Sufjan Stevens Pens Personal Essay for Topic Magazine
For the current issue of Topic magazine (a quarterly journal of creative non-fiction), Stevens traded his banjo for a pen, writing ebulliently on this month's topic: music! The 1,500-word personal narrative opens with a description of one of his first musical gigs-- an instrumental moment with pots, pans, and spaghetti:
"In the obscure backrooms of my memory, there is a gauzy portrait of me drumming pots and pans on the kitchen floor. I am a bumbling infant, top-heavy, lower-lipped, thumb-suckling, encountering gravity for the first time, buffered by an afghan laid out on the linoleum, banging the consequential music of kitchen utensils: a chopstick on a glass lid, a plastic spoon on a rice steamer, the tap dancing of a whisk on a box of spaghetti. This is my first performance. I am eleven months old. I am a drum major. I am a ragtime rhythm section. I am a wild animal knocking rocks on the hard shell of mother earth, the prehistoric paradiddle. I am nerves and muscle gaining strength."
The issue also features a photo of dapper Stevens on the cover-- and the real news here is that tricked-out 'stache! Dude! What the shit!? To read the full story, pick up issue #9 of Topic.
From these humble percussive beginnings to a massive, ocean-spanning tour-- catch Sufjan live this autumn. Dates after the jump.
09-11 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium *
09-13 Dallas, TX - Lakewood Theater *
09-15 Austin, TX - Paramount Theater *
09-16 Austin, TX - Paramount Theater *
09-19 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues *
09-20 Atlanta, GA - Fox Theater (PASTE Fest) *
09-21 Chapel Hill, NC - Memorial Hall *
09-23 Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Theater *
09-24 St. Louis, MO - Pageant *
09-25 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *
09-26 Chicago, IL - Riviera *
09-28 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre *
09-29 New York, NY - Town Hall *
09-30 New York, NY - Town Hall *
10-01 New York, NY - Town Hall *
10-09 Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern *
10-10 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
10-11 Berkeley, CA - Zellerbach Hall *
10-13 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *
10-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - St. Andrew's Cathedral *
10-15 Seattle, WA - Paramount *
11-01 Dublin, Ireland - Olympia
11-02 Manchester, England - Academy 2
11-03 London, England - Barbican
11-05 Ghent, Belgium - Voorhuit
11-07 Barcelona, Spain - Casino L'Allanca
11-09 Paris, France - Le Bataclan
11-10 Cologne, Germany - Gloria
11-11 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
11-12 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
11-14 Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
11-15 Stockholm, Sweden - Berns
11-16 Reykjavik, Iceland - Frikirkjan Church
11-17 Reykjavik, Iceland - Frikirkjan Church
* with My Brightest Diamond
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