Esopus 4

by Tod Lippy (Editor)

The New York Times has praised Esopus as "a thing of lavish, eccentric beauty, less flipped through than stared at," and has also stated that, upon viewing it, readers will " . . . reconcile their expectations of what a magazine is . . . ." Sticking to the format that has garnered it so much praise, Esopus again presents the following artists' projects, critical writing, visual essays, fiction, interviews, and a CD of specially commissioned music. This fourth issue of the semiannual, advertisment-free publication contains artists' projects by Ed Ruscha, Ati Maler, and Shanan Kurtz; "The Greatest," an 11"x 52" removable poster of Savannah barber Ulysses Davis's wood carvings of 40 U.S. presidents; 100 frames from Clair Denis's 2002 film, Vendredi Soir (with an appreciation by cinematographer Ellen Kuras); a piece on the evolution of ice cream truck music by musicologist Daniel Tannehill Neely; New York City chef Jody Williams's essay on learning how to cook in Italy; new fiction from Ethan Rutherford, Alex Shear's Object Lesson No. 4 (a removable insert), Angus Trumble's "1685 in Retrospect;" and a found object contributed by Steven Heller. The accompanying CD features 13 songs inspired by reader-submitted descriptions of childhood imaginary friends, which will also be published in the issue. Contributors to this include the B-52's Kater Pierson, Grant Hart, Jon Langford (The Mekons), Avery Tare (Animal Collective), Kimya Dawson (The Moldy Peaches), Vetiver, Solex, and Ruth Gerson.

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2005