Walker pals The Bad Plus are on tour in Europe, and during a recent train ride from Cork to Dublin, band members started comparing rock musicians with authors:
The rationale of these parings could be specific or intuitive. In musical alphabetical order it begins with linking AC/DC to Julia Childs. Rationale: they are both extremely popular, are reliable craftsmen, and exude a charismatic, “ come on and get it” quality. A more typical and legible pairing is Kate Bush–James Joyce: in this case, Bush’s lyrics are in the Joyce tradition. Some other more indirect connections include Douglas Adams to Phish (their fans are similar types and both artists are whimsical) and Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Vonnegut (an adolescent’s discovery of each one has a similar thrilling quality).
Now the band is hosting an “invitational” on their blog where readers can submit band/writer pairings. A few samples:
AC/DC–Julia Child
Alice Cooper–Stephen King
Tori Amos–Alice Walker
Björk–Italo Calvino
Kate Bush–James Joyce
The Beatles–Roald Dahl
David Bowie–J.G Ballard
Jeff Buckley–Frank O’ Hara
Captain Beefheart–Allen Ginsburg
Johnny Cash–Carl Sandburg
Nick Cave–William Faulkner
The Clash –Hunter S. Thompson
Leonard Cohen–John Updike
Elvis Costello–William Shakespeare
Cream–Jane Auel
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young–John Steinbeck
The Cure–William Gibson
The Doors–Jack Kerouac
Bob Dylan–Ernest Hemingway
The Eagles–Tom Wolfe
Mark Eitzel–William Carlos Williams
The Flaming Lips–Shel Silverstein
Earlier: Dave King of The Bad Plus interviewed by Performing Arts Curator Philip Bither on Ornette Coleman’s music.