Rick Moody: Renaissance man or Ritalin candidate

Rick Moody: Renaissance man or candidate for Ritalin? The 42-year-old author of The Ice Storm and this fall’s The Diviners regularly assists writer pals and consorts with rock bands — that is, when he’s not playing guitar on stage. (His own outfit, the Wingdale Community Singers, just released a self-titled debut album.) Here’s a crib sheet on his recent side projects.

WILCO Moody contributed a slightly obtuse essay (chord progressions and Chicago architecture) to The Wilco Book, a very obtuse ’04 tome that intricately details the band’s musical process.

JOHN WESLEY HARDING After receiving some assistance with a song, Moody helped out with the first 100 pages of the musician’s novel, Misfortune, published in April under Harding’s real name, Wesley Stace.

SLEATER-KINNEY He wrote the press bio for the Portland, Ore., female rock trio’s new album, The Woods.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS On several occasions, Moody opened for the literate NYC-based pop band, which also boasts Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) as its sometime accordionist.

INGMAR BERGMAN The Criterion Collection edition of Fanny and Alexander features an essay by Moody, in which he compares the 1983 film to the works of Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and August Strindberg.

MIRANDA JULY Moody, a longtime friend of the performance artist who directed and starred in the Sundance hit Me and You and Everyone We Know, critiqued one of her short stories.