Event preview: Jon Fine at Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor tonight, Sun. Sep. 27, at 5 p.m., reading from 'Your Band Sucks'

This evening, in Ann Arbor, at Literati bookstore, at 5 p.m., I will be interviewing Jon Fine, the author of Your Band Sucks: What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear). It will be about as raucous, rowdy, and fun as a bookstore event can be. I will mostly be beating Jon over his head with his book for not giving the Paisley Underground, K Records, Dischord and the Boston scene their due. (Just kidding.)

The book is a real gas, and mixes first person narrative with terse reflections from his peers. It's very smart, even if I personally think dude is "wrong" about a lot of stuff. Fine is a year older than me but we both lived in the NYC area at the same time ('80s into '90s), went to many of the same shows, and I loved his first band Bitch Magnet (yes, dumb name, but he was a teenager when he and a band mate came up with it while they were attending Oberlin).

Fine's book has deservedly gotten a lot of attention. I suggest checking out Dave Segal's interview with him for the Stranger, and be sure to listen to the playlist he put together for Vanity Fair — it just might be the first time VF ever has praised Slovenly. Wait, Fine and I agree on a whole lot of music stuff, he is just a little bit metal, and I'm a little bit twee. Definitely come to this event so you can watch us seriously make out onstage.

Fine writes about this event that "the last time I was in Ann Arbor, it was 1993. My band Vineland was playing with the Cows at a show at the University of Michigan, and college administrators got all freaked out because Shannon from the Cows was running around in a loincloth.

I can only hope Sunday will be as picturesque, but I can assure everyone that Mike and I will be dressed in appropriate grownup (ie: non-loincloth) clothing."