I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SUPERCHUNK-Mower (1993).

It was a robin’s egg and it was blue. Such is the oft-repeated line in the title track. It’s another great single from Superchunk:  poppy and cool and fun to bounce around to.

The second song, “On the Mouth” is a much faster, more punk track, apparently about frustrated love.

The final track is a live version of the song “Fishing.”  It’s one of the few live Superchunk tracks that I’ve heard (and it lasts over 5 minutes!).  It’s full of feedback squalls and lots of noise.  When the drums eventually kick in, it’s a fast-paced thundering experience.  The squealing guitar (and feedbacking outro) leads me to suspect that their lives shows were even more energetic than their albums.

[READ: October 4, 2010] “The Warm Fuzzies”

I have The Children’s Hospital from Adrian which I’ve been meaning to read for ages, but so many other things get in the way.  I have read a few of his short stories in McSweeney’s and the New Yorker. Adrian’s story was the final one of the 20 Under 40 stories in this year’s New Yorker list.

I felt this story was a little clunky at first.  I had a hard time keeping the story straight. And yet, once it settled down I found it really engaging and rather fascinating.

The story is about the Carter Family.  Not that Carter family, but another singing Carter Family. One day both mother and father Carter woke up and decided to stop being just the Carters; they decided to devote their life to Jesus in song.  And so, as it opens, we see The Carter Family practicing another one of their four chord songs.

In this particular practice, a new kid is playing the tambourine.   This new kid is, like all of the other new kids, a foster child and black.  This new foster child is named Paul, although he tells them all his name is Peabo.

The confusing thing in the beginning was just getting the hang of who all the family members were.  But once they were settled in, it was very easy to keep straight, and more importantly, to get hooked into the story.  We get a brief look at the family before music enter their lives, and we see how the children treat each other.  Each new foster child brings something new to the sound. And Paul/Peabo brings a bit of unexpected flair to their rather tepid music.  But the only one who seems to notice is Molly.  And really, this is Molly’s story.

Molly’s inner voices have been saying some very unChristian things lately.  She’s having a sort of internal Tourette’s, directed at her family and her audience.  She is able to control any outbursts, but she’s quite upset by what she’s feeling.  Peabo is actually causing extra trouble inside of her because his natural rhythm seems to clash with her family (although no one else seems to notice).  She feels a bond is forming between them.  But what kind of bond could they possibly have?  And what would her family do about it?

As I said, I really enjoyed this story and could have read a lot more about it.  It was funny (Peabo’s offer to Molly is amusing if not a little disturbing, and the Carter sister’s mocking of Peabo’s name (behind his back) is mean but enjoyable).  But really I was interested to see how Molly would come out of the situation.   The ending was quite startling, and I wanted more (always a good sign).

Adrian’s Q&A is here (and it sounds like this is part of a larger story–must get to his books!)