I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: CYMBALS EAT GUITARS-Live on KEXP June 18, 2009 (2009).

Cymbals Eat Guitars are from Staten Island (with members from New Jersey).  They have released two albums, although this recording is from after the release of their first album.    They play four songs:  “And the Hazy Sea,” “Cold Spring,” “Tunguska,” and “Wind Phoenix.”   They are noisy songs (mostly) with squalls of guitars (squalls is a good word since two of the guys are from Manahawkin, New Jersey.

The band has true progenitors in the indie rock scene–there’s sounds of Pavement, The Replacements,  even more melodic Sonic Youth .  They play noisy guitars and the vocals veer from softly sung to loudly screamed (often within the same line).    “Cold Spring” starts like a kind of shoegazery song and then after almost three minutes it turns into a  blast of pummeling rock with a noisy guitar section, before moving into a third more melodic section.

There’s   a lengthy interview with the band, where they give a shout out to New Jersey and seem genuinely surprised by the success they’ve had.  It’s a good show, and you can hear it here

[READ: September 25, 2012] God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

Again, against my better judgment I brought this Vonnegut book home too because it was on the shelf (and it was very short).  I still haven’t finished Bluebeard yet, but I have been curious about this book for some time.  It references Vonnegut’s early novel God Bless You, Mr Rosewater, but it also name checks Dr Jack Kevorkian.  So just what is it?

Well, it is collection of radio spots that Vonnegut did for WNYC radio in New York back in 1998.  Vonnegut claimed that he went to Kevorkian’s facility, was strapped in and almost killed multiple times, but Kevorkian brought him back each time creating a near-death experience. And each time Vonnegut travelled through that “blue tunnel,” he would interview a dead person.

The people he interviews vary quite a lot in fame and stature:

Dr. Mary D. Ainsworth (a developmental psychologist); Salvatore Bigini (a man who died rescuing his Schnauzer which he says “sure beat dying for absolutely nothing in the Viet Nam War”), Birnum Birnum (fought for Aboriginal rights); John Brown (hanged for treason 140 years ago for being the head of anti-slavery forces); Gorsuch Burke (married for 72 years); Clarence Darrow (defense attorney); Eugene Victor Debs (Socialist Party candidate with the wonderful slogan: “As long as there is a lower class, I am in it.  As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it.   As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”); Harold Epstein (at 94, president of the American Rock Garden Society); Vivian Hallinan (described as “colorful” in her obituary); Adolf Hitler (who asks forgiveness and says he is sorry); John Wesley Joyce (owner of a bar where writers hung out); Frances Keane (romance languages expert); Sir Isaac Newton (who is mad he didn’t do more with his life); Peter Pelligrino (founder of the Balloon Federation of America who said flying in a balloon is heaven); James Earl Ray (killed Martin Luther King and is mad that King is more highly regarded than ever); William Shakespeare (dislikes the way Vonnegut speaks); Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (forgives people for thinking the monster is named Frankenstein); Dr Phillip Strax (created the breast cancer detector); Karla Faye Tucker (murderer who says she would happily go to hell if she could take the governor who executed her there too, for he is also a murderer as well–that would be George W. Bush); Kilgore Trout (yes); Isaac Asimov (was very productive because hell is other people).

In the introduction to the book he speaks of being a humanist and how he replaced Asimov as American Humanist Association president after Asimov died: his introduction “Isaac is up in heaven now” (which got lots of laughter).  Vonnegut explains humanism, and how his whole family believed it. His grandfather is quoted: “If what Jesus said was good, what can it matter whether he was God or not?”

I consider myself a humanist and I like Vonnegut’s explanation: to try to “behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I’m dead”.  This introduction also includes a great definition of humanism: “good citizenship and common decency.”

It’s hard to ask more from a book than that, and this brief collection (sales benefited WNYC) is a nice little tome that makes you think without being too preachy.

You can hear some of these recordings here (not all were preserved back in the ancient days of 1998).