James Ellroy hit Toronto and gave a short show at the Hart
House Library tonight. I met a friend there an hour early and
got primo seats, eight feet off his right, and the rest soon
filled up. About 200 people were there total, mostly young
men.
He started five minutes early. He said he was the Demon Dog
with Hog Log, the Something Ick with the Donkey Dick. He
greeted us as pimps, pedants, pederasts, prostitutes, punks,
and other p-things. It vibed heavy shtick. He said we should
each buy one, two or three thousand copies of his new book,
which would guarantee us regular sex with the person we most
desired, a free ticket into Heaven signed by Reverend Ellroy,
and that Toronto would for the first time ever rule the
world. That last part didn't go over to well.
He read two chapters from THE COLD SIX THOUSAND, four and
forty-seven I think. He stood with his legs spread wide,
spoke loud, and played it up. I noticed he had on new brown
leather walking shoes and the laces were so long he'd tucked
them into the sides. After the reading he took questions.
There were a few fanboys who wondered about movie adaptations
and whether he'd like to work with Tarantino, but he blew
them off. He said his work kept on getting better, his new
book was his best, and would only be eclipsed by his next.
"Content dictates style," and that was why he used the crazed
bebop riffs in WHITE JAZZ. "Chandler wrote about who he
wanted to be, and Hammett wrote about who he feared he was."
What character would he least like to meet in a dark alley?
"They're not REAL." The questions came quickly and he had
fast answers for them all. What was his opinion of George W.
Bush? He'd voted Republican, but he and Bush had a deal: he
doesn't tell Bush how to run the country, and Bush doesn't
tell him how to write his books. He hates Clinton with a
passion. I got in one of the last questions: what about Ross
Macdonald? "Ross Macdonald wrote ONNNNNNE BOOOOOOK, but from
THE GALTON CASE on it was a GOOOOODDD BOOOOOOOK." He ranks
him over Chandler but under Hammett.
He closed it off after half an hour, and then started
signing. He didn't wait for a chair, he just started grabbing
books and scribbling. All in all, an entertaining evening,
but if he's anything like that in normal life it's a wonder
he has any friends.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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