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Prrb #3 Final 3/16/06 9:00 AM Page 1 the Pacific Rim Review of Books prrb #3 final 3/16/06 9:00 AM Page 1 the Pacific Rim Review of Books PRRB Issue Three, Spring 2006 Publication Mail Agreement Number 4123503 $4.00 ISSN 1715-3700 Special Edition Beautiful dreamer... Reading Tom Waits Joseph Blake on music’s poet maudit Where to Begin? Remembering Cid Corman Gregory Dunne Diplomat Reg Little Examines The Secret World of U.S. National Security No fun: Two Innocents in the coffee shop, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. Rex Weyler Gets Serious Cuba, Si! About History David McFadden Canada’s publishing Industry John Moore does cuba gives Nightmares Two Views of alan twigg’s aboriginality Rexroth’s Century: A PRRB Symposium Kristine archie and Laura Cranmer Mike Doyle Bruce Serafin considers Pam Madoff Stan Persky’s ABC’s looks at architecture prrb #3 final 3/16/06 9:00 AM Page 2 Contents Beautiful Dreamer: Reading Tom Waits by Joseph Blake page Persky’s A.B.C.’s by Bruce Serafin page Where to Begin? Remembering Cid Corman by Gregory Dunne page PRRB Writing History by RexWeyler page The Pacific Rim Review of Books Two Views of Alan Twigg’ Aboriginality by Kristine Archie and Laura Cranmer page Issue Two, Spring 2006 ISSN 1715-3700 Don’t Eat This Book by Dr. Nicolas Kats page Publication Mail Agreement Number 4123503 The Writing Passport: From Baffin Island To Banff A Special Edition by Rachel Wyatt page In Shadow of Democracy Published by Canadabooks Ltd. by Reg Little page Editor: Richard Olafson A Brush with Life International Editor: Trevor Carolan by Linda Rogers page Music Editor: Joseph Blake Rexroth’s Century Medical Editor: Dr. Nicolas Kats by Mike Doyle page Humanities Editor: Carol Ann Sokoloff Tales of Two Cities Cover photo: a screen shot from the film, Coffee and Cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch by Linda Rogers page The Redemption of Anna Dupree Legal deposit at the National Library of Canada, Summer/Fall . by Al MacLachlin page PRRB welcomes manuscripts and letters, but we take no responsibility for their safe Is Stuart Ross the Future of Publishing? return. If you would like your work back, enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. review by John Moore page Do not send original artwork. All texts will be edited for clarity and length, and Tale of Two Cities by George Fetherling authorship checked; please include all contact information. review by Linda Rogers page An Anthology of Wisdom Poetry review by Trevor Carolan page The PRRB is published three times a year. Back issues are available at .. A one- Stumbling in the Bloom year subscription is .. Please send a cheque payable to the PRRB. review by Allan Brown page PRRB mailing address for all inquiries: In Memorium: Gwladys Downes Box Main Postal Outlet by M. Travis Lane page Victoria, B.C. Two Poems by Gwladys Downes by Gwladys Downes page Canada VW S Behind the Gray Door email: [email protected] review by Martin van Woudenberg page phone & fax: () - Watcher of Shadows review by Isa Milman page Copyright the Pacific Rim Review of Books for the contributors The Last Modernist: on Eldon Grier Opinions expressed in reviews and articles in the Pacific Rim Review of Books are the review by Stephen Morissey page opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of the PRRB. One Stone, Many Meanings review by Brian Campbell page Editor Trevor Carolan at the Malcolm Lowry Memorial, Cates Park, North Vancouver, B.C. Not Much Substance without Style review by Pam Madoff page Photo: Devin Olafson The Machinery of Love review by Jan Drabek page Telling it As It Might Have Been review by Jenny Weatherford page Suggestive Poetry Leaping off the Page review by Yvonne Blomer page How to Change the World review by Michael Platzer page The Abbey Bookshop The Place for Canadian Books in Paris 29, rue de Parchiminerie, Paris France Look for the Canadian Flag and be welcomed by a cup of coffee, sweetened with Maple Syrup. Brian Spence, Proprietor In the Saint Michel area, just off rue de la Harpe prrb #3 final 3/16/06 9:00 AM Page 3 Beautiful Dreamer: Reading Tom Waits Innocent When You Dream: The Tom Waits Reader Joseph Blake Edited by Mac Montandon. Thunder’s Mouth. p. ike Tom Waits, I lived in San Diego as a boy, number of things that I’d rather be doing. I don’t worked in downtown L.A. near the Nickel, like the stigma that comes with being called a poet (Fifth and Main), moved north to raise a fam- – So I call what I’m doing an improvisational L adventure or an inebriational travelogue, and all ily. I’ve been to the clubs where he broke into the music business and the wine country where he now of a sudden it takes on a whole new form and hides out. I haven’t bought all of his records, but I’ve meaning.” been a fan of his music since the early s. I love Although the Eagles had a hit with Waits’ the sound of an ugly beauty, and Waits’ ground- Ol’ 55, Rod Stewart topped the charts with Tom’s glass-gargled vocals are about as ugly a beauty as Downtown Train, and Bruce Springsteen made you’ll ever find. Wait’s Jersey Girl one of his arena anthems, Waits Waits doesn’t tour often, but I’ve seen him per- was stuck with a caricature (albeit purposeful) of form a couple of times, most memorably in the himself on-stage. Irony hit a home run in when Waits won a . million judg- s at UVic’s +seat auditorium in a show ment against Frito-Lay for its unauthorized use of his music in a Dorito com- opened by Leon Redbone. I’d scalped an extra ticket mercial. The impersonator used in the commercial sided with Waits. The musician’s from a walking pharmacy from Prince George who battle with commercialism in the music business paid off. This September, Waits filed went through his stock throughout the show while another suit against a unit of General Motors and a German advertising agency for pausing only briefly to offer his overflow to nearby using a soundalike in a series of audience mem- European ads. bers. It was a strange show. In a statement, Waits said: “Apparently Innocent When You Dream brings Waits to the highest compliment our culture life on the page. Divided into three sections rep- grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad resenting the musician’s career path from – ideally naked and purring on the hood romantic bohemian to studio noise experimen- of a new car. I have adamantly and talist, to the strange synthesis of these elements repeatedly refused this dubious hon- that Waits has conjured-up in the last decade our.” from his northern California, rural retreat, Waits’ legal victories haven’t changed Innocent When You Dream is a book for music his career course much. By the time he fans and idealists. won his . million judgment, he’d For more than years and a recording already starred in Jim Jarmusch’s Down career spanning over records, Waits has By Law with John Lurie and Roberto carved an honest portrait of the world around Tom Waits in an innocent moment Benigni and Ironwood with Jack him and his place in that world. This collection of magazine profiles, record reviews, press releases, Tom Waits at the mike. Nicholson and Meryl Streep (Not to mention his appearance in Paradise Alley interviews and transcriptions work-up a collage-like portrait of the musician and his with Sylvester Stallone.) life. The editor thoughtfully includes a couple of Charles Bukowski’s poems to help More significantly, Waits had married Kathleen Brennan and released a trilogy complete the picture. of noisy, experimental, daring soundscapes that carved even deeper into his psyche. The first section of the book focuses on Waits’ background and emergence on (Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Frank’s Wild Years.) With his muse and co-writer the L.A. music scene in the s. It’s a little flabby from needless repetition of one- wife riding shotgun, Waits broke out of his romantic wino narratives and began liners (as great as Waits’ con sounds.) and the cartoonish, drunken image projected breaking it up in the studio while unleashing an array of otherworldly, Harry Partch- onto the musician by too many fawning, rock journalists from Creem, ZigZag, inspired instruments. Newsweek, The New Yorker, et al. One classic case, David McGee’s piece in Innocent When You Sleep’s second section documents journalistic attempts to Rolling Stone, calls his story Smellin Like a Brewery, Looking Like a Tramp. define and describe these assaultative, surrealistic sound poems. They produce some Despite that title, McGee catches most of the essential biographical info behind very ripe, but poetic journalism. Capturing Waits’film noir narratives always eluded Waits’ youthful interest in Kerouac’s crew and the songwriting pantheon of Irving the writers. Now, his music provided the highwire without a net for his journalistic Berlin, Johnny Mercer, and Stephen Foster. Throughout these early pieces about pursuers. Interviews by Elvis Costello and Jim Jarmusch are the most insightful and Waits, references rain down on the page. It’s a deluge. Armstrong, Redd Foxx, Wilson interesting offerings from a collection of very fine stories. Pickett, Wally Cox, Larry McMurtry, Gershwin, Stravinsky, Dizzy Gillespie, Rodney Waits’ recorded work gains even more depth and so does the journalism cover- Dangerfield, John Hurt…on and on it goes. It’s oppressive. ing the artist’s musical maturation when Tom and the family (Brennan and three Todd Everett’s story from a New Music Express digs a little deeper into kids) move to the country.
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