September 3rd, 2010 / 7:18 pm
I Like __ A Lot

2 Podcasts I like a lot did episodes I liked a lot.

A couple of my favorite podcasts have had some pretty amazing episodes lately. Go download them if you are so inclined.

1. First, the August 20th episode of Negativland’s Over the Edge radio show was dedicated to, and entirely made up of, recordings of or about William Burroughs.

So, I loved William Burroughs in high school and the first couple of years of college. I tired of him in my later college years and after for quite a while. And now, I find myself turning back to him again, rediscovering an appreciation for his work. Does Burroughs come in and go out like a tide for the rest of you as well?

(I had a friend who bartended at a place in Lawrence that was, people said, owned by Burroughs’s lawyer, and he used to give me free drinks all the time. This, in some sideways way also makes me think of Burroughs fondly, though he was in no way responsible for me getting free drinks.)

2. Marc Maron—who I, and other people named Matt(y), like quite a bit and have written about in the pasthad a really fascinating discussion with a comedian named Moshe Kasher on a recent episode.

The whole question of subculture and identity became the core of the discussion. Kasher is the son of Hasidic Jews who were also both deaf. Both he and Marc are sober, as well. Jewish culture, and a Jewish kid who idolizes Oakland’s gangsta rap (Spice One, Too Short) culture. Deaf culture. The culture of sobriety and therapy. Stand up culture. Really interesting stuff.

Moshe talking about people who use the phrase “there’s really no translation for it in English,” an absurd claim that was always been a pet peeve of mine, as well:

Thank you, Moshe. Thank you, Marc. Thank you, Don.

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18 Comments

  1. kevin lee

      yeah i go back to burroughs alot.
      my copy of “literary outlaw” is destroyed, i also like the beat hotel.
      actually i read more about his life than his actual books.
      in high school i went back and forth with burroughs and kerouac and little ginsberg.

  2. I. Fontana

      I have a framed photo of the younger William Burroughs above the toilet, and so I often find myself falling into reveries while studying his face. The photograph is from Mexico City, right after he shot Joan Vollmer. But that biographical epiphenomenon is not what I contemplate.

      I think instead of Burroughs in Tangier during the 1950s writing the pages thrown onto the floor which ultimately became Naked Lunch, material which must have seemed wildly unpublishable in that time — and yet he persevered, with no possible idea of worldly success. He just kept writing. I don’t worship every word he wrote. His actual product seems somewhat hit-and-miss. I don’t care.

      He is my hero. My writing also has its “difficult” elements. But nobody forced me to throw away my life in this way. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

      Meanwhile it soothes me, sometimes really soothes and consoles me, to gaze into the face of William Burroughs, my distant brother, or father, fellow convict and friend… as I continue to refine my life’s work, unknown, forever lost in an eternal Tangier.

  3. kevin lee

      yeah i go back to burroughs alot.
      my copy of “literary outlaw” is destroyed, i also like the beat hotel.
      actually i read more about his life than his actual books.
      in high school i went back and forth with burroughs and kerouac and little ginsberg.

  4. I. Fontana

      I have a framed photo of the younger William Burroughs above the toilet, and so I often find myself falling into reveries while studying his face. The photograph is from Mexico City, right after he shot Joan Vollmer. But that biographical epiphenomenon is not what I contemplate.

      I think instead of Burroughs in Tangier during the 1950s writing the pages thrown onto the floor which ultimately became Naked Lunch, material which must have seemed wildly unpublishable in that time — and yet he persevered, with no possible idea of worldly success. He just kept writing. I don’t worship every word he wrote. His actual product seems somewhat hit-and-miss. I don’t care.

      He is my hero. My writing also has its “difficult” elements. But nobody forced me to throw away my life in this way. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

      Meanwhile it soothes me, sometimes really soothes and consoles me, to gaze into the face of William Burroughs, my distant brother, or father, fellow convict and friend… as I continue to refine my life’s work, unknown, forever lost in an eternal Tangier.

  5. daniel bailey

      yeah i like moshe kasker. strangely enough, i read with him in oakland last fall at a reading that featured both poets and comedians (chelsea martin read there too). moshe read from a memior that he’s been writing, which was pretty damn hilarious.

  6. Matthew Simmons

      He’s in some Mary Van Note videos, and I know she sort of straddles the stand up and oddball lit worlds. Was she there, too?

  7. d

      ‘The Soft Machine’ is incredible.

      I want to read his sci-fi Western trilogy.

  8. daniel bailey

      yeah i like moshe kasker. strangely enough, i read with him in oakland last fall at a reading that featured both poets and comedians (chelsea martin read there too). moshe read from a memior that he’s been writing, which was pretty damn hilarious.

  9. Matthew Simmons

      He’s in some Mary Van Note videos, and I know she sort of straddles the stand up and oddball lit worlds. Was she there, too?

  10. d

      ‘The Soft Machine’ is incredible.

      I want to read his sci-fi Western trilogy.

  11. KevinS

      I’ve seen a couple of great shows with Moshe and Mary Van Note. I became friends with Mary several years ago when we talked about publishing a novel she wrote called Blue Balls. But we could never figure out how to fix a few of the books problems and we both moved on. Both Moshe and Mary are really weird and funny though and I totally expect they’ll be publishing books in the not-too-distant future.

  12. KevinS

      I’ve seen a couple of great shows with Moshe and Mary Van Note. I became friends with Mary several years ago when we talked about publishing a novel she wrote called Blue Balls. But we could never figure out how to fix a few of the books problems and we both moved on. Both Moshe and Mary are really weird and funny though and I totally expect they’ll be publishing books in the not-too-distant future.

  13. john sakkis

      moshe. dang. we were both part of the same party scene in the mid 90’s. i haven’t seem him since nexus crew…he used to be a really fun ambient dj. hi moshe if you’re reading this…

      nice post matthew. all of us east bay born kids idolized spice 1, the gigiddy gigiddy gangster.

      xo

  14. john sakkis

      moshe. dang. we were both part of the same party scene in the mid 90’s. i haven’t seem him since nexus crew…he used to be a really fun ambient dj. hi moshe if you’re reading this…

      nice post matthew. all of us east bay born kids idolized spice 1, the gigiddy gigiddy gangster.

      xo

  15. shaun

      Nice to Marc Maron getting recognition, he’s a fantastic guy – almost as much of an orator as a comedian, and always fascinating

  16. efferny jomes

      Nice to Marc Maron getting recognition, he’s a fantastic guy – almost as much of an orator as a comedian, and always fascinating

  17. daniel bailey

      i don’t think so. at least she didn’t perform if she was.

  18. daniel bailey

      i don’t think so. at least she didn’t perform if she was.