Seymour Glass: Classic or Dud?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Salinger's boy genius is another conversation for another time and place. I'm referring here to Seymour Glass the critic, Seymour Glass the editor, Seymour Glass the interviewer. His absurdist writings puzzled the readers of Bananafish, Chemical Imbalance, and other such zines. Were they delicious truffles or foul lumps of poo?

― EC, Sunday, 16 March 2003 18:58 (twenty-three years ago)

Glass often hid behind a tall hedge of nonsense, making it appear that he was terrified of actual communication.

As with his prose, so with his taste. Why did the noisemakers that he championed bury their hearts under layer after layer of obscurity and dada? Bananafish music is shy music, even when it's deafeningly loud.

― EC, Sunday, 16 March 2003 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

When Glass and his pet noisemakers were on point, though, their strict avoidance of cliche and convention allowed for greater communication. Patient readers and listeners discovered rarely-spoken truths glittering beneath the bullshit.

― EC, Sunday, 16 March 2003 19:39 (twenty-three years ago)

EC is so right. Please rub the buddah while I pull out my 70's puma's 'cause I like a shoe w/ a good arch while I'm eating baklava.
ie: This is not a Mezbow review.

― brg30 (brg30), Monday, 17 March 2003 02:18 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know him, so it's pretty safe for me to admit that I think he's practically a literary genius.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 17 March 2003 05:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, he may be brilliant or he may not; by going back and compulsively brushing away his tracks, he's made it awfully hard to judge. His writing can often seem timid and stingy, and I can't help wishing that he would clarify his thoughts, or at least stop putting so much effort into muddying them.

― EC, Monday, 17 March 2003 15:31 (twenty-three years ago)

So I was the only one what saw this and thought of Miss Black America, then.

Hmm.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I think: the longer you stick around, the better Seymore Glass's music criticism is. Also, I suspect he actually IS J.D. Salinger.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 17 March 2003 16:38 (twenty-three years ago)

The only beef I have with Chaz was seeing him fall asleep during a performance by one of his most highest praised artists (who I happen to have no interest in). Maybe he was tired, blah blah blah... still a weak move in my book for such a highly touted artist and his staunchest supporter.

No, it was not Neil Hamburger.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 17 March 2003 17:10 (twenty-three years ago)

PURE GENIUS, I still pull those Bananafishes out when I need to lighten up. Plus, often, after I heard the music behind one of those incomprehensible reviews, I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about.

― matt riedl (veal), Monday, 17 March 2003 17:54 (twenty-three years ago)

seymour is a great writer who puts fun first. he understands, righteously mocks, and gleefully wallows in the pretension that's rampant among fans and creators of difficult music. as john said, the more you read him the more sense he makes.

― dan (dan), Monday, 17 March 2003 18:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Plus, often, after I heard the music behind one of those incomprehensible reviews, I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about.

...but those records were, like the reviews, deliberately constructed to be as vague and mysterious as possible. Both the music and the writing are open to almost any interpretation, so of course you can match them up. I can listen to one of those nightstand white noise machines while reading any randomly selected text, and the one will seem to be commenting on the other.

This is a pretty fascinating phenomenon, and I do think there's something brilliant about facilitating it. However, those white noise machines eventually lull you to sleep, and wading through a whole issue of Bananafish has a similar effect.

― EC, Monday, 17 March 2003 18:30 (twenty-three years ago)

WHY ISNT THIS THREAD ABOUT THE SINGER FROM MISS BLACK AMERICA, BURY ST EDMUNDS' GREATEST ROCK/POP/INDIE/PUNK BAND?

― schnellschnell, Monday, 17 March 2003 18:39 (twenty-three years ago)

twenty-two years pass...

bandcamp: https://sglass.bandcamp.com/

He's been on tour for a week, has anyone been checking out his shows?

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 9 May 2025 03:32 (one year ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.