If you are, as I am, old enough to remember the first round of Lollapalooza's, then you may also remember the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow. That in turn means you may have read a little book out at the time called Geek Love... and you know it's not star-crossed love story about two employees of Apple and Microsoft, but as described by the Chicago Tribune, a novel that is "Unrelentingly bizarre . . . perverse but riveting. . . . Will keep you turning the pages.”
In a wonderful article posted in the current online version of Wired, Jim Rose says about his first show at Lollapalooza, "It sold out. Kurt Cobain was in the audience. Pearl Jam was in the audience. Katherine Dunn set the table for this whole modern freak show vibe. Freak shows used to exclusively be cons that were perpetrated on the midway of state fairs or carnivals, and they always let you down, they always cheated you. After Geek Love inspired me to put together a show that didn’t have the con as the focus but, rather, art as the focus, it took off. All of a sudden, I was allowed to play in theaters. I didn’t have to be on some midway. All of a sudden, I was playing to thousands of people a night. Katherine Dunn turned that dusty con on a midway into art. And I just basically did a live version inspired by that book.”
Read the article and then pick up this cult classic. You'll never think of a geek in the same way again.
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