Boris Vian

Cuimean

Tam Tam books, a publishing company based in L.A., has started releasing English translations of some of Boris Vian's books. Vian was an author / songwriter / trumpet player / jazz booster who did most of his work in Paris after WWII. I just finished "Autumn in Peking," and it reads like a Mark Leyner adaptation of a David Cronenberg-directed Looney Tunes episode. I just started "I Spit on Your Graves," a pulpy noir tale.

So how does this relate? Well, Vian collaborated with Henri Salvador on several songs. Sanseverino covers his "Java des Bombes Atomiques" on his recent live DVD and CD. And in the new edition of Vian's "Manual of Saint Germain-des-Prés," there is a photo of Django painting, as well as a nice full-page photo of Grapelli and Crolla (with a Stimer-ized Selmac) playing in a cellar club.

Cuimean

I just finished a recent English translation of L'Écume des jours by Boris Vian; it was an excellent read. When I went to the publisher's website to see about upcoming Vian translations, I found a photo of Vian playing a harp guitar. And if I'm not mistaken, it's a Maccaferri, as seen on page 157 in Michael Wright's book Guitar Stories.

(Here's the publisher's blog, where I found the photo: http://tamtambooks.blogspot.com/)

Larifari

You can also find a cd with some Vian's tunes ( sorry my english iznogood) ;

titles on cd :
je suis snob
je bois
les joyeux bouchers
la complainte du progrès
le déserteur
cinématographe
la java des bombes atomiques
le petit commerce
on n'est pas là pour se faire eng..
bourrée des complexes
le code de la route

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