The background to the story, explained Atwood in a press release, is fairly basic. "Due to some spilled genetic Super-Slicer, our hero got tangled up with both a cat and an owl; hence his fur and feathers, and his identity problems," she said.
No way! I thought a man who accidentally had his genes spliced with a cat and owl would be so emotionally stable. I'm stunned!
If Johnnie Christmas isn't one of the all-time great names, nothing is. What, was famed illustrator Tommy Hanukkah busy?
Musical acts get their names from a variety of sources, and for many that comes in the way of books.
Sometimes it's as simple as the title of a book. Sometimes it's a character's name. Other times it's an object or location mentioned in the story. More often than not, though, it's an obscure reference that not even your hardcore English major is going to recognize.
So here are 17 random musical acts that named themselves after something literary-related. Consider this a chance to brush up on some obscure facts so you can kick ass at trivia night at your favorite bar.
In no order of significance:
1.) Steppenwolf
The name comes from Herman Hesse's book of the same name. The band's producer recommended a name change from what they were calling themselves: The Sparrows.
Because it's a little difficult to take a man growling "Born to Be Wild" seriously when you're called The Sparrows.
2.) Steely Dan
William S. Burrough's novel Naked Lunch is to blame for the name. And what, exactly, is a "Steely Dan" in the book?
((ahem)) It's a name for a strap-on dildo.
And references to sex toys was about as edgy as Steely Dan ever got.
3.) Modest Mouse
Virginia Woolf has her groupies, and Modest Mouse is one such collection of groupies. The name comes from Woolf's novel The Mark on the Wall, from the line, "...…and very frequent even in the minds of modest, mouse-coloured people."
That line makes about as much sense as the rest of Woolf's work.
4.) The Doors
A shout-out to a sale on storm doors at Home Depot?
No, it apparently comes from Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception, which is really just quoting William Blake, "When the doors of perception are cleansed, things will appear to man as they truly are…infinite."
5.) My Chemical Romance
Everyone knows if you want inspiration in life, you have to work retail.
The bassist of the band, Mikey Way, used to work at a Barnes and Noble and was inspired to name the band he was in after a book titled Five Tales of Chemical Romance, by Irvine Welsh, which he saw on a shelf.
6.) Genesis
You get three guesses, and the first two don't count.
Yeah, the band's named after that Genesis.
7.) Silverchair
The Aussie band was apparently a big fan of young adult fiction. They named themselves after C.S.Lewis's fourth installment in the Chronicles of Narnia series, The Silver Chair. Clearly they're not a fan of The Magician's Nephew.
8.) Belle & Sebastian
A French-oriented name for a Scottish band? Sure, why not? That's what we have here, as the indie pop group went for the French children's book Belle et Sébastien, by Cécile Aubry, as their name.
9.) Veruca Salt
Can't fight the seether? Well, you can't fight the appeal of Roald Dalh's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory either, as Veruca Salt was the name of one of the bratty kids that appeared in the book.
10.) Sixpence None the Richer
Let's welcome C.S. Lewis back to the stage!
This time it's Lewis's book Mere Christianity that was the inspiration. Detailing the band's name on The Late Show with David Letterman, lead singer Leigh Nash explained, "When the father received the present, he was none the richer because he originally gave the sixpence to his son."
That's a bit roundabout of a way to get to a name, but it serves its purpose.
11.) Moby
The man's given name is Richard Melville Hall. Bonus points if you already know where this is going.
Supposedly Herman Melville was his great-great-great granduncle. If you don't know--and God help you if you don't--Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick. Hence, the name.
12.) The Airborne Toxic Event
Any time your band's name has more than three words, you're probably dipping deep to come up with it. In this case, The Airborne Toxic Event comes from the Don DeLillo novel White Noise, specifically section two of the book with the same name that lends its title as inspiration to the band.
13.) Oryx and Crake
Someday she'll win a Nobel Prize in Literature, but for now Margaret Atwood just inspires bands from Atlanta to name themselves after one of her books, as is the case here.
14.) The Velvet Underground
Michael Leigh's book of the same name examined the sexual subculture of the early 1960s.
This makes perfect sense when you consider Andy Warhol managed the band.
15.) Mott the Hoople
Famous for their hit 1972 song "All of You Dudes," the band's record producer came up with the name after cooling his heals in prison for a drug offense. There he came across a book of the same title, written by Willard Manus.
I'm as shocked as you to realize drugs were behind that name.
16.) Supertramp
Their 1979 album Breakfast in America put them on the map, but they went back over 70 years earlier to a 1908 book called The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by Welsh writer W.H. Davies to find something to name themselves after.
I'm still not certain what a Super-Tramp is though.
17.) Okkervil River
The band actually has two sources for its name. Directly, it comes from a short story by Russian writer Tatyana Tolstaya. But Tolstaya got the name for her short story from a river near St. Petersburg.
That is the most popular obscure river in all the world.
If it's been said once, it's been said a thousand times: You're not a degenerate gambler until you play the long odds and throw some cash on Margaret Atwood winning a Nobel.
With the announcement of 2014's Nobel Prizes coming up in October, apparently one can lay some money on the outcome of who the next Laureate in Literature will be. And it's not just a recent phenomenon either. As Alex Donahue, spokesperson for Ladbrokes--the UK's leading gambling site--tells The Guardian, "We've been taking bets for this year from the day of the announcement last year," when Alice Monroe was announced as the Nobel winner.
Favorites to win aren't just randomly assigned odds. As Donahue states, it's all about how the Swedes are betting, as they have their fingers on the pulse of momentum. "It's always worth following the Swedish money and at this stage the one they like is Ngugi wa Thiong'o," said Donahue, referring to the famous Kenyan writer who was arrested in 1976 on orders by the country's vice president for creating uncensored political messages. Ngugi would end up writing one of his future novels, Caitaani mũtharaba-Inĩ (Devil on the Cross), on prison toilet paper while spending a year behind bars.
Ngugi might have momentum with a betting line at 6/1, but he still doesn't have the best odds. Those go to Haruki Murakami at 5/1. Others in the realm of potential include Joyce Carol Oates at 12/1, Philip Roth at 16/1, Thomas Pynchon at 25/1, Don Delillo at 25/1, and Margaret Atwood at 33/1. The likes of Salman Rushdie, Cormac McCarthy, and even that plagiarizing literary sage Bob Dylan bring up the betting odds rear at 50/1.
Dylan's odds, according to Donahue, are based off two bets that came in from Sweden.
Hell, if that's all it takes, I'll find two Swedish guys named Bjorn and Henrik to lay $5 on me and call myself a Nobel contender.
Are you a Margaret Atwood fan? Are you at least 1-year old? Odds are you'll never read at least one book she's written.
Atwood--winner of the Man Booker Prize (and probably a Nobel Prize some year)--is the first author to sign up for The Future Library project, an endeavor created by Scottish artist Katie Paterson which aims to have 100 authors write books that will be sealed away, unread, until the year 2114.
Further adding a level of complexity to it all, Paterson just planted 1,000 trees in the Norwegian town of Nordmarka, just outside Oslo, which will spend the next century growing--before being felled--and used to create the paper on which the 100 books by 100 authors will be printed on and, hopefully, read by someone, anyone.
All works created for the project, including Atwood's, will be placed in a special room planned to open in 2018 at the Deichmanske public library in Oslo. The books will be on display for attendees to view, but not to read. A printing press will be included in the room, to be used in case printing presses cease to exist by 2114.
But Atwood really won't give a hint at what she wrote? "Wild horses would not drag it out of me," she tells The Guardian. "It's part of the contract you can't tell anybody what you're writing. I'm finding it very delicious, because I get to say to people like you [the Guardian], I'm not telling."
But she does offer one nugget of information. "I will say that I've bought some special archival paper, which will not decay in its sealed box over 100 years."
Canada--home of Margaret Atwood and 2013 Nobel Prize winner Alice Monro, among other literary deadbeats--isn't pleased. And by 'isn't pleased' I mean they felt offended and immediately apologized for feeling offended.
Shteyngart took to Twitter to claim he's sorry--#drunkenstupor. See! He was drunk! You don't know what kind of crazy might come out of his mouth! It's the sauce talking!
Thank God it's the booze causing loose lips. I wouldn't want Americans to sound like elitist jerks who make excuses for an ineffective liver.
Here's a (not really) funny haha: I met Shteygart once, listening to a flat-lining, coma-inducing talk that offered all the titillation of Days of Our Lives, circa 1983. He portrayed himself as a visionary two-steps ahead of everyone else on the planet--who knows better than you, who knows better than you think, who knows better than your grandma.
But now that I know he blames his faux pas on booze, I assume he was just tanked on Jack and Coke.
In other news, Shteyngart has a memoir coming out. This is why he's hitting all the big media outlets and trying to get up in Canada's grill. It's what bullies do. They start fights with pacifists and then blame it on latent alcoholism.
The likes of Margaret Atwood, J.M Coetzee, John Ashbery, Alice Walker, Dave Eggars, Dom Delillo, Tom Stoppard, Tomas Tranströmer, Dave Eggars, Michael Ondaatj, Paul Auster, and Bjork all signed the petition as fellow writers.
That's right. Margaret Atwood and Bjork. I didn't see that combo happening either.
Every Friday we'll have The Friday Poem. (A capitalized title, so you
know it's official and whatnot.) Famous poets, obscure poets, amateur
poets, whatever poets--just a poem to end the week.
Like this one:
The Moment, by Margaret Atwood
The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.
