Went to go see Neal Pollack read at Quimby's last night. We were a dumb-founded (maybe just dumb) crowd who couldn't think up any questions in the question and answer part. We tried. Oh yes, we tried. But trying to think equals silence, and silence is not conductive in a question-answer session.

In a public venue, I find it difficult to ask questions of a underground/alternative artist. For this reason: No one knows much of the background details of the artist. When you're in these book reading crowds, you have the tendency, though, to assume everyone else knows many more details than you do. You don't want to ask a question that will get you old women staring at you over the tops of their glasses while shaking their heads at your baffling ignorance; this makes you feel like the illiterate scum of the known universe; this is bad.

At Quimby's last night, the only information the group universally knew was that Pollack is from Chicago, is now living somewhere else, and writes as/about hilariously ultra-important alter-ego characters. We got through the first two facts with a certain amount of cautious prodding... "How is your return to Chicago?" "So, are you living in Philly or Austin right now?" "Do/did you like it?"... Neal spared us the grief of stumbling around the third and read an Anthology piece on Columbia.

If you haven't read/heard Neal Pollack yet, you should write it down in your planner for next Tuesday at 10am. Stop into a Borders or your local underground zine shop, and find the Neal Pollack Anthology of American Literature and read the introduction. That's all you'll need to understand how important a piece of work it is.

Look for an interview with Mr. Pollack in the second full RF issue.