I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BRENDAN PERRY-Live at KEXP, July 26, 2011 (2011).

Brendan Perry was the mastermind behind Dead Can Dance, one of the more influential bands on the 4AD label.  I really haven’t listened to them in ages (goth is so 1990s), but I was delighted to see that Robin Guthrie and Brendan Perry performed a live set at KEXP.

There’s an interview explaining what Perry has been up to since his last solo album (in 1999)–he has a new one from 2010 that was just released in the States.  He explains a lot about his early musical career and his interests (and living in New Zealand).  But the magic really comes when he starts singing.  And sadly his set has only two songs: “Song to the Siren” and “The Carnival is Over.”

Indeed, I had forgotten what a great, resonant voice Perry has.  It is instantly recognizable and brought me back to Dead Can Dance immediately.  “Song to the Siren” is a Tim Buckley cover, which he (and others) recorded for This Mortal Coil’s It’ll End in Tears album.  This version has Robin Guthrie on guitar. 

The other song, “The Carnival is Over” is a Dead Can Dance song (from Into the Labyrinth).  This song is piano and strings and is immediately recognizable as a Dead Can Dance song.  I admit it’s not as moving as the Tim Buckley song but that would be hard to accomplish (what is it about Guthrie’s echo pedal that is so amazing?).  Nevertheless, it’s a great reunion and wonderful to hear his voice again.

[READ:  July 19, 2011] Modelland

When I was at BEA, there was a lengthy line forming at one of the publisher’s tables.  I found out that it was for Tyra Banks, who was making a “surprise” appearance.  I certainly wasn’t going to wait for her, but after a few minutes, I heard people saying that she would be coming momentarily.  So I hung out and when she arrived with her entourage, I snapped a few pictures and left.

A few days ago, my former co-worker Sandy came to work and left me a [signed!] copy of this excerpt (she had waited for Tyra and got her autograph).  I really had no intention of reading the book, but I was delighted to have a copy of it.  In the interest of embarrassing full disclosure, Sarah and I watch ANTM.  However, in our defense, we FF just about every time someone speaks.  We basically like it for the photo shoots and the final pictures.  But we both feel that Tyra is a looney-tunes egomaniac. 

But seeing the book on our table made me have to read it. 

So how good could this book possible be, especially when the main character is named (seriously) Tookie de la Crème (and her sister is named Myrracle).  Oh and holy cow Tyra’s own introduction says that this is the first book in a trilogy!  Good grief.  

The summary of the story is:

Welcome to Modelland, where every girl dreams of the beauty and glamour of the Land on the top of the mountain. Every girl but one.

Right.

Well, surprise, surpise…the story is actually quite interesting.

There are a ton of anticipated weird Tyra things that are terribly annoying–the written equivalent of her overacting on her show.  And the names are just awful–terribly obvious names or simply stupid names or–oh god–anything capitalized should be instantly ignored.  And of course, the ancillary characters are preposterously flat: Tookie’s mother and father…come on.  And for god’s sake, the italicized introductions to every chapter are, I suppose, written from Tyra’s voice (complete with “dahlings”).  It’s crazy.

She lifts liberally from ANTM (the “fairies” (or whatever they are) that help the girls to get to the Mountain are called SM-IZEs (if you watch ANTM you know what that means, but even if you do watch, it’s not explained in the book what SM-IZE stands for or anything).  But I think she has also lifted from the lives of some of the girls on ANTM.  Then she has cobbled together characters based on some of them (no lawsuits should be started or anything, just details that sound familiar).  And as such, the teens in the book are kind of compelling.   Tyra also seems to have lifted the main character somewhat from her own adolescence.

Okay, so here’s some good points.

The story is set in a dystopian land (!!).  I can’t tell if this is a planet, if it’s the earth converted to a new planet or if it’s just a fictional country or what.  The land is divided into quadrants (Shivera, where it is(what else) cold; Peppertown, which is really hot–see what I mean about the capital letters).

There’s also a super duper model called Ci~L (what?) who has gone missing.

Tookie lives in Peppertown, where she is a (gulp) Forgetta girl, someone totally invisible (there’s much angsty stuff about nobody ever seeing her (which also happens to be the premise of the new MTV show Awkward).   The school was formerly a factory that made beads and baubles (and is known as B3).  But it was never satisfactorily converted to a school, so belching gasses are always spewing from various vents (really).

It’s tough reading, I admit, with the awkward prose and the crazy acronyms, but there’s an interesting heart underneath.  This is especially true when Tookie runs into her best (and only) friend Lizzie.  Lizzie lives in a tree and she refuses to go to school.  She also refuses to work in the factory (the destination of most of the Pepper people).  So, from time to time she is taken to an asylum.

And this is where the story got really interesting.  Lizzie is a fascinating character.  She shows depth and emotions and I’m really curious to see what happened to her.

At the end of my except, (which is three chapters) Tookie finds a SM-IZE (which we knew would happen).  But there’s no indication of what will happen next.  Because Myrracle, the hot daughter who has been preparing for Modelland all her life, is surely the daughter who deserves the SM-IZE, right?

I can’t say I loved the book.  It was a chore to get through some of it (a really slow 44 pages).  But there was enough good stuff to make me want to see how it turns out.  I’d have a  hard time reading a trilogy, I suspect, but I am curious to see how she turns Tookie into a prize-winning beauty (because that’s what’s going to happen, right?).

And, given who the target audience is going to be, I imagine that the series will be popular.  And, Tyra is pretty good at giving out positive messages.  So, there are likely a lot worse things that teens could be reading.

I am rather taken with this review of the announcement of the book.