they were forced to leave Iraq under a death threat from religious groups trying to muscle in on their program. The widespread violence and death of friends and colleagues turns the guys from young kids on a rollicking adventure into much more thoughtful individuals–although they do manage to get arrested in Jordan immediately after leaving Iraq, possibly their way of dealing with the enormity of what they’ve experienced.

The guys maintained that watching the Red Sox horrible loss to the Yankees in the 2003 playoffs was the catalyst for their adventure. The good news is that the guys did make it back to Boston in time to catch the Red Sox’ playoff and World Series victories in October 2004. Now I’ve just got to locate one of those “Yankees Suck, Jeter Swallows t-shirts!”

Gas Taxes & Strawberry Statements

A favorite book of mine has always been James Simon Kunen’s account of his experiences as a student at Columbia, especially during the 1968 student uprising and takeover of administration buildings. The Strawberry Statement was one of my favorite books as a young high school and college student. It’s a great meditation on how events, even major ones like the Vietnam War and a campus riot, effect ordinary people. Kunen even referred to himself as a “single revolutionary digit.”

The current brouhaha over the Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday reminds me of two points in Kunen’s book. The title of the book was a reference to a statement made by a Dean at Columbia. Dean Herbert Deane allegedly said that students’ opinions about University policy had as much effect on his thinking as if the students told him they enjoyed eating strawberries. In other words, their opinions were irrelevant. Hillary Clinton’s “Strawberry Statement” is her recent declaration that she didn’t care if not one professional economist could be found to ratify the fiscal sanity of the gas tax holiday: “I’m not going to throw my lot in with economists.”

So now Hillary has changed the rationale for her campaign. Out is Hillary’s earnest appeal to well thought-out policy (as opposed to Obama’s ethereal and detached rhetoric). Clinton’s new rationale is her steadfast support of real folks, despite what those elitist always-did-their-homework-on-Friday-nights economists think.

Clinton justifies her position by declaring that a lot of well-thought out policy (and a lot of awful Bush policy) does nothing but make it harder for middle class families to eke out a living. This reminds me of another thought from Kunen’s book. During the disturbances at Columbia classes were cancelled and radical activists started offering “liberation classes”, sort of glorified teach-ins. Kunen mused that liberation classes weren’t going to do any good for say, the student studying classical music. Kunen noted that a lot of people get screwed by events over which they have little control and no say.

Clinton is correct when she notes that middle class families are being screwed and often public policy does nothing to help them, and possibly makes their problems worse. However, even the beleaguered middle class doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Their lives exist in a world of choices and decisions. Real leadership often requires elected officials to tell people that the decisions they have made cannot be sustained if the entire nation is to prosper.

America cannot continue to claim 25% of the world’s non-renewable energy resources. America cannot expect to see oil prices significantly decrease in a world where oil company production is falling every year and demand is booming due to the increase in the number of motorists in India and China. It is irresponsible and the opposite of leadership to tell middle class families driving SUV’s and living in the sprawl cities of the exurbs that their way of life (dependent on cheap gas) is in any way sustainable. Minimize the damage now instead of kicking the can down the road.

Tolkien Reading Day

I ain’t tellin’ no lie.
Mine’s a tale that can’t be told,
My freedom I hold dear;
How years ago in days of old
When magic filled the air,
‘Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor
I met a girl so fair,
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up
And slipped away with her.

–“Ramble On,” Led Zeppelin

Today I went to the first annual Tolkien Reading Day event in Syracuse. Syracuse Post Standard columnist (and blogger) Sean Kirst is actually the creator of the entire idea of a Tolkien Reading Day, as he explains in a recent column. Sean wrote to the international Tolkien Society and asked why there wasn’t a Tolkien equivalent of the Bloomsday celebrations that fans of novelist James Joyce celebrate across the world. The society said, “hey that’s a great idea!”

So, I went to the event held at the Broadway coffee shop, corner of Midland and Seneca Turnpike (the guys who decided not to sell out to a convenience store/gas station–one of the best planning decision made in this city recently. Stop in and get a coffee, a sandwich or try the homemade ice cream they sell out of the adjacent Arctic Island stand.)

I went, not for the Tolkien, but because I liked the fact that donations would go to the Ted Grace reading program at Corcoran High School. In fact, I thought that I had never read or heard any Tolkien before (never being a big fantasy/SF reader.) But when I heard some of the people there reading from one of his Lord of The Rings books, the Led Zeppelin song quoted above drifted into my head. Jimmy and Robert obviously were devotees, so years of FM radio listening has obviously softened me up for the trilogy. The Reading Day program was great, even though I’m still not sure I’m going to read any Tolkien (I’ve got stacks of unread books all over my house that are already waiting in line, somewhat patiently.)

What was truly inspiring were the stories that all the readers told before launching into their piece of the Tolkien chapter read aloud at the event today. Readers both young and old, male and female, told wonderful stories about how they had gotten the Tolkien fever. One woman told of reading aloud from Tolkien’s trilogy for an entire summer as her younger sister recuperated from an illness–an experience that not only inculcated a love of the stories, but an even stronger lifelong bond between the sisters. Some of the youngsters came to the books through the recent movies. Others stumbled across the dogeared copies of their parents’ Tolkien books and got hooked that way. Some of the parents had gotten hooked through college English classes. One retired professor had another of today’s readers in his class. A different retired professor’s husband taught yet another of today’s readers in his class. She had been introduced to Tolkien by one of her students.

What was great about the stories was the obvious love of reading related by everyone in the room. In a time when we’re all online and kids seem to spend more time on video games than books, it was wonderful to see people transfixed by the written word. A wave of boomer nostalgia washed over me, even though I’ve never read a word of Tolkien. But I do remember the days when summer trips to the library with my mom were highlights of my vacation. I remember the times I stuck a paperback in my back pocket and went somewhere outside and private to read. I remember using a flashlight to read under the covers after my bedtime (and my reading fanatic mother never once busting me.)

Now I’ve got to find a Hunter S. Thompson, Flannery O’Connor or William Kennedy event! Thanks Sean, see you next year.

Chuck Klosterman Rocks

Two more entries into the summer reading fest, just under the gun: two by pop culture/rock ‘n’ roll cult hero Chuck Klosterman: “Fargo Rock City” and “Killing Yourself To Live.”

“Fargo” is a straight-ahead defense of ’80’s heavy metal: attach any prefix to metal you wish: glam, hair, speed etc. Klosterman grew up on a farm in North Dakota in the 1980’s and loved the metal that dominated rock culture for a decade. He noted that while the music dominated the charts, the music is considered juvenile and unworthy of even critical review, not to mention support. His attempt to rectify this situation is heartfelt, enlightening and hysterically funny: and I HATED almost all the bands he lionizes: Motley Crue, Poison, Cinderella etc.

His most interesting argument is to set critical detachment on its ear. Most critics set themselves up as arbiters of taste and the gatekeepers of inclusion into the rarefied realms of art. Klosterman takes the populist/commercial view, a work of art is important to the audience to which it speaks. Art is truly in the eye of the beholder, or record buyer. In Klosterman’s mind, the very fact that 80’s metal sold so much makes it an important cultural force, regardless of whether more hip and avant garde critics would consider it trash.

Which brings the books main point into full relief: Klosterman knows how much of an impact that 80’s metal had on American culture, he lived that culture. His writings on his childhood and the impact that music can have on youth (especially not-so-socially-adept teenage boys) resonate with me, even though the music of my teen years (1970’s) was different. Also fascinating is Klosterman’s insights into mass market culture on rural areas (where often mass is the only culture).

“Killing” is a book loosely based around an article Klosterman wrote for SPIN magazine on the places around the country where famous rock stars have died. The book is less a travelogue than an internal monologue that Klosterman has on his obsessions with death, rock and his romantic relationships, in no particular order. The book is addictive in a free association sort of way, bits of writing jump out and startle you, mostly into laughing and coughing fits.

Reading Klosterman is like having the kind of intense discussions you used to have with roommates and friends in college about music–at least the kind of friends that I used to have in college. Klosterman notes that he has more CD’s than 90% of Americans, but more than only 40% of his friends. When deciding what CD’s to pack for his two week trip around the country, he narrows his choices down to the Top 600!

I can narrow my amazement at Klosterman’s writing down to two reasons: 1) Truly interesting discussions about rock music, best exemplified for me by his long disquisition into the difference between “heavy” and “hard” (Think original Black Sabbath v. early Van Halen). 2) He’s funny as shit. My wife must have heard me read aloud more than a hundred excerpts from his books in the course of the single weekend it took me to plow through both books. My favorite excerpt? His take on the differences between two very different guitar gods: Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton: “Eddie and Eric are certainly among the greatest rock guitarists who ever lived, but for totallly different reasons. Listening to Clapton is like getting a sensual massage from a woman you’ve loved for the past ten years; listening to Van halen is like having the best sex of your life with three foxy nursing students you met at a Tastee Freez.”

Talk Talk

So, my reading spree continues, and for the first time this year: fiction! “Talk Talk” is the most recent novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle, one of my favorite authors. Like an expert research librarian hopped up on speed, T.C. Boyle’s work is amazing: prolific, drunk on words, fast paced, interesting research on disparate topics and characters that get under your skin.

This novel is set in contemporary times, balancing the crime novel aspects of identity theft, with the more interesting idea of the truly difficult nature of communication. Two of the main characters are a couple and the woman, Dana Halter is profoundly deaf. The novel shows the difficulties Dana has communicating on an everyday level, with waitresses and other public encounters, but how it is even more difficult to communicate your feelings, thoughts and emotions to the person you love (a difficult process even if both people are not hearing impaired.)

Combined with a slam-bang cross country chase and the violent confrontation with the man who has stolen the identities of both Dana and her boyfriend, the book is enjoyable and difficult to put down.

HOWEVER, I had some misgivings about the book, sharing the concerns that the NY Times reviewer had about the abrupt and rather unsatisfying ending. Also, compared to earlier Boyle novels such as Tortilla Curtain and World’s End, the verbal pyrotechnics and interesting look at both deaf culture and identity theft, don’t seem to be put to any more purpose than to craft some light summer reading.

An interesting postscript to the novel I found on TC Boyle’s web site: “This further meditation on language led me to the creation of my heroine, Dana Halter, and the subject of the book that she herself is writing on the Wild Child of Aveyron, who was found at the age of eleven or twelve living ferally in Napoleonic France, and who, despite the efforts of a truly extraordinary teacher, was unable to acquire language. That novella–of 66 pages–was originally attached to the text of Talk Talk as an appendix, but I have deleted it from the novel and published it separately in McSweeney’s 19.”

So where do you find McSweeney’s?

Dog Days

Jon Katz writes about dogs and human interaction with pets, both in non-fiction books (Katz on Dogs; The New Work Of Dogs) and for web sites like Slate.com. He is probably most well-known for his memoirs of his own experiences with his own dogs, particularly his border collies.

Katz moved from suburban New Jersey to a farm in way upstate New York (near the Vermont border) in order to train his border collies to herd sheep. Along the way he also takes in donkeys, a cow and a steer, a barn cat, a rooster, some chickens…etc. The place becomes known as Bedlam Farm.

His first memoir about life on the farm (The Dogs of Bedlam Farm) was a fish out of water comedy, but more profoundly a meditation on dog training, and just who exactly was being trained. Katz wrote lovingly of his dogs, but also unsentimentally about the flaws and foibles of his own life and personality that he was forced to confront and correct if he was to realize his ideals about the “proper work” for both dogs and humans.

Dog Days: Dispatches From Bedlam Farm finds Katz much more comfortable in his role on the farm, filled with lovely stories about his animals and his everyday life, a life he now finds much more normal than that of suburban New Jersey. This memoir is more a meditation on aging and the need that both animals and humans have for friendship.

Katz, as well as several of his animals, develop health issues that test their physical limits. Katz is forced to hire a person to help with some of the more physical chores that must be done to keep the farm running and care for the animals. He also has hired local people to help restore some of his barns and of course relies on a host of professionals for animal care: vets, farriers, sheep shearers even a donkey psychic! He discusses how this group of local people have come to accept him and his eccentricities and how these friendships have improved his life on the farm.

Two anecdotes about aging stand out in the book. While attending physical therapy for his ailments, Katz brings along his Labrador Pearl, also a veteran of many surgeries and limited mobility. They befriend an elderly women with serious ailments and the woman and dog bond instantly. Katz even visits the woman in her home, learning how she had created a support network that allowed her to live alone in her isolated farmhouse, but how fragile that network really is.

Secondly, he receives a note from an elderly woman living nearby who asked if she and her small group of women friends could visit the farm they had all read about. She assured Katz that they were a “quiet group.” The five friends got together each year and had for about thirty years. The group started out as married couples living close together, but through the years they had all been widowed and had moved away. However, the group of women still got together every year to celebrate their friendship and to have an adventure.

Katz was charmed by their visit and even remarked approvingly that they weren’t all that quiet. As the day wore on he noticed how the women were getting older, and in fact one friend missed the event because of a medical procedure. He wondered how much longer this group could continue, but was also amazed at the strength of their bond, something that he envied because he noted that men don’t seem to have this capacity for sustained friendship and the ability to support one another emotionally.

Anyway, buy the book for the dogs, get everything else as a bonus. Only one complaint–too damn short. Jon Katz’s memoirs are amazing.

Redemption Song–The Ballad Of Joe Strummer

In terms of rock ‘n’ roll biographies, no one has ever come close to the late Timothy White’s ”Catch A Fire”, the amazing work on Bob Marley that masterfully wove the artist’s personal story amidst in-depth considerations of Rastafarianism and other indigenous syncretic religions, third world economic and political history and the evolution of reggae music.

However, the recently published Redemption Song–The Ballad of Joe Strummer written by Chris Salewicz comes awfully close. I am a person who spent a good part of the 1980’s scrawling the Clash’s tagline: “The Only Band That Matters” on countless bathroom walls, in countless dive bars, so I am hardly an unbiased reviewer. “Redemption Song” is a great book for the Clash’s more political fans because it artfully shows how the band’s work deliberately engaged itself in the issues of the day–the rebellion against Thatcherite conservatism, embracing the emerging multi-culturalism of the nation, facing down the extreme right-wing that embraced racism and fascist imagery.

However, the book is a biography of Joe Strummer, rather than the group as a whole. The book looks at the personal turmoil and depression that stalked Strummer his entire life. The book shows us how Strummer’s life, music and impact on our culture was effected by his reaction to the demons in his life. The sadness comes when we realize that at the end of his life, just as he was beginning to enjoy a measure of stability and happiness, he died from a congenital heart defect.

Everything that people loved about Joe Strummer and The Clash shines through in this book: the passion, the energy, the humor, the intelligence and the commitment. What fascinated me most about the story was how Joe Strummer dealt with the problems faced by a band that tried to live by the egalitarian spirit of punk, rejecting the “rock star” pose that placed you above and beyond your fans. Strummer lived this belief more than any other member of the band, possibly because he was the only band member that had come from a middle class background. He opened up the post-gig dressing room to fans, released albums at a price guaranteeing the band little revenue.

I saw the Clash in Philadelphia when they opened for the Who at RFK Stadium. Pete Townsend had graciously offered this prime slot on the tour to The Clash as a way of saying that it was time to pass the torch to a new generation. Combat Rock had been a big hit in the States with “Rock The Casbah” and “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”, big radio hits. But Strummer looked at the massive crowds and the way the Who had become little more than a marketing brand and openly rebelled. He taunted fans from the stage and at one point even yelled “do you think we deserve to be here?” He got a memorably derisive response from the classic rock drones in the crowd who let out lusty boos. A short set, no encore.

While I was pissed off at the tour and the inevitable dissolution of the band, after reading the book I realize now, as do both surviving members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, it was “better to burn out than to fade away.” Joe Strummer refused to compromise his ideals to keep a corporate-friendly version of the band together. As Joe Strummer wrote in arguably his greatest song ”White Man In Hammersmith Palais”:

“The new groups are not concerned/With what there is to be learned
They got burton suits, ha you think its funny/Turning rebellion into money.”

Faithful

Well, I’ve read my first Stephen King book. It’s not what you think. King and young author Stewart O’Nan collaborated on the book Faithful, a diary about their experiences watching the Red Sox during their historic World Series’ winning year of 2004.

The book is a lot like a baseball season, something you pick up and read nearly every night and weekend. It is too long and could have used some judicious editing, but amidst the trivia of replays of long forgotten regular season games against teams like Tampa Bay and Kansas City, there are gems of good writing and speculation on the nature of fandom, baseball and families. O’Nan is seriously devoted to baseball, driving in from Connecticut, cadging Red Sox tickets whenever possible and arriving hours before gametime so he can catch stray batting practice balls. When that fails, he catches area minor league games. King, living in both Florida and Maine, attends fewer games, but watches almost every game on cable and exhibits almost every superstition known to real fans.

For my money (a whopping $1 at Dollar Tree) the book was worth reading just for the description by Stephen King of taking his ailing 80 year-old mother-in-law to the fourth game of the AL Championship series against the Yankees. The game was the first Red Sox victory after three straight losses and ended with a dramatic David Ortiz walk-off home run. The 2004 Red Sox World Series victory was important to so many people because of the 86 year gap between championships. So many Red Sox fans lived their entire lives without seeing their team win.

Given the humor and intelligence exhibited by King in this book, I might try reading some of his traditional horror writing. I guess I should start with “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon”, since the named title character is a one-time Red Sox relief pitcher.

That Book Isn’t Even On Your List!

Awhile back I composed a list of books that were piled around my house, waiting for me to read them. Since that time, I’ve broken the logjam. No, I haven’t read any of the books on the list, but I did move and was forced to create new piles.

I did read a book since the move. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” is an oral history reminiscence of the recently deceased rocker Warren Zevon. I’m a big fan of his music and the book did force me to go out and buy a couple of his albums to plug some of the gaps in my collection. The book itself is less impressive. Compiled by his ex-wife, the book alternates between intimates in Warren’s life commenting on his life with some excepts from Zevon’s diary.

The idea was to create a “warts and all” biography of a person known for a fascination with guns, drugs, booze, women and literature. He bravely fought against terminal cancer by writing and recording one final album. The book is a mess because it is redundant. Everyone says the same thing over and over again: he drank a lot, he behaved badly when he drank, he slept with everyone and his music was both literate and brilliant.

The reader is given no context, just a few good stories about how some memorable songs were inspired and how badly he behaved while drinking. Save your money for a his albums.

Still Reading In The Street

I have always been a reader. Going with with my mom (a voracious reader) to the library on summer days is one of the fondest memories of my childhood. I was the kid that snuck the flashlight under the covers so I could read after lights out.

Something has happened, I’m struck by how little I read for pleasure these days. I read a lot at work, but my time is spent on organizations’ web sites, academic articles and governmental reports. I spend time on the web at home too, on this site and other blogs and such. I can spend an entire evening on Wikipedia following up on old rock bands.

I have been successful at reducing my intake of mindless TV shows, but that added time has been taken up by household chores and actual human interaction with my family. I need to somehow find a way to dedicate some time to the growing stack of books that I have accumulated and not found the time to get around to reading.

Call this the “Still Reading In The Street” project. The following 20 books have been sitting around for longer than I care to admit. Over the next 6 months my goal is to read each book and then post a short review of the book. My tastes run toward non-fiction, but there are a couple of serious fiction works in there.

“The 9/11 Commission Report” Authorized Edition
“The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” Michael Chabon
“The Audacity of Hope” Barack Obama
“Becoming Justice Blackmun” Linda Greenhouse
“Building A Bridge To The 18th Century” Neil Postman
“Common Ground” J. Anthony Lukas
“The Corrections” Jonathan Franzen
“Fast Food Nation” Eric Schlosser
“The Fortress Of Solitude” Jonathan Lethem
“The Hidden Life Of Dogs” Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
“Marx For Beginners” Rius
“Mind Game” editors of Baseball Prospectus
“Perfectly Legal” David Cay Johnston
“A Problem From Hell” Samantha Power
“Reading Lolita In Tehran” Azar Nafisi
“The Road To Wigan Pier” George Orwell
“Tales Of the Tatras” K.P.Tetmajer
“Three Men In A Room” Seymour Lachman
“The Tipping Point” Malcolm Gladwell
“What Are People For?” Wendell Berry