sauerkraut!

Back in the world of PKD and reading The World Jones Made. Like all of his novels, this one concerns precognition, or a dude who lives his life one year in the future. Basically he lives his life twice so he always has a sense of Deja Vu. PKD makes this kind of precognition out to be a blessing, but mostly a curse.

Another person who can be considered to have lived in the future is Klaus Dinger. Dinger, along with Michael Rother, was an original member of German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. However, Dinger and Rother left Kraftwerk because they didn't think the band was pushing the boundaries enough. They went on to form Neu! After Neu disbanded, Klaus went on to form La Düsseldorf with, among others, his brother Thomas. 

Both Neu and La Düsseldorf were well ahead of their time. Indeed, David Bowie once said that La Düsseldorf was the sound of the 80's, even though their seminal LPs were released in '76 and '78. They did make one more record in 1980. I can safely assure you that Neu/La Düsseldorf/Klaus Dinger influenced everyone from the Sex Pistols to Joy Division. OMD even had a b-side called 4 Neu; one of my favorite OMD tracks of all time.

After Neu, Michael Rother went on to make some solo LPs that I'm quite fond of, including: Flammende Herzen and Sterntaler. These records, too, evoked the sound of the 80's well before the decade rolled around. Sometimes I wonder if they too, were living their lives more than once.

I've been digging a lot of this krautrock lately as a matter of fact. Thomas Dinger went on to record some swell solo LPs, including one of my favorite krautrock records, Für Mich. Other current favorites include: Wolfgang Reichmann, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Emtidi, Peter Baumann, and Robert Schroeder. 

As you can imagine, this forward looking music makes the perfect soundtrack for The World Jones Made, and certainly for any other PKD novel you may have lying around. Check out one of my favorite Klaus Dinger/La Düsseldorf songs, "Geld", by clicking on the title of this post.

Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)

I had to get away for a little while. I guess I just had a little too much Dick. 

Anyway, I've been bopping around the Con-Ap today, basically cleaning. There is no better song to clean to than Icicle Works' "Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)". To be quite honest I haven't been able to get into the band's other songs (maybe some Loyal Boxers can't show me the light).

But this song, which you can access by clicking on the title of this post, is a true barnstormer in the spirit of Big Country's "In a Big Country". Another band that only has one song I enjoy.

You may be thinking, "what does Icicle Works have to do with Dick?" Well, the band named themselves after Frederik Pohl's 1960 short story "The Day The Icicle Works Closed." The real lesson here is that one can find real cool band names from Science Fiction titles. In fact, I think I'm going to cull a nice list of potential band names from Dick titles. Aspiring rock stars stay tuned.

Anyway,  if your Con-Ap is in need of some Mr. Clean, Birds Fly may aid your quest.

In other news, I'm thinking about heading to The World Jones Made. I'm ready to get some Dick back into my life. I hope that makes you happy.

Robert at Joe's Pub

A Loyal Boxer-- "John in D.C." -- was in the same room with me at Joe's Pub for Robert's shows last month. I haven't posted in quite some time and when he let me know he was there I felt obligated to share a couple of hazy memories from the show. I bought the tix for both shows the day they were scheduled and made a reservation for the table in front of the stage.

The 7:30 show was alright. Robert described the 9:30 show as one of the best of his career. I must agree. At both shows, the highlight (for me) was the cover of Grant's "Quiet Heart" -- It was such a fitting tribute to a fallen friend. The song sent chills down my spine.

The whole night was a very cozy affair. John took up Robert on is invitation and met the band at a local bar. I however, stumbled home, high on JJ-180 and basking in the glow of a wonderful show. Wondering what Grant was thinking, looking gazing down with his vast intelligence.

Cheers to Go-Betweens/Forster fans (and Loyal Boxers) everywhere! Shoegazers of the world untie!

And John in D.C., why can't you find the vinyl? Is it no longer available?

PKD and Politics: The Simulacra

In The Simulacra, PKD takes on politics. The setting is the future political entity of The United States of Europe and America (USEA). In this future, the true leader is not the President, but the First Lady. Of course, she's a robot (or as PKD would have it, a simulacra). Every four years, the people of the USEA vote in a new husband for her, who becomes the President.

The Simulacra, once again, displays PKD's preternatural gift for describing the future accurately, especially the effect of television on the powers that be. However, in The Simulacra, the people can literally somewhat control what politicians will do or say by turning the knobs on their television sets. If enough of the people press certain buttons on their TVs then the politician will do what they command. 

The Simulacra is a wonderful metaphor for what is actually going on these days, and a nice prism through which to look at the current political situation.

The Cleaners From Venus

Recently loyal Boxer Apedog tuned me into Martin Newell. I was digging his pop manoeuvres and decided to do a little digging. I came across Martin's 80s band, The Cleaners From Venus. These dudes were super rad. They produced all their music themselves on cassette and they would send it out to all their fans; just like my heroes: My Friend George, Oceano Da Cruz and Price Pearlman.

Quite obviously, the coolest thing about The Cleaners is that they chose a totally PKD'd out band name, which is why they get to be our guests today on Dick in a Box. 

Click the title of this post for some fine grade cleaning action.

Younger Than Yesterday

I really regret having to leave A Maze of Death as it is one of my favorites. But all things must pass, or must they? The PKD work that I think is most linked with A Maze of Death in PKD's oeuvre is Counter Clock World, as it too deals with the themes of mortality and theology. I also link it with A Maze of Death because it is one of my favorites in the PKD realm.

I've been reading my beat up 1974 Berkley edition of the book. The pages are falling out, but it held together for one more read. I thought I'd share the back cover blurb with you because it neatly encapsulates the oddball nature of the book.

"THE DEAD GROW YOUNG

Now that the Hobart Phase was in effect, Officer Joseph Tinbane wasn't surprised when he heard a voice speaking to him from beneath the ground.

It wasn't that he was going out of his mind. Not at all. It was just one of the 'old-born,' giving notification that it was ready to be dug up.

You see, the year is 1998 and things have changed quite a bit. Time has reversed its flow: the dead come back to life, and people grow younger instead of older."

Neat premise, and PKD pulls it off to grand effect. The book is completely hilarious. When people light up their smokes, they light "butts" and start "blowing smoke into" them. The cig reforms and they put it back into its pack. When people greet each other they say "goodbye" and when they part, they say "hello." And when people get back to the time of birth, they jump back into a host womb. The mother has to carry the regressing baby for nine months and then has to copulate with a man to return the seed to him. The book never really tells us why the Hobart Phase came about, but who cares about that.

One unique feature of the novel is that there is never a moment where the reader questions what is real, and in this way it is quite distinct among PKD's works because it never has that "what the hell is going on" moment. 

Also, in Counter Clock, we find a moment where PKD may have been influenced by pop culture rather than the other way around. The book was written in 1967, the year of the Byrds seminal classic Younger Than Yesterday, which has a cover of Dylan's 1964 classic, "My Back Pages." The Byrds version of "My Back Pages" is bar none my favorite song of all time. I have listened to it my whole life, from the coasts of California to the rooftops of New York City. 

"I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."  

The Byrds were rocking all over California at this time, and I'd wager PKD was influenced by this classic version, just check out the cover of the LP, totally PKD'd out.

You can enter the Hobart Phase yourself by clicking on the title of this post.

The Mandolin Player

Maze of Death deals with the vagaries of getting old, and in that sense it's quite appealing to us nostalgic types.

One of my favorite scenes occurs near the beginning of the book where Ben Tallchief contemplates getting old... 

"Forty-two. His age had astounded him for years, and each time he had sat so astounded, trying to figure out what had become of the young, slim man in his twenties, a whole additional year slipped by and had to be recorded, a continually growing sum which he could not reconcile with his self-image. He still saw himself, in his mind's eye, as youthful, and when he caught sight of himself in photographs he usually collapsed. For example, he shaved now with an electric razor, unwilling to gaze at himself in his bathroom mirror."

There is a sadness that is captured in this passage, that I think .knowdice captures in his famous early-2001 photograph, The Mandolin Player. Thanks again .knowdice, for letting us display your work here in the Box.

Anyway, I think I may get an electric razor myself one of these days.