Comments on: THE EDITOR’S DESK: About Last Night

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:44:49 +0000

Stephen is a hypocrite.

He says: “Formula retail is the death of art and a whole lot of other things…we had to stop American Apparel, because they would have been a beachhead and then it would be Urban Outfitters and Gap and Starbucks and welcome to any street USA.”

Interesting, since I don’t see Stephen yelling and screaming for Starbucks to remove his pull quote from their coffee cups:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdong/2920117453/

I guess *sometimes* corporate shilling is okay, as long as it benefits him.

Hey, anyone else notice that the Valencia storefront remains vacant? Hey, Stephen: in your zeal to “protect” the neighborhood, did you also make sure that the property owner was compensated for the deal you cockblocked? I guess he’s not a human being who deserves to make a livelihood.

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:02:19 +0000

Dear Jimmy,
I also buy stuff on line from all kinds of mom and pop shops that have literally been created by the internet. I may be taking money from my neighborhood when I do that, and I may be putting it right smack into yours. Maybe the guy I bought my superman cape from on-line is your next door neighbor. He’s got a bunch of stuff in his garage and he’s making his mortgage selling it through Amazon. More power to him.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:41:50 +0000

Jan …. your shopping online is the very reason that we need stores in neighborhoods to fill the empty spaces …. your Gap sale took $$$ out of a neighborhood and the city where you reside. It does not matter if it is American Apparel or Jimmy’s Pizza …. the stores need to be rented and the stores need to be supported by the people who live and shop in the area. American Apparel was a poor choice to fight in my opinion as Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, etc. are better wars in my opinion. Glad that you found some pants for your son.

By: Stephen Elliott

Stephen Elliott — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:15:50 +0000

Maybe you can shop for American Apparel online too?

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:05:49 +0000

Oh, and one more thing. I just orderdered a pair of jeans, size 14, straight leg, washed denim, for my son from the Gap. They cost $22. It took me forty-five seconds. And gosh, if I were instead shopping at some funky neighborhood shop 1) I would NEVER have found his size and 2) I would have been out in the rain with my kids SHOPPING. So here’s one suburban mother not the least bit afraid to celebrate F***ing Gap on-line.

By: TIME

TIME — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:22:04 +0000

For in that place of Time,

Where memories meet

In fullness trenchant,

The waters flow into the delta wide.

And beyond, lies the open sea.

By: lisa

lisa — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:00:55 +0000

it’s amazing how verbose i usually am HOWEVER regarding my experience at the Launch Party (my first time at that venue despite living in nyc awhile) i must say i am speechless. i was so profoundly disappointed and shocked at how “off” the whole night felt, was, lingered. and not in a good way. i felt such a connection and that bond with offbeat writers, lit types etc who put stuff on rumpus that felt ‘right’…so imagine my displeasure at forking over $20 for my ticket plus another $20 on my debit card (bc guess what? the douchebags have a frekaing TWENTY dollar minimum for credit cards)….and then being subjected to the worse singer i’ve heard in my life (on guitar, trying to sing oh-so-fervently) while a more talented accordian player accompanied him. that was the start then you had mr frey who is like A-rod for the lit set, aka FRAUD….who should not be able to so easily put that whole debacle behind him. and then some guy from ann arbor (really! i mean c’mon…i thought they MUST be kidding) who also began cliche and annoying right from the start by talking total cliche crap about how he struck up a chat with some girl on the plane and told her, golly gee why yes i am going to the gosh darn big city, oh why? you ask well i am a real live writer, by golly”…i mean honestly the whole night was so bad i kept looking for the candid camera. honest to god. the only regret is that i didn’t realize Rick Moody was there. holy shit! now that woulda been worth $20 to see…but alas i was over to the right of the stage under the litup Crash Mansion sign. and then even worse, with my $20 min. i was forced to get drinks that were horrible and then starving (i’d come straight there from my job in Hoboken full of the most positive excited anticipation) so i ordered what were the worst mozzarella sticks and marinara EVER. i stayed til almost the end only bc i had paid $20 to get in so while in Rome…ya know? i felt a connect from the moment i discovered rumpus. i think i first found out about it from a Margaret Cho email i got that had a link to the interview she did with rumpus. i just feel so sad, like a first date that had so MUCH potential yet fell so flat, so very flat.

in short, let me put it this way–you KNOW it’s bad when despite all the “illuminaries” and guest speakers, the most entertaining, talented, engaging person was a random guy from the audience who talked about waking up covered with what could have been shit, his own maybe, and how it tasted like PLUMS….or plum pudding….

if only i could get the $20 back. i guess my only recourse for ‘revenge’ for the time and money lost is to write a well-written diatribe and purposefully leave it somewhere in HOPES that someone sends it into FOUND…which of course is mailed to the seemingly-Eminem-wannabe who lives with his parents in ANN freaking ARBOR…i think i make my point.

and i am sorry but i just HAVE to add that honestly, people were chuckling over how inappropriate and annoying as FUCK it was to hear that incessant RANT about that fucking American Apparel. one of the FEW moments of genuine wit of the night was when the one guy (sorry i can’t rem his name) got up there and finally, oh FINALLY he talked about the proverbial elephant in the room (i.e. the uncomfortable, annoying repeated mention of the american apparel issue) by joking that he felt almost beholden now to go to san francisco and begin ranting about a coffee shop on his block in brooklyn. and he was right, like you know, how that NYC Launch got to be about the fucking ridiculousness of something that happened in san fran a gazillion miles away. don’t get me wrong, i am not centrist, i mean i get the whole we are connected one and all thing…but my GOD…couldn’t that guy take a hint and STOP BARKING about fucking san fran? god i hate west coast bullshit like that. do you see me ranting on about NYC local issues when i visit my mom in san fran? no sir.

i also loved the one guy who got up there and showed his jacket and turned around and showed it was sweater in the back, so he coined it a “swacket”…now THAT was funny. and he was very handsome.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS. THIS WAS MY EXPERIENCE. I MEAN NO MALICE. I JUST FIND IT CATHARTIC TO WRITE AND DESPITE WHAT YOU TAKE FROM MY COMMENTARY ABOVE, I DO TRULY WRITE WELL AND ONE DAY I HOPE PEOPLE WILL READ MY STUFF…..but not in an american apparel in san fran!

and for the record, i am RIGHT THERE with you about the greater issue of retail takeovers….i don’t care for american apparel either, or the gap, etc.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:47:26 +0000

There are only “better” and “worse” corporations? Interesting. I’m wondering if my husband’s “corporation” falls into the “better” or “worse” category. It’s an 11 person company that happens to be incorporated (as far as I know most companies, however large or small or good or evil, are incorporated and are therefore corporations). He started it six years ago with no venture money, and ran it for the first five years on a salary of exactly zero. It’s a pretty fun “corporation” as far as I can tell, a web site where kids build cool shit using lego-like tools, either for free or for five bucks a month. A place where kids go to get interested and have fun and interact with their friends. Kind of like what writers and readers do at the Rumpus. Only the intent is that some day it makes a profit. I, for one, hope it does. I hope it moves from being “better” to “worse,” in your parlance, that it gets big and gets bought and entertains a whole generation of kids and creates a whole bunch of jobs and “turns into a machine” and “stops feeling,” and sends our four living, breathing, feeling, very human kids to college.

By: Rajeev Dhar

Rajeev Dhar — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:36:07 +0000

I want to give a shout-out to Isaac. I saw him whilst I was there and had know idea how responsible he had been for getting the word out. I certainly wouldn’t have known to when and where to show-up if it hadn’t been for his efforts. Rjv.

By: Thomas Molitor

Thomas Molitor — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 16:09:16 +0000

“It may be that we have become so feckless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give. If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society. But I do not think this is so. ”
— Jane Jacobs, The Death And Life of Great American Cities, 1961

Stephen Elliott and the Stop American Apparel Campaigners: 180 from feckless.