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131 Different Things

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An intimate novella of love and loss wrought from the cultural underground, perfectly expressed in an inventive object that rediscovers the magical possibilities of the book.

$29.95 $22.46

Available as an e-book for:


What people are saying…

“You dig the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but maybe you didn’t know that guitarist Nick Zinner is also an accomplished photographer whose work has appeared in four previous books as well as in several major magazines. 131 Different Things is a novella—in collaboration with music writer Zachary Lipez and designer Stacy Wakefield—that’s already getting rave reviews.”
7×7

“For readers who enjoy edgy rambles through the rock and roll life, 131 Different Things will be a journey worth taking.”
The Current‘s Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club (Minnesota Public Radio)

“Enjoy Lipez’s spare prose and dry wit, framed by Zinner’s sly photography . . . A boozy, grungy, alt-rock fable that might as well have a soundtrack by The Replacements.”
Kirkus Reviews

“The chapters in the book read like interconnected stories, bolstered by Zinner’s outstanding (mostly color) pictures—over 100 in total. Though several references place the book in current times, it conjures up the grittier bygone era of Lou Reed and Debbie Harry, who merits a passing mention . . . An intriguing volume, particularly for those looking to party all night without leaving their living room.”
Publishers Weekly

131 Different Things (Akashic Books), takes us back to New York at the turn of the millennium, to those final moments of a former age of a decadent bohemia that is not that long ago, but so very far away.”
HUCK Magazine

“An engaging novella about a few jaded Lower East Side bartenders and their drug and booze filled quest to find an ex girlfriend in one night may conjure your worst, most desperate drunken memories of your 20’s-30s, but in a good way! The story is illustrated with Nick Zinner’s beautiful photos. This is a must read for all music/nightlife loving New Yorkers, or folks who wished they lived here in the aughts.”
BUST, Included in the BUST 2018 Holiday Gift Guide

“A photo book and novella wrapped into one, 131 Different Things is the most recent collaboration between Nick Zinner (of the indie band Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Zachary Lipez, and Stacey Wakefield. The book features over 100 of Zinner’s gritty photographs—many of them shot on film—that capture nightlife culture in New York City and beyond.”
Popular Photography, Included in Books that Photographers Will Love Gift Guide

“A spot-on take on urban life, frustration, and flawed humanity, with distinctive visuals to accompany the knowing prose.”
LitHub, One of 15 Books You Should Read This November

“Zinner has been shooting photos since before his days playing in Yeah Yeah Yeahs and in that time has released a number of collaborative book projects with writer Zachary Lipez and designer Stacy Wakefield. 131 Different Things is the trio’s fifth collaboration.”
Popular Photography Magazine

“This is an entertaining pub-crawl saga like no other . . . This book captures the angst, the joys and the struggles with love and career that young people experience. Lipez uses authentic language of the pop culture and the bar scene to create a raw, often very funny, and certainly realistic story.”
The Berkshire Eagle

“A collaborative effort by photographer Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), writers Zachary Lipez and Stacy Wakefield, 131 Different Things (Akashic Books) follows bartender Sam and his sidekick Francis on the odyssey to find Sam’s ex Vicki, who has quit AA and is out on the town drinking up a storm. Their New York journey takes them to dive bars, gay bars and rocker bars where they encounter the denizens of the night and a series of situations, combining to 131 different things keeping Sam from Vicki.”
Bay Area Reporter

“We’ve been mightily impressed by the books created by writer Zachary Lipez, photographer Nick Zinner, and designer Stacy Wakefield. 131 Different Things is their latest work: a story of a bartender in search of his lost love, traversing a sea of strange spaces within the city as he goes.”
Vol. 1 Brooklyn

Praise for Please Take Me Off the Guest List:

“For those who’ve never had the opportunity to party like a rock star and felt they were missing out, Please Take Me Off the Guest List may very well smooth over those regrets.”
New York Times, T Magazine Men’s Fashion issue

“It’s a gorgeous book, but there’s more to it than that. Wakefield is a designer; she juxtaposed Zinner’s photos with Lipez’s stories of life in the rock and roll gutter in a really unique way . . . It’s a beautiful artifact.”
The Stranger


Description

When Sam, a bartender in New York, hears that his ex, Vicki, his one true love, has quit AA and is out drinking again, he embarks on a quest to find her. Sam and his sidekick Francis trek from dive bars to gay bars to rocker bars—encountering skinheads, party promoters, underage drug dealers, and dominatrixes—but they are always one step behind Vicki. It begins to seem like 131 different things are keeping the lovers apart. Before the night is over, Sam will have to wrestle with what he is really looking for.

Nick Zinner—who pays guitar in the three-time Grammy-nominated band Yeah Yeah Yeahs—provides the visual framework for this inventive novella with his intimate photography. Known for his essays and music writing for Noisey, Vice, and Penthouse, Zachary Lipez brings his pithy, multilayered, and self-deprecating voice to this debut work of fiction. The prose and photography are tied together in a playful taxonomic scheme by editor and art director Stacy Wakefield, the author of the novel The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory. The three artists have collaborated on four previous books, most recently Please Take Me Off the Guest List.

Read a feature on 131 Different Things at Revolver

Listen to an interview with Zachary Lipez and Nick Zinner for WAMC Albany’s The Roundtable.


Book Details

  • Hardcover: 248 pages
  • Published: 11/13/18
  • IBSN: 9781617756672
  • e-IBSN: 9781617756962

Authors

ZACHARY LIPEZ lives in New York City, where he has tended bar for the last twenty years. He is a regular contributor to Noisey, and his music and culture writing have also appeared in Vice, Hazlitt, Pitchfork, Bandcamp Daily, Talkhouse, Inc., and Penthouse. His collaborations with Akashic Books, Nick Zinner, and Stacy Wakefield are Please Take Me Off the Guest List and 131 Different Things.

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NICK ZINNER plays guitar in the three-time Grammy-nominated band Yeah Yeah Yeahs and hardcore group Head Wound City. His photos have been published in four previous books, as well as in the New York Times, Vice, and Rolling Stone. He has exhibited in solo shows in Tokyo, Berlin, New York, London, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. His collaborations with Akashic Books, Zachary Lipez, and Stacy Wakefield are Please Take Me Off the Guest List and 131 Different Things.

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STACY WAKEFIELD’s artist books, published for many years under the imprint Evil Twin, have been collected by institutions include the Museum of Modern Art in New York and London’s Tate Modern. She runs a studio dedicated solely to book design and production. Her first novel, The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory, was published by Akashic in 2015. She lives in the Catskills and Brooklyn. Her other collaborations with Akashic are Please Take Me Off the Guest List and 131 Different Things, both with Zachary Lipez and Nick Zinner.

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