Dana Spiotta, Author of 'Eat the Document', with Lucas Hare

In this episode of Rock is Lit, Dana Spiotta joins me to talk about her National Book Award-nominated novel ‘Eat the Document’. If your jam is ‘70s and ‘90s radical activism, political fugitives (think The Weather Underground), lost and obscure albums (such as The Beach Boys’ ‘Smile’), bootleg recordings, underground filmmaking, and a ton of classic rock, you’re gonna love this novel.

Later, Lucas Hare, co-host of the Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan Podcast, joins me to share his thoughts about Bob Dylan’s unreleased documentary called ‘Eat the Document’, which is where Dana’s novel gets its title.

HIGHLIGHTS:

DANA

• What Dana’s reaction would be if she could meet Paul McCartney
• The extensive research she did for her novel ‘Eat the Document’
• Our thoughts on the question that’s central to the novel: Can you really reinvent yourself?
• Famous real-life 1960s and 1970s militant groups and fugitives, such as Katherine Ann Power and Bill Ayers
• Why Dana chose ‘Eat the Document’, the unreleased documentary about Bob Dylan’s 1966 UK tour, as the title of her novel
• Our shared love of Gram Parsons, the band Love, Bob Dylan, and music and literature and film in general
• My short story about Gram Parsons, “Grievous Angel,” published in ‘Still: The Journal’
• Dana’s connection to legendary film director Francis Ford Coppola
• The allure of underground and lost films and bootleg records like The Beach Boys’ ‘Smile’, which one of the characters in her novel is obsessed with
• Why denigrating someone’s obsession and passion is really s@&*$*
• Dana’s Largehearted Boy playlist for ‘Eat the Document’
• What we really think of Mike Love

LUCAS

• What Bob Dylan’s career looked like in 1966, the year the documentary ‘Eat the Document’ was filmed
• Dylan’s 1966 UK tour
• Dylan’s 1966 motorcycle accident
• Context for the film ‘Eat the Document’ and why it was never released

MUSIC AND MEDIA IN THE EPISODE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

1. Clip of Beatlemania: “I love you, Paul!”
2. “You’re My Everything” by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye
3. “I Shall Be Released” by Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons
4. “Who Are You” by The Who
5. “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire
6. “Farewell My Friend” by Dennis Wilson
7. “Alone Again Or” by Love
8. “Heroes and Villains” by The Beach Boys
9. “Little Hands” by Alexander “Skip” Spence
10. “Return of the Grievous Angel” by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris
11. “Our Prayer” by The Beach Boys
12. “If You See Her, Say Hello” by Bob Dylan
13. “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan—live, “Judas!”
14. Clip from ‘Eat the Document’—John Lennon and Bob Dylan in car 1966
15. “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” by Bob Dylan
16. “I Shall Be Released” by Bob Dylan

LINKS: 

Dana Spiotta website, https://danaspiotta.com/

‘Eat the Document’ playlist at Largehearted Boy, http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2007/01/book_notes_dana.html

Is It Rolling, Bob? Talking Dylan Podcast, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-it-rolling-bob-talking-dylan/id1437321669

Christy Alexander Hallberg’s website: https://www.christyalexanderhallberg.com/

Christy Alexander Hallberg Twitter, @ChristyHallberg

Christy Alexander Hallberg Instagram, @christyhallberg

Christy Alexander Hallberg YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfSnRmlL5moSQYi6EjSvqag

Link to “Grievous Angel” short story about Gram Parsons by Christy Alexander Hallberg, http://stilljournal.net/christy-alexander-hallberg-fiction2021.php

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