SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Barrymore’s, Ottawa, ON, February 2, 1996 (1996).
This is one of the other early shows from the Rheostatics. It’s an audience recording. And what that means is that there are a few voices (young girls mostly) which have been immortalized and whose conversation has been listened to by many many people over the last 12 years.
The recording quality is okay. (And hearing somebody ask, “What do you think?” is charming.)
But the real reason to check out this download is for their cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” The rest of the show is definitely staticky; it’s hard to make out the nuances of the songs, which is a bummer. But on some of the tracks, the band is louder than the crowd (the remastering work is actually quite good) it’s a good (and very long) show.
[READ: August 28, 2010] “Blue Water Djinn”
Téa Obreht is the author with the most to prove in the list of 20 Under 40 authors. Her first book doesn’t come out until next year! And as far as I can tell her only other published fiction is the short story “The Laugh” in the Atlantic (which I will likely read next week). So, I’m rooting for her!
Nevertheless, this story is one that I wouldn’t have read based on the opening section. Although it discusses a dead Frenchman, the remainder of the introduction is about a young boy who lives at the hotel which his mother owns.
There was just something that didn’t interest me about the setting.
The story proceeds with the hotel workers seeking the body of the Frenchman (his clothes were found piled on the beach). They assume he has drifted off to sea. The boy lingers at the edges of the workers (he is forbidden from swimming in the sea while his mother is away).
Meanwhile, there are other guests to entertain. And this leads to information about the sunken ship. There is a ship out a ways in the water. It sank many years ago, and that is where the blue water djinn lives (according to one hotel worker). The djinn has long spindly fingers and a voice that sounds like rain. And it will easily grab anything that comes near.
The boy’s world ends with that ship. He cannot imagine anything beyond it.
But the Frenchman will not leave the boy’s mind. Even in his sleep. And as the story ends, we are left wondering if the boy is willing to go to the edge of his world to find him.
There were some wonderful descriptive passages in the story. The parts that described the Frenchman and his assortment of pencils and drawings were really wonderful. And yet, for some reason the story itself never really grabbed me.
The Q&A with Obreht is here.
Leave a Reply