Episode 167: Steven Hyden—Woodstock ’99, ‘Break Stuff,’ and Books as Roadtrips

Steven Hyden
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“You tend to agree more with the people who don’t like what you do more than the people who do like what you do.” — Steven Hyden (@steven_hyden)

Hey, CNFers, glad you could make it. Got Steven Hyden for you. He’s a rock critic for Uproxx and his podcast Break Stuff about Woodstock ’99 is the stuff of legend. So I reached out to him.

We talk about that, books as roadtrips, and how you can have, perhaps, “questionable” taste, but still be a good read.

He makes mention of Chuck Klosterman being an inspiration given they come from similar backgrounds: remote upbringing yet somehow made a go of it in mainstream rock criticism.

Keep the conversation going on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I hope I’ve made something worth sharing, so share widely. And if you’re feeling kind, leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Books by Steven Hyden

Your Favorite Band is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life
Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock
Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes—A Memoir

Episode 160: Chuck Klosterman — ‘Raised in Captivity,’ Being Straightforward, and How Nonfiction is Closer to Bowling

Chuck Klosterman. Photo credit Jason Booher

“I think that very often when anybody is writing a book, they lose track of the fact that the book can be whatever you want.” —Chuck Klosterman

“Nonfiction is closer to bowling. It can be perfect.” —Chuck Klosterman

Hey, CNFers, look who came over to CNF Pod HQ! It’s Chuck Klosterman, one my favorite authors for how he’s able to turn a phrase, dollop profanity, and be the mind I wish I had.

Chuck’s latest book is Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction, and we take a dive into what makes this collection of short stories — his first collection of short stories of his eleven books.

Keep the conversation going on Twitter @CNFPod. Let me know what you think. Tweet out what you love. I’ll tweet back horns and skulls.

I hope you have as much fun listening to this as I did conducting the interview and later editing it for production.

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To Re-Read or Not to Re-Read, That is the Question.

Written by Brendan O’Meara (<==== Click my name to go to my lovely Facebook author page!)

A couple books I re-read a lot.
A few books I re-read a lot.

There are two camps: those who re-read books and those who don’t. I understand both sides. Take Chuck Klosterman, one of my favorite writers. He says:

I don’t often read books twice. There are too many I haven’t read once.

True. But that’s just it. There’s TOO many books out there in the first place. Even if you read 100 books a year (or more) and lived to be 80 years old, you’d still say on your death bed, “I never got around to Atlas Shrugged.

I re-read books for the same reason I re-watch movies. The first time is for the initial experience. The subsequent times are for breaking it down the way a football coach goes over the game tape. There’s so much to learn from revisiting a favorite work. Why not have more of a relationship with a book instead of one-night-standing with several more?

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