I’ve followed the JT Leroy saga as it has played out over the last year. I had read “his” short stories and been affected by the gritty subject matter. I didn’t adore the writing but I sympathized with the author’s background. Another lost child.
When I later learned that the author was not who “he” claimed to be — a street smart former drug abusing hustler — but rather a fragile, middle-aged woman from Brooklyn Heights with childhood issues of her own. I wasn’t angry or shocked. I understand that fiction is a trick done with mirrors.
Bob Thurber on the fallout of the J.T. Leroy saga.
I consider myself a Muslim, even if Andy Blade would dismiss me as not a “real-deal” Muslim. Like the fundamentalists, he holds a simplistic view of Islam in which there’s no room for movement. While respecting Andy as a musician, I’m thankful to say that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
I can’t remember for the life of me the last time I’ve seen a banker, or a nurse, or a cop, or even a musician, pull out a collection of poetry on the subway and read through just for the sheer pleasure of doing so, on the way home from a long day’s work, for example, let alone anywhere else. In fact, I personally have very little experience seeing novelists, fiction-writers or journalists reading poetry. 
The extremists, from my experience, seem to study the Koran in depth, the moderates, not so (and when they get to a nasty bit, they make excuses for what good old God actually meant, or they skip past it) which is why the extremists always claim to be the REAL deal Muslims — which, quite frankly, one would have to, statistically, agree with. So what is the point of ‘not in my name’? None whatsoever unless they create a new edition of the Koran. Putting a PG rating on an 18 movie does not make it PG.
The Clash of Civilizations. Capitalized like that it looks even better — the two big C’s on either end give it the feel of a new Playstation game or a Star Wars sequel’s title. The word ‘clash’ is certainly more poetic, more cinematic than any comparable synonyms like ‘fight’, ‘war’, or ‘conflict’. The Battle of Civilizations sounds like a WWF match — which might be more appropriate anyway.
It’s a bit like admitting you loved ELO back in the 70s. In certain circles (these ones, for instance, but not only) it treads beyond unhip into some kind of unacceptable. But to slag off Jeffrey Archer as an author is to enter into a game you can’t win. If he’s that bad, how come you’ve read him? And if you haven’t, how come you know he’s that bad? His real crime writing-wise is simply to not be trendy.
Our politicians are the defense industry. A person going from the state department, to being CEO of a defense contractor, and back into the vice presidency, defines the legal principle of a ‘conflict of interest’. The same man who wages war cannot be the same man who profits from one.
Gina’s temperament is suited to, and her work embodies, the same ethos which Stuckism embodies, namely holistic truth to self and experience and its direct communication. She is a fellow traveller in the paradigm, despite wishing not to – and claiming not to – travel with her fellows, and, for that matter, regardless of their wishes or claims on the matter. History does not give a fig for such refutatory peccadilloes and incidental vanities.
At Maidstone Art College, I attended tutorials by Brian Eno, who informed us that David Bowie had happily confessed to nicking the idea for the song ‘TVC15′ from him. Kylie Minogue didn’t have any problem in acknowledging she had taken words from Billy Childish for the title of her Impossible Princess tour and album.
Introduce a new national anthem. Maybe we could just go for an instrumental version this time? The British music scene is alive and well and any of the following artists would make good compositional candidates: Mogwai, UK Apache featuring Shy FX, Shaun Ryder, Squarepusher, Tony Hatch, Gallows, Ralph McTell, Black Sabbath (original line-up only please. Note: Ronnie James Dio-era Sabbath will not be allowed near this project). Cat Stevens.
