Stars of the Sea

Cormac McCarthy, Roberto Bolaño, the Stains & the Urinals

Greetings from San Diego! I returned from Barcelona the day after Thanksgiving and despite spending all day on an airplane with a long layover in Miami, managed to avoid any travel shenanigans.  

I’m getting back into the swing of things, catching up on email, and trying to get back to a semi-normal sleep schedule but I’ve been getting up at 4am every morning and dragging ass in the evenings.

It was a good trip. The weather in Spain in November is not all that different from San Diego. It’s actually a bit cooler here. We stayed at a quirky little hotel in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi near the school where my wife was working.

The hotel has a glass exterior with a strange yellow cube you have to pass through to reach the lobby that did dazzling things with the light. The door to our room didn’t have a handle and was flush with the wall. I’d stick my key card into the slot and push the wall and a door magically swung open. The hotel had a very nice breakfast buffet and every morning I’d cut open a miniature chocolate croissant and fold in a small square of brie. Heaven.

In Spain things like coffee, bread, and cheese are plentiful and cheap. The little neighborhood bar where we watched a couple World Cup matches had an espresso machine that outclassed most of the machines in boutique coffee shops in Southern California. The going rate for an espresso is about $1.25.

On Thanksgiving we had dinner with an expat couple that has been bouncing around Europe and South America. The husband went back to the San Diego for a visit and was stunned by the cost of a meal in a brewery. A burger and a beer plus the tip set him back about $40. (There’s no tipping in Spain because everyone makes living wage.)

I picked up a copy of Cormac McCarthy’s The Passenger during my travels and was completely enchanted by it. It’s a strange and stunning book that is instantly recognizable as McCarthy but also more expansive. At times it reminded me of James Joyce and Barry Gifford. I couldn’t put it down and brought it with me everywhere I went. It reminded me of being in my twenties and under the spell of literature and all its possibilities. I can’t wait to read the companion novel, Stella Maris, which means star of the sea.

The end of The Passenger is set on the island of Formentera, one of the Ballearic Islands that includes Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza off the eastern coast of Spain. Most of the book is set in the American south so it was jarring to be less than 200 miles from the action at the end. As I finished the book I was overcome with a strong desire to go to Formentera, see it with my own eyes, like I did with my trip to Blanes. Nuvia has another work trip to Barcelona scheduled in May of next year and Bad Religion, OFF! and Turnstile are all playing the same festival that month so perhaps another adventure in España is in the cards…

I finished The Passenger and immediately started The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño. I’ve owned this book for a few years but never got into it. The Skating Rink is set in the city of Z, which is clearly based on Blanes. At the time, Bolaño was relatively new to the city and ussed some of his experiences to inform two of the main characters. For instance, one of them runs a jewelry store and another works at a campground. The name of this campground?

Stella Maris.

I don’t believe in higher powers. I don’t believe in fate. I believe in coincidence but some coincidences are freaky AF.

On our last night we walked all over Sant Antoni, El Raval, and the Gothic Quarter where I left of copy of the latest issues of Razorcake, which has the Spanish punk rock band Ratas Negra on the cover.

In Plaza Catalonia the Christmas lights were turned on for the first time this season and the crowds were out. Each of the major streets that come together at the plaza had a different configuration of lights and it was very festive.

I worked on a book proposal for a client during our trip to Spain in October and at the beginning of this trip I received word that the book had sold. This was good news because the client is hiring me to help write the book. I’m not at liberty to say much more than that right now, but it’s not music-related, which is a nice change of pace, and will require some time on the east coast. Most importantly, it means that I’ll have work in 2023.

I also received word that Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records was named to Pitchfork’s 15 Best Music Books of 2022. I mentioned it last week and I’m mentioning it again because I came home to a minor SST scandal.

As near as I can tell, SST recently reissued The Stains debut album (SST 010) but only pressed up a small quantity and made them available through selected retailers. The records sold out instantly and were gone before many fans found out they were available. It all happened so suddenly and with so little fanfare (like, none) that members of the band, who weren’t told it was happening, weren’t sure if it was a reissue, a bootleg, or if the label found some old stock. I talked to a few people about it and the overwhelming feeling is one of frustration.

The Stains have been trying to get the rights to the record back so it can be rereleased in a deluxe edition with bonus tracks, new photographs, etc. This new reissue, or whatever it is, presents yet another obstacle. Once again, the band isn’t getting paid. Once again, the band is kept in the dark. Once again a shitty reissue is making the rounds because whoever made it doesn’t have the masters.

To be honest, I’m still not sure 100% sure what the deal is. I have the album on my wishlist on discogs and in the last two weeks I’ve received notices from four different sellers that they have the album for sale priced anywhere from $250 to $600. Are unscrupulous sellers trying to pass off newly pressed copies of the album as originals? Or did a bunch of 39-year-old records coincidentally become available at the same time?

I’d like to say, “When I get some answers, I’ll report what I find,” but this is exactly the kind of mess that SST has created over and over again.

During my travels I also read Ryan Leach’s A Brief Oral History of the Urinals and 100 Flowers and learned a great deal about these unusual bands. All kinds of interesting intersections with SST from Vitus Mataré to the Meat Puppets to the Minutemen. Highly recommended.

Also, I’m hearing reports that after a hiatus due to health issues, the Urinals are going to be playing some gigs again in the near futuhicreh