The Pogues on record are never short of inspirational, and in person, they might be a life-changing experience. This hackle-raising blend of traditional Irish folk music, politically charged broadsides and electric rock ‘n’ roll, delivered by charismatic frontman Shane MacGowan flanked by a grizzled band of veterans that includes penny-whistle virtuoso/alternate vocalist Spider Stacy, was formed in the King’s Cross district of north London in 1982. Despite occasional time off for good behavior, they’ve been playing ever since and have a handful of festival dates planned for this summer. Here’s hoping it lasts for at least another 10 years. We are proud to say that Stacy, who is currently appearing as a street musician in season two of HBO’s Treme, will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with him.
Stacy: Apart from his essential contributions on TV shows such as The Wire, The Pacific and Treme, George Pelecanos is best known as the writer of some the best crime fiction you’ll find this side of Graham Greene. But Pelecanos’s milieu is a very different to Greeneland’s amoral, loveless wastelands, where the bible and the whisky bottle slug it out in some futile, inconclusive battle for the ownership of whatever flotsam remains from the wreckage of the protagonist’s soul. In his novels, George has adhered to (at least so far) the old dictum “write what you know.” And what George knows is the city of Washington, D.C., and the powerful, wayward heart that bats the life into this strangest, most paradoxical of American cities. Pelecanos offers us the whole city, from ex-cons working for the city’s dog-catching department (if that’s what you call them) to a reprobate, licentious, electrical-goods salesman who drifts into private investigation as much by happenstance as anything else (Nick Stefanos, possibly his finest creation, although he’s up against some fierce competition, not least from his dad and his erstwhile workmate and very good friend (pothead to the nth degree, booze-sodden, fuck-anything-that-moves-in-his-direction, nihilist best buddy Johnny McGinnes).
So rather than attempt a detailed thesis on this greatest of living Greeks (he’s got the award, so shut up!), I’m going to concentrate my waning powers on Drama City. This was the first of Georges’s books that I’d read, and it ranks among his very best. Lorenzo Brown is an ex-con, just released after serving eight years rather than rat on his boyhood friend Nigel Johnson, now the neighbourhood’s drug lord. A caring, deeply honourable man seeking only to get his life back on track, Brown obtains a job with the city’s Animal Welfare Department, work he performs with diligence and tact (and, when necessary, intimidation). Brown is good about checking with his parole officer, Rachel Lopez, who is struggling with drug addiction and is a member of NA. What with one thing and another, things get worse before they get better. But not all about mad dogs and rehab. It is a crime story set in a major U.S. city notorious for its bloodletting. But there is so much more to it than that.
George is a Washingtonian born and bred, with an such an intimate love for his city that he had to be more or less Luca Brasi’d into agreeing to work on a TV show set in Baltimore. His Washington has that same breath of authenticity, the sense that you are witnessing the lives of real people in a real city. On top of which, he is, of course, a massive Pogues fan. But then Greece is, after all, the cradle of our civilisation, so that should come as no surprise to anyone. And whilst we’re on the subject, we should think about Greece and thank it for its role in shaping our world. Or maybe I’ll just quote Cavafy.
One reply on “From The Desk Of The Pogues’ Spider Stacy: George Pelecanos”
Great stuff, Drama City is the finest Pelecanos I have read as yet. There is a morality undepinning his work which is really heartening. I really would like Lorenzo Brown appear in his other stuff.