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Radio Silence – April 2013

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Issue 2

April 2013

Biannual

David R. Matteri

My first job out of high school was at a small theater that played artistic, foreign, and independent films, but right next door to this theater was a rowdy biker bar. I was always fascinated by the juxtaposition of the theater’s well-to-do patrons of the arts and the leather-clad highway warriors who would sometimes swing by to purchase large tubs of popcorn drenched in butter. Radio Silence, a unique literary journal that blends literature and rock & roll, reminds me of that wonderful cultural clash. In this journal are stories and poems from some of the strongest writers of the previous century and essays that analyze music from influential rock bands and musicians.

My first job out of high school was at a small theater that played artistic, foreign, and independent films, but right next door to this theater was a rowdy biker bar. I was always fascinated by the juxtaposition of the theater’s well-to-do patrons of the arts and the leather-clad highway warriors who would sometimes swing by to purchase large tubs of popcorn drenched in butter. Radio Silence, a unique literary journal that blends literature and rock & roll, reminds me of that wonderful cultural clash. In this journal are stories and poems from some of the strongest writers of the previous century and essays that analyze music from influential rock bands and musicians.

I had never heard of Don Carpenter before reading Radio Silence, but now I am addicted to his writing and want to read more. This issue presents two of Carpenter’s short stories, “Road Show” and “The Crossroader.” In an introduction to Carpenter’s work, Editor Dan Stone describes Carpenter’s style as: “tough, spare, vulnerable, and unsentimental, like . . . Ernest Hemmingway without the European sophistication.” Racism is at the heart of each of these tough and vulnerable stories. “Road Show” is about a band that is forced to hide their black performer in the back seat of their car so they can find a place to stay for the night, but tensions flare and passion leads to murder in the small cabin they rent in the woods. The narrator of “The Crossroader” tells a story about how a black man wanders into his small town in Eastern Oregon and stirs up trouble by beating the white men in games of pool and poker. The threat of violence hangs over the nameless black man’s head as he tries to outsmart the locals and get out of town alive with all the money he won. Carpenter’s stories are tightly written thrillers that pull you forward at a frantic pace. I am glad that Radio Silence has introduced me to such a wonderful author.

The twin worlds of fantasy and science fiction lost a great writer last year when Ray Bradbury passed away at the age of 91. Dana Gioia pays tribute to this author’s vast body of work in his essay “Ray Bradbury’s Butterfly Effect.” Gioia first discovered Bradbury’s fiction as a teenager and admires how his stories went above and beyond the craft of most science fiction writers of his time: “He took the premises of science fiction, fantasy, and horror—pulp genres that exploited sensationalism and wish-fulfillment—and humanized them with sensitive characterization, evocative prose style, and simpler plots.” It took a very long time for critics to recognize Bradbury’s impact on literature, but that never discouraged the man from writing what he loved: “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows, or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.” Included in this tribute to Ray Bradbury is his “A Poem Written on Learning That Shakespeare and Cervantes Both Died on the Same Day.” Like the literary giants he canonizes, Bradbury’s legacy will never die as long as there are readers willing to follow him into realms of fantasy and wonder:

Their graves, their stones, I refuse.
Lend me their books, show me their Muse.
By end of day or, latest, week,
I bid Cervantes/Shakespeare speak
To brim my heart, to fill my head
With what? Good Don. Fine Lear. Not dead. Not dead!

Another great body of work this journal introduced me to is the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was a British officer during the First World War and his poetry delivers stinging clarity to the lives destroyed by that terrible war. “Autumn” compares soldiers to falling leaves in a hostile season of change: “Their lives are like the leaves / Scattered in flocks of ruin, tossed and blown / Along the westering furnace flaring red.” My favorite Sasson poem here is “Suicide on the Trenches.” It is about a boy soldier who shoots himself “In winter trenches, cowed and glum, / With crumps and lice and lack of rum.” The poem is short with a rhyme scheme that is as simple as the boy it revolves around, but the simplicity of the words belies the enormous power hiding within:

You snug-faced cowards with kindling eye
Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

This journal is loaded with essays that examine rock & roll bands and musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and riot grrl band Sleater-Kinney. It was refreshing to read so many critical essays on some of my favorite bands and it was a pleasure to be introduced to new songs and performers. I particularly enjoyed Andrew Beaujon’s short essay “Surprise Face.” Beaujon looks at the exuberant performances of 80’s glam rock bands, such as Van Halen and Poison, and the lost art of the “surprise face. Forming a mouth into a surprised ‘O’ during a performance “is a particular artifact of that period, a campy piece of showmanship” that dates back to early vaudevillian performances and comedy acts such as Lou Costello and Bud Abbott’s famous baseball sketch. Beaujon comments on how Nirvana killed hair metal, but power ballads in general continue to exist, just without the “cartoonish bewilderment” of the Reagan years.

Radio Silence is more than just a literary journal: it is also a nonprofit corporation that publishes print magazines and puts on live events with writers and musicians. A portion of all their sales is used to buy books and musical instruments for kids. You can check out their website for show times and to make donations for their mission to preserve arts education.
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