goings on for your enjoyment...
Thursday, July 17
5-7 Wine and Tapas tasting at Wine Cellar $5
5:30-6:30 wine tasting at mt. brook Western $5
6:00 Thursday Night Live at Tria, live music
? affordable late night Little Savannah
Friday, July 18
5-7 wine tasting at Tria
5-7 wine tasting at Wholefoods
5:00-9:00 Art Opening at Hawthorn Gallery (3rd ave n)
5-10 Art On the Rocks at BMA
Saturday, July 19
7:00 pepper place
8-5 A'Mano 75% off market day
12-2 wine tasting at Wholefoods
2:00 coffee tasting at Primavera Roasters 9691177
4:00 AL Outdoors Backpacker seminar
7:00 open mic at Greencup Books 105 RABlvd poetry
Thursday, July 24
5:30-6:30 wine tasting at mt. brook Western $5
5:30-8:30 art opening at Amanda Schedler fine art
6:00 Thursday Night Live at Tria, live music
? affordable late night Little Savannah
Sunday, July 27
art lecture at Avondale Park Library
Thursday, July 17, 2008
town.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
bright shiny morning
James Frey's new book, Bright Shiny Morning got somewhat slammed this week in the New York Times Book Review. The reviewer seemed to pride himself on his central thesis, which was, essentially, that this novel reads too much like non-fiction and Frey's much publicized non-fiction turned out too be too close to fiction.
Clever. But I actually found the book to be an enjoyable experience, and not at all oversimplified as the reviewer pointed out.
Facts about Los Angeles separate each of the chapters, which sketch the lives of various Los Angeleans, The city becomes a character in its own right, with its promising start as a land of hopes and dreams (and angels) slowly spiraling into a mess of highways, lack of water, and overdose on drugs and crime. This spiral is echoed in the stories of the main characters, Amberton, a movie star, Dylan and Maddie, two small town kids looking for a better life, and...
...Esperanza, the hispanic maid. Are these stereotypical characters, as the NYTimes reviewer points out? Yes. Are they any less riveting for that? No. And I believe they have enough flesh on them, pockmarked and dimpled with Frey's rapid-moving prose, to seem true to life.
I say Forgive Frey! His past sins have no bearing on this beautiful book that links a city (in a portrayal that will serve as a history as well as a story) with those who live and are ultimately subsumed by it.
