I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: JILL SOBULE-Underdog Victorious (2004).

After ordering California Years, I saw that she had released this disc, Underdog Victorious, which I had never heard of.  Then I found it used for pretty cheap.  The most exciting thing about the disc is that there’s a crossword puzzle (that is largely about Jill herself) done by Will Shortz on the inside back cover!

And the music is really good too.  It’s a solid collection of sarcastic rockers and earnest tales of mild woe.  The short track “Under the Disco Ball” (a sarcastic look at homophobes) seems like it would be an ideal song to start any show.  I can see the disco ball spinning as she sings the final lines, “They have a scheme, they have a plan, to take the children of our land and turn them into stylists and women who play golf.”  And then she could bust into the rocking title track which features a delightful sing along chorus.

The disc opens with a couple of more gentle songs.  The self deprecating “Freshman” (she lives like a freshman), and “Jetpack” which is a nice romantic story about what she would do is she had a jetpack.  And then the single “Cinnamon Park” which should have been huge.  It’s catchy, it’s clever, it seems like it’s going to have a curse but it doesn’t.  It’s great!

“Joey” is a tribute to a faded actress (but I can’t decide if she’s real or not). And “Angel/?” is probably the most vulgar song she’s recorded.  It’s very funny.  And the last two mellow songs end the disc quite nicely.  There’s even a bonus untitled song about getting pulled over which rocks rather hard (for her) and is quite funny.

It’s a shame that Sobule had such a hard time with record labels because she is a preeminent singer-songwriter, and she should have a bigger fanbase.  (Although since she raised $75,000 in just a couple months for her California Years CD, I gather her fanbase is big enough, thank you.)

[READ: October 15, 2009] “Complicity”

This story was written in a really interesting way.  It deals with sensation, primarily touch, and the narrator treats tactile sensation, even his own, as something that is almost disconnected from himself.  And he reflects back on different situations where touch has been very significant to him.

He begins by remembering that when he was a boy with hiccups, his mother would slip a cold key down his back.  And he can still feel this sensation as an adult (although he’s not sure if it’s a valid cure for hiccups).

And then he talks about the game where you (and others) close your eyes and touch things and try to guess what the object is (pay particular attention to peeled lychees).  And this game seems to be a foundation for his upcoming date with a woman he met at a party.  While talking to the woman’s mother, he surreptitiously hands the woman a cigarette and a pack of matches behind the mother’s back.  This entirely tactile experience (touching fingertips, feeling the matches removed, etc.) stayed with him.

On their date, the woman reveals to him that when it’s cold, she loses sensation in her fingertips.  So she wears gloves quite often.  And he imagines what it would be like to touch without sensation.  Or what it really feels like for both parties when one person wears gloves.  Or if she has this same lack in her toes, and has to wear socks all the time.

In the last few scene, they share some intimate moments over dinner.  And he imagines future dates with her, and the kinds of questions he could ask her.  As the story ends, even though it has already been stated that their relationship works out but ultimately fails, the final line is really powerful and a perfect ending to the story.