It's a great issue, of course, of our favorite music magazine. But it also feels like the Gen X teenage years have now been fully commodified and sold back to us.
Perhaps the most rabid and persuasive generational warrior I know is SoCal-reared journalist Jeff Gordiner, who I've interviewed on subjects ranging from contemporary poetry to the Pavement reunion to the novels of Bret Eason Ellis.
Gordinier's book X Saves the World is well worth a look: HERE is my interview with Gordinier, who has recently stormed the New York Times Dining section with a batch of witty, intelligent stories including a memorable piece on veggie burgers.
Here's how my story begins:
These days, with a recession on the way, housing prices tanking, the Dow out of control and an unpopular war that won't seem to end, a lot of Americans are feeling uneasy and confused. Recent surveys show a majority think the nation is on what pollsters call "the wrong track."
For Jeff Gordinier, the author of the new book "X Saves the World" and an editor at large for Details magazine, it's actually kind of reassuring. "I find a strange degree of comfort in it," the writer said serenely at Pasadena's Pie 'n' Burger, a legendary diner near his hometown of San Marino. His Generation X origins, he said, make it hard for him to trust the good times.
And here is Jeff on his book:
It's been so long since I listened to or even thought of The Smiths. Nice post.
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