Only time can write a song that's really really real
new issue of Dream Pop & Erase the Patriarchy Zoom launch dates!
I woke up this morning and our high-desert world was overcast and drizzly and for a brief moment I felt like I was in Ireland again. Hot tea weather / my time to shine.
A friend who ordered a few copies of my books from University of Hell Press sent me a photo of the package she received from them today, then asked an unrelated question: what song do I consider my theme song or manifesto in song form. I immediately replied, “Time” by Richard Hell & the Voidoids, because the lyrics ring true for me as I grow older and realize how little I’ve known all along and also learn new ways to heal and, when appropriate, forgive (myself and others). It didn’t occur to me until after I named the song that I am clearly obsessed with and drawn to Hell.
“Time and time again I knew what I was doing and
Time and time again I just made things worse
It seems you see the most of what is really true when
You're stepping into your hearseOnly time can write a song that's really really real
The best a man can say is how its play on him does feel
And know he only knows as much as time to him reveals”
I feel also like I should credit Kaoru Sato here since my punk education and exposure largely descends from our long and wonderful friendship. She also covered the song while in isolation in May and wrote what I consider a beautiful tribute to the creative process as healing process:
“I thought I would never finish this song because I was so in pain and unhappy while making it, but during conversations with various people I realised that sometimes, when you are creatively and psychologically marooned, you need to build (in my therapist’s words) a “raft” to get you to the safety of land so you can continue your journey. The raft might not be the most beautiful thing you create and you might decide to throw it away afterwards, but it serves a purpose.”
If you have a song that you would consider your theme song or manifesto, I’d love to hear about it!
DREAM POP ISSUE 10
The above erasure by KT Herr appears in the new issue of Dream Pop, which landed this morning! Check it out.
ERASE THE PATRIARCHY ZOOM LAUNCH DATES
Erase the Patriarchy will officially launch with two Zoom events on the following dates with the following readers:
Tuesday, September 15 @ 5PM PT
Katie Manning, Joanna Valente, Abigail Zimmer, Caitlin Cowan, Tracy Gold, Tara Burke, Tyler Vile, Adra Raine, Ki Russell
Sunday, September 20 @ Noon PT
Marcella Prokop, Tara Campbell, Sarah Lyn Rogers, Rachel Neff, Krista Cox, Andrea Avery, Maggie Rosenau, Laura Davis
Readers will show their erasures via Screen Share and talk about their process/inspiration for the work. We hope you can join us! I’ll share Zoom links closer to the dates.
READ / WATCH / LISTEN
High Score. This Slate review refers to Netflix’s video-game docuseries as “heavy on nostalgia but light on revelations,” but I have to disagree. Perhaps I’m majorly out of the loop, but I was not aware that the first video-game tournament champion was a trans lesbian, and I also did not know about GayBlade, one of the first LGBTQ-themed video games ever which was lost and eventually recovered with the help of the LGBTQ Game Archive (another thing I didn’t know existed!) There is also a great segment on the love of a Black player for the football video games he grew up with, and many, many interviews with Japanese game designers and illustrators who shaped the future of games in a major way. There is even a brief spot with Roberta Williams, co-founder of Sierra Entertainment whose King’s Quest series dominated my PC-gaming childhood. The Pac-Man sequence brought me back to afternoons at Chicago’s Union Station, eating hot dogs with my dad while we played the game on table consoles. A nostalgia trip for sure, but a thoroughly enjoyable one with some delightful animations throughout.
In Search of Darkness. Another 80s nostalgia trip (sorry not sorry)! But this time with horror film. Going year by year, actors, directors, producers, critics, movie people of all kinds get together and share brief thoughts and reflections on a splattering (horror version of smattering) of films from the era. It’s four hours long and I’m still only halfway through, but so far I’ve recorded more than 30 films I haven’t seen yet and intend to watch during the upcoming Halloween season (Halloween is a season, y’all, not a day, thanks bye).
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They are such wise lyrics. He is a Hell of a poet. GET IT?? GET IT??
Can't wait for the Zoom readings. 💗 That's a STACKED lineup!