The Teenagers, "Reality Check"

First off, check out my review of the Teenagers debut album "Reality Check" on AthensExchange.com. The Teenagers are a group of young, French hipster types playing spazzy electro-clash pop full of jokes about pimples and sex.

Normally I'm a sucker for all things French, which is why I decided to review this record, but I had to work through a lot of entrenched trend bias with this group. They've got that Williamsburg art punk look. You know, the tight jean and ironically large glasses scheme that Urban Outfitters has been exporting to the suburbs for a few seasons now.

They're also extremely tongue-in-cheek, which is humor I enjoy, but their brand is more french kiss tongue with your younger sister.

These Gallic adolescents hooked me good. I was walking to work: the crisp air, the sun shining...all that stereotypical springtime stuff. Their cheap beats, tin guitar riffs and mispronounced wit gave me a little pep. I did that whole shoulder swinging dance walk thing and smiled an annoyingly toothy smile to passing motorists. 

There can be no doubt that the Teenagers are corny and lazy, just like me at 16, and their music won't reach the post-collegiate, but they're a good reminder that cheap hooks and simple rhythms can solve more problems than they cause.

I guess I needed a little reality check myself, tee hee.

Links:

Band Site

Video for "Love No"

Myspace

A Remix of "Starlett Johansson"

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program at the Hancock Community Development Corporation

In February, I wrote an article on a local nonprofit that provides tax prep assistance to low income folks. Here's the link: VITA story at AthensExchange.com. 

Doing the interviews, I met some great people committed to community service, and, as is usually the case, got to hear some great stories. Here are some pictures from the Saturday that I spent with the volunteers.

Nicole(left) and Dorothy are full timers at the Hancock Community Development Corporation. Their warmth, energy and sense of humor fills the concrete walls of the center, making the arduous task of filing taxes much more enjoyable.

Nicole is mother to a wonderful set of twin girls who will talk you your ear off if you let them.

University student Brittany Ng helps Ernesto Palacin file his taxes online. Brittany is a pre-business and family financial planning major at the University. Programs such as VITA have greatly benefitted in their partnership with UGA, using students from the business, accounting and housing and consumer sciences departments to fill much needed volunteer positions.

The "Love and Consequence" of Deceitful Writing

The Andre Daily News would write the headline like this: "Another Affluent White American, Desperate for Credibility, Fictionalizes Life in Memoir."

Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, is pulling Margaret Seltzer's memoir, "Love and Consequences," from bookstores, and offering refunds to book buyers after discovering that Seltzer cooked much of the material.

Check out the NYT coverage of the fallout.

Seltzer's memoir, which chronicles her hard knock life as a gang thug in Los Angeles, contains numerous fabrications.

Seltzer is not part American Indian; she's a white kid from Sherman Oaks, Calif., an affluent Los Angeles suburb.

Seltzer did not grow up a foster home nomad; she graduated from an exclusive Episcopal day school. 

Seltzer did not experience the events detailed in her book; she collected the stories from South Central youths while sitting in a Starbuck's.

While it's perfectly OK to use composite characters in memoirs--just how good is your memory--taking someone else's story and passing it off as one's own is weak. If there's a story to tell, just tell it truthfully. The book market sure prefers a heavy tell-all to a strong piece of journalism, but the minds of your readers and the respect of your sources are better served by your honesty, not your marketability. 

What's a big advance worth anyway? A new car or a down payment on a home. Maybe you can pay off those student loans or finance the writer's life for a while. Bah.  Grocery money is way overrated when it comes to artistic credibility.

Check out my "Bold-Faced Liars" post to further understand my theory of lame memoirists: specifically, James Frey and Augusten Burroughs.