JAMES & R.

I recently started reading Portrait of A Lady again. I had just finished Ian McEwan's Saturday and wanted to sink teeth into something comparably elegant and looking on my rather meager bookshelf, all I could find was the James. I did a very poor job selecting which books to bring with me to LA (it's been almost a year already wow!): lots of film books I thought I'd need for school but haven't touched; some "oh look ain't Alex hip!" lit that I should've sold back to the Strand right before leaving NYC; and not enough classics. What's it about contemporary lit that doesn't invite rereading? If I remember correctly, I've only reread 2 books written in the past I don't know 20 years: Norwegian Wood and Infinite Jest. Everything else, read once and thrown on the ol' shelf at my parents'. I fucking loved Blood Meridien but never got around to rereading it. Didn't feel it though I do love it a lot. The classics on the other hand are infinitely rereadable. What's up with that? Why is Portrait more rereadable than Fortress of Solitude? They are both equally pleasurable yet I have no desire to reread Fortress. Maybe it's just taste, but there's something about new books that secretly stinks and you dear reader, if you can tell me why, then why, chocolate bars for you!
Now let's talk about R. Kelly's TP3: RELOADED. Eric and just about everyone else I've crossed paths with the past few weeks is probably sick and tired of my going on and on about the brilliance that is the R. Happy People/U Saved Me was a decent album, but not the R. I know and love. TP3 is the R. I know and love. The R. that can't resist the obvious metaphor, like crooning about a girl's SEX WEED, her STICKY ICKY, her MARY JANE. The R. that can't resist having as an I-don't-know-what in one of his songs, "I'M READY TO TOSS YOUR SALAD!...WHILE MAKING LOVE I'LL BE FEASTING..." The R. that admits he's been "KICKIN' IT WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND" and doesn't know if he should boast about it or feel downright awful. The R. that writes, arranges, and produces every track on a record except those that are collaborations. This ain't a joke: R. Kelly is the greatest pop artist since Prince. No doubt about it. He's got a sweet voice; his r&b storytelling flow is tight; he's got a great ear for production; and best of all, his lyrics are brazenly sincere and funny and truthful. He just tells it like it is. No pretense about making "art." Whatever's on his mind, he sings. And thankfully, what's on his mind almost at all times is taking you the listener to the loose juice kingdom he calls, "Loveland." TP3 has got the dirty-dirty but it's also got pretty great Dancehall and Reggaeton tracks that are ridiculously infectious. And as most of you know, it's also got the weirdest most ambitious pop cycle in recent memory: TRAPPED IN THE CLOSET Chapters 1-5. Have you listened to this thing through a couple of times? Have you? If you haven't, buy the record! It's so freaking weird and hot and crazy and reeaaal! It's so well-written and sung that you forget how brilliant the flow is. And it's funny as shit! R. loves the funny because it's real. The CD also comes with a limited edition DVD of Chapters 1-5. It's pretty fantastic cinema. Especially Chapter 4. I could go on and on about TP3 but listen for yourself and get sated.
Then there's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. My brother introduced them to me a while back and I got to say, they are fun fun fun. Not very interesting, but fun fun fun! Clearly not as talented as the R. but then again, who is?

LOVE
ALEX