I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Whale Music [Soundtrack] (1994) & Music Inspired by the Group of 7 (1995).

As I understand it, The Rheostatics read a great book by Paul Quarrington called Whale Music and then decided to name their new album Whale Music. (The follow up to Melville…they definitely have a nautical theme in their early records). Their awesome song “Claire,” is co-written by Quarrinton (I think some of the lyrics for the song were in the book). So, a few years go by, and a movie is made of Whale Music (which is basically a fictionalized story of a Brian Wilson-esque musical genius-recluse).

Obviously, “Claire” is going to be in the movie (there’s a character named Clarie, you see), so why not just have the Rheos do the entire soundtrack? Thus, the Rheos now have TWO records called Whale Music. Fascinating, no?

Whale Music [Soundtrack] (1994)
The soundtrack is very soundtracky–largely instrumental mood pieces, and two slightly different takes on ‘Claire’. Overall while it’s really dynamite to listen to, especially while reading, it’s really for Rheos diehards.

Music Inspired by the Group of 7 (1995).
This applies also to the Group of 7, which was a group of Canadian nature painters, who I used to know more about than I do now, but of whom I’d never heard until this record. Here’s some information about them, and a little more. The record has audio snippets from the surviving members, and then some nice, pretty compositions to compliment the ideas behind what the Group members are talking about. It’s largely soothing, but certainly not essential. I still like it though!

[READ: November 29, 2007] Everything That Rises.

This book has been for sale from McSweeney’s for some time. It always seemed interesting, but I didn’t buy it for various reasons. Then, recently I read something that alluded to the book, and it sounded really great. McSweeney’s has now released the book in paperback, and it was even on sale(!), so I bought a copy.

I didn’t know a thing about Lawrence Weschler before reading this book, but I am now totally fascinated by the guy. There’s a really interesting piece about him here, and, of course, the old standby Wikipedia has this to say about him. The first thing that really struck me about Weschler is that he’s not a Gen Xer. In my head, everyone that has any connection to McSweeney’s is a young, snotty, punk (except for Millard Kaufmann who we know is in his 90s). So, imagine my surprise to see that Weschler was actively writing during the Polish Solidarity movement!

Weschler has been a staff writer for the New Yorker, and has been involved in the humanities in both New York and Chicago. Basically, he’s an okay dude, and as you might imagine, wicked smart.

And this book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. So, how could I possibly say anything bad about it. And, in fact, I won’t. Although I will say that, not knowing anything about it, I was surprised at how the middle section became so politically historical or historically political, when the opening chapter seems so… what? Well, let’s see:

The book is basically an inside view of the way Weschler’s mind works, and how he sees connections between seemingly disparate items. The first chapter starts with a somewhat uncategorized “greatest hits” called “Exemplary Instances.” The opening piece is a staggering look at a photographer’s work taking pictures of the crew at Ground Zero shortly after the attacks of Sept 11, 2001. Weschler interviews the photographer and juxtaposes his photos with classical art, to see if the photographer saw the same connections between the pieces and the photos. In many cases he did, but in some he didn’t. It is a really interesting look at iconic paintings to see how they impact society, either directly or indirectly.

The rest of the chapter shows various instances of contemporary art/photos and how they are, intentionally or not, callbacks to classical arts. A fascinating one compares the marks on a cuneiform tablet to the front of a Chicago prison. All of these connections are the kind where you look at them and you don’t immediately see the connection, but as you look more closely you see a lot of aspects that connect the two (or more).

The second chapter “Women’s Bodies” was interesting for showing the way images of women have (not) changed over the years. There is a wonderful discussions of Man Ray (whose work I was not familiar with). And there is a great dissection of a series of photographs by an artist with whom Weschler feels a very personal connection (Tina Barney). It’s a very personal story which really lets you into the author’s psyche (although really the whole book is about the author’s psyche).

The different ideas in the first two chapters didn’t prepare me for the third part “Political Occasions.” This contains some of his longer pieces, and they are far less whimsical than the earlier ones which make you think, “Oh, neat, check that out.” This chapter really makes you think. The article on the Polish solidarity movement “The Graphics of Solidarity” was powerful and moving–enough to get you to hope that the radical left in the U.S. will come out with some half way decent slogans for a change. But really, it was a great look into that country’s resistance, and how icons can play a huge part in a movement’s strength. It was truly great.

And then to a somewhat more humorous, though no less serious, juxtaposition: note how Slobodon Milosovic and Newt Gingrich are practically the same person: call it the rise of the pudgy angry white guy.

There was also a close examintaion of the Htoo Twins, two 12-year old boys who were in charge of the revolutionary Mynamar group God’s Army. Twelve Year Olds! There’s a photo that I recall seeing (included here) of the two boys, with one of them smoking a cigar. Weschler has a somewhat ironic, but not really, comparison of them to Raphaels’ cherubs. It is startling, and a weird look at children growing up too fast.

My favorite little piece was a section about Tetris and Gorbachev. I love Tetris. It’s one of the few video games that I play. I loved it in college, playing it on the arcade version as well. Totally addictive, and possible mind expanding too, who knows. Anyhow, I never realized that Tetris was, in fact, a Russian game. I thought it was using the tropes of Russia as some sort of weird selling point. But, in fact, it was made by a Soviet programmer named Alexey Pazhitnoc. Somehow this gives me even more respect for the game. ANd speaking of Tetris, check out this funny real-life Tetris game in Finland: http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2007/12/tetris-library-arcade-and-brownies.html

The last chapter “Trees, Neurons, Networks” discusses nature, and its relation to symmetry and branches. This sections gets pretty deep as it delves into the human brain and then floats all the way to outer space.

Overall the book is really amazing and will, presumably, get you to look at things a little differently. I particularly enjoyed when Weschler brought up his own thought process and his daughter’s exasperation with the way he sees connections everywhere. It was a good way to humanize this intelligent brain.

Some of the pieces have appeared in past McSweeney’s issues. Clearly, I read some of them a long time ago, but don’t remember them. Some of the other ones are in my basement, and I’ll get to them again in my process of going back through the past issues (#25 just arrived in the mail today!). I wonder if they’ll have the same impact when not presented together.

The book itself is also quite a handsome volume, even in paperback format. The pictures are all crystal clear, and the layout is really beautiful. A great book for anyone interested in seeing the world through different eyes.

My final note: I’d been writing this post for several days, and hadn’t finalized it because I wanted to get chapter headings right. I kept forgetting to bring it with me to work, and it never occurred to me to see if our library had it because it seems too indie for us. Well, bless my soul, our library DID have a copy, and in hardcover, too. Good for our librarians!