James Franco Reads a Book, Controls Universe

In news that prompted every Toronto-area music journalist we know to pump fists on becoming one or two degrees removed from Stephen Colbert, Globe and Mail music critic and Trampoline Hall co-founder Carl Wilson is scheduled to be a guest on The Colbert Report. Why? Because of James Franco‘s sweet l’il (read: completely random bananas) red carpet shout out to Wilson’s 33⅓ book. Now everybody wants a piece.
Seriously it’s about time celebs started openly pimping rad shit like this (we think we heard someone mention Torontoist in line at Loblaws once, so Oscars next year obvz). For those late to the party, Wilson’s book, Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, is one of the oddest and most raved about entries in Continuum’s modest series of books on seminal albums. Odd only because it’s a book about Celine Dion (well, basically) plunked into a series that normally lends itself to bands like The Replacements, MC5, and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Wilson blogged about receiving word of the mention just 24 hours prior to the call from the Report.

I woke up this morning to various emails and frantic Facebook “wall messages” conveying the news that James Franco name-checked my book . . . Franco’s currently doing simultaneous MFA’s at Columbia and NYU, so it’s not really so weird (however it feels to me!) that he’s plugged into stuff like this. I hope he passes the book along to a few of his Hollywood friends — the movie industry could stand to unthink some of its assumptions about the “mass” audience versus the “prestige” audience, no?

Yes! So, Wednesday, March 4. Mark it down and enjoy your hometown boy while continuing to puzzle over James Franco’s burgeoning cred and influence. And for you music snobs with walls of vinyl and no TV, the Facebook event speaks of a viewing party at the Pilot Tavern the night of.

The post James Franco Reads a Book, Controls Universe appeared first on Torontoist.