Episode 23 - Discussing David Foster Wallace with Andrew Savage of Parquet Courts

In this episode we speak with the multi-talented writer and musician Andrew Savage of the band Parquet Courts. Their song “Instant Disassembly” opens and closes each episode of our podcast, but more importantly, Andrew is a super-literate dude who is capable of expounding on almost any topic.

Here is the video that Dave mentions of George Saunders’ appearance on The Charlie Rose show: https://charlierose.com/videos/23703 (DFW discussion starts at 40:54).

Check out Parquet Courts on Spotify or Apple Music or YouTube or just shout their name out the nearest window.

Their official website is https://parquetcourts.wordpress.com/

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Show notes

01:54 - Why Dave chose “Instant Disassembly” as our intro song

01:55 - Thematic relation between DFW’s writing and “Instant Disassembly”

01:56 - There’s ennui but it’s also a really bitchin’ song

02:45 - Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”

03:46 - Bookworm’s theme song

08:35 - Growing up in Denton, Texas

09:53 - Austin Brown

13:30 - The Marked Men

14:40 - The Parking Lot set in Charlottesville

16:53 - Where did we play in Vancouver

18:49 - Parquet courts in The Garden and basketball

20:08 - Influenced by fiction

22:14 - Coming to Wallace, an intro thereto

23:52 - IJ/DFW influences everything

25:31 - The anxiety of influence, nah

29:56 - What to hold back

32:12 - Trump is a germaphobe

33:23 - The labor issues of being a musician

36:08 - New Sincerity discussion

39:13 - Parquet Courts and the Irony of Blah Blah Blah

43:45 - What makes a good performance

44:41 - Smaller venues

46:13 - Dealing with cynicism

48:12 - Favorite Wallace stuff

51:30 - The Depressed Person: parody or not?

55:30 - The existential angst of the modern condition

57:03 - We’ve all got holes to fill

58:40 - In search of lost time

1:02:00 - Listening to music the way we read

1:03:49 - The Big Ship on repeat

1:05:00 - Cate Le Bon

1:06:01 - Opposite Sex from New Zealand & Hamlet

1:07:40 - Glasgow has a grid system

1:08:56 - Favorite books & movies - Knausgaard

1:10:43 - Eva Hesse’s diaries

1:13:01 - A movie discussion ensues

1:14:19 - The song North Dakota

1:17:23 - How to finish things

1:28:30 - Easter egg