Our future is increasingly blurry and Dan Gutstein and his work may well be part of it. --Cathy Wagner, author of Of Course Dan Gutstein lives in the future and has returned from then to give you this book, now. --Matthew Salesses, author of The Hundred Year Flood A bookshelf without Dan Gutstein is like a building without murders--perfectly serviceable, but not as haunted as it could be. That's why you should probably get Buildings Without Murders and put it on your bookshelf. --Kathleen Rooney, author of Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk Gutstein thinks questions are the answer, in a format full of unpleasant surprises, but he's super into this randomization kind of thing. --Terence Winch Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllll! --Rod Smith, author of Deed Buildings Without Murders is lightning verbiage and wit, violence, love, and mourning in a wild future haunted by the crackle and hope of the God-booths, that singularly touching Gutstein response (or not) to the mortal coil. --Patricia Saraffian Ward, author of Skinner Luce Dan Gutstein's last legitimate job was writing fortune cookie fortunes in a damp basement off Canal. A customer got one that said "You Could Be Eating Korean, (lucky number 43)," after which he began sleeping rough under the shrubbery. --Chris Whittey (Dan's former boss), Alan F. Rothschild Distinguished Chair of Art, Columbus State University When the Civil Illumination Authority of an overbuilt American city solicits bids for a lucrative contract, the ensuing competitive efforts of one multinational corporation eventually unleash a morbid act of violence--one that affects a number of lives orbiting each other, including feisty redhead, LaRousse. A young woman who charges ahead, provokes, and yields to tenderness, LaRousse negotiates the intellectual and physical spaces between her stormy father, Wiry Strength, her activist romantic partner, Vermont Values, and her dopey street-kid chums, Docile and Pockets. The world of Buildings Without Murders subscribes, in part, to James Lovelock's "Gaia hypothesis," in that the earth is a living organism, and is trying to decipher how it might repair itself. Phenomena abound, including the ghost rockets, GPS pins, jazz holograms, and loose lightning. En route to turning eighteen, LaRousse encounters the beguiling phenomenon of the God Booth Project, and her trips to this novelty attraction reverse a lifelong assumption in life-changing fashion.
Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane chronicles the origins and evolution of a folk tune beloved by millions worldwide. Dan Gutstein delves into the trajectory of the “Liza Jane” family of songs, including the most popular variant “Li’l Liza Jane.” Likely originating among enslaved people on southern plantations, the songs are still performed and recorded centuries later. Evidence for these tunes as part of the repertoire of enslaved people comes from the Works Progress Administration ex-slave narratives that detail a range of lyrics and performance rituals related to “Liza Jane.” Civil War soldiers and minstrel troupes eventually adopted certain variants, including “Goodbye Liza Jane.” This version of the song prospered in the racist environment of burnt cork minstrelsy. Other familiar variants, such as “Little Liza Jane,” likely remained fixed in folk tradition until early twentieth-century sheet music popularized the melody. New genres and a slate of stellar performers broadly adopted these folk songs, bringing the tunes to far-reaching listeners. In 1960, to an audience of more than thirty million viewers, Harry Belafonte performed “Little Liza Jane” on CBS. The song was featured on such popular radio shows as Fibber McGee & Molly; films such as Coquette; and a Mickey Mouse animation. Hundreds of recognizable performers—including Fats Domino, Bing Crosby, Nina Simone, Mississippi John Hurt, and Pete Seeger—embraced the “Liza Jane” family. David Bowie even released “Liza Jane” as his first single. Gutstein documents these famous renditions, as well as lesser-known characters integral to the song’s history. Drawing upon a host of cultural insights from experts—including Eileen Southern, Carl Sandburg, Thomas Talley, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Charles Wolfe, Langston Hughes, and Alan Lomax—Gutstein charts the cross-cultural implications of a voyage unlike any other in the history of American folk music.
Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane chronicles the origins and evolution of a folk tune beloved by millions worldwide. Dan Gutstein delves into the trajectory of the “Liza Jane” family of songs, including the most popular variant “Li’l Liza Jane.” Likely originating among enslaved people on southern plantations, the songs are still performed and recorded centuries later. Evidence for these tunes as part of the repertoire of enslaved people comes from the Works Progress Administration ex-slave narratives that detail a range of lyrics and performance rituals related to “Liza Jane.” Civil War soldiers and minstrel troupes eventually adopted certain variants, including “Goodbye Liza Jane.” This version of the song prospered in the racist environment of burnt cork minstrelsy. Other familiar variants, such as “Little Liza Jane,” likely remained fixed in folk tradition until early twentieth-century sheet music popularized the melody. New genres and a slate of stellar performers broadly adopted these folk songs, bringing the tunes to far-reaching listeners. In 1960, to an audience of more than thirty million viewers, Harry Belafonte performed “Little Liza Jane” on CBS. The song was featured on such popular radio shows as Fibber McGee & Molly; films such as Coquette; and a Mickey Mouse animation. Hundreds of recognizable performers—including Fats Domino, Bing Crosby, Nina Simone, Mississippi John Hurt, and Pete Seeger—embraced the “Liza Jane” family. David Bowie even released “Liza Jane” as his first single. Gutstein documents these famous renditions, as well as lesser-known characters integral to the song’s history. Drawing upon a host of cultural insights from experts—including Eileen Southern, Carl Sandburg, Thomas Talley, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Charles Wolfe, Langston Hughes, and Alan Lomax—Gutstein charts the cross-cultural implications of a voyage unlike any other in the history of American folk music.
This highly illustrated and beautifully produced coffee-table book brings together over 100 of the Georgia Straight's iconic covers, along with short essays, insider details and contributor reflections, putting each of these issues of the publication into its historical context. For 50 years the Georgia Straight has served as the voice of reason during a number of turbulent times. With fearless tenacity, the Straight has always taken the good fight to the powers that be, whether they come in the form of big business, city hall, the provincial legislature, parliament or just plain human folly. While known for hard-hitting journalism and pointed prose, the Straight has also always been a purposely visual publication. With eye-catching design strongly reflecting the times - from '60s psychedelia to new-millennium computer graphics - the newspaper has charted a course through both artistic trends and meaningful writing. Together in one place for the first time, this collection of Straight covers spans five decades of newsworthy figures, events, issues and pop culture. A visual time capsule of sorts, it's a significant graphic chronicle of both the counterculture and recent Vancouver history - after all, if it was important, entertaining or inspiring, the Straight covered it. With work from a multitude of artists using various media and contrasting styles, this collection illustrates - literally - how the Straight was able to seize the moral high ground in the culture wars and turn civil disobedience into an art form. Along with a sense of history, there's a strongly ingrained emotional component to these old Straight covers: they've lost none of their power to evoke an impassioned response. Some are beautiful, some are funny, some will shock and some will enrage. But they'll all make you feel something.
In this work Dan Rottenberg shows how to successfully trace your Jewish family back for generations by probing the memories of living relatives; by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents; and by looking for clues in family traditions and customs.
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