I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR Live at the Sasquatch Festival, May 29, 2011 (2011).

City and Colour have a new album coming out soon.  So it’s kind of surprising that this seven-song show is three songs from their previous album, two from their first album, a cover, and only one new track (“Fragile Bird”).

This is the first time I’ve heard City and Colour live with a band (most of the recordings I have by them are just Dallas Green solo).  It’s nice to hear how powerfully they work together (giving some of those songs an extra push).

Despite the brevity of the set (and the amusing banter about airport etiquette) you get a pretty good sense of what the “pretty-voiced guy” from Alexisonfire can do on his own.   I found the cover, Low’s “Murderer,” to be a really perfect choice–one that suits the band and their slightly-off harmonies, rather well.

I’m looking forward to their new release–“Fragile Bird” is another beautiful song.  But in the meantime, this is a good place to hear what they’ve been up to.

[READ: early June 2011] 2011 Fiction Issues

Five Dials seems to always generate coincidences with what I read. Right after reading the “”Summer’ Fiction” issue from Five Dials, I received the Fiction Issue from the New Yorker.  A few days later, I received the Summer Reading Issue from The Walrus.

I’m doing a separate post here because, although I am going to post about the specific fictions, I wanted to mention the poetry that comes in The Walrus’ issue.  I have no plan to write separate posts about poetry (I can barely write a full sentence about most poetry) so I’ll mention them in this post.

The main reason I’m drawing attention to these poems at all is because of the set-up of The Walrus’ Summer Fiction issue.  As the intro states: “We asked five celebrated writers to devise five guidelines for composing a short story or poem. They all traded lists–and played by the rules.”  I am so very intrigued at this idea of artificial rules imposed by an outsider.  So much so that I feel that it would be somewhat easier to write a story having these strictures put on you.  Although I imagine it would be harder to write a poem.

The two poets are Michael Lista and Damian Rogers.  I wasn’t blown away by either poem, but then I don’t love a lot of poetry.  So I’m going to mention the rules they had to follow.

DAMIAN ROGERS-“The Performer Speaks to Her Perfect Apprentice Beneath the Arches”
The rules from Michael Lista:

1. An architectural achievement features in the poem.
2. Someone eats a fruit in the poem.
3. A kitchen appliance must be used in the poem.
4. The first half of the poem and the second half must disagree.
5. The last sentence of the poem musn’t end.

Rogers meets the requirements thusly:

1. Unsure. Perhaps with the title.
2. “Finish the dish of small fruits in the freezer”
3. “hot plate”
4. “But don’t listen to me”
5. “I never believed the show would end–“

MICHAEL LISTA-“The Scarborough Bluffs”
The rules from Damian Rogers:

1. Poem must incorporate the number three in its compositional structure (may choose tercets, three stanzas or other).
2. Poem must contain a refreshing drink.
3. Poem must reference a geological feature or body of water.
4. Poem must include appearance of a non-domestic creature.
5. First line of poem must be a lie.

Lista meets the requirements thusly:

1. Three-line stanzas.
2. Fresca
3. Lake Gibson
4. wolves and lions at the zoo
5. “You will not find me among the women of the earth”

And for completeness’ sake, the fiction authors in The Walrus are: Sarah Selecky, Kathleen Winter and Alexi Zentner.

For ease of searching, I include: Junot Diaz, Tea Obreht