Order DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1 here
Legalize Wino built the tiny studio-shed out back right before the property ended and the grapefruit orchard began, and as a band recorded on a reel-to-reel from 1967, mixed everything down and had vinyls pressed, all without the aid of computer or modern recording technology.
I've started writing for the strangest reasons: because random people told me I was good at it, because I figured it would be something interesting to do after finishing school and because I read a lot and it triggered these visions I needed to get out of my system. Of course, my reasons changed a little since then. DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1, by Fernando A. Flores is not exactly interested in the art, but in the budding artists in the process of discovering themselves. It's a short story collection that's as interested in failure as it is in success. It's not everybody who dabbles with art that becomes Paul McCartney or Francis Scott Fitzgerald. DEATH TO BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1 is about the others.
I was expectins DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL 1. to be something very precise: a rebellious little book about broke musicians trying to make a living, that it would be funny and crass and that it would use a lot of cuss words. I don't know why I had all these expectations, but it turned out to be a radically different affair, yet DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1 is kind of an inveterate iconoclast in its own way. I think there is only one dialogue in the entire book. Every story is told in a telegraphic, deadpan manner that's half-way between journalism and local folklore. The tone is very hipster-ish: polite, but with a smirk, an amused distance from which Fernando A. Flores picks apart the protagonists of his stories. The range of effects this approach has on the reader goes from ''frustrating'' to ''enlightening'', depending on the story.
I was expectins DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL 1. to be something very precise: a rebellious little book about broke musicians trying to make a living, that it would be funny and crass and that it would use a lot of cuss words. I don't know why I had all these expectations, but it turned out to be a radically different affair, yet DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1 is kind of an inveterate iconoclast in its own way. I think there is only one dialogue in the entire book. Every story is told in a telegraphic, deadpan manner that's half-way between journalism and local folklore. The tone is very hipster-ish: polite, but with a smirk, an amused distance from which Fernando A. Flores picks apart the protagonists of his stories. The range of effects this approach has on the reader goes from ''frustrating'' to ''enlightening'', depending on the story.
Robert was eleven when his sister started learning the guitar, and through her learned chord progressions and listened to bands he'd never heard of, things you couldn't hear on the radio down in south Texas at the time - they even listened to records you had to order by mail because no record store in the Valley would ever carry that underground music - who would buy any of it? was their mentality.
My favourite story of DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1 is called BREAD8 V. COPAL BRANDT (R.) and tells the story of the war a local, self-destructive punk band waged to a politician. The band is completely lost at gauging how they should balance their political crusade, their punk posturing and their music. THE HOUSE BAND FOR THE HOTEL CUERPO DE LA PAZ is another good one. A couple kids decide to dabble with music instruments without any sort of artistic drive and vision and end up being that corporate entity, being the house band at a hotel. The kids are hollow and interchangeable, like a lot of kids are, and are referred to as the profession of their fathers: the mechanic's son, the parole officer's son and so on. The story also brilliantly highlights the impossibility of inventing yourself artistically in a small town, through a series of small, but brilliant quips. It was the perfect opener for DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL 1. and set the tone for the entire collection.
I did not always agree with every choice made by Fernando A. Flores, I thought sometimes he was painting vulnerable protagonists only to make fun of them, but no one can accuse him of not having a cohesive vision. Every story of DEATH TO THE BULLSHIT ARTISTS OF SOUTH TEXAS, VOL. 1 is told with the same exact tone, from the same critical distance. I liked it for the fresh point of view it brought to how art is discussed in fiction. It's too often seen at this holy thing that saves souls from the oblivion. Not everybody who experiments with art does it successfully. Sometimes, it's an absolute mess. Fernando A. Flores has this strange, critical distance to his protagonists that can come off as mocking, but that created a unique object, about a side of art that's not discussed nearly often enough.