Esopus 4 [Spring 2005]

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 sections: 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.