I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SUPERCHUNK-“Driveway to Driveway” (1994).

This disc is a first for Superchunk EPs.  The three “B” sides are all acoustic.  One of the nice things about that is that it showcases how good the songs are underneath all of the noise and distortion.

“Seed Toss” is from No Pocky for Kitty & “Sick to Move” is from Superchunk.  Obviously, they’re good songs or they wouldn’t have chosen them (out of all the back catalog…I mean, they could have chosen “Slack Motherfucker” after all).  And these acoustic versions are fun and interesting.

The final track is an acoustic “Driveway to Driveway.”  This is the most immediate in terms of comparison to the original (not least of which is the acoustic is a minute longer).  It allows them to breathe a little bit (and to make the lyrics more clear).

I’m not suggesting that Superchuink should be acoustic by any means, but it’s nice to hear the heart underneath the noise.

[READ: September 30, 2010] “Hawaiian Night”

Rick Moody is the fourth New Yorker 20 Under 40 author in the 1999 issue.

I’ve enjoyed a few of Rick Moody’s works (although now that I looked him up I found that he wrote a book called Garden State set in Haledon NJ (right near where I grew up…how did I not know this?…I shall have to read it very soon).

This piece seems like an experimental scene rather than a short story (or perhaps it’s from a longer work?).  It begins quite fascinatingly in a stark narrative style.  Pieces of information are doled out.  The information sets a scene with more and more detail. It is “Hawaiian Night” at a corporate picnic.  We see the limbo and the tuna skewers.  And then we meet the cast: dozens of interchangeable children having sanctioned fun amidst the adult workers.

And then suddenly things grow dark.  We learn about a tragedy that befell Andrew Grimm and his family last year.  The tragedy is given great detail and is horrifically out of control and in a  weird way kind of funny at the same time.  And yet this year’s annual party went on despite he personal tragedy.

What really surprised me though, was when the story suddenly shifted to first person. I guess “shifted” isn’t exactly right, as the narrator is unstated in the beginning.  But suddenly, “I” pops up and I had to go back to see if I missed that narrator before.  (I hadn’t).

The scene ends as abruptly as it started.  There’s a feeling of conclusion although there’s no real conclusion because there was no real “plot.”  So, I’m hoping this was part of something bigger otherwise it was just a good (if confusing) scene.