The Albums of Dana Spiotta’s Stone Arabia
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“Nik chronicled his years in minute but twisted detail.” In her must-read novel Stone Arabia, Dana Spiotta explores the ways we struggle to catalogue our pasts, how we parse our memories and make sense of our passions. At the book’s center is Nik Worth, a onetime promising musician who’s now a middle-aged bartender with little hope for glory. But in his mind, Nik has always been — and will always be — a rockstar. With the precision and obsession of the most fastidious of record collectors, Nik chronicles his imaginary life as a music icon, creating complete discographies, liner notes, interviews with fan magazines, critical responses, power-pop bands and one-man side projects, fake girlfriends and groupies.
We at eMusic were fascinated by the character of Nik, so we thought we’d take his obsessions one step further: We commissioned five of our favorite artists to design album covers for five of Nik’s biggest albums. The results are as creative and brilliant and eccentric as Nik himself. You’ll find them below, along with commentary from the author. — Maris Kreizman, Audiobooks Editor
Usually, I am reluctant to attach images or music to my novels. I want it to be words only. I want to give some description, but I want room for the reader’s imagination. I realize that sounds a bit precious.
And it is fascinating to see how other people respond to your ideas, particularly other artists. So I came to the idea of seeing depictions of Nik’s covers with excitement and trepidation.
I think these are excellent interpretations. They are not what I imagined, but they show the imaginations of others in a kind of dialogue with my imagination. (And since my description of Nik’s music and art is inspired by so many other artists, this idea feels like a continuation of Nik’s MO.) — Dana Spiotta, author of Stone Arabia
The Fakes, Take Me Home and Make Me Fake It
— Alex Eben Meyer
Alex Eben Meyer’s cover is wonderful. There is something perfect about the sneer of the title and the rudeness of the frog. The title is self-deprecating and aggressive, and somehow the frog in bunny ears hits it exactly right. It has an appropriate F-You feel, and I think I would listen to this record. I also like the puke-but-look-at-me colors. The Fakes title Take Me Home and Make Me Fake It was a version of the Alex Chilton song “Take Me Home and Make Me Like It.” I took his title and added a propensity for inserting the band name into different phrases, which I got from all those Miles Davis records (Miles in the Sky, Milestones, Miles Ahead). —D.S.
Nik Worth, Meet Me At The Movies
— Drew Dernavich
Drew Dernavich’s cover illustrates the mystique of Nik’s project very well. In the book, Nik has a self-reflexive narcissism that veers from irony to earnestness. I think that is captured in the “Downcast Idol” look of this cover. The colors and lines and computer pixilation look early ’80s to me — which is right. “Meet Me at the Movies” is a song title I borrowed from my songwriter husband, Clem Coleman. I like the longing and nostalgia in it. (The other song title of Clem’s I used in the book is “Breakfast at Kingdom Come.” I like how he mixes the quotidian and the cosmic in that title.) —D.S.
The Fakes, Here Come Your Fakes
— Justin David Cox
Justin David Cox’s cover also reminds me of the ’80s, but more punk. It looks like a Replacements or Husker Du EP. I love the duct tape letters. I also like that you can’t see the person — just his feet, as if he were escaping. It seems very Do-It-Yourself, and it also looks like someone is climbing into a garage or basement. Since this is a book about secret garage art, I think it works really well. The title of “Here Are Your Fakes” was inspired by some ’60s albums like Meet the Beatles mixed with an Eno title, Here Come the Warm Jets.—D.S.
The Demonics, Sound Fantastique
— Michael Fusco
Michael Fusco’s cover is for the Demonics, and the Demonics are Nik’s serious band. They are more challenging, less interested in pop. The title Sound Fantastique is a variation on Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Nik, a very hard-working autodidact, brings a wide and disparate set of influences to the table. Although he can get things wrong, he is also acutely aware of himself, and he applies great verve to his mish-mash of ideas. I really like how intense this cover feels. I think the whirls of red look great with the yellow letters, and I like the collage of newspapers behind the vortex. Nik makes all his album art himself (he is a self-described “glitter and glue” guy and a bit of a Luddite), so he frequently makes collages.—D.S.
The Fakes, Breakfast at Kingdom Come
— Mingering Mike
Mingering Mike’s cover is radiant and beautiful. I love the Magic Marker and how you can see someone hunched over and working on this cover. Mingering Mike was actually one of my inspirations for Nik. Mike has made a lifelong project of fake record covers, liner notes and LP labels. I think he is a wonderful artist, and I love the rays coming out of the hand. I love how every white space has been covered. It makes me remember how a page entirely filled in by Magic Marker gets almost heavy and starts to curl at the edges. This style reminds me of my stepfather Richard Frasca’s album covers. He was the main inspiration for the character of Nik. He also has a lifelong collection of self-made fake records. (One of Frasca’s record labels is called Fake Records, and Nik’s band name “The Fakes” is an homage to his label name.)—D.S.
