And speaking of Ellroy just reminded of one anecdote I've
read concerning his churlish behaviour, at least in this
particular instance
: The Australian rock singer Nick Cave, who has been
discussed here in threads concerning "hb/noir music", who is
a huge Ellroy fan, sent Ellroy a gushing fan letter. Ellroy,
who is well known for his contempt for rock music &
musicians allegedly mercilessly lampooned Cave at one or more
of his readings, the story getting back to Cave who was
apparently devastated.Other people have pointed out the irony
of Ellroy's contempt for rock musicians while using the same
kind of myth-building & PR exercises to make himself a
star that rockers have been doing since the days of Elvis
& Colonel Tom. I can only speculate that his behaviour is
rooted in his well (self-) publicised period of petty
thievery, druggery & onanism when he was either snubbed
by, or just felt envy for, rock musicians & what he may
have seen as an easy road to stardom, wealth, expensive drugs
& beautiful, willing women. Could anyone on this list
imagine Bill Crider (to pick the first example to pop into
mind) being so nasty to a fan because that fan was a rock
singer? Ol' St Nick, by the way, in case people don't know,
is a big reader of books, particularly of a dark or violent
nature - just from interviews & lyrics of his songs I've
gleaned that favourites of his include Ellroy
(or used to, maybe not anymore), Jim Thompson, Nelson Algren,
Flannery O'Connor, Derek Raymond & Peter Straub & at
least 2 of his songs bear the same titles as classic noir
books "The Moon in the Gutter" & "The Red Right Hand". If
he was a more sociable creature he'd probably feel at home on
this list.
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