I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: JAMES MERCER-Live on KEXP, February 10, 2012 (2012).

James Mercer came to KEXP to play a few songs solo with his acoustic guitar (the set is billed as The Shins, but it’s only Mercer).  DJ Cheryl Waters talks to him about what he’s been up to in the last five years since the previous Shins record (they don’t discuss that the rest of the band is basically gone).  She asks him about working with Danger Mouse and his foray into acting.  But mostly this set is about the music.

Mercer’s voice sounds great and the songs sound wonderful in this acoustic setting.  He explains the origins of the title Port of Morrow (it’s a real place).  He plays “Australia” from Wincing the Night Away and “September” “Simple Song” and “It’s Only Life” from Port of Morrow.

While I prefer the full album versions, this acoustic setting is quite nice and shows what great songs they are as well as how strong Mercer’s voice is (and that he was really the driving force behind The Shins all along)..

[READ: October 31, 2012] Calamity Jack

And they did.  Two years later.  This book is a kind of sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge as well as Jack’s backstory before he met Rapunzel.

Jack was a petty thief. He and the pixie Pru (who loves hats) began with small scams (apples and whatnot), and slowly built up to larger ones.  In their defense they initially only tried to rob people who “deserved” it, but they were caught on more than one occasion and Jack’s mother had had enough of him.

Then Jack happens upon a score that he can’t pass up.  And he does it (without telling Pru about it).  Jack climbs into the tower of the evil giant Blunderboar.  Blunderboar is an industrial bigwig with a Jabberwock as a guard of his gigantic tower.  As with Rapunzel’s Revenge, the setting is a mix of fairy tale and contemporary real world(ish).  Blunderboar has a lot of money (including a media empire) and he is responsible for all of the troubles in Jack’s village of Shyport.

But the problem is that the beanstalk (there is a beanstalk, but there’s no cow, there’s magic beans and a pawn shop) destroys his mother’s bakery.  And she realizes that he is responsible.  Jack flees the town both because of his mother and because of the giant (who is understandably incensed).

When the story picks up, Jack and Rapunzel (whose braids were cut off in the previous story, but she still carries them with her (which is kind of gross) as a very effective weapon) are heading back to Shyport (on a train).  On the train ride back to the city, the train s attacked by ant people (what?).  The ant people steal some cargo from the train and delay everything.

When they arrive, Jack sees that his mother is held prisoner by Blunderboar (and that Jack himself is on a wanted poster).  Although the story seems like it could be fairly simple, the Hales throw in a couple of interesting twists, like journalist Freddie Sparksmith.   Sparksmith serves two roles–he’s a handsome playboy who makes Jack jealous, but he also serves as a foil to Blunderboar’s desires to control all of the media.

It quickly transpires that the giants are in league with the ant people and that ant people’s arrivals seem to coincide very nicely with locations the giants would like to see destroyed.  Now Jack would like to save money for his mother (that goose has finally started producing) but he needs to see the Blunderboar empire destroyed as well.

The story gets even more fantastical when they board an airship and the final battle occurs in the cockpit high above the earth.

As in the previous book, the dialogue is funny and clever and the story is terrific. And of course, Nathan Hale’s illustrations are amazing.  This time we see Jack grow up from a boy into a man. And Hale’s lines are strong and convincing.  What’s even more impressive is how they are so radically different from the style of the giants who have thin lines and look creepy–a very different look from Jack and a very impressive style overall.  Great stuff.

Dean and Shannon have authored other books (separately) and Nathan is a well established illustrator.  I haven’t explored any of their solo stuff, but I love when they work together.