The Lit Log: Gene Wagendorf III

This is the fifth in a series called the Lit Log, where I ask people to document what and how they read. If you would like to contribute to the Lit Log, hit me up at andhertz [at] gmail.

Gene Wagendorf III was a music writer at Windy City Rock. He also contributed words to the online travel guide UPChicago, the graphic novel review site Trading Opinions and was a guest blogger for FeelTrip Studios. His poetry has been published in Kill Poet, ditch, O Sweet Flowery Roses, Vowel Movements and Robot Communism. He is survived by his dog, Whiskey, and a version of himself with slightly less of a Bill Hicks-complex.

How many books (approximately) do you read a year: That's tough. To get it out of the way early- I'm an avid reader of of graphic novels/comics. Obviously that medium offers a completely different reading experience than traditional, text only literature, especially in regards to time. I tend to read one or two "book books" a month, but I can plow through six trades of The Walking Dead in one night. The short answer is between 12-20 books a year and maybe 30-40 graphic novels.

How many book do you read at a time: I tend to do a lot of juggling. At any given time my bag has a novel, a graphic novel and either a collection of poetry or short stories in it. What I'm in the mood for changes so frequently that I always like to be prepared.

The last great book you read: This might be cheating since it's a book I've read several times, but I recently reread Tom Robbins' Still Life With Woodpecker. Like a lot of Robbins' work it's highly quotable, self-indulgent, whimsical, hilarious and thought-provoking. Oh, and sexy. Few authors manage to get me erect and get me thinking on the same page. I often forget I have the ability to do both at the same time until I read a great book.

Your desert island book: Charles Bukowski - Tales of Ordinary Madness. It is, in my opinion, his best collection of short fiction. It's packed with the drunk curmudgeon yarns that people expect from Buk, but there are also surprising moments of tenderness and fantasy. There's a few peeks behind the curtain - stories that lend a little insight into his more practical life as a writer. The stories work together towards a strange end, both debunking Bukowski myths and furthering them at the same time. It's self-deprecating and depressing while also being strangely funny and uplifting. The man was a walking contradiction, a tough, angsty booze-hound with a poetic soul and crushing sensitivity. Tales of Ordinary Madness shows off both of those sides, and is a perfect introduction to Bukowski for whatever uninitiated are left.

Best music to listen to while reading: To paraphrase Rob Gordon, when I'm reading I just want something I can ignore. That is, I don't want some catchy pop song I know all the words to. I'll get distracted, want to sing-a-long, or dance or whatever. New Order might be the worst music to read to. Can't do it. I tend to go for something relaxed, or at the very least something instrumental. Thurston Moore's record 'Trees Outside The Academy' is always a good pick; there's some hypnotic acoustic guitar work that, working with his relatively smoky croon, allows me to get lost in the page. Mazzy Star's 'So Tonight That I Might See' is another good one. Not to sound pretentious, but jazz tends to be perfect. Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck- something with a seductive groove and won't be distracting.

Best music to listen to while writing: Like when reading, when writing I don't want to be jarred or taken out of the moment. Abdullah Ibrahim is a favorite because his compositions keep my mind on its toes. Banyana has this structured freedom to it, like anything can happen within these intuitive segments. It helps the creative juices flow without being too jarring. As far as rock goes, a band like Explosions in the Sky has been a recent favorite for writing. I'm a late comer to the band, but like just about the rest of the human race I find their music inspiring. It has a drive to it that's more majestic than it is aggressive, and there's an incredible feeling that comes with finishing a paragraph or a thought right at one of their climaxes and taking a drag off of a cigarette during the settling. Those are the moments that make blogging seem almost glamorous. Almost.



Best music writing: I'm the worst music writer ever, in that I don't read much music writing. Or rather, I don't read much music criticism on the internet. I've never been a huge fan of Pitchfork. Not to say that they don't have good writers on staff, they do, but just as often as I read something compelling I read something that sounds like typical hipster condescension. I also try to avoid reading a lot of it because I don't want to rip it off. When I started writing for Windy City Rock I had no idea what I was doing. I sort of learned on the fly. I look back at early reviews I wrote and it seems clear to me that I was a little lost. I like to think that over time I've learned from mistakes and developed a style, and I don't want to start copying someone else, intentionally or otherwise. I did really enjoy Jim DeRogatis' book Milk It: Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the '90s, but I enjoyed it in a sort of confrontational way. Like some of the worst writing on Pitchfork, I found DeRogatis at times came off as a contrarian for the sake of. However, in doing so I think he forces you to reexamine why you believe something, or in my case, why you think he's wrong. He crafts solid arguments, and that I can respect.

My favorite piece of music writing has got to be Dan Browne's Goodbye 20th Century, a Sonic Youth biography that came out a few years ago. Sure, I'm a Sonic Youth fanboy, but what I find remarkable about the book is that he writes succinctly and interestingly about experimental music, which is something I have struggled with and am constantly trying to tackle. Chicago's current DIY scene is in a lot of ways similar to New York's No-Wave scene, which Browne spends a good portion of Century discussing. It's a time period/scene/genre that I love, and he captures it in words remarkably.

Autumn book: Richard Yates - Revolutionary Road. It has nothing to do with the fall, but its sobriety and melancholy fit the season. Yates tends to look in on his characters at their lowest, and more than any other writer captures the beauty in loss without romanticizing it. Few writers can put synthesize emotions into text the way he can. It's a cold truth he presents, but there's something paradoxically warm in being able to relate to it. Without getting too lofty, he writes about the tragedy that it is to be human; a subject that seems best digested in autumn.

Do you ever judge a book by its cover: Graphic novels, yes, for obvious reasons. Otherwise, no. I do tend to avoid movie tie-in covers whenever possible though.

Are you satisfied with your literary intake: Of course not. I want to read more, but, well, time. There just isn't enough time.

Thoughts on contemporary state of literature: Bitch, bitch, bitch. Pop-anything is in a sad state right now. I could spend time complaining about 50 Shades of Gray, Twilight, Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but you've heard that all before. Just like you've heard people complain about Katy Perry and Britney Spears (am I dating myself?) and Nickelback. The truth is, that shit will always be around. There are incredible things being done at small presses. As there always have been. The difference is, now we have the internet. In two minutes you can find something amazing. I don't read as much contemporary fiction as I ought to, but that's mostly because I'm still catching up on all the great literature this world produced before I was born. To keep myself kind of up on what's happening I look for work in places like the Logan Square Literary Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Poetry, The Columbia Poetry Review and The Cincinnati Review. There are other great publications, but I find those offer a lot of what I'm looking for. Locally, Switchback Books does an excellent job at publishing amazing female writers, and they hold lots of cool events around the city.

Contemporary poetry is a sort of mixed bag for me. When I go to readings I find a 50/50 split between interesting, challenging work and pretentious, ambiguous crap. Again, it has probably always been that way, but in this age where every Little Leaguer gets a trophy, there are no strike outs and you can be whatever you want, everyone with a computer thinks they're a poet. I'm likely guilty of this myself, but that doesn't stop me from judging. Luckily everything is cyclical, and I think the poetry community is getting appropriately nauseated at some of the meaningless, esoteric narcissism that has been prevalent in contemporary poetry for a while. And for every unnecessary poetry blog there are online publications like ditch, diode, Kill Poet, Arsenic Lobster and Ekleksographia (and dozens of others) that are consistently putting out engaging and stimulating art. Off to the internet with you!