Does It Always Have to Come Back to 9/11?

Any week that brings both a new Bradley Denton novel and a new Dar Williams CD is a good week indeed.

Denton's Laughin' Boy, a sharply satiric look at celebrity and its effect on the modern-day media, is the story of Daniel Clayton, a lucky (or unlucky) survivor of a domestic terror attack. His travails are viewed through the lens of the "new" media: talk shows, "Hard-Copy" style expose shows, and the Internet. This novel was written in 2000, and Denton was unable to get it published after 9/11, even though it is just as relevant (if not more so) now than it was then. Fortunately, Subterranean Press has published a limited edition, which can be found at Amazon.com and other on-line booksellers. It's definitely a worthwhile read.

It took a couple of listens, but Dar Williams My Better Self is really growing on me, especially "Empire", a war protest song, and her cover of "Comfortably Numb" with Ani DiFranco. I know that Dar's main following seems to be among angsty young women (and I might never have heard of her if my wife hadn't played "Party Generation" for me, hooking me instantly), but her songs, which are heartfelt and often very funny, deserve a wider audience. For the record, Mortal City is one of my favorite albums, and I played it a lot in the days following 9/11 (I don't know why).