Blake Butler is running a free writing contest. Send him one story, and if you win he’ll publish it as a stand-alone issue of Lamination Colony (so people will read your work) and he’ll give you a bunch of free stuff (so you will receive material reward for your CHOPS). And other people are offering free stuff. And the contest has no entry fee; it’s clearly not run by Narrative Magazine in any way.

And Blake brought up Fugazi. I thought about “Merchandise” and how Ian MacKaye was the guy who taught me as a kid that not charging a lot for stuff is cool. Shows we’re never more than $5, always all ages, etc. That reminds me of one of my best stories. In college, I was the local music columnist and I was stuck for a column this one week, so I looked up Beecher St. address on the back of my Minor Threat album (the address of the house where the picture on the back was taken), having heard the Dischord address was Ian MacKaye’s mom’s house, in the white pages. I called it and Ginger MacKaye answered the phone. She has to be one of the kindest people I’ve ever spoken with. She talked to me for two hours, told me all kinds of stories, including making breakfast for Henry Rollins (who was living with her family at the time) and some group from Long Beach, CA (Black Flag) who then convinced him to be in their band. She still worried that Ian would get hurt skateboarding, but said she didn’t have worry about him getting in too much trouble because he didn’t drink as he was involved in this movement “straight edge.” She talked about how nervous she was when Ian introduced her to Leonard Cohen.  About her dog getting tied up with another dog at the local park only to learn the woman was the mother of Brian Baker (from Minor Threat, then Bad Religion). She said she went to lots of Ian’s, and his brother Alec’s, shows, especially in DC. And they usually still had Sunday dinner together. I was really late for my painting studio that day but it was worth it. She sent me this really nice note with a print of an old building in Northwest DC (if I recall correctly) after the column came out and had some kind words. She also told me that she always made sure to pick up our student paper which was available at the local Safeway. A very cool woman.

Anyway, free stuff is good for art.