The Elegant Variation

SPECIAL TEV GIVEAWAY: CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S L.A.

This one is a bit unusual, folks.  In honor of the upcoming BEA weekend, the gang at Esotouric is presenting, in cooperation with the landmark City Lights Bookstore, a special tour of Charles Bukowski's L.A.  "Haunts of A Dirty Old Man" will take a lucky TEV reader on this tour which

focuses on Bukowski’s great passions: writing, screwing and Los Angeles. We’ll take in the canonical locations of his life and myth: the Postal Annex Terminal where he gathered the material for “Post Office,” the De Longpre apartment where he briefly experimented with marriage and fatherhood, one of his favorite bars and liquor stores, and many other spots. Along the way, we’ll explore the people and ideas that made up the warp and weft of Buk’s rich inner life. This Esotouric bus adventure is hosted by Richard Schave.

"Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles Bukowski's LA" spans Bukowski's personal city, from Skid Row to once-genteel Crown Hill, to Bukowski's favorite East Hollywood liquor store, the Pink Elephant. The tour also includes a stop at one of several bars notorious as Bukowski haunts.

In addition, the lucky attendee will also receive a free Bukbird beer coaster featuring Tony Millionaire's cartoon bluebird character, and a very special gift from City Lights Books, a pre-release copy of their Charles Bukowski anthology "Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook: Uncollected Stories and Essays, 1944 - 1990." "Portions," to be published in September 2008, gathers many essential, uncollected pieces including his first and last short stories, and his first "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" column. Many of the writings have only appeared in 'zines, newspapers, chapbooks, and magazines.  Additionally, "Bukowski - Born Into This" director John Dullaghan will be on the bus.

The tour is a $55 value and, for obvious reasons, you need to be in L.A. on Saturday, May 31 to collect.  But if you're interested, please drop an email with the subject line "TO ALL MY FRIENDS" and include your full name, please.  Previous winners may participate in this one, and we'll take all entries until 8 p.m. PST at which time the Random Number Generator will pick a lucky winner.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Juanita Poareo, who will be going on the Buk tour!

SAD NEWS

L.A. Observed reports the terribly sad news - Duttons Beverly Hills is closing after two disappointing years in the land of facelifts and Range Rovers.  Like Murder Ink in NY, the store will be shuttered December 31.

KAUFMAN, PYNCHON, ERICKSON - IS THIS REALLY THE LA TIMES?

David Ulin makes an awfully convincing argument that Charlie Kaufman is the best writer of his generation in West, the L.A. Times weekend magazine. Not only is Ulin doing great work for the Sunday Book Review (this week's edition features reviews by Emily Barton and Ben Ehrenreich), but his fascinating homage to Kaufman is uber literary fare for Sunday morning. Pynchon, Erickson, Lethem, Saunders and Kipen are either addressed or interviewed for the piece. What's next bagels with Bataille?

THE COOL KIDS

The LA Weekly takes a look at the Los Angeles literary salon scene.

Here in L.A. the literary scene has equal parts Hollywood glamour and Eastside edge. Besides its literary magazines (Swink, Black Clock, The Los Angeles Review) and smaller indie presses and imprints, there are also a dozen regular literary salons and another half-dozen not-so-regular salons, many of which come with a heavy dose of industry participation on both sides of the stage.

LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZES

The finalists for the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes can be found here. 

Of particular note is the nomination of Garner for the First Fiction Award.  We are entirely confident that without its LBC attention, Garner - a tiny book from a tiny independent press - would surely not have made this list.  So to all the journalists who have asked what kind of a difference can LBC make, there's your answer.  It's about bringing attention to titles - the rest is up to you.

OSCAR NIGHT

We haven't watched the Oscars in years (it's a great night to eat out) but Ed's invited us to opine at his Oscar Blog, so we'll be there.  We've already weighed in with screenwriting predictions.

THIS JUST IN - FOUR BOOKSTORE, EIGHT HOURS, FOUR HUNDRED ROAD MILES

In an exclusive over at L.A. Observed, David Kipen will be blogging about his daylong journey from San Francisco to Book Soup.  Promises to be entertaining.  Check it out, if only for the fact that they got a much better picture of Mr. Kipen than we did ...

Even the Director of Literature at the National Endowment for the Arts has to hit the road if he wants to sell books. And it is Oscar week, after all. So David Kipen, the former Book Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and couch-sitter on "The Today Show," will begin later this morning at KQED in San Francisco and end up—four book signings and four hundred miles later—at Book Soup in West Hollywood at 7 pm. Along the way, the author of The Schreiber Theory: A Radical Rewrite of American Film History will post his bookstore-and-highway observations exclusively here at LA Observed. Kipen is the first guest-blogger ever at LAO, so we're keeping the rules simple: he can say whatever he wants, unedited and unfiltered (because we know where to find him.) His dispatches are due to begin arriving some time after 11 am. Stay tuned, as they say.

Oh, by the way David, we've done that drive in five and a half hours ...

OTIS CHANDLER DIES

Otis Chandler, who presided over the Los Angeles Times' renaissance, has died.  So that's three ...

Born to a life of privilege and ultraconservative political ideals, Mr. Chandler was handed the reins of the newspaper in 1960, carrying with him a reputation as a ruggedly handsome golden boy with a preference for body-building over journalism. But he shed that image as publisher and promptly angered family members and local Republicans by shifting The Los Angeles Times from its right-wing viewpoint to a more centrist outlook that reflected California's increasing racial, ethnic and political diversity.

Under his leadership, the newspaper hired talented journalists, opened new bureaus throughout the world and garnered numerous awards. Mr. Chandler also distinguished himself as an empire-builder, expanding the Times Mirror Company, the parent corporation of The Los Angeles Times, by purchasing Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, several broadcast television and cable stations and two highly regarded book publishers, New American Library and Harry Abrams Publishing.

Needless to say, L.A. Observed is already all over it.

LAT TO LAUNCH "WEST"

The Los Angeles Times Magazine is going to be replaced on February 5 by West, a new publication which will include Amy Tan as its Literary Editor.

Acclaimed author Amy Tan has joined West magazine as literary editor. She will be responsible for helping to solicit and select pieces for "California Story," an original work of short fiction set in the Golden State. Tan, a native Californian, is the author of the best-selling "Saving Fish from Drowning" and "The Joy Luck Club." She also is the author of "The Hundred Secret Senses," "The Kitchen God's Wife," "The Bonesetter's Daughter," "The Opposite of Fate" and two children's books, one of which, "Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat," was developed into a popular PBS children's television series. Tan is a member of the literary garage band, the Rock Bottom Remainders.

WASSERMAN LOOKS BACK

Steve Wasserman has contributed a thoughtful and detailed essay to Robert Scheer's website Truthdig.com in which he looks at the woes facing his alma mater the Los Angeles Times.   The gist - to simplify it inelegantly - is that the Tribune boys are in over their heads. 

None of this should surprise. After all, the men who control the paper’s fiscal destiny have never shown any particular commitment to Los Angeles, regarding it with all the unbridled avariciousness and ill-concealed contempt that Cortez displayed toward Montezuma and his benighted Aztecs. As a former high official of the paper recently told me, “You’ve no idea how fast these folks are strip-mining the place. They’ve already carted away millions of dollars. Their efforts to attract advertising and grow the business have come to nothing. They’re Midwestern white men obsessed with only two things: the Chicago Cubs and accounting. They care nothing for journalism. They are Philistines.”

When told of this judgment, Jim Squires said, “Philistines is perfect characterization for that crowd, only the Philistines as a group were smarter. You cannot imagine how intellectually inferior three of the last four chairman of Tribune Co. were.” He compared them to George Bush, remarking that they were “complete frauds as leaders and executives.” “Chicago,” he said, “is a street-smart town. Cops, crooks, restaurateurs, developers, writers—they are bold and wily. The business executives, on the other hand, are weak and moronic.”

Actually, this is the juiciest bit but there's quite a lot about the makeup of L.A. and the history of the paper that are worth your while if you care about whether this city has the newspaper it deserves.