Absurd Intellectual

Gravity’s Rainbow is probably Thomas Pynchon‘s most famous and recognizable book. It’s currently sitting on one of my bookshelves, in the queue of “books I need to read at some point in my life.”

So I probably can’t appreciate (as much) The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book:

Thomas Pynchon is one of the great unheard lyricists. His award-winning novel, Gravity’s Rainbow, is full of song lyrics. Depending on how you count, there are around 100 in the book. Over the course of a year, the Thomas Pynchon Fake Book managed to set twenty-eight of them to music. A limited run CD the group put out also featured two bonus instrumentals inspired by the work, “The White Visitation” and “The Lonely Rocketman.”

The project doubled as an experiment in online music collaboration. Thirty seven people and three animals across four states contributed tracks. In June of 2009 the group held a CD release party in Portland, OR. Check back later for footage from that event.

It’s a pretty interesting project, and just one more reason to read Gravity’s Rainbow.