Black Clock celebrates five years

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The big guns were celebrating Black Clock noir-ily at REDCAT/Disney Hall on Sunday night: from left, Greil Marcus, editor Steve Erickson, Aimee Bender, senior editor Bruce Bauman, Joanna Scott and Samuel R. Delany.

The noir issue -- just 72 hours off the presses last night -- is the 10th from Black Clock Magazine, the lush and smart literary journal from Cal Arts. School President Steven Lavine was there showing his support alongside students and fans. Maybe he’s the one who authorized the delicious snacks. Nice going on the snacks.

Nice going on the readings, too. Los Angeles Magazine editor Kit Rachlis introduced Steve Erickson as ‘the editor of Black Clock, its architect and, if it’s not too unfair, its Frank Gehry,’ alluding to the architect responsible for Disney Hall. Steve Erickson lauded the creativity of those who have worked on and contributed to Black Clock, noting, ‘if you get too hung up on perfection, you run the risk of not taking chances.’

All Sunday’s readers have contributed to Black Clock, but these pieces weren’t those that appeared in the magazine. Aimee Bender kicked things off reading a short story she’d written as a ‘cover version’ of the song ‘The Lobby’ by Jane Siberry. I wished I had the song playing in my head as she read, but I just don’t know Jane Siberry well enough.

Samuel R. Delany, who has won more science-fiction awards than I can count, read the opening of a story that seemed to skip science fiction altogether. It was either a sweet story or a noir setup -- were these just two alienated people who might help each other, or would neediness turn ugly?

Greil Marcus’ piece was a work-in-progress, a riff on election night of November 2008, which he said ‘might appear in Black Clock.’ If it does, look for the connection between Barack Obama and Sam Cooke -- it really sings.

Joanna Scott ended the evening, reading both the opening and the ending of a novel (upcoming, I think). Authors rarely do this -- give away the end of a book during a reading -- but it worked. The book opens with a failed suicide attempt, but it ends on a higher note -- Scott quipped that she hoped we’d be curious about what happens in between.

The cover of Black Clock No. 10 features a shadowy painting of a woman smoking a cigarette before a window, the old Angel’s Flight funicular passing behind her. It could almost be a still from the film ‘Criss Cross,’ which shows up in one of the 70 ‘Essential Noir Facts’ sprinkled throughout the issue. Erickson, who knows film as well as he knows writing, asked each author for his or her favorite noir book or movie:

• Aimee Bender -- ‘The Wind-Up Burd Chronicle’ by Haruki Murakami
• Samuel R. Delany -- ‘Out of the Past’ (starring Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum)
• Greil Marcus -- ‘The Last Good Kiss’ by James Crumley
• Joanna Scott -- ‘Sunset Blvd.’ (starring William Holden and Gloria Swanson)

Many say noir was born in the Depression in the 1930s. Is it any surprise that it’s back?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo credit: Carolyn Kellogg