Ian F. Svenonius – författare

An uproarious new essay collection from Washington, DC''s, infamous cult music hero and satirist."While putting a copy of this book on your nightstand would be a sign of good taste, who cares about good taste? Are you willing to be seen reading a book titled Censorship Now!! in public? If so, your skin might burn with funny glances from squares, scolds and looky-loos. But on the inside, you''ll feel your brain throbbing as it swells to accommodate some hilarious, absurd, and radical new strategies on how to live in our ridiculous world." —Washington Post"Svenonius'' new book is Censorship Now!!, and the title alone shows just how provocative the author can be. A collection of essays previously published by Vice, Jacobin, and others, it sets up numerous enemies—both real and straw—for Svenonius to knock down. . . . It''s all couched in a style that''s part anarchist tirade, part postmodern critique, and part punk-rock snottiness—yet it''s addictively ridiculous." —NPRIan F. Svenonius''s new collection of sixteen essays and stories, titled Censorship Now!!, is reorganizing people''s ideas about censorship, Ikea, documentary filmmaking, the Berlin Wall, the film Heathers, the twist, the frug, the mashed potato, shaving one''s body, Apple, Inc., Nordic functionalism, the supposed benevolence of Wikipedia, hoarding, college rock, the origins of the internet, and more. It''s an underground smash which has been met with a horrified gasp in all respectable quarters and gog-eyed enthusiasm in artist garrets the world over.

Fugazi, one of music's most revolutionary and gloriously indefinable bands, played their first concert on September 3, 1987. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN presents the best of Friedman's unparalleled photographic documentation of Fugazi's members in almost 200 colour and black-and-white images captured onstage and off between 1986 and Fugazi's last US concert in 2002. Fugazi evolved from Washington, DC's, hardcore punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. While it would be impossible to fully capture Fugazi in any one medium, Friedman's book effectively complements the band's Dischord Records catalog, which includes seven studio albums, one soundtrack, three EPs, and hundreds of live concert CDs produced from Fugazi's own soundboard recordings.

A collection of essays and articles from one of the mainstays of the Washington, DC, underground rock and roll scene, The Psychic Soviet is Ian F. Svenonius's groundbreaking first book of writings. The selections are written in a lettered yet engaging style, filled with parody and biting humour that subvert capitalist culture, and cover such topics as the ascent of the DJ as a star, the 'cosmic depression' that followed the defeat of the USSR, how Seinfeld caused the bankruptcy of modern pop culture, and the status of rock and roll as a religion. The pocket-sized book is bound with a durable bright-pink plastic cover, recalling the aesthetics of Mao's Little Red Book.

A reissue of Ian F. Svenonius''s cult-classic debut essay collection, including brand-new writing in this expanded edition."Everything author-slash-punk-icon Ian Svenonius says is interesting, and this book of satirical essays—originally published in 2006, now back in print—proves it . . . You''ll laugh until you cry." —Washington PostA new, expanded collection of essays and articles from one of the mainstays of the Washington, DC, underground rock and roll scene, The Psychic Soviet is Ian F. Svenonius''s groundbreaking first book of writings. The selections are written in a lettered yet engaging style, filled with parody and biting humor that subvert capitalist culture, and cover such topics as the ascent of the DJ as a star, the "cosmic depression" that followed the defeat of the USSR, how Seinfeld caused the bankruptcy of modern pop culture, and the status of rock and roll as a religion. The pocket-sized book is bound with a durable bright-pink plastic cover, recalling the aesthetics of Mao''s Little Red Book, and perfect for carrying into the fray of street battle, classroom, or lunch-counter argument.

If the Gutenberg Bible is the alpha, Against the Written Word is the OMEGA."Wielding the satiric tone of a Gen-X Jonathan Swift or leftist Andy Kaufman . . . Svenonius is an engaging companion . . . and he lands some scathing blows, as when he links internet porn to contemporary Christianity by noting that both are ''anti-intellectual, patriarchal, have an elitist or outsider self-image, and are aesthetically garish.''" —Publishers WeeklyAgainst the Written Word is the most important, most revolutionary book produced since the advent of the printing press; the book that will liberate readers from reading, writers from writing, and booksellers from peddling their despicable wares. This book ushers in a new era of freedom from reading and all its attendant bedfellows such as Enlightenment thinking and the mass alienation wrought by the phonetic alphabet. Against the Written Word will be a tremendous best seller and simultaneously the last book that anyone will read.With nineteen essays ripping, shredding, tearing apart all the bugaboos that haunt humanity nowadays, Against the Written Word is a must-read for any aspiring radical or would-be gnostic who has a penchant for words, thought, clothes, intoxicants, music, art, expression, etc. The work is presented in a range of writing: essays, screenplays, lectures, sci-fi stories, and manifestos, with topics that include "the rise of incorporated man," "tourism as the neoliberal mode of military occupation," a workshop on songwriting for the purpose of suggestion and mind control, and many more.This handsome, illustrated book will correct the paucity of thought that characterizes the modern bookstore, and will practically sell itself. It will call out from the shelf to ingratiate itself to the unsuspecting everyday book browser, who will be hooked and then hungrily consume it. Infected with a wild-eyed evangelism, they will then proliferate it amongst their friends and acquaintances. These new readers will disseminate it, and so on; soon this slim, innocuous volume will define an epoch and steer thought from here on out.The bookseller will be surprised and pleased to find that it will be the only book they need to stock. Against the Written Word will be dominant in a manner the market has not seen since the Bible tore up best-seller lists in the Middle Ages or Mao''s Little Red Book wowed the critics in Red China.

IAN SVENONIUS'S EXPERIENCE AS AN ICONIC UNDERGROUND ROCK MUSICIAN-playing in such highly influential and revolutionary outfits as the Make-Up and Nation of Ulysses-gives him special insight on techniques for not only starting but also surviving a rock 'n' roll group. Therefore, he's written an instructional guide, which doubles as a warning device, a philosophical text, an exercise in terror, an aerobics manual, and a colouring book. This volume features essays on everything the would-be star should know to get started, such as Sex, Drugs, Sound, Group Photo, The Van, and Manufacturing Nostalgia. The book also has black-and-white illustrations. Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group will serve as an indispensable guide for a new generation just aching to boogie.