The Summer of...

I mentioned last year how my summers seem to be themed artistically. Normally I pick out some artist to be the soundtrack of my summer and I stick by it. Sometimes there's a tie and it's hard to decide. Sometimes nothing really grabs me, so I have to make an effort. This time it was easy. This was in every way the summer of...
Sleater-Kinney

It makes perfect sense. I tend to like bands that have broken up or are past their prime. It's an exercise in masochism. So of course immediately after hearing of their impending hiatus/breakup, I decided to revisit their work. I never got The Woods at all. The Fox was so dissonant that it made me think the whole album was contrary. Now I absolutely love it. I've revisited One Beat, and have moved on to Dig Me Out. Did I get to see one of their farewell shows? No. Of course not. I probably could have made it to Lollapalooza, but even for me that would require too much of an effort and waste of money. It would easily have trumped the time I drove to Detroit twice to see the Stooges (there was the blackout, so the first show was canceled). Oh yeah, and I got a nasty traffic ticket on the first voyage. Yikes.

Beyond that, this is also the Summer of the Picaresque. I reread Huck Finn, and keeping in fashion, it is now my favorite book. Of course before that Beloved was my favorite book. Basically the last good book I read becomes my favorite. I think this may actually hold, though. I do love Beloved, but I'm not sure it ever really knocked out American Pastoral. Is that really my favorite? Hmmm. I'm thinking, and...yes, I think it is. Well, maybe Gatsby actually. It has a psychic grip on me. And of course it all comes from being a Midwesterner uprooted and transplanted on the East Coast. I think that chip is what makes the shoulders so big. Then why are mine so narrow? But anyway. I'm restarting Augie March for the third time. I really do enjoy it, but I just get sidetracked by other, slimmer volumes that pique my interest. Hmm, pique-->picaro-->picaresque. How about that? Well, the point is that once I'm done with this and moved into my new place, I'm going to start El Quijote. Wow. Good for me. I'd like to start it before Sept. 21 so that it can actually be the Summer of the Picaresque. There's really no way that I'm going to finish both Augie March and Quijote, but I'd like to get the final one started. Wish me luck. Who am I talking to? No one actually reads this.