A John Saytes Film.. 1984's 'The Brother From Another Planet' comes to the Michigan Theater. 7 p.m. ARTS michigandaily.com TUESDAY APRIL 9, 2002 5 Neal Pollack admits his new novel is funniest of the year .. ANTHOI-OCY Of' MERICAN Saxophone legend Shorter set brings 0 jazz to Ann Arbor LiTERATURE By Luke Smith Daily Arts Editor The literary defense system has been threatened at the seams as of late by the sprouting army of like-but unlike, casually ironic and completely satirical brains working out of a central location somewhere in the McSweeney's compound. Neal Pollack is one such brain. His first novel "The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Litera- ture" satirizes itself, while satirizing satire all woven through slew of short stories. The book, Pollack's first (although 7NEALhecl im ohv rte cd fbooks in the Introduction, including a JIM version of the Bible which was later adapted into a Tony-winning musical At the called "Neal Pollack presents the 12W Bible") was at its hardcover inception the first literary offspring from the Tonight Mc Sweeney's birthing stirrups. His anthology features a variety of stories mock- ing the typewriter-toting, white male journalist of the modern-era. Pollack aims much of his book's satire toward the crosshairs of authorial vanity, tak- ing vicious shots at ego with a pump-action twelve- gauge. On tour currently, Pollack took time to answer a series of questions from The Michigan Daily e-mail. The Michigan Daily: Question the first. This interview, like many of the things I've found myself involved in lately is incorrigible, incomprehensible, hackneyed and slapped together at the last moment with the cheapest form of crazy glue - it is no one's fault other than my own. How do you feel about things that are incorrigible, hackneyed and incomprehensible? Neal Pollack: Since that pretty much describes my life's work, I have to say that I have a great deal of affection for such things. Some of our best art is incomprehensible. UI' a TMD: McSweeney's Literary Collective is the Rat Pack of modern literature. Considering that ,who would you compare yourself more to - Peter Lawford or Joey Bishop? NP: Definitely Peter Lawford. My friend Ken- neth, who is lounging next to me as I look at his "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and Jobs With Jus- tice posters, agrees. "In no way are you Joey Bish- op," he says. I actually think I'm Sammy Davis Jr. TMD: How do you feel about being placed into this sort of post-modemn pantheon of writers by my Creative Writing GSI (Graduate Student Instructor, for the OLLACK sake of Mr. Pollack) amongst others? ITARIST NP: I don't feel that I am a post- t.on modern writer. Yes, there are some tricks that I deploy, and my work is )el aRio self-aware, but for the most part, I shngton think I'm a realist, even if my work is satirical. My narrative style is not kt 7 p.m. tricky, and my prose style is clear and unelliptical. Besides, I thought post- modernism was dead. TMD: (Interrupting Mr. Pollack) I have a gen- eral problem with this idea of post-modernism, on a few accounts. First, it feels like I must've missed out on something modern, and I'm left in some sort of proverbial dust. You are living in very modern times, far as I can tell. Second, how can anything be post-modern, if what I'm living on a daily basis is modern, I'm not living outside of this modernity and into something post, am I? NP: Exactly. TMD: 'Why is insincerity funny? NP: I'm not so sure insincerity is funny, and I'm not so sure my work is insincere. I sincerely satirize what I satirize, and that may be why it's funny, if you think it's funny. TMD: Why are untruths funny? NP: Well, I don't know for sure. But untruths generally mask a larger truth and ... I don't know what the flick I'm talking about. TMID: This is your oppor- tunity to promote your book. Go! NP: It's definitely the fun- niest book published this year, definitely funnier than Michael Moore's unfunny book, and, why not, may even be a classic of its kind. < It also has sexy naked pic- tures of me and lots of blowjob jokes. A little some- . thing for everyone, except maybe grandma, unless your } ; ${ E 4 grandma is Diane DiPrima, Courtesy of Harper Collins and then she might appreci- ate it. By Jamie Freedman For the Daily "What is music for? What is anything for?" Jazz saxophone leg- end Wayne Shorter explains that his music is crated out of the desire to tell stories, inspire hopes and celebrate life. After an excep- tional 30-year career in music, Shorter is still in the music-mak- ing business for the right reasons and going strong. "No song is ever really finished. I aim to have some surprise and to go for the unex- pected - I don't want to make the aea1 Pollack~ TMD: Back to this idea of the McSweeney's Liter- ary Army - there is an assault of authors publishing in McSweeney's, getting book deals and marching forward in a literary takeover, keeping this in mind, which G.I. Joe team member are you in this attack on the Cobra of the Literary World. Side note: Duke is taken, Dave Eggers is Duke. NP: I like the guy in the Marine Corps who wore his dress blue uniform. He had the shaved head when he took his hat off. He kicked ass. Editor's note: The G.I Joe in question is Gun g-Ho circa 1987. TMD: When you brought The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature from McSweeney's to Harper Collins for the paperback edition, were you selling out? If so, is the selling out working well for you? NP: I don't think I sold out. The book, if anything, is even harsher on the literary establishment in this edition, which is about 100 pages longer. The idea of a writer "selling out" is absurd. The vast majority of writers don't make any better than a middle-class salary. If selling out means having my books in more bookstores, then yes, and yes, it is working for me. That's not to take anything away from McSweeney's, which is the greatest, but in the end, an independent publisher can only take you so far. The big publishers and chain bookstores have a hammerlock on the industry. TMD: Inevitably tomorrow's book signing will yield a slew of private, personal moments for recipi- ents of your signature, moments that they will cherish indefinitely - moments that will be bought out when signed copies of your book appear on Ebay, selling for ridiculous amounts of cash that you will never see - how does that grab you? NP: I think it's hilarious. If I am going to be a cul- tural commodity, then I want to be one all the way. Sell my used toilet paper for all I care. storytelling pre- dictable and dull," said Shorter. "We play to inspire curiosity in people's lives and of course to have some good, old fashioned fun." This Thursday, the University Musical Society presents the debut of the all- acoustic Wayne Short- er Quartet. Shorter WAYNE S] QUAR At the Mi Them Thursday atE $3E ickets availat University Mu: Over the past 30 years, Shorter has helped to define new styles of music incorporating rock, classi- cal, electronic and jazz. He has recorded with artists such as Joni Mitchell and Brazilian vocalist Milton Nascimento. Recently Shorter teamed up with old friend and band member Herbie Han- cock. They appeared together at the Michigan Theater in 2000 after releasing their successful and criti- cally acclaimed album, 1+1. Hancock once called Shorter "the master writer." This is true not only for Shorter's days work- ing with smaller ensembles, but for larger ones as well. In ;HORTER 2000, the Detroit ?TET Symphony Orchestra commissioned Shorter ichigan to write a piece ater scored for large 8 p.m. $16 orchestra, jazz quartet 6 and Latin percussion. ble through Shorter said that isical Society Miles Davis told him, "It takes 20 year before you run into a wave of people you want to work with." The band that Shorter has put together is fresh and exciting in its variety. Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Perez com- bines Latin rhythms with jazz, earning him commissions from all over the world including the Chicago Jazz Festival to the renowned Concorso Internazionale di Composizione in Bologna, Italy. Bassist John Patitucci spent the decade of 1985 to 1995 touring with Chick Corea. Innovative drummer Brian Blade has recorded with a wide range of artists rang- ing from Joshua Redman and Kenny Garrett, to Bob Dylan, Emmylou_ Harris, Daniel Lanois and Joni Mitchell. In putting together his quartet Shorter said, "I imagined them playing together and then inserted myself." will be joined by pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, all accom- plished musicians in their own right. Shorter is both known as saxo- phone improviser as well as com- poser. In the later '50s, after a short two-year stint in the army, Shorter became good friends with John Coltrane. Through this friendship they both learned to cultivate their own unique and ingenious talents. In 1959, at the age of 26, Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, placing him among top musicians. In 1964 Miles Davis asked Shorter to join his band with John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Shorter stayed with Davis for six years until 1970, when he formed his own fusion jazz/rock group called Weather Report. Isn't this the cat's meow? Lades, Mr. Neat Pollack. Found it fast in Paper Topic Ideas on Questia.corn. 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