Please Take Me off the Guest List
by Nick Zinner, Zachary Lipez, Stacy Wakefield
Akashic Books
Don’t know exactly what to make of this. Featuring the photography of Nick Zinner (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), the “prose” of Zachary Lipez (from Freshkills), and the design of Stacy Wakefield, this diminutive volume wraps the observations of Lipez with the photos of Zinner, which, if you could see them, are probably nice. The first chapter, “Boring Coke Stories” sets the tone for the book, and is aptly named. Lipez seemingly is a Brooklyn hipster bartender/DJ/writer who does drugs, dates poorly, and whines about it. Now, Charles Bukowski did essentially the same thing, just substitute beer for blow, so why is his stuff arresting while Lipez’s is annoying? The design of the book doesn’t help – it’s too small to view the pictures, the text is only ¾-sized inserts: big words on tiny pages. Saying a little about even less.
Turns out this is the third book the trio has produced, and it boggles the mind, frankly. Somebody somewhere likes it, but it just seems like the emperor’s new clothes to me. I’m betting it’s stocked at your local indie bookstore, so take 15 minutes and read it yourself. You won’t need to own it.
Akashic: http://www.akashicbooks.com
