The name of William Gibson's latest book in his second trilogy. Buy it, read it, love it.
The other two books are Virtual Light and Idoru. This trilogy is not quite as good as the first (which was Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive), but it is still thoroughly enjoyable. Gibson takes less time to develop the worldview (which was why the first trilogy was so impressive - there were many short stories already set there that he'd written, including the great story but lousy movie Johnny Mnemonic and the even better story Burning Chrome), but makes up for it in scene and character development. At risk of sounding like my high school english teachers, the imagery and allusions are incredibly rich. And choosing a Velvet Underground song as the title is but a small part of it.
The other neat comment was after someone asked about how apocalyptic his novels are, how the world is always about to end. He remarked that, well, the world ends in All Tomorrow's Parties, and none of the characters notice.
The Event
Held in Britain and the USA, All Tomorrow's Parties are a series of weekend parties with live bands appearing on various stages. Despite appearing under the same banner, the two venues are very different from one another, and so will be covered separately.
ATP USA
The US venue was UCLA, where several halls were occupied. Accommodation had to be found in local hotels, and all ages were welcome, although alcohol was only available to over-21s with photo id. Only one event was held in the US. It was due to take place in October, 2001 but was postponed due to the events of September, 11, and was held in March 2002. Cost was $100 for a weekend pass, but a huge discount was given to UCLA students, costing them only $40.
ATP UK
Held at Camber Sands Holiday Centre, in Rye, East Sussex, the UK venue is much more self-contained. By using a holiday park out of season, there is a unique combination of cheap accommodation (self-catering chalets), good music venues, a beach, and a free swimming pool and go-karting. There are also many pubs in the surrounding area should anyone feel the need to leave the venue. An over-18s policy is in force at the UK event.
Dates:
The 2003 event works out around 110UKP per person including accommodation in a shared chalet.
Bands
A few bands who have appeared are: Aphex Twin, Arcwelder, Autechre, Cat Power, Destroy All Monsters, John Sinclair, Melt Banana, Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Wilco.
PA
The PA for the 2002 Camber Sands shows was supplied by RMPA, APR Audio and Big Sound, and included:
"...nothing is perfect, really. Nothing is ever finished. Everything is process."
It is hard to believe that William Gibson has only been publishing novels for about fifteen years. After virtually establishing the technological conventions of the cyberpunk genre in the loosely-knit Sprawl trilogy, his second trilogy of Virtual Light, Idoru and now All Tomorrow's Parties deals with a much closer and palpable future. This latest book continues the more hopeful tone of Gibson's recent work -- markedly different from the absolutely dystopic world of Neuromancer. Whilst the overtures of sinister corporate expansion are still apparent, the characters themselves are not the shadowy anti-heroes of his earlier work. Rather than cybernetically-enhanced super hacker/ninjas, the characters tend towards the more mundane and human - bicycle couriers, rent-a-cops, anthropologists.
Taking its title from the anthemic Velvet Underground song, All Tomorrow's Parties focusses on the claustrophobic sense that the world is on the "cusp of some unprecedented potential for change" but that no one really knew what would change or how, in a direct reflection of fin-de-siecle millenarianism of the year 2000. Gibson returns to familiar characters Colin Laney and Rei Toei, as well as to a few characters from 1993's "Virtual Light", hurtling them towards some sort of sociological singularity focussed in the Bay Area.
Following from Idoru, Laney is now in hiding amongst the Tokyo homeless after succumbing to the "stalker effect" of the drugs that once helped him pluck nodal islands from the sea of data. Paranoid and strung out, he is convinced that something earth-shattering and possibly disastrous is about to happen in San Francisco involving the shadowy goals of entrepreneur Cody Harwood, and the idoru Rei Toei.
Gibson is obsessed with interstitial cultures, the things that grow organically between the gaps of society, and this is evident in All Tomorrow's Parties. The book builds climactically towards the ruins of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which is closed for traffic after the "Little Big One" and populated by any of the outcasts that can epoxy footholds onto its superstructure. The idea of being between things - jobs, housing, and greater society - seems to permeate the novel. All of the characters are mobile and unfixed, and inexorably drawn towards the interstice of the bridge.
Like most cyberpunk fiction, the ending is not nearly as vivid as you'd expect. Although Gibson constructs incisive and nimble prose, the conclusion seems to slowly drag itself to a halt. It seems as if Gibson was reluctant to relinquish his characters for new ground and that his second trilogy is far from over.
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