I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RICHARD THOMPSON World Cafe Live, September 5, 2005 (2005).

World Cafe love Richard Thompson.  And this set from 2005 seems to have RT playing more than they actually air.  I say that in part because I have no idea how the World Cafe shows work.  Do they just play three or four songs?  The sets where they play in the studio between interviews sure makes it seem that way.  But this set is clearly Richard being interviewed after a performance.  So who knows how many songs he played.

5 songs make this download.  Two of them come from his (then) new album Front Parlour Ballads (“Let It Blow” & “The Thames Side”).  There’s one “brand new” song, which doesn’t appear anywhere as far as I can tell called “Hots for the Smarts” which is one of RT’s great funny clever songs (the lyrics are all very smart things).

The final two songs are classics: “Hokey Pokey” (where’d he pull that one out of?) and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (which always sounds great).

RT has hundreds of great songs, so it’s impossible to winnow down to a great set (especially one that’s just five songs long) but this set (which is just him solo) sounds really great and is worth hearing for any RT fan.

[READ:April 8, 2011] “Tom Cruise at Lake Vostok”

This is a very short story that I feel is hindered by the title.  Sure, the title is a major grabber, but it’s also a spoiler.

The story is set at the Vostok Station in Antarctica.  Scientists are doing an amazing amount of research in all manner of departments.  The protagonist is there to study Europa, Jupiter’s sixth moon; meanwhile, a Russian scientist is there to study under the ice (she has a cryobot and all kinds of cool things that burrow through the thick layer of ice).

There are many other scientists at the Station, but since it take a full month to reach Vostok by tractor train, many of them have nothing to do but wait for their ride back.  In the meantime, there is gossip about everyone there–especially the protagonist and the Russian woman who seem so antagonistic towards each other that everyone suspects they’re having an affair.

Then she uncovers an artifact that is so amazing she has to talk to someone about it.  So she calls him on his walkie-talkie.  And this is where the spoiler happens.

I’m not going to spoil the story any further except to entice you by saying that Tom Cruise is relevant to the discovery and that the end of the story is really quite funny.    Well, actually the end isn’t funny but the climax is.  This story wouldn’t have worked if it was much longer, but as it is, it’s an amusing piece.

It’s available here.