I’ve talked about Mike Varley on this blog before. He’s a great guy and a great writer, and right now I would like to talk about his new CD, a series of spoken word pieces about the the ’08 election.
The ’08 election was an important moment in American history, and I don’t think any of us are quite over it yet. The material on Varley’s CD is still topical in a timeless sort of way — a post-ironic exploration of the split in America’s culture and the hope and change that we bought like a Prius Hybrid.
The CD is now available for sale on his website, along with samples of the work and this helpful cartesian coordinate grid that graphically illustrates the various literary qualities of each track.
My favorite piece is "On Sympathy Pay," a chilling look at American indifference toward the misery we’ve caused in our fiasco of a war.
But most of the CD is fun, I swear. For instance, this video
on Joe the Plumber.
I have a few extra copies of this CD (I’m keeping one for myself of course) that I’ll be giving out as prizes at the improvisational fiction contest at Armadillocon. Yes, we’re holding an official event on the dillocon site, so pass the word.