On suicide and the writing life. "Downbound Train" is at the NAILED.

There is also the death of Ned Vizzini, the need for affirmation, Lost in Space, and appreciations to whole NAILED crew for making it so. Excerpt? Word.

"What does it feel like before you step off of a ledge? What is that moment like? Do you teeter or plunge? Is it a culmination of steps, moments of constant despair and pain leading to that moment? Or is it impulsive, sudden and volatile, grabbed with ferocity? What does it sound like after that step? Do you feel the wind in your face? Do you wonder if in fact you can float, or fly?"

"Right now, we need a President who has a vision that includes all of our citizens, not just some." Bruce Springsteen

Full statement here.

An unabashed Happy Birthday My Father's House cross-promotional moment thing.

Happy Birthday Bruce. And now some unabashed cross-promotion. My Father's House. And the reviews thus far. Outsider Writers Collective. decomP. Literary Chicago. Pank. Word. 

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Music List.

How about some Top Ten Music? Nice.

(1) Girl Talk/All Day. And all night, we will repetitively, and compulsively, play anything Girl Talk does. Anything.

(2) Kanye West/My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Hip hop goes confessional, well, more confessional. Long live Kanye.

(3) Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings/I Learned the Hard Way. Ebullience.



(4) Jamey Johnson/The Guitar Song. Sprawling, yet pared-down, throwback greatness.

(5) Arcade Fire/The Suburbs. Typically engrossing, with all due apologies to Shya Scanlon of course.

(6) LCD Soundsystem/This is Happening. Happy noise.

(7) Robyn/Body Talk Pt. 1. Maximum fun.

(8) The Gaslight Anthem/American Slang. Sort of Springsteen, sort of 80's, very catchy.

(9) Bruce Springsteen/The Promise. Joy found in the dark.

(10) Bob Rok/Poverty in Color. A love letter to Pilsen.

Also deserving of some love (and in no particular order): The Hold Steady/Heaven is Whenever; Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horse/Junky Star; John Mellencamp/No Better Than this.

Biggest let down: MIA/MAYA. Though to be fair, Meds and Feds is slamming.

Biggest, and oddest, pleasurable surprise: Joanna Newsom/Have One on Me.

More 2010 Top Ten Love.

TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Books List

TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Television List

And for your retro viewing pleasure.

TBWCYL, Inc. 2009 Top Ten Music List

TBWCYL, Inc. 2008 Top Ten Music List

TBWCYL, Inc. 2007 Top Ten Music List

We are having ourselves a most musical week here at TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters. Today, all day, The Promise by Bruce Springsteen. Joyousness.

"Ben Tanzer is a writer with enough heart to pump life into nearly any literary scene." We get PopMatters'd. And like it. A lot.

Most humbled we are. Rock star author and TBWCYL, Inc. favorite David Masciotra has written a quite awesome essay on the pop culture and psychological implications of TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer's fiction and we are most appreciative. The title of the essay is "Ben Tanzer’s Fiction: A Tragicomic Exploration of Life and Pop Culture" and it appears at the most excellent PopMatters blog. We hope you check it out and we have printed an excerpt below for your reading pleasure. By the way did we mention that we are humbled? Because we are. Way.

"The pop cultural references and witty banter in Tanzer’s fiction is not merely some slick game intended to show off literary skills and trivia knowledge for the audience. It is an attempt to contribute to literature’s finest inquiry: What makes the individual affectionate, lonely, satisfied, and terrified?"

Not that we're claiming we told you so, but we do think you heard it here first.

We have made no secret of our great affection for David Masciotra author of the fabulous Working on a Dream - The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen, and while we could list the various reasons why, and no we are not just talking about his looks, one of the things we are convinced of, is that with the publication of this book we are seeing the birth of the next great public intellectual, a Douglas Brinkley or Cornell West. Well, we are happy to report that the movement to prove us right is now rapidly afoot, something we know more than ever because The Lecture Bureau clearly agrees with us. Now, what does this mean for you? It means that you probably want to get David to come speak at your events while you can, and while he's cheap, because we're guessing his price will soon far exceed the usual shots of Jim Beam on the house.

Masciotra. Tanzer. Springsteen. The Chicago Literary Scene Examiner Interview, Part Two.

More Masciotra. More Tanzer. More Springsteen. More excerpt. And much more appreciation for The Chicago Literary Scene Examiner.

EX: Every time I listen to “Born To Run”, I get that teenage excitement to discover the world right now. I think it's the horns. Who is the literary equivalent of either a) The Boss or b) one of The Boss's songs/albums and why.

BT: I had this girlfriend in high school who once said to me that she would be happy as long as some guy at some point said to her "You ain't a beauty but hey you're alright," which is a line from “Thunder Road”. This says a couple things to me, one she didn't know how attractive she was, but more importantly that I probably grew-up in a small town and that I probably grew-up in the northeast, though possibly in the mid-west. This woman was dying to get away from our hometown and dying to do something, and be something, she wasn't yet, but thought she could be once she escaped. And this is what Bruce writes about on “Born to Run,” a yearning to be noticed and to escape the confines of home and youth and class. I say all this, because I think that means that certain books and writers could almost fit here, but just aren't quite right. The Basketball Diaries for example has some of this, but it’s almost too cool, and we certainly can't count a story about someone who doesn't want to escape their hometown especially when its New York City, a place that the characters in “Born to Run” want to escape to. Similarly, On the Road and Catcher in the Rye capture some of this vibe, but they're not quite right either, not for what you're asking. Given this, I'm going to suggest two local writers, Don DeGrazia and Joe Meno, and their two most popular works, American Skin and Hairstyles of the Damned. Both are working class, both are centered on youth and escape, and both have a strong grounding in music, though in these cases it’s punk, not rock, something I think Bruce could live with. David?

DM: “Born to Run” is about individual conquest, but it is also about the discovery of the meaning and power of love, and the participation in a just and enduring community. It encourages individuality, but not without connecting it to one's sense of integrity, act of creativity, and commitment to community. It also begins Springsteen's tradition of love talk that goes on uninterrupted throughout his career--love being not just some cheap sentimentality, but the steadfast concern for the well-being of others. Springsteen acknowledged this in live introductions to the acoustic version of the song, saying the song is about "two people trying to find their way home," and that "individual freedom with a larger community ends up feeling pretty meaningless." This is a deep and profound message in a market-driven culture that discourages communal connection and altruistic bonds empathy. It also flips the script on the market's conception of individuality, which tells people "you are your cell phone ring tone," or "you are your sneaker."

In Working On a Dream, I make literary comparisons between Springsteen and Dostoevsky, Steinbeck, and Cormac McCarthy. Steinbeck is pretty easy and straight forward considering Springsteen has a song and album called "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Throughout Nebraska, Springsteen explores the dark depths of the human psyche and the painful consequences of isolation in Dostoevskian fashion, with particular similarities to Crime and Punishment. The father and son in The Road, McCarthy's epic classic, are guided by love for each other and a commitment to goodness they call "carrying the fire." Too often people make theoretical objections to consumer culture, market-driven society, and greed, but fail to make the individual changes that need to accompany the conceptual protest. "Carrying the fire" is an expression that encapsulates making those individual changes, and "The Promised Land" is an anthemic tribute to making those changes.

Masciotra. Tanzer. Springsteen. The Chicago Literary Scene Examiner Interview, Part One.

Robert Duffer and the Chicago Literary Scene Examiner are most graciously doing a two-part interview with TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer and author David Masciotra in advance of our most epic appearance tonight at The Book Cellar. Please do take a look, please join us and please enjoy the brief excerpt from part one below.

EX: How did a guy who dissects political issues through the lens of pop culture hook up with a guy whose characters think pop culture?

DM - I discovered Ben's second novel, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine, at an exhibit on local authors at the Cultural Center. I was immediately drawn to Ben's book because of the Bob Dylan song title, and the evocative cover. Most Likely... is an insightful, funny, and evocative novel with well-developed characters and nearly flawless dialogue. I emailed Ben to give him my feedback, compliments, and encouragement. We started talking, he seemed very excited about my book, which at the time had just picked up a publisher. I'm thrilled to have his support and friendship. But, I am beginning to regret sharing a stage with the funniest guy in the world

BT - David is way too generous, but this is a friendship I have been thrilled to find myself in. It might be enough if he was only good-looking, smart and contrarian, but what’s especially exciting is his passion with progressive politics, the affects of isolation and his desire to be a champion for the downtrodden and oppressed. It’s really powerful stuff and it’s inspiring to be around. I would add, that I also think that we try to use pop culture in a similar fashion and even seek some of the same answers. While it’s true that on the surface, David may be more focused on politics and policy, while I am more focused on people trying to get laid, we are both trying to make sense of how people connect, or don’t; why people turn to drugs, drink or sex to cope or escape; and how hope can sustain us even when nothing else seems to be working.

TBWCYL, Inc.'s Top Ten Albums of the Decade Will Change Your Life.

Music is as subjective as anything, but we know what we like, music that brings us joy or slams us into a wall, inspires us when we write and moves us when we run. So without further adieu, the TBWCYL, Inc. Top Ten.

(1) Separation Sunday/The Hold Steady (2005). Druggie storytelling awesomeness.

(2) Feed the Animals/Girl Talk (2008). Pinball and fried chicken. And no we don't know what that means.

(3) We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions/Bruce Springsteen (2006). Ebullient.

(4) Yankee Foxtrot Hotel/Wilco (2002). Like an explosion.

(5) Be Your Own Pet/Be Your Own Pet (2006). A wondrous kick to the head. And groin.

(6) The Grey Album/Danger Mouse (2004). Please allow me to introduce myself.

(7) I'll Sleep When Your Dead/El-P (2007). Just because your feeling paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't following you.

(8) We Belong to the Staggering Evening/The Ike Reilly Assassination (2007). Ike Reilly should be much, much bigger.

(9) Kala/M.I.A. (2007). All world.

(10) American III: Solitary Man/Johnny Cash (2000). Like falling in love all over again with someone you never actually fell out of love with in the first place.

The best of the rest (in no particular order): None Shall Pass/Aesop Rock (2007), That Lonesome Song/Jamey Johnson (2008), The College Dropout/Kanye West (2004), Funeral/Arcade Fire (2004), Rabbit Fur Coat/Jenny Lewis (2006), Ultraviolet/Kid Sister (2009), The Shepherd's Dog/Iron and Wine (2007), The Bake Sale/The Cool Kids (2008), Armchair Apocrypha/Andrew Bird (2007), The Black Album/Jay-Z (2003).

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!

A BRIEF STATEMENT FROM BRUCE
Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I've been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, "The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law." I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.

Like we needed another reason to love Bruce.

Cover madness.

We have been very excited about the imminent release of Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen by good friend David Masciotra and now that there is an official, and quite awesome, cover we are doubly so. Meanwhile, and speaking of awesome, while we have not been looking quite as forward to the release of Adam Lambert's debut album, are they still called albums, we are none-the-less quite enjoying the release of the the cover. Nice.

This Self-Portrait Will Change Your Life, Week Thirty-Two - "New Stuff."

It is Week Thirty-Two of This Self-Portrait Will Change Your Life, our terrifically self-absorbed effort to post one self-portrait per week for one year. This week's self-portrait is titled "New Stuff" because well, we're working on some new stuff, dad stuff, and there's some Bruce Springsteen in there as well, and we'll see where it goes. We will also keep you apprised of our progress. We promise. In the interim though, please feel free to track the project in its entirety at the Flickr and if you feel so inclined please also feel free to send us a self-portrait of yourself and we will be happy to post it right here at This Blog Will Change Your Life. No, really, we will, try us.

Fun, interesting, fascinating, sad and frustrating - perhaps. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine gets Reading Frenzy'd. And likes it. A lot.

We are really thrilled to have received a quite kind review of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine from LuAnn and the fine folks at Reading Frenzy. We also answered some questions for them and while we are not entirely sure if the review or interview will change your life, we are definitely sure that they changed ours. Thanks again to LuAnn for the interest and for brief excerpts of both feel free to read more below. Yeah, like right below.

Review:

"This really was an enjoyable read. In fact, I had it done in one day because I just couldn't put it down until I found out what was going to happen to these kids."

Interview:

Who has influenced you the most in your writing career?

"This is a tricky and great question. On the one hand, I need to say, Jim Carroll who wrote “The Basketball Diaries,” among other books, because after I read it for the first time, I really felt like I had experienced how writing can transport people somewhere other than where they are and I wanted to be able to do that. I would also say Don DeGrazia, who is the author of “American Skin” because after seeing him read “American Skin” and then reading the book, I really believed for the first time that writing a novel was possible. And then there is Lynda Barry, mainly because I have a big crush on her, but also because I once heard her say she doesn’t plan what she writes, she just writes whatever she’s feeling that day, which I love, and because someday, I want to write a book like “Cruddy,” which I also love. A lot.

I also need to mention the influence of the Ramones and punk music in general, keep it short and slamming, no fat; Bruce Springsteen, tell stories that are sparse and evocative; David Cronenberg, because of the way he described creating a “History of Violence,” particularly the violence itself, fast, intimate and up close, which is how I like to think people interact in relationships; and finally, the Beastie Boys, try to be smart, try to be interesting and don’t forget the humor."

A cold and rainy 2009 Printers Row Lit Fest, Orange Alert, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine, interviews and such.

More or less in order. We hit the 2009 Printers Row Lit Fest yesterday. We worked the Orange Alert table with the Behrends. We sold copies of Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine. We hyped the new Orange Alert joint Sunlight at Midnight, Darkness at Noon. We did an interview with La Guth and Chicago Subtext, more on that soon, we think. And we had coffee with author David Masciotra (and his lovely girlfriend Sara), who has a new book which we are way geeked about on Bruce Springsteen, his lyrics and politics coming out on Continuum around the beginning of the year. It was cold and rainy, but much fun and we have the pictures to prove it.

A glorious amalgam of dating, dysfunctional families, and pop culture. Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine gets Largehearted Boy'd.

How geeked are we that "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" has been Largehearted Boy'd? Way. And how much more geeked are we that David Gutowski and Largehearted Boy asked us to write a Book Notes essay for them? Way more. Now, are we hoping that you will read said essay? Yes, we are, a lot. So go ahead, please, and thank you. Really.