Wednesday, November 14, 2007

If you never read Steve Gilliard

Photo Courtesy of Majikthise

and wonder what it was about him that made so many of us who never met him or shared a meal or a beer with him love and respect him so deeply, well maybe if you think of Gilly as a composer...

The words were what he said, and the music was how he made us feel.

A brilliant, topical, brutally honest, by-the-sweat-of-his-brow artist who -- laboring right here on the dirty floor with the rest of us -- produced a genuinely astonishing and powerful body of work, which earned him a large and wildly diverse constellation of fanatically loyal readers.

Nobody did what he did how he did it. Or does.

Nobody comes close.

His words -- which he gave away for free -- are available in his archives for whoever wants to read them.

But the music?

The music sounded just




like this.




Every.

Single.

Fucking.

Day.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for letting people know.

Fran / Blue Gal said...

I did not read Steve until you. Then I did, and yeah. Yeah.

You and he are quite different writers...but Drifty? You won't believe me on this, I'm sure, but you know he believed in good writing as much as you do, and he would be so honored by your mention. He would.

Anonymous said...

we honor gilliard and his sometimes crusty, always stirring devotion to intellectual honesty by continuing to call out the fraud and con artists, thieves and sanctimonious liars for what they are every chance we get.

drifty, thanks for remembering steve. and know that you give voice to many of the same people --steve's people -- who lack a voice of their own.

The Minstrel Boy said...

i think the thing that gilly did best was to effortlessly slip through genre after genre. he would write scathing diatribes on local and national politics, flip a corner on the notepad and write brilliantly on military history, then he'd flip another page and write about food, or travel, or . . .that dude could write anything, very well.

the folks at the group news blog are trying their damndest to keep his spirit alive. it takes four of them to try and cover the depth and breadth of one gilly.

KaliTa said...

Yes, Drifty, it is as you say. What made you say this now, lovey?

Steve Muhlberger said...

Bruno should be talking to Dems in the House and Senate right now.

Grim said...

Amen brother, amen.

¡El Gato Negro! said...

A blast from the recent past:

Danny, only an assclown hides behind civility when the reality was, and my point was, that your article was dead fucking wrong.

{...}

Now, here's a burst of incivility, you fucking piece of shit.

How dare you say I don't have a right to be heard. Who the fuck appointed you civility monitor, you filithy garbage spewing piece of excrement. Just because you got some ass sucking job at some rag no one reads doesn't make you some kind of judge of anything. You should be happy that blogs with a much higher readership than you will ever see at your day job deigned to comment on your embarassing, poorly researched article.

They don't deserved to be heard? Oh fuck no. This isn't some Congress Club party where the Hill rats all try to bang each other and you try to get in sniffing distance of their pussies, but the real world. And here's a hint.

We don't fucking like you. We think you're the problem. You don't deserve civility, you deserve a boot in your ass for helping to ruin this country, the only thing some of us have. With your smug , bullshit attitudes, your contempt for the decency and values which made this country, your arrogant rejection of the very idea that actual citizens might want to save this republic from the cringing lickspittles like you, and you worry about civility.

Civility? Shove it up your ass and look for your balls, because they appear to be missing. Fucking gutless piece of shit. Don't you ever write I don't deserve to be heard.

posted by Steve @ 1:36:00 AM


We miss joo very much, meow.

Myrtle June said...

And, speaking of military history .... here's a little piece showing itself here. It was always there, just below the surface:
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/wwii-fighter-plane-discovered-on-beach/20071114164709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Just below the surface, always there... like Steve's fighting spirit. I'm sure he's prouder than all hell of you Driftglass.

Steve's was my first blog reading experience, and you the next Drifty, all because of my dearheart Tanbark who brung me. He guv me my voice back and Steve inspired me to use it. What a oasis his writing was, and is, as it stands insisting we do better, fight harder, dig deeper, say what we mean right out loud in their faces.

You do it best, say it best, Driftglass. Always a pleasure to read your good stuff here where the fight continues! Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Don't want to walk or talk about Jesus just want to see his face.
I believe it would resemble Steve's much more than Ron Silver's

Anonymous said...

I think Steve would be very proud of Driftglass. Still can't believe Steve is gone. But the battle for America's soul continues.

Anonymous said...

Well, thank you, Drifty. Unforgettables should always be unforgotten so well as this.