Brian Joseph Davis
Biography
Brian Joseph Davis is creator of deceptive sound and print projects. He was called a "genius" by Alex Ross of the New Yorker, for turning the writings of philosopher Theodor Adorno into a punk 7-inch. Frieze Magazine deemed the same project "serious hilarity...joyous and thoughtful." Coach House Books recently published Portable Altamont, his first collection of writings, which has garnered praise from Spin Magazine for its "elegant, wise-ass rush of truth [and] hiding riotous social commentary in slanderous jokes." He’s a regular columnist for Eye Weekly and recently wrote about the death of the cassette for the Utne Reader.
Davis has often opened up the authorship of his projects to subversive collaborations. For “Thriller,” he worked with Michael Jackson fans to create better pro-Jackson propaganda, and for “Voice Over,” he composed a narrative text from a list of 5,000 film "taglines," which was read by professional film trailer voiceover artist Scott Taylor.
Poet's Note to Portable Altamont
The front cover is pink
The inside front cover is white
The end paper is black
The other side of the end paper is black
There is a title page
There’s that page with all the publishing info
Then there’s a page that warns of fiction
There is then a blank page
The next page is about famous first lines
The next page is about Canadian bands
The next page is about hair
The next page is about Ethan Hawke
The next page is about Nick Nolte
The next page is about hiphop
The next page is about Whitney Houston and unstable identity
The next page is about Tony Danza and unstable identity
The next page is about the Facts of Life
Sample Text
from I, Tania (pdf)
External Links
Test Recording
26 April 2006
Margaret Christakos (39:55, 36.5 MB, info.)
Brian Joseph Davis (15:19, 14.7 MB, info.)
Question and answer session (46:50, 45 MB, info.)