so i think it’s time to own up to it: i have a total writer-crush on chuck klosterman. i can’t get enough of his stuff as a reader, and i wish i could be one tenth as clever and widely published as a writer.

it started innocently enough — as a result of working in the industry i do, i get lots of free magazines, and i picked up an issue of spin. stumbling upon his article “give me centrism or give me death” a few months back, i was an instant fan. partially because his style reminds me a lot of a friend of mine whose writing i love, maybe. but mostly because of the core beauty they both touch on. the writing is hilarious in a way where the more you get his references, the more you’re rewarded with his punchlines. and it all feels like you were just sitting around bullshitting with someone who knows way more about pop culture than you do, and is way better at drawing the funniest connections and analyses out of the tangled web than you could ever hope to be. all done with a voice that’s natural and hysterical at the same time.

so i started looking forward to his subsequent columns in spin, once i realized he was a regular. last month, he even did a regular column PLUS a full article on the “rock n roll holiday escape”, a cruise he covered featuring evening concerts by the rock legends REO speedwagon, styx, and journey. my favorite passage from that one:

mature concertgoers will politely sit through the new material just so they can hear “don’t stop believin'” for the 4,000th time. this is the nature of classic rock in the present tense; if you want to hear the songs you like, you have to pretend the band’s contemporary material still matters. it’s akin to sitting through a boring conversation with someone because you know you’re probably going to have sex when that person finally shuts up.

of course it took me a while to realize that hey, this guy might also be the author of some great books as well, which i could purchase and read to savor more of his brilliance. if only i wasn’t knee deep in a book already, i’d go on a little kloster-spree right now, and give my informed opinion on those too. but when i’m reading blurbs of praise from the likes of bret easton ellis and david byrne, i’m not really that worried.

plus, this gives adoring fans the opportunity to shower me with these gifts, should they want to admit their own writer-crushes on yours truly.