I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE REPLACEMENTS-Stink EP (1982).

The Replacements followed their shambolic Sorry Ma, with this little EP.  8 songs in 14 minutes.  If you were going to check out one of these two releases, this is the one to get.  If for no other reason than at 14 minutes it certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome.

And song-wise, this album is pretty amazing.  The first track, “Kids Don’t Follow” opens with a live recording of the Minneapolis police breaking up a party.  Not sure if this was a band party or not, but the Replacements had to change their name from The Impediments because they got banned from a local club because they were too drunk and disorderly.

But even though this album has all the trapping of a hardcore record (check out the sleeve design, and, of course, the name of the EP).  And look at these song titles: they’re almost a parody of punk attitudes: “Fuck School,” “White and Lazy,” “God Damn Job,” “Dope Smokin’ Moron.”  Once again, the band plays fast, but not terribly angry songs.  Rather than being angry ragers, the band sounds more like drunken teenagers.  And so the chorus  of “God Damn Job” stays with you so and wind up singing the infectious but inappropriate to sing in public “Gaaahhhhhd Damnit.  Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhd Damnit. God Damn!”

It’s only White and Lazy that features anything like the hardcore trappings the album suggests.  The opening of the song is almost folksy, but when they hit the 90- second mark they bust out a true hardcore section: speed, shouty lyrics and more speed.   It’s very cathartic.

But best of all, Stink features “Go” the first song by Westerberg that is truly awesome.  It’s slower than the rest, and features a great chorus with a cool screaming guitar.  Over his career, Westerberg would writes some amazing anthems, and this is the first.

Although this isn’t their final raucous record, future records will drift from this attitude.  And this condenses their stuff into 15 minutes.  The whole album sounds like it will fall apart before they finish it, but finish it they do.

[READ: June 6, 2009] The Graveyard Book

Sarah gave me this book for my birthday, with an exciting IOU: that she would get Neil Gaiman to sign my copy when she meets him at ALA this summer.  So I got that going for me.  Which is nice.

I’ve been a fan of Gaiman’s for years.  And yes, Gaiman’s Sandman was what got me interested in comics, so thanks Neil.  Plus, as a Tori Amos fan, you pretty much have to love Neil, as their symbiotic relationship goes back almost twenty years now.

Having said all of that I haven’t followed his post comics career all that closely.  I read American Gods, but I don’t recall all that much about it.  My brother-in-law Tim tells me that it’s amazing, so I will likely go back and read it again someday.

So, what about this book, anyhow.

There’s a chapter of this story available in his M is for Magic collection.  Interestingly in the introduction, he notes that, it’s Chapter 4 which he wrote first.  Huh.  So, it seemed familiar to me when I started reading it although it didn’t seem totally familiar until I got to Chapter 4.

So get on with it.

Well, there’s cool illustrations by long-time collaborator Dave McKean, so that’s a plus.

This is the story of Bod (short for Nobody) Owens. Although I feel like I’m about to give away a lot, this all happens in the first few pages: Bod’s family is killed, murdered, by a man named Jack.  Bod is 18 months old and was supposed to be killed as well, but, fortune, as it will, allows Bod to escape. He toddles to the local graveyard, where he is taken in by the Owens’.

The other residents of the graveyard kick up a fuss about keeping a baby.  But after some intersessions from the Owens’ and some supernatural forces, it is agreed that Bod can stay. He is granted all of the rights and privileges of the graveyard.  And, most importantly, while he is in within the gates of the graveyard, he is absolutely safe.  For, you see, all of the residents of the graveyard are ghosts, and while it is virtually unheard of to allow the living to reside there, there is precedent.  And so, Bod begins his life among the dead.

The messy details that people like to know–how can ghosts feed and care for a person–are taken care of in the figure of Silas. Silas is neither person nor ghost, he is a creature of the shadows, although he has physical form.  Silas knows why Jack wanted to kill Bod and his family, and he agrees to watch over Bod until he is safe.

The first few chapters show Bod learning and growing.  He meets a local girl, Scarlett, whom he readily befriends, until she and her family move to Scotland.  They have a very exciting adventure when they discover the oldest crypt in the cemetery.

Later, Bod tries to escape from the graveyard because of the substitute watcher that Silas sends in when he has to leave for business.  Miss Lupescu is strict and no fun.  But, she has a similar intensity as Silas (and fans of language will get a hint at what she is from her name) which keeps Bod in line.  When she teaches him how to shout “Help” in dozens of languages, it seems arbitrary to Bod.  Who knew that he would need that soon enough?

As Bod matures, he feels the need to mingle with the world.  He enters a human school, but his ghostly skills allow him to go virtually unnoticed.  It’s only when he intervenes with a school bully that he blows his cover, causing untold trouble for himself and potentially the entire graveyard.

These events in Bod’s life feel like episodes that resolve themselves and then go away.  And that is the advantage to living as an invisible person.  People soon forget you so they don’t follow you for too long.

There is one person who has not forgotten Bod, however,

Scarlett’s family returns to England and everything changes for Bod.  Scarlett doesn’t remember anything about Bod, but when she sees the graveyard, something clicks.  Scarlett and Bod speak to each other in dreams, until she meets him in the graveyard again.  When Scarlett introduces Bod to the man who can help him find Jack, well, the story kicks into high gear.

As I said the first few chapters seem episodic.  That’s not to say they weren’t enjoyable.  They definitely were.  I was hooked from the opening.  In fact, the opening pages had some of the most disturbing images I’ve read in a long time (but that’s just because I have a 4 year old and an 18 month old myself).  The “episodes” are all great, and even though they resolve themselves by the end of their chapters, they still feel like they’re part of a life story.

But these episodes also make the conclusion all the more thrilling.  As the book was reaching its climax I could not put it down. Gaiman knows how to tell a story.  And I look forward to getting his autograph on this book in a month or so.