Read My Friend's Book!

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http://www.penguinputnam.com/static/covers/all/3/1/1594200513H.jpg

My friend, Sean Wilsey, just published his first book (via Penguin Books), "Oh the Glory of It All" -- recounting his priviledged childhood in San Francisco and troubled teenage years in and out of reform schools. Biases aside, it's a highly entertaining, engaging read. I highly recommend it, despite the fact that he failed to immortalize me in print anywhere in the book...the bastard.

Seriously, it's great and I'm wicked proud of him. Go buy it and read it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

that's a really nice cover.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

should i judge the book by it?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

Wow, yeah, that's an amazing book cover.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

Oooh, wasn't there an excerpt in The New Yorker last week? I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, but I will take this as an incentive to do so! (I remember him from McSweeney's, too, if memory serves.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

That's him!

I think the cover is meh, actually.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

No, it's a nice blend of starkness and something more florid...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

ha, that's neat! I read that bit in the New Yorker too, and there was a substantial blurb on it somewhere else--Vogue? Wired? I subscribe to too many magazines.

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

I like the cover. Chances are excellent, however, that this book will not be on the shelves at the ONE book store in town.

(Jesus. I need to get the hell out rich 'n' rural Colorado.)

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 2 May 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

Chances are excellent, however, that this book will not be on the shelves at the ONE book store in town.

Not for nothin', but it's published by Penguin, which is as "major label" (to use music geek terms) as you can get. It very well might be in every bookstore across the country.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

H'm? Penguin, eh? I'll have to check it out.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

alex is it hardcover or PB?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

(peanut butter)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

I read the New Yorker thing and it was good. He also did an exclusive interview for the online New Yorker.

― X-PAT (nordicskilla), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

Most delicious book ever.

― giboyeux (skowly), Monday, 2 May 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

Is this the guy who was on Leonard Lopate's show today?

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 2 May 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

No, sorry, nevermind. It was Stephen Elliott, whose novel (not memoir) is called "Happy Baby." I got confused because he too is a McSweeney's-related guy, and he also writes about either reform school or juvenile hall or something like that. Anyway ...

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 2 May 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

Wow, yeah, that's an amazing book cover

amazing and STOLEN!!!11!1!11

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002BNY5U.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Bodum, Thursday, 5 May 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

hahahah, nice. Secret's out! (Is the album any good?)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 5 May 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

Holy shit!!!!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 9 May 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

Myself and the author, not long ago.....he's the more dignified looking one.

ihttp://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-23%2005.04.38%20-0800/Image-6BCCC726859A11D9.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 9 May 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

Nice, Alex: thanks for starting this thread! I will revive next fall, when my friend CH's collection comes along -- and hopefully every now and then after that (I'm betting on RG, DC, and DG to get there first).

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 9 May 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

alex, are you in the basement at happy ending in that photo??

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 9 May 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

wow, well spotted, Phil!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 9 May 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

i may not know who derrida is, but i do know my downtown hipster bars..

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 9 May 2005 18:14 (twenty years ago)

which is pretty sad, actually. congrats to your friend though!

― phil-two (phil-two), Monday, 9 May 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

Dunno if anyone's been following it, but a libelous kerfuffle has sprung up prior to the release of Sean's book (as documented in last Sunday's New York Times, among other places). Going to the book release party on Thursday. Very exciting. Turns out the designer for that Mara Carlyle sleeve and Sean's book are -- WAIT FOR IT -- the same person.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

I just read the nytimes article -- ugh, his stepmother sounds completely loathsome.

― Leon Federline (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 17 May 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

yeah, she's a bad bit of business

So, Sean's wife asked me to make two "era-appropriate" mixes for an informal book launch party tonight. One for cocktails and one for dancing, should anyone feel inspired.

By "era-appropriate," she means the time period covered in the book (i.e. the 80's), and given that Sean is virtually a clone of Ferris Bueller, I concocted -- after several hours of agonizing and editing -- these two. What say you? I should point out that many of the tracks listed are mentioned by name in the book, hence their inclusion. There's also a lot of predictable stuff.

the Cocktail mix
1. "A Night Like This" by the Cure
2. "Save it For Later" by the `Beat
3. "So in Love" by OMD
4. "You're the Best Thing" by the Style Council
5. "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" by the Colour Field
6. "Bedbugs & Ballyhoo" by Echo & the Bunnymen
7. "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran
8. "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel
9. "Medicine Show" by Big Audio Dynamite
10. "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen
11. "Less than Zero" by Elvis Costello
12. "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" by Joe Jackson
13. "Love My Way" by the Psychedelic Furs
14. "There is A Light that Never Goes Out" by the Smiths
15. "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears
16. "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Peter Schilling
17. "A Message to you Rudy" by the Specials
18. "More Than This" by Roxy Music
19. "The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum" by Fun Boy Three
20 "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)" by the Icicle Works

the Dance mix...
1. "Love is the Drug" by Roxy Music
2. "What You Need" by INXS
3. "Let's Dance" by David Bowie
4. "The Bottom Line" by Big Audio Dynamite
5. "Town Called Malice" by the Jam
6. "Blue Monday" by New Order
7. "This Is Radio Clash" by the Clash
8. "Situation" by Yaz
9. "Hyperactivate!" by Thomas Dolby
10. "Relax" by Frankie GTH
11. "Love Plus One" by Haircut One Hundred
12. "Tenderness" by General Public
13. "Promised You a Miracle" by the Simple Minds
14. "Too Much Too Young" by the Specials
15. "Too Much Pressure" by the Selecter
16. "Never Say Never" by Romeo Void
17. "Poison Arrow" by ABC
18. "This Corrosion" by the Sisters of Mercy

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 19 May 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

looks fun!

― phil-two (phil-two), Thursday, 19 May 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Aww, what a nice mix.

So I just learned two of my friends are appearing in this summer's New Yorker fiction issue: don't forget to read it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 19 May 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

Remind me.

― giboyeux (skowly), Thursday, 19 May 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

I just read the excerpt from this is Vogue (the firetruck gift part), nice work!

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 19 May 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

What are their names, Nab?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 19 May 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

For those in the NYC area, Sean's doing a reading...

New York, NY
Thursday, June 9
Barnes & Noble
Chelsea
675 Sixth Ave.
7:00 p.m.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 6 June 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

The amount of press I've read on this book is staggering, is he raking it in yet?

― teeny (teeny), Monday, 6 June 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Dunno. I presume it's doing quite well, tho'.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 6 June 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

I saw this tonight in the discount section at St. Marks Bookstore but, despite being right there in the heart of Alex territory, I didn't buy it.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 24 August 2007 05:07 (eighteen years ago)

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