EASTER WEAKENED

Posted by Daniel Stout on Sat 22 Apr 2000 at 12:00 PM

So anyway. I started reading POPism: The Warhol Sixties today. It was written by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett. Really, it’s as gossipy as the Warhol Diaries, but unlike the diaries, which Pat Hackett started recording in the ’70s, POPism is a portrait of an artist on the rise. More specifically POPism begins with Warhol’s shift from being a commercial artist to being just an artist. He discusses briefly the disdain that ‘fine’ artists hold for the commercial masses — how there is little communication between the two worlds — how artists would do commercial art under a pseudonym.

I don’t think the same is true for writing. People who are journalists often write books under their own names, even if the book is a novel. Rather than to obscure the source of origin I think pen names are more often used for marketing purposes. Even Andy changed his name from Warhola to Warhol. Literature is certainly filled with examples of people using names for effect. Mark Twain anyone? At any rate the use of alternate names than one’s given name is a tried and true way to get sales. Even pulp-writer Stephen King experimented with pen names. My question though is this: is Walter La Fée a name that sticks in one’s head? Or should I come up with a name for myself … Leo Tolstoy Orwell. Or how about Edgar Allan Fitzgerald? Albert Kafka? Franz Camus? Federico Garcia Mahfouz? No. I should dispense with the past & delve into the future. T32? WLF00? WALTERlaFÉE? /wlf/dev/hd1? No. I’ve got it. Walter Godot. Yeah, that’s good.

Not too much has been going on lately. I finished up a research paper I was writing & I’m steadily progressing on my master’s thesis. Hard to believe there’s only two weeks left of classes. & one week of finals after that. I’ve been doing the job search. Actually it’s been a pretty good thing because I cleared out some outmoded ideas of the types of work I’m looking for & found some good ideas. At this point I’ve sent out resumes & am waiting to hear back now. I called one prospective employer — a major university, which shall remain nameless — and the response was good. But things are glacial in academia and I won’t even know until the middle of next month whether they want my auspicious talents on board.

I’m listening to the fabled Greg Brown right now. “In The Dark With You” — what a great album. Very good. Highly recommended. I went to the record store today and found a couple vinyl treasures in excellent condition for $2. Even after all these years my turntable is my most used piece of stereo equipment. I’ve also been enjoying Ben Folds Five - “Whatever and Ever, Amen” on vinyl as well. I think it’s a good sign that musicians worth their weight still release their albums on vinyl. They know that people who are into vinyl are typically passionate about music. A friend recommended a recent movie called “High Fidelity” about the romantic interludes of a record store owner played by all-the-women-love-him John Cusack. Anyone seen this one? Write me via email.

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