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lee ranaldo's looking out the window and watching the mind-movies as
they roll by. is he driving? it doesn't matter cuz what's outside seems to be driving these writings here. and what's outside seems to be stirring up his insides. by describing these "outsides," he reveals these insights on his insides. though you sense the striving to reach some manner of objectivity, some "defining power" brought on by the spectator role he's cast himself in here, the mantra of "life is not a rehearsal" echoes throughout. this is a tour of lee's head. maybe he wanted to be one of his heart but how would I know? I like his snapshots, the way the characters are cast in confusion and missing their cues. awkward gestures making for an awkward stage manner, this is good fun and I love reading it to myself aloud. lee makes me think of myself and how I would interpret each scene, cast in such costumes. this is a gift of his and I'm grateful for him sharing it. I hear my mouth speak lee words and it's a trip. soon I'm ready to even dance like him - I'm out of control. wait, I must learn to be more academic. nope... maybe I shouldn't. I will cross my eyes until they double-back on each other. then you'll see...
—Mike Watt (of The Minutemen) |
Lee Ranaldo is a true heir of the Beats in his Poetry, Film, Music--and he's a fine partner on the road.
—Michael McClure |
Love, landscapes and other 'forms that paradise might take'...glimpsed on tour and otherwise, reality is elsewhere...Road Movies proves Lee to be the true inheritor of Ginsberg/Kerouac wide-awake wanderlust.
—Alan Licht |
Peace, comraderie, curiosity, experience— Lee's Road Movies is the world in a better place
—Thurston Moore | |
Road Movies
Tenth Anniversary Edition
Lee Ranaldo
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| Paper | 5 x 7 | 200 pgs. | ISBN: 1-932360-73-5 | List: $13.95 | 01/1/2005 |
Available on Powells.com, Amazon.com, from your local BookSense store, and bookstores everywhere!
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About the book: The literary equivalent of the dark and noisy waters of Sonic Youth's early work, the language of Road Movies mirrors the beauty of the band's emotive walls of noise. As the title suggests, large parts of the book are inspired by time spent on the road with Sonic Youth. His words evoke the strange suprises and almost out of body clarity that occurs during travel.
Interspersed with grainy photographs of road side fireworks stands, cigarette machines, and tractor trailer wheels, the book recalls the everyday things that, when taken out of context, become absolutely extraordinairy. In this way he tells, in flashes reminescent of the absolute freedom attained in the literature of Kerouac and Bukowski, the story of one restless mind's journey across and through America.
About the author: Lee Ranaldo is the guitarist of Sonic Youth. He is the author of two books, JRNLS80s and Road Movies.
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