Showing items tagged with 'books':
Slothrop's, Tallinn, Estonia

If you're in Tallinn, please stop by Slothrop's on Müürivahe 19.  You'll find a large selection of secondhand books in English - literature, history, art, politics, essays, criticism -- the works.  Slothrop's is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 18, Eastern European Time.  Soon we'll hopefully have a (carefully-curated) selection of independent publications and analogue musics for your shopping enjoyment.

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Book report: 'The San Francisco Tape Music Center', ed. David W. Bernstein
The San Francisco Tape Music Center: 1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde is a stunning work that achieves the history it intended to write while also providing stimulating inspiration about sound and approaches to creating it.  Editor David W. Bernstein presents a series of articles that detail the history, occasionally repeating information but allowing a pluralistic set of viewpoints to emerge instead of a monohistory.  The second half of the book is comprised of interviews, first with the primary actors of the Center (Pauline Oliveros, Ramon Sender, Bill Maginnis, Morton Subotnick and Tony Martin) and then with other figures who were also involved (Terry Riley, Ann Halprin, Don Buchla, Stewart Brand, Stuart Dempster).
 
 Tape-music-centre
(l-r: Ramon Sender, Michael Callahan, Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros (seated))

I think I found this particularly inspiring because I read this at a time when I've felt rather oversaturated with experimental music, and a bit unsure about how to continue my own experimentation in the field.  I'm about to embark on a stint with Lied Music/Vernon and Burns for the first time in ages, which makes me think a lot about the aesthetics of tape (which I haven't worked with since I left the UK -- I don't even own a working reel-to-reel at the moment).
 
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Lost books.

One of the 48 boxes that we shipped from Scotland to Finland disappeared back in August.  I counted 48 when the shipment arrived; perhaps I miscounted, or maybe the box never left Glasgow in the first place.  Due to slow unpacking, I didn't even realise it was gone until late October.  I'm not completely sure what was in there; I notice more missing books all the time.

Stanley Elkin - Mrs. Ted Bliss - this is Elkin's last novel and I haven't read it yet.

William Gaddis - JR - This was a lovely British paperback edition that I bought planning to re-read it.  Not now, I guess.

Fernando Pessoa - The Book of Disquiet - This is the kind of book worth owning, even though you can find it in most libraries, because it's the kind of book that you can pull out and open to randomly and read any page when you are looking for some inspiration

Alasdair Gray - 1982 Janine - My favorite Alasdair Gray book and one that I was also planning to re-read soon.

Joseph McElroy - Lookout Cartridge - One of my favorite books ever; McElroy is a writer who is rather hard to find in libraries (which is a real shame); thus I justify owning his books, and I will replace this soon.  I also had a 1992 issue of the Review of Contemporary Fiction dedicated to McElroy that will be harder to replace.

Ron Loewinsohn - Magnetic Field(s) - Another great and fairly obscure novel.

Julian Cope - Japrocksampler - Not sure how this got lost, as this box seems to be mostly fiction E-P, but it's gone.  Luckily I had actually read it.

Harry Mathews - The Sinking of the Odradek Stadium - Harry is probably my single favorite writer ever and I lost a couple, but luckily I had replacement copies in America.  Not this one, though.

Ben Marcus - Noteable American Women - I've actually bought this twice before and will buy it again.  This is one of the most inspiring of all recent books I have read and also something that I frequently pull out and read section of for inspiration.  The Age of Wire and String was also in that box.

 If anyone would like to buy me replacement copies of these, I would be very grateful!

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