I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: DINOSAUR JR.-Live at the 9:30 Club, Washington D.C. October 8, 2009 (2009).

This was one of the first shows I downloaded from NPR.  I’ve been a fan of Dinosaur Jr. since my friend Al turned me on to Green Mind back in college.

This is an amazing show created by the original Dino Jr. members.  This tour is in support of their second album since reuniting, Farm. This set-list is an outstanding mix of old songs, new songs, Barlow-sung songs and even some songs from when Barlow and Murph weren’t in the band.  (Green Mind is still my favorite album by them).

When the band reunited there was much joy, and I’ve said in reviews of the newer albums, I’m not entirely sure why.  I mean, Dino Jr has always been about Mascis, and it’s not like Barlow is such an unusual bassist (although Murph’s drumming is always solid).  I’ve nothing against Barlow (I love Sebadoh and Folk Implosion) or Murph, it just seems odd to get excited about having them back in the band aside from nostalgic reasons.

Having said that, the band sounds amazing (and yes, Barlow does get to sing on “Imagination Blind”).  What never really came across to me until hearing all of these great songs live was that Mascis has always been a great pop song writer.  These songs are catchy as hell. But Mascis buries them under loud squalling guitars and a voice that is almost whiny, almost off-key, a total slacker voice.  (But you’ll notice it is never actually off-key.  He must work very hard at that.)

By the nd of the show Mascis chastises the audience for not moving (we obviously can’t see what they’re doing), saying he forgets that people don’t move in Washington, D.C.  But during the encore break, NPR host, Bob Boilen, points out that Mascis himself doesn’t move either–he just stands in front of that wall of Marshall stacks (Boilen wonders how he can hear anything anymore).  And looking at the pictures it’s comical the way he looks, surrounded by amps.  The picture above doesn’t fully do it justice, but check out the extra photos at the NPR page.  And while you’re there, listen to this show. It is amazing.  For a total slacker, Mascis can rock a guitar solo like nobody’s business.

[READ: July 20, 2011] The Best American Non Required Reading

I’d been meaning to read this series for years (yup, Eggers fan), But I have a hard time starting “collections” because I feel like I’d rather be reading a novel.  Nevertheless, I have most of these Nonrequired books, so it seemed like I should dive into one and see what it was like (I don’t think the year really matters all that much–some of the articles are topical but most are not exactly).  Then Sarah said this would be a great book to read on vacation because it’s all short essays, and she was right.  It was perfect for late nights when I wanted something to read but didn’t feel like getting involved in the novel I was reading.

DAVE EGGERS-Introduction
Eggers’ introduction is actually a partial short story about kids who go swimming in pools around town. It reminded me of the opening of Life After God by Douglas Coupland, but of course, lots of kids did that so I’m not saying it was “lifted” from DC.  The story “ends” (it doesn’t really end so much as stop) with an interesting scene between two unlikely kids who get caught.

After this story Eggers includes these three notes about the collection: It’s not scientific, It’s alphabetical, and We had a lot of help with this.  Of the three, it’s the middle one that’s most useful because Eggers says that you shouldn’t necessarily read them in order just because they are printed this way: “In the first half of this collection, you get a good deal of hard journalism, primarily about war and refugees, from Afghanistan to the Sudan, followed immediately by a number of less serious pieces, about malls and Marilyn Manson.  We didn’t group anything by theme , and won’t be offended if you skip around.”  This was good to know (not that we needed the permission of course), but yes, the beginning of the book is pretty heavy.

JENNY BITNER-“The Pamphleteer”
Imagining the perfect pamphlet, the perfect message to give someone.  Perhaps words are inadequate, so maybe a drawing?

SARA CORBETT-“The Lost Boys”
The story of two teenage brothers from Sudan who were sent to Minneapolis (in January–can you imagine the temperature shock) as refugees.   It’s a hard life, but a free life, too.

MICHAEL FINKEL-“Naji’s Taliban Phase”
Naji was in the Taliban, Ali was in the opposition.  Ali and Naji’s fathers were close friends.  Ali wrote to Naji to sway him to leave the Taliban.  After many letters and quiet meetings, Ali switches sides and agrees to fight against the Taliban.

MEENAKSHI GANGULY-“Generation Exile”
Lobsang is sent to Tibet to study with the Dalai Lama, despite the fact that it is forbidden in Lhasa.  While he was away, his father was jailed and his brother was killed for supporting the Dalai Lama.  This is a shocking essay about the perils of belief.

KARL TARO GREENFIELD-“Speed Demons”
Greenfeld is a former drug addict.  This article looks at kids who are currently hooked on meth.  Despite all the stories of meth in the U.S., these kids are in Thailand.  And in addition to meth, they are hooked on driving fast while high.  Everyone looks down on them.  How long can they keep it up?

CAMDEN JOY-“Hubcap Diamondstar Halo”
It took me several reads to get into this story. Perhaps it was because the lead characters was named “G.” which I found confusing.  G. has an accident, and as he is drifting away listening to the radio, the story flips on its head (just as G.’s van did) and suddenly we are looking at G.’s body as if we were there.  I found this more surreal than cool.

MICHAEL KAMBER-“Toil and Temptation”
The story of what life is like as an illegal immigrant in the Bronx–opportunity but only after hard hard work and very little pay.  And also, baseball.  This article should change people’ opinions about “freeloading” illegal immigrants.

SAM LIPSYTE-“Snacks”
This is a disturbing short story from Lipsyte (you know, I thought I’d read all of his short stories, where was this one hidden away?).  This one is about a fat kid who is jealous of the other fat kid in class.  The other kid is so fat he has a condition (and people are nice to him), unlike the protagonist, who, you know, is just fat.

ELIZABETH McKENZIE-“Stop That Girl”
This is a pretty funny, if not wild, story about a girl and her mother.  The girls’ mother decides to get remarried (an unexpected and wonderful thing for her given that she has an older daughter and isn’t usually chased by men).  The daughter isn’t too happy, and when her mother gets pregnant, the daughter is sent on a global trip with her grandparents.  The title comes in at the end of the story, when the daughter returns home.  The ending is totally unexpected and delightfully skewed.

SETH MNOOKIN-“The Nice New Radicals”
An essay about radical environmentalists who do not want to blow things up–in fact the majority of environmentalist are peaceful, it’s just the violent ones who get media attention.  This essay looks at a kind of training camp for young eco-warriors.

from THE ONION-“Local Hipster Overexplaining Why He Was at the Mall” & “”Marilyn Manson Now Going Door-to-Door Trying  to Shock People”
The Onion is awesome.  These pieces are hilarious and need no explanation.

KEITH PILLE-“Journal of a New COBRA Recruit”
I remember this from McSweeney’s.  This is a very funny story about what it must be like when you just start out with G.I. Joe’s COBRA (learn to shout “Cobra” a lot).

RODNEY ROTHMAN-“My Fake Job”
I loved this story, which I guess is true?  Rothman, looking for a space where he can write 9-5 finds a dot com office that has is half empty.  He picks out an office and decides to “work” there.  He takes calls (from friends) makes new friends with people (without ever giving away too much about what he “does”), and generally watches as things go a little crazier in the company.  I loved this story.  There were a slew of quotable lines and it worked very well with my recent reading of Microserfs and JPod.

DAVID SCHICKLER-“Fourth Angry Mouse”
This is the story of Jeremy Jax, a boy who always wanted to be funny like his grandfather.  His grandfather was  a “comedian” in that he stood on stage and made people laugh–but he didn’t tell jokes, he just said things that made people laugh.  When Jeremy tried to replicate this style of comedy at a talent show, it flopped, big time (they wouldn’t give him a scotch or a bar stool, for one).  So, Jeremy decided to go into the theater.  When he is suddenly drafted as “fourth angry mouse” in a bizarre production of Of Mice and Men he becomes the stuff of legend.

ERIC SCHLOSSER-“Why McDonald’s Fries Taste So Good”
This fantastic article takes a look at how scientists are creating all of the flavors that we eat.  Schlosser goes to IFF where, among other things, he is given a test tube with the scent of grilled hamburger–as in, he believes there is a hamburger grilling in front of him it smells so real.  The article is utterly fascinating and will make you really question the notion of natural vs artificial flavors.

HEIDI JON SCHMIDT-“Blood Poison”
An awkward story about a daughter and her father who is old school and isn’t going to change. You cringe through most of this story. It was very good.

DAVID SEDARIS-“To Make a Friend, Be a Friend”
In this by now classic Sedaris piece, he learns the difficulties of negotiating the minefield of friendships both as a youth and as an adult (his father is, as always, hilariously offensive).

GARY SMITH-“Higher Education”
I put this story off until last because it was the story of a basketball coach.  I’m not impressed by sports writing in general because every cliché that exists is included in sports writing.  But this story trampled every negative thought I had.  It’s about a black coach who moves to a very white (racist) neighborhood.  He survives the taunts and insults and gets the team to win–for the first time ever.  And when he gets sick, the towns folk who once sent him nasty messages, now call him “Coach” and wish him well.  Like every good clichéd sports story, it made me cry.

SEATON SMITH-“‘Jiving’ with Your Teen”
A nonsensical manual that I imagine the teens who voted for it found funnier than the adult audience who read the book.

ADRIAN TOMINE-“Bomb Scare”
This is a selection from Tomie’s awesome Optic Nerve comic.  This story comes from #8.  It’s one of my favorites–it’s awkward and hurtful and all around beautiful (in both intent and drawing).

ZOE TROPE-selections from “Please Don’t Kill the Freshman”
This is an excerpt from a pseudonymously book by a high schooler in Portland.  This excerpt introduces us to her friends and her school.  It has some interesting moments but (and I say this as an old person now), I feel like I wasn’t meant to understand a lot of it.  I guess everyone’s teen angsty story is relatable in some way, and I empathized somewhat, but it was very My So Called Life, to me (with more current jargon).