People Who Approve of Dave
A COMPREHENSIVE LIST COMPILED BY CHLAMYDIA PINES
“Dave Shulman is one of the most uniquely talented people I have ever had the privilege to know. Everything he makes, whether it be sentences or images, is a tuxedo twist of hilarity and horror, sprinkled with genuine vulnerability that infuses his work with deep power and sweetness. Dave Shulman’s art is a delightful bumper-car ride into the abyss, and I wouldn’t want to miss a single wild, white-knuckled moment of it.”
—ERIKA SCHICKEL »
“One part Mark Twain, half a pint of Caravaggio, and a quarter cup of Jesus. If there weren’t already a Dave Shulman, I’d have to invent one myself.”
—THE DARK BOB »
“Dave Shulman is an enormous oil spill of intelligence and humor. I love him. So should you.”
—LOU BEACH »
“I have seen the future of multifaceted idiosyncratic heartfelt deadpan creative self-exploration and its name is Dave Shulman.”
—DOUG HARVEY »
“Few possess the ability to navigate the delicate terrain between brilliance and madness as Dave does, shaping words and images with an artistry that feels both intuitive and masterful.”
—JEFFREY VALLANCE »
“Dave Shulman’s columns in L.A. Weekly made me understand America in the same way that Kurt Vonnegut made me understand America — as a strangely beguiling land full of nearly human aliens in urgent need of sympathy and love.”
—MARGARET WERTHEIM »
“Dave Shulman either introduced magic realism into suburban angst, or suburban angst into magic realism.”
—PETER FRANK »
—DONNELL ALEXANDER »
“His prose floats like a dragonfly and stings like a beaver. No, not a beaver, a scorpion. It’s also funny as hell, and always grounded in his generous spirit. I love Dave Shulman’s work.”
—CALEF BROWN »
“He’s a strong satirist, with see-through eyes and humor that cuts upside your head. And he’s a lot of other things, too . . . ”
—PETER CASE »
“In this big jigsaw puzzle of life, Dave Shulman writes like a piece that fits.”
—STAN RIDGWAY »
“Dave Shulman is one of the very few writers to have interviewed Tony Clifton. Afterwards, Tony said, ‘And I thought I was fucked up.’”
—BOB ZMUDA »
“Dave Shulman is a very fine writer: a superb wit, a scathing and rigorous social commentator, and a well-rounded and deft thinker. I dig this guy’s work — and that is no fucking shit.”
—JAMES ELLROY »
“Despite being one of my oldest friends, Dave is one of the most talented artists I’ve known.”
—DANIEL LENTZ »
“Because of the unusual content of Dave’s writing, the fact that it is flawless is often overlooked.”
—TOM CHRISTIE »
“Shulman is more than an amazing writer, he’s a unique, twisted and beautifully hysterical visionary . . . I’d take five sentences from any of his columns over entire chunks of most contempo ‘cutting edge’ novels.”