Xgau Sez: October, 2024

At the Apollo, in the library, ABBA reconsidered (briefly), the end considered (also briefly, and not the one involving the Doors), thoughts on music writing, and a reading list.

The other day I was reminiscing about the first time I saw a show by George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars (some of whom appeared on Parliament’s “Flash Light,” one of the first 45s I ever bought). It was 1983 at the Tulsa Theater (then known as the Brady Theater, changed in 2019 when they decided it was bad form to be named after a Klansman and a prominent segregationist), and I had a great time; among other things, it was my first exposure to “Maggot Brain,” which completely blew me away. But one thing in particular I remember about the concert was being one of the few white people there (in contrast to a P-Funk show I caught decades later at the storied Cain’s Ballroom, where the audience was about two-thirds white and most of the Black attendees were about my age or older). So . . . I was wondering if you’d had any similar experiences of being an ethnic minority at a live concert, especially early in your career or even as a teenager, and if you had any reflections on this. — Rob Tomshany, Tulsa

As a ‘50s jazz fan who greatly preferred Black musicians to white ones, I was still often in the racial majority at jazz clubs. But as someone always aware that Black popular music coexisted more or less equally in aesthetic terms with even Beatles-era “rock” (the Supremes, hey), circa 1964 I started patronizing 125th Street’s Apollo Theater, where I was seldom if ever the only white patron but was almost always in a distinct minority. In 1967 I published a substantial Wilson Pickett piece based on the Apollo experience you can find on my site and in Any Old Way You Choose It,  though why the final sentence has an “I” where there should be a “me” I do not understand. 

In my early teens a librarian at the public library of my hometown in Sweden showed me Rock Albums of the ‘70s. That was my entry to lots A-album music since then. Thanks! I also had lots of fun reading your sarcastic reviews of ABBA, but did you know Jens Lekman once said he saw “Dancing Queen” as one of his favorite songs, actually a sad, tragic song, although ABBA “turned it into a stupid disco song.” Can you sometimes relate like that to music you don’t really like? And what is your relation to libraries? I happen to like their service, and work at one now. — Joakim Westerlunc, Linkoping, Sweden

a) I love libraries, which made my life as a writer possible, and have been donating generously to the New York Public Library since I started itemizing my taxes circa 1966 (the American Friends Service Committee has been my other fave charity over the years). b) Though the Abba reviews in the ‘70s Consumer Guide book are pretty funny all things considered, I really have softened on them. A 1994 Australian movie called Muriel’s Wedding was decisive in this. A real “pure pop” artifact. Have no doubt Lekman feels the same.

Hello. I remember (or maybe misremember) that you’d changed your thoughts on ABBA in recent times. I base this on a comment made when being interviewed by Rob Sheffield on your 2015 memoir (again, if I’m wrong, I’m wrong). Like your recent review of a Queen compilation, would you consider ABBA bestseller, Gold? I’m not a fan personally but my nan was so I do have some attachment to their music. — James McKean, Liverpool

See above. Don’t know what kind of an A their GH might end up and don’t have any other reason to nail the details, but an A minus or conceivably full A would seem right. A plus, highly unlikely.

Do you support the legalization of euthanasia? — Momo, Hawaii

There’s a difference between euthanasia, which isn’t legal anywhere in the U.S., and physician-assisted suicide, which I’m for although it’s only legal in 10 states plus the District of Columbia, I would expect only when decedent-in-waiting is capable of requesting it of his/her own free will. I can imagine favoring euthanasia under some circumstances. But to me it’s obvious that specifics and safeguards would have to be built into any law legalizing it, which would inevitably complicate things.

As a young person that loves music and is very opinionated, I want to review albums and be a critic. What words of advice would you give to a young writer, or what advice would you give to your younger self? — Reagan Bussey, Starkville Mississippi.

First, don’t kid yourself about the raw appeal of your prose. Be relatively confident that some people out there enjoy your writing AS WRITING. Second, don’t fib about how much you yourself like or dislike the music in question, and even more important, why you feel the way you do. If the reasons aren’t vivid or interesting or significant or striking or of general social/aesthetic usefulness, review something else. 

What are some of your favorite classic novels (or novels in general)? I have had a lot more free time recently to get into books when I hadn’t before and would love some A+ recommendations. — Young Reader, Ireland

I constructed a 100 fave novels list in 2007, when, let me remind you, I was 65 as you still aren’t. Many of the top 10 I’d read after I’d turned 30 and a few of them post-40. The pre-30 ones I’ll mark with an asterisk and add that I wrote about several of these books in Going Into the City.

1. Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie*

2. Christina Stead, The Man Who Loved Children*

3. Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past*

4. Ousmane Sembene, God’s Bits of Wood

5. V.S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas

6. Norman Rush, Mating

7. Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms*

8. Alejo Carpentier, Reasons of State

9. Margaret Drabble, The Millstone*

10. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera