I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June 2004 Music Issue CD (2004).

Every year since 2004, The Believer magazine has published a Music Issue which comes with a CD.

I recently received the 2009 CD, but I thought it might be fun to go back through the previous ones and see what kind of music they put on them since the beginning.  I was delighted to see how many bands I like now that I was either introduced to or SHOULD have been introduced to by these discs.

The inaugural issue was a fantastic collection of then-underground alt-rock (the issue also featured interviews with a few of the artists–you can see the Colin Meloy interview here).

The collection contains all previously released songs (I think).  But for me it was a great introduction to a number of bands that I didn’t know: The Walkmen, The Mountain Goats, Ted Leo + Pharmacists.  It also contained a new release by a band I did know, The Constantines.   And, this was my introduction to a band that turned out to be one of my new favorites: Death Cab for Cutie.

There’s a lot of great songs on here, and it would make a great hanging-out-at-a-party-with-friends soundtrack.  There’s not a lot of diversity on the disc which is a bit of  a bummer (although it’s good for a mellow party).  However, the 19 second blast of “You Got the Right” by the Tiny Hawks does break things up a bit.

But with a great collection of songs it would be wrong to complain.  For a complete listing (and another review) check out this page.

[READ: December 9, 2009] “The Use of Poetry”

Ian McEwan writes fantastically engaging stories about relatively simple things, oftentimes relationships.  And he has these relationships so well sussed out that a simple six-page story like this can pack in a ton of humanity.

In a post some time ago I wrote about how World War II affected Britain much more than it affected the U.S.  And, how artists of a certain age have found great drama from the war.  This story is no exception.  Except that the war veteran is not the main character.  But I loved this summary of the main character’s dad, the typical “stoic British man.”

Like many men of his generation, he did not speak of his experiences and he relished the ordinariness of postwar life, its tranquil routines, its tidiness and rising material well-being, and above all, its lack of danger–everything that would later appear stifling to those born in the first years of the peace.

That’s an amazing encapsulation of a generation of men.  And it rings very true to me.  But what’s more amazing is that that description is not even about the main character Michael, it’s about his dad, Henry.

The main character, Michael Beard, is a young man coming of age around 1967.  We learn very telling details about his mother and father (and their ultimately loveless marriage).  And then we follow Michael as he moves to school to study Physics.  While in school he becomes aware of Maisie Farmer (such a wonderful name); she is stunningly beautiful and absolutely not interested in him.  Michael pursues her nonetheless.

In just a few short paragraphs we learn an awful lot about Michael.  He is quite confident in himself, yet he has a fear of arts students who seem so superior to him, so judgmental.  When he learns that Maisie is studying Milton, he decides to break out of his comfort zone and read some of Milton’s poems in a classic attempt to woo her.  And it works.  He soon finds himself reading more and more Milton to keep up (despite the fact that she is not learning Physics for him).

He finds Milton to be completely easy (even if he doesn’t like all of it), and this frees him up to no longer fear the arts students.  And with this weight lifted from his shoulders, it frees him in other areas too, and he begins to embrace aspects of the late 60’s counterculture.

The rest of the story follows the rise and ultimate decline of their relationship (no spoiler there, it says early on that he was thrice married).  Maisie loses interest in her schooling and becomes very interested in feminist theories.  She concludes that she cannot remain in the marriage with him.  And Michael’s reaction to this revelation was fantastic.

Ultimately, it is Michaels’ humanity that makes this story really special.  Watching him deal (however slowly) with a shocking revelation from his mother.  Watching him deal with his emotionally distant father, and of course, watching him seduce a woman with somewhat false pretenses but then realize how much it really affected him.

For a story where not a lot happens, it’s quite deep.

It’s available here.