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Archive for 2012

Chynna Clugston–Queen Bee (2005)

Posted in Anachronisms, Chynna Clugston, Chynna Clugston-Major, Contests, Funny (ha ha), Glee, Graphic Novel, Set at School, Short Books, Simon and Garfunkel, Supernatural, The Go-Go's on June 7, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: Retro songs for teen audiences (ie. Glee) (2012).

I’m not really going to talk about Glee here.  I’m using it as a springboard for a question that the show has raised for me.  And this question pops up a little in Queen Bee as well.  I know that retro things are always cool.  Full stop.  And I know that the retro coolness shifts accordingly to be always 20/25 years in the past.  But in my experience, the retro craze pretty much applies to fashion, not necessarily to music.

So given that, it makes me wonder about the premise of some of the music on Glee.  Now, I know, Glee is about as far from reality as anything on the Syfy Channel.  I accept that.  I accept that the universe in which the show is set is more or less not even our own.  But when they have nods to actual history, I’m curious.  And this leads me to ask:  Do kids in high school really care about Michael Jackson?  Or, more to the point, about Whitney Houston?  I mean, sure if you’re in glee club, you’ve probably had to sing “I Will Always Love You” a million times.  But were high school kids really upset when she died?  I mean, sure she released an album in 2009 (that I didn’t even know about) and it went to #1 (really?), but in terms of actual pop relevance, she’s been on the down low since the 90s.

I don’t know any high school kids well enough to ask them about this, but I knew some middle school kids when I worked at the library, and they were all about whoever the flavor of the minute was.  Again, musically talented kids may be different, but it seems really odd to me that even on Glee, the kids seemed to love some retro songs and then of course were arbitrarily against some other ones.  [That’s a good subtitle for the writing of the show: “Glee:  It’s All Arbitrary”].  I think back to my high school years, and I didn’t like anything retro, in fact I thought all old music sucked.  (Of course I listened pretty much only to heavy metal, so I’m not a good sample audience).  But aside from some Simon & Garfunkel, I don’t recall there being a lot of folkie kids in my high school.  The cool kids listened to 80s pop and the alt-kids listened to college music.

This brings to Queen Bee.  The song that she chooses to sing (see below) is The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat.”  A classic of 80s pop music, undoubtedly.  And yet, I have to wonder how many kids in her middle school class even knew the song.  A bit of research shows that it has been used in films and such, but would that have garnered any real recognition/excitement?  Aside from the fact that it’s catchy as anything and the drumming is awesome, of course.  [I also realize that that isn’t the point of her using the song in the story, I’m moving beyond the text here].

I know this is all fiction and I just need to relax.  But I’m mostly curious.  Aside from getting stuck listening to their parents iPods, do kids actually listen to older music?  When I was little my parents listened only to big band music.  And I hated it.  Until I got to college and realized it was pretty cool.  But still, in my teen years, I was all about the present.  Isn’t that the point?

[READ: June 5, 2012] Queen Bee

I have enjoyed most of Chynna Clugston’s books (Blue Monday and Scooter Girl in particular).  I love her style of drawing (anime, but with a twist) and her pop culture sensibilities.  I had no idea that this book existed until I saw it in the children’s comics section at the library!

I also assumed that this was an earlier work by her (what’s she doing writing for Scholastic?).  But no, this book came out many years after the books I love so well.  It’s kind of funny that she went from alt rock hipness to middle school (and then moved to Legion of Super Heroes).  But wait, she hasn’t done anything in five years?  Gasp.  Actually I see she has a new blog and a new husband–so she’s clearly busy.

Anyhow, back to the book.

This book is set in middle school.  It features a young woman named Haley Madison (that must be a joke about over-common names).  She is a geek and a loser.   But when her mom gets a new job at the hippest and coolest teen magazine, Haley gets to move to a new school.  Which means fresh start!  And she plans on becoming the queen bee at JFK intermediate.  She is introduced to a nice girl named Trini.  Trini shows her around and introduces her to her cool friends (who are super nice to her).  But when Trini shows her the Hive–five girls who are super duper popular, Haley has a goal in front of her. (more…)

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Ursula K. Le Guin–“The Golden Age” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Anachronisms, Books about writers, Concert, Fantasy, History, Michael Chabon, Neil Young, New Yorker, Playboy, Sci-fi, Sexism, Squeeze, Tarkio, The Decemberists, Ursula K. Le Guin on June 6, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-Live on KGBA (from Omnibus) (1998).

Tarkio released an album called Live on KGBA in 1998.  Omnibus collects 4 songs from that release (according to various websites, the other tracks include “Kickaround” “Neapolitan Bridesmaid” “Helena Won’t Get Stoned” “Caroline Avenue” and “Candle”  (from the I Guess… album) “Weight of the World” (from Sea Songs) and “Whipping Boy” (the only song that’s not elsewhere on Omnibus).  This live record was distributed in some fashion way back when and there are copies floating around the internet.  I’m not willing to risk a virus by clicking on these links though, so I’ll stick with the few tracks on Omnibus.

The sound is excellent, and the full collection would no doubt be a welcome addition to anyone’s Tarkio fandom.

“Carrie” has a very Neil Young feel, from the rough acoustic guitars to the aggressive strumming technique.  It doesn’t sound like any Neil Young song in particular but you can imagine Neil looking on and smiling.  Even the solo is kind of Neil-ish (electric guitar over the acoustic main song).  “Am I Not Right?” sounds like a newer Decemberists song—there’s some very cool abrasive chords at the chorus “Knowledge!”  “Mess of Me” is a boppy acoustic number that’s fun to sing along to.  It opens kind of like the Decemberists song “The Infanta” but quickly turns into something else entirely.  “Goodbye Girl” is a cover of the Squeeze song done with a dominant banjo.  Although it lacks the original’s punch, it works well as a folk number.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “The Golden Age”

I feel like I’ve really been missing out by not reading any Le Guin.  The more I read from her now, the more I feel like I should be dropping everything and reading her output.  And I will read at least some of Earthsea eventually.

But in the meantime, I can enjoy pieces like this.  She talks about how science fiction has never really been considered “literature” and how it’s always been relegated to the genre ghetto.  Be that as it may, she’s also disappointed when science fiction writers try to deny their ghetto by saying, “Pay no attention to the spaceships…[this] is Literature.”  She thanks Michael Chabon for smashing down at least some of the ghetto walls.

Which allows her to look back at the past and the early Science Fiction Writers of America conventions.  She remembers the fun talk and open mindedness—except for a notable few who were deeply conservative, a surprise for a group of men who were supposed to be looking forward, not back.  And yes…men.  There were very few women sci-fi writers back in the fifties (in “The Golden Age”).  Indeed one SFWA member wanted to create a members-only necktie! (more…)

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Ray Bradbury–“Take Me Home” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Books about writers, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Essays, History, New Yorker, Ray Bradbury, Sci-fi, Short Story, Tangled, Tarkio, The Decemberists, The Replacements, Time Travel on June 5, 2012| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-three song demo (from Omnibus) 1997.

These three songs are part of a demo released in 1997.  I actually assumed that Omnibus would have collected all of Tarkio’s releases (how many more can there be?), but I learned that “omnibus” means “a book containing reprints of a number of works.”  So there ya go.

Nearly every review of Omnibus complains about the size of the release.  Some complain that the songs are too long (which is something else entirely), but many seem to suggest that 27 songs is too many for this collection.  I don’t quite understand this attitude, because if it were the collected works, there would be no reason to complain.  As such, I suspect I am the only person who wishes there was a little bit more–like why not the other two songs from this demo?

And demo is a rather unfair name for this, because it sounds wonderful.  (I suspect a demo from 1997 could be recorded with much better equipment than a demo from say 1984).  And these three songs are really something.  I suppose also, listening to these songs in this manner–not as a two disc set but as an original demo of three songs, makes them seem like maybe there isn’t too much of a good thing.

“This Rollercoaster Ride” opens with an interesting pseudo Middle Eastern violin.  But it quickly settles down into a very catchy rock/folk song.  It sounds very Decemberists, and it’s extremely catchy.  “Following Camden Down” is a beautiful song (the reminds me of The Replacements’ “Skyway”).  Meloy’s voice sounds subdued and not as immediately notable as he normally does.  It’s a wonderful little song.  “Slow Down” is a bouncy folk number (with dominant violin).  It’s got a rocky alt feel, although it still reads as traditional folk.

True, none of these songs reach the delirious heights of the best Decemberists songs, but they’re a nice step towards the kind of music Meloy and friends would put out next.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “Take Me Home”

This issue of the New Yorker is devoted to Science Fiction (see the cover).   In addition to five stories (which I assume are science-fiction-y) we also get five (more or less) one-page pieces from masters of the genre (genre being a dirty word, we’ll find).  When I first saw the names of these writers, I thought they were each creating a cool one-page story.  So I was a little disappointed to realize that these are “personal histories” with sci-fi.  But I shouldn’t have been disappointed, because even though these are short, they are really impactful–and come on, they’re classic writers.

I’m surprised by the fact that I haven’t read more Ray Bradbury.  I know I’ve read Fahrenheit 451 and I’m sure I’ve read some of his stories, but I haven’t even scratched the surface–he has written so much!  Indeed, I was surprised to hear that he was still alive (in fairness, he is 92).

This piece begins with Bradbury’s recollections of his introduction to sci-fi with Buck Rogers (1928) and John Carter of Mars (not Disney’s creation, but a series of stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs). (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Jailbird (1979)

Posted in Anarchy, Bible, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, Decadence, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Greed, History, Kurt Vonnegut, LGBTQ, Marriage (Happy), Mogwai, Nazis, Political Humor, Racism, Sesame Street, Thomas Pynchon, Threats, Universities on June 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Special Moves (2010).

This is Mogwai’s first live album and it really captures the band in all of its intense glory.  This is a good year for a Mogwai live recording because they play some of their newer song which are a bit more melodic (and sometime have words) but they also revisit their older songs–which still sound intense.  It’s a great overview of their career so far and it’s a great testament to how different their music sounds over the course of so many years–even though they still sound like Mogwai

We get two songs from Their (then) latest The Hawk is Howling –“I’m Jim Morrison I’m Dead” and “I Love You I’m Going to Blow up Your School.” Two songs from Mr Beast “Friend of the Night” and the stunning set closer “Glasgow Mega Snake.” Two from Happy Music “Hunted by a Freak” and “I Know You Are But What am I.” Two from Rock Action “You Dont Know Jesus” and “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong.”  From Come On Die Young we get “Cody” and from their debut, two classics: “Like Herod” (which is amazing live) and “Mogwai Fear Satan” (also amazing)–each one over 10 minutes long and full of the emotional release that we’ve come to expect from Mogwai.

This is a great place to start if you want to hear what Mogwai is all about.

[READ: June 4, 2012] Jailbird

First off I want to say how neat it is that I took this book out of the library and that it’s from 1979.  Thirty-three years old!  Books are cool.

Anyhow, I have a stack of dozens of books I want to read, and yet somehow Vonnegut said, no, read me now.  In addition to Vonnegut books being relatively short, they are also very quick to read.  I read this in a couple of days, which is very satisfying.

My old boss at the library told me that she thought Vonnegut more or less stopped writing good books after Breakfast of Champions.  I disagree, but that has certainly colored the way I look at his later books before I read them–which one had she read that turned her off?  I kind of suspect it was this one.

In some ways this is a minor novel.  It’s fairly brief (240 pages, although there’s  30 page Prologue which I gather is from Vonnegut himself (you never know, he has so many layers going on)).  He explains some of the details that are in the book and several other interesting preface-type things.  I enjoyed the bit about the fan who wrote to Vonnegut and (Vonnegut claims) summed up all of his works in just seven words: “Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail.”  And that is the basic plot of this book. (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–“The Region of Unlikeness” (New Yorker, March 24, 2008)

Posted in Brewer & Shipley, Colin Meloy, Emily Bronte, Oddities, Rivka Galchen, Short Story, Supernatural, Tarkio, The Decemberists, The Future, Time Travel on June 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-Sea Songs for Landlocked Sailors (1999).

Tarkio was Colin Meloy’s band before he formed the Decemberists.  My first reaction to the name Tarkio was that it sounded like Tarkus, the album by Emerson lake and Palmer.  And, since I heard about it during The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife album, which is proggy, I assumed Tarkio would be a prog rock band.  Little did I know that the real name of Tarkio comes from a train stop in Montana and that the real (at least to me) forerunner for this album is Tarkio by folkies Brewer & Shipley which featured the song “One Toke Over the Line.”

All of Tarkio’s music was collected in 1995 on the album Omnibus.  Omnibus contains their album I Guess I was Hoping for Something More, this EP, and various other unreleased tracks.

This EP actually came out after Tarkio’s debut album (when I decided to write this first I assumed it came first).  It seems especially surprising to me because the opening song sounds very different from anything on the LP.  Not worse, just like a direction they chose not to go in.  His voice is kind of processed and sounds, yes, funny.  Although I have to admit I rather like it—it’s much more alt sounding than the rest of the disc, which has a more folkie charm.  This disc was self released.  And I cannot believe that there are no images of it online anywhere.  Decemberists fans are crazy intense and no one has a copy of this CD?  Weird.

So as I said, the first song, “Devil’s Elbow” is full of vibrato and sounds like an alt rock song circa the mid 90s.  The solo sounds like it could be done by Robert Smith.  “Weight of the World” sounds more alt-folkie, big guitars and whatnot.  And the chorus sounds very much like a Decemberists song.  And check out these lyrics: “we hear the homeless philharmonic singing all the Charlies Angels to their heavenly convergence in the sky.” Pure Colin.

If you had any doubt that this was Colin Meloy’s band (which you wouldn’t, but if you did), this song title will tell you all you need: “My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist.”  Lyrically it is pure Meloy, although musically it’s more spare.  Decemberists fans will recognize this song from Castaways and Cutouts (that version is over a minute longer).  The Tarkio version has louder guitars as the song progresses, although the Decemberists’ version has more interesting instrumentation.  “Mountains of Mourne,” is a sad ballad played mostly on banjo.  “Never Will Marry” is a slow dirgelike song–very traditionally folk-sounding.

I really don’t know much about why Tarkio broke up.  This EP shows a band experimenting with their more ballad-y side.  Probably not destined to be a big seller, it works as a nice companion to their debut.

[READ: May 26, 2012] “The Region of Unlikeness”

This was the last short story I found by Galchen and I was really excited to read it.  It starts off a little oddly—it’s one of those stories where there are two characters spoken about and they are inseparable and it’s not always clear which is which.  Especially when the opening is as peculiar as this, “Ilan used to call Jacob ‘my cousin from Outer Swabia’”  Originally the narrator thinks it a joke, but she later decides it’s a sort of a clue.  She met the two of them by chance.  They were talking loudly and boisterously about Wuthering Heights in a coffee shop.  And that intrigued her to no end.  So she chimed in, and the three of them ended up talking for a while.  The crazy thing about them was that Jacob had a daughter. He seemed so carefree and like he had no responsibilities.   She never met the daughter, he barely mentioned his family, and yet she was always there in the back of his mind.

And she fell hard for Ilan—he seemed antiquated and resourceful like “fancy coffee and bright-colored smutty flyers.”  Of course all of her friends found the two of them arrogant and pathetic, but the narrator could not be drawn away from them.  Although really she was drawn to Ilan, who was generous with praise, while Jacob was kind of sulky and dark and was “jealous of Ilan’s easy pleasures.”  The narrator felt Jacob was pedantic.  All of this makes it surprising that the bulk of the story is about the narrator and Jacob.

And then she stopped seeing them.  Literally, they were nowhere to be found. (more…)

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Science News Letter for March 25, 1939

Posted in Albert Einstein, Death, Egyptology, Essays, History, Mac Lethal, Nature, Research, Science News Letter, Universities on June 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MAC LETHAL-“You’re vs. Your” (2012).

Mac Lethal is a YouTube sensation (he did the pancakes video that I liked quite a bit).  And, yes, he does actually have albums for sale.  He raps really fast (so fast that I wondered if it was sped up–I don’t believe so).  I am 100% behind the sentiment of this song (possessive vs contractions, this is something you used to know).

I’m a grammar freak, so it bothers me when I see these common mistakes made.  It’s nice to hear a song about it (even if it’s not a terribly catchy song or anything).

I like his name dropping and his lecture is pretty effective.  I’m a little confused by the big dick reference/joke at the end of the song…it’s not really relevant.  But his fast tongue is really impressive.  As for his singing….mmm, stick to rapping.

I like the T-shirt!

[READ: May 15, 2012] Science News Letter

I’ve mentioned before when my company sends out links to articles that are interesting or cool.  This is the second time a link to a Science News Letter has gone out.  I swear if I had time, I would love to read all of these.  I wonder how often it was published?

This letter has only two articles in it–one from Physics and one from Archaeology.

The Archaeology one is called “Find Sacred Kitten in Bronze Cat Coffin.”  And indeed, two metallurgy experts were cleaning a bronze cat (which had “bronze disease”) and inside of it they found the bones of a fetal cat.  This was one of the first times that actual bones were discovered in one of these cat idols.  There’s even a (kind of creepy) picture of the bronze statue with the far creepier caption: Cat Coffin.

The Physics article is headlined: Fifth Dimension is New Realm Entered by Professor Einstein”  What?  How cool is that… “Professor Einstein!”  Einstein died in 1955, so it’s not weird that he’d be in a Science Letter.  But still!  Einstein talking about his current theories?!  The subtitle is “Celebrating Sixtieth Birthday, Scientist Wants New Dimension To Account for Electro-Magnetic Effects.” (more…)

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Richard Ford–“The Bank Robbery” [excerpt from Canada] (Harpers, June 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, Cars, Concert, Excerpt, Harper's, Phish, Richard Ford, Short Story, The Simpsons on June 1, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Bait Vol 6 (2011).

Yesterday was my coworker Jay’s last day here, so I’m writing about this Phish bootleg set in his honor.

So these Live Bootleg Series are fun in that they’re a free sample of live songs–warts and all–from various shows in the band’s touring history.  These shows are primarily 1993-1996, with a 1988 song and two from 2003 thrown in for good measure.  The opening of “The Curtain” into “Tweezer” is from Red Rocks.  In fact, the first 8 songs are from Red Rocks at different times in their career (I like that they meld the shows together like this).  From 1996, “The Curtain” sounds amazing, so it’s really surprising how badly Trey messes up the opening guitar riff of “Tweezer.”  It’s so bad I would have thought he might have considered starting over!  But after an ugly beginning the band settles in for a 17 minute version.  “Split Open and Melt” also comes 1994.  The band sounds great on this song.  This is one of my favorite jam sections–it goes in a really weird direction.  And, there’s great bass and a guitar solo.  “It’s Ice” and “The Wedge” are from 1993 (touring their 4th official release!).  They sound really on for these songs.

Next comes a trio of songs from 1995 that always go together: “Mike’s Song” (everybody’s favorite), “I am Hydrogen” and “Weekapaug Groove.”  The middle of the “Mike’s Song” jam gets a little weird (some of their slow sections can sound very strange especially if people overhear them out of context), but they bring it back very nicely.

“The MOMA Dance’ and “Limb by Limb” are from 2003.  And they are fantastic.  “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters” actually comes from the Colorado ’88 CD, but it’s a fun addition within this set.  It certainly sounds older than the others, but not radically out of place.  It’s followed by “Ghost” from 1997.   “David Bowie” has a lot of fun in the intro–the begin playing several different songs, including “Mike’s Song” and several other intros before finally settling into “DB.”  The jam also gets pretty dark, but I love at the end when the conventional shredding solo keeps getting interrupted by a strange minor key riff.  Similarly, “Wilson” takes a really long time to get going, including a nice little nod to “The Simpsons” in the intro.  And then there’s a really long pause before the “blap boom” part comes in.  It’s a fun version of the song.  The disc ends with a wild version of “Run Like an Antelope” from 1993.

It’s a pretty great set, and not bad for free.  You can download it here.

[READ: May 25, 2012] “The Bank Robbery”

I’ve never read Richard Ford.  I have a copy of Independence Day but I never read it. I hear it’s great.

So, here’s this excerpt from Ford’ new novel called Canada.  As has been said before, you can’t really write a review of  an excerpt.  However, a excerpt can get you excited about a book.

And that’s what this did.  It doesn’t make me want to pre-order Canada or anything, indeed, I’m not even sure how this excerpt can relate to the rest of the story as it’s pretty self-contained, but I loved the way it was written and the tone and pacing that Ford employs.

This excerpt opens with the narrator recollecting what he knows about the bank robbery.  The one that his parents committed.  His parents are pretty normal people, except for one thing—they actually thought they could pull of a bank robbery.  I love this section:

Conceivably many of us think of robbing a bank the same way we lie in bed at night and delicately plot to murder our lifelong enemy….  [details excised].  After which we conclude that though it’s satisfying to think we could murder our enemy in ambush…only a deranged person would carry out such a plan.  That is because the world is set against such acts…At which point we forget about our plan and go to sleep….  But for my parents this kind of thinking didn’t occur. (more…)

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Maile Meloy–“The Proxy Marriage” (New Yorker, May 21, 2012)

Posted in Bows, Huh?, Long Fin Kille, Maile Meloy, Marriage (Happy), Military, Missoula, MT, Mogwai, New Yorker, Short Story, The Guardian on May 31, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Earth Divison EP (2012).

Oh wait, this isn’t the Mogwai EP.  What CD did I put in?

Holy crap, it IS the Mogwai CD.  And it opens with a beautiful piano and violin ballad called “Get to France.”  While it’s true that Mogwai has always been about melody (under the noise), I never expected this.  It sounds like a gorgeous soundtrack to a sad film.  It’s followed by “Hound of Winter” a gentle ballad of acoustic guitars and strings.  I know that Mogwai has a softer side, it’s just surprising to hear it all at once like this!

“Drunk and Crazy” is more like it.  It opens with a wall of guitar noise which…vanishes after about two minutes into a gentle, dark string section (strings are by Luke Sutherland of Bows and Long Fin Kille).  And while the distortion never entirely goes away (it’s evident in the piano), it is certainly pushed to the background until about 90 seconds later when it begins to overtake the track again.  It’s nowhere near as dynamic as their best stuff, but it really showcases what Mogwai can do in just over 5 minutes.

The EP ends with “Does This Always Happen?”  While it reintroduces electric guitars, it’s still a mellow song–a pretty electric guitar riff repeated while piano stabs and chords flesh out the tune and strings make it a fuller song.

None of  these songs will become “classics” (although Does This Always happen?” sounds the most like  a Mogwai song).  But it’s always great to hear them expand what they can do.   And these EPs give them a chance to show off some new styles.

To learn more about these tracks, read Stuart’s explanation of them at The Guardian.

[READ: May 25, 2012] “The Proxy Marriage”

I love Maile Meloy and I was crazy excited when I saw that she had a story in this issue.

Meloy writes stories that seem simple—they avoid a lot of the trappings of contemporary stories, indeed, they often feel like they are set in the past, even if, like in this one, they are very current.  Part of that is setting.  She tends to write about people and family interactions, which don’t require a time frame.  She also tends to set her stories in unlikely places—Montana, for instance, where not too many stories are set.  Of course, this one is set in Montana for a good reason.  It is the only state that allows double proxy marriage.  Which is what?  In a proxy marriage, if your beloved can’t make it, you can have a stand-in for him or her do the speaking and signing.  In a double proxy marriage, neither person is present but they agree to let proxies serve for them.  Why on earth would you do this?  Well, this is common in military cases, where one member is serving overseas and the other doesn’t live in Montana—this allows the non-military person to get all of the military benefits that a spouse is entitled to.  Since Montana allows this, and since this story is set soon after the 9/11/01 attacks, it all jibes.

But this story is really about unrequited love.  And I have to say, now that I’m an adult, that unrequited love sucks.  I mean, true it sucks when you’re in it too, but I hate stories that romanticize the idea that you should hold fast to the belief that this person who doesn’t  think about you that way will somehow come around. It happens a lot in stories (and always swells the heart) but when have you ever heard of it happening in real life?  Most of the time the person isn’t worth it , but realistically, once you have left school (it always happens in school) that person has found someone new and that’s the end of it.

This story’s unrequited lover is William, a shy awkward boy who plays the piano.  The girl he pines for is Bridey Taylor, with golden curls and dreams of being an actress.  William never asked her out.  Bridey was popular and other boys asked her out—and William suffered through every one.   But they were friendly—she sang while he played piano, and he helped her with school work.   Then the 9/11 attacks happened.  And this is where the story gets interesting.  Because although neither of  the main characters are not directly involved in the attacks, when the requests start coming in for proxy marriage, Bridey’s father, who was willing to perform them, asked William and Bridey to be the proxies. (more…)

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A.J. Jacobs–Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection (2012)

Posted in A.J. Jacobs, Advice, Beer, Death, Depression, Disease, Dream Theater, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Fears, Food, Funny (ha ha), King's X, Rush, Sex, The Great Gamble, Toilets, Work, Yuck! on May 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE GREAT GAMBLE-Book One (2012).

My friend Matt has worked at a school in Pennsylvania for years. He wrote to tell me that a few kids who graduated from his school had formed a band and have released a CD.  It’s streaming (and downloadable) on bandcamp at their site.

I have lots of friends in bands, and I’ve listened to lots of demos, so I wasn’t expecting very much.  But the first thing I noticed when I listened was how good this sounds–professional and, yes, like a “real” album.  This isn’t just a bunch of guys jamming in their garage.  What makes this even more striking is that the music is heavy progressive metal–not something you just whip out in a quick take.  This is complicated, interesting music.  I’m hearing a kind of Dream Theater meets King’s X vibe going on.  And man, it’s really good.

This is multi-step heavy rock (complete with a synth player/violinist!). The only song that is less than 9 minutes is the 90 second introduction called “The Marketplace.”  Otherwise, we’ve got three songs over ten minutes and one over 16!  Who even knew young bands did stuff like this anymore?

Al Joseph plays lead guitar and sings lead vocals.  His guitar speed is very impressive and his vocals sound not unlike Dug Pinnick from King’s X (noticeable on the opening track, especially) .  Matt Weaver plays violin and keyboards.  The keyboards offer more than just a fuller sound.  On “Release the Kraken” they provide some cool sci-fi sound effects.  At about five minutes in, “Release the Kraken” slows down to a quiet middle section that really showcases Steve Michael’s drums.  And then comes the blistering guitar solo.  It’s followed quickly but a slight diversion and then a wholly different style of solo.  It’s really something.

If “Release the Kraken” wasn’t a good enough prog rock title, how bout “Legends of the Symmetria.”  This one has a very Dream Theater feel for the opening.  But the vocals sound very different–dual vocals with great low harmony.  There’s a cool pre-chorus (I guess) at about 3 minutes.  This song is definitely a heavy one.  At about 4 minutes, the song slows down into a pretty classical guitar section,where Chris Joseph on plays bass gets to show off a bit (although he seems to be the most understated of the 4 players).  There’s some great drumming at the end of the song, too.

“The Ghost of Three Reflections” is a slow builder of a song.  There’s some quiet parts (with beautiful harmonies) and a guitar solo that sounds clear and perfect (I’m hyping the production so much because it sounds so good).  The guitar solo section in this one strikes me as something that might suit two guitarists better–maybe two more different styles of soloing, but he pulls it off well, especially when by the end, he has shifted to a very different style, and the music changes along with it).  I love the bass section at the 8 minute mark, which reminds me of something Rush might have done back in the mid 70s.  The song kind of merges into “Breach At Fort Mycenae” which opens with the same kind of staggered sound as the end of the previous song.  The violin gets an airing in the middle of this song and it’s a cool treat.  I could definitely use more violin in these songs, although maybe little bits are a treat.  There’s a few times when I don’t like the production choices–maybe there needs to be a bit more music behind some of these solos so it doesn’t just sound like two players soloing against each other.

The disc ends with the big one, the sixteen minute, “The Sleepwalker Pt. 1 – Tears of Dagon” [I love that it’s a Part One and it’s 16 minutes long].  When the vocals kick in at about 3 minutes, the harmonies are gorgeous.  I love the bass guitar break at 5 minutes.  Although there’s something about the keyboard sound that I don’t like–maybe they’re not big enough?  But I love the crazy guitar solo at the 9 minute mark of this track (I’m a sucker for dissonant scales).

This is an amazing debut CD and I hope these guys go far (they’re going from Scranton to Boston for school, but I hope they can go further than that).  They are tight as a drum, stopping and starting perfectly, keeping all of the rhythms and time changes perfectly.  They really have done their prog rock homework.  The only gripe is as I’ve said, some sections don’t feel “big” enough.  If you’re going to write a 16 minute song, you don’t want sections that sound small–you want your backing guitars or bass guitars to be a little louder so it sounds like the song is still going.  But other than that, there’s not much room for improvement.

I downloaded their CD, (and yes, I paid for it…that will help with college, eh?).  But my real complaint is that on the computer, the album cover is awesome–if you look at it from an angle, there’s a whole scene behind the large logo (try it, it works here too).  But when you print it out, you lose all of that.  The images are there, but the effect is gone.  This is a band that calls out for full color packaging and maybe even a gatefold sleeve!  (The bottom of the cover says Ο υπνoβάτης which means The Sleepwalker).

Good jobs guys!  You’ve done NEPA proud!

[READ: May 15, 2012] Drop Dead Healthy

Sarah got me this latest A.J. Jacobs book for my birthday.  At first I didn’t think I wanted to read it because I feared what a book all about being in good shape would be—nagging, obnoxious, making me feel bad about my vices. But I should have leaned from all of my A.J. Jacobs experience that he is completely NOT about that.

Jacobs occasionally enters into preposterous forays of Self-Improvement.  In the first book of his I read, The  Guinea Pig Diaries, he tried various weird experiments to see what it was like to be a woman, radically honest, a unitasker, etc.  His other books have been about self-improvement.  He read the encyclopedia from A-Z, he did a year trying to live like out of the bible (I will get to these eventually).  In this book, he is on a quest to be the healthiest person in the world.

It’s an impossible task.  And, frankly, a foolish one.  But he decides he will take two years and focus on individual parts of his body one month at a time.  I’m going say right up front I feared that this book would make me feel bad about all the things I don’t do for myself.   But well, a) Jacobs is a funny writer, so at least you’re laughing.  b) Jacobs is either in bad shape or plays up his badshapedness so that the average person doesn’t feel too bad off.  c) He is so over the top in his quest that no one would ever think about doing all of the things, but we can take what he learned and apply little bits to ourselves.  What is nice is that he tries to get two if not balanced opinions then perhaps fringe opinions to balance out–trying one extreme then another to see which work.

He Breaks His Categories Down thusly: stomach (eating right, the perfect food), the heart, the ears (the quest for quiet), the butt (avoiding sitting too much), the immune system (germs), genitals, nervous system, lower intestine (better bowels), adrenal gland (lowering stress), brain, endocrine system (removing toxins), teeth, feet, lungs, skin, inside of the eyelid (sleep), bladder, gonads, nose, hands, back, eyes, and skull.  Each category is designed to be a month-long workout of that organ/item–some things he keeps doing after the month is over making his workout regime something like 5 hours a day.  And at the beginning of each month he lists the stats for what he accomplished.

I’m not going to talk about all of his body parts, but I will mention a few that i enjoyed the most. (more…)

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Peter Stamm–“Sweet Dreams” (New Yorker, May 14, 2012)

Posted in Arcade Fire, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Death, Fears, Mercury Rev, Michael Hofmann, New Yorker, Peter Stamm, Short Story, Siskiyou, Translation on May 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SISKIYOU-Keep Away the Dead [CST083] (2011).

I really enjoyed Siskiyou’s first album. This album updates the sound and makes it a bit bigger.  And yet somehow the album still sounds fragile.

The album is full of songs that are catchy, but not really easy on the ear.

The first song reminds me of Arcade Fire.  Something about the ringing guitar and crescendos.  But the recording feels more like a demo, much more intimate that Arcade Fire.  “Where Does That Leave Me” is an even more spare number, just vocals and guitar although it slowly builds.  “Twigs and Stones” is the first song that sounds like the bulk of the album—where Colin Huebert’s vocals really come to the fore.  His vocal style is loud and verging on the whiny (again, like Arcade Fire).  This song also has a lot of other instruments that percolate to the top—reminding me of older Mercury Rev.

“Revolution Blues” is the standout track for me, it’s incredibly catchy (and fun to try to sing in his eccentric voice).  The accordion and the minor key intensity is really powerful.  I guess it’s a shame that it was written by Neil Young, then (although the Siskiyou version is much better).  “Dear Old Friend” is a more country sound (which for me is shorthand for slide guitars), but it keeps the same style and feel as the other songs.  “Fiery Death” is the first song where percussion makes itself known very loudly.  It’s a cool introduction of loud thumping.  “Sing Me to Sleep” is a 2 minute lullaby and “Dead Right Now” is a 2 minute coda that ends the album nicely.

The disc is short (about 30 minutes) but a lot of emotion and craft is packed into it.  It’s really enjoyable.

[READ: May 24, 2012] “Sweet Dreams”

I’m always disconcerted when a story is in English but is set in another country.  Well, that’s not exactly right.  When it seems like it’s set in another country because the author is from that other country and he or she is writing about that other country without specifying it (usually because it is translated).  It’s very Amerocentric, but perhaps everyone thinks a story is set in their town unless told otherwise.  So I didn’t realize that this story was originally written in German (it was translated by Michael Hoffman), but it felt like it was taking place in Europe.  I actually guessed France, until later on it was revealed to be Switzerland.

There’s something cool about stories that are written elsewhere, especially if you don’t know the place well, it allows for almost anything to happen.  A couple riding a bus in Europe doesn’t mean the same thing as a couple riding a bus in, say Tallahassee.  But having set up that distinction, this story is about love.  And love is universal.

The story is written from the point of view of Lara, a shy bank worker.  She has been dating Simon for several months and they have recently moved in together.  They should be in the first bloom of love—on their own for the first  time (they never felt comfortable fooling around at their parents’ houses)—but her shyness in particular won’t loosen.  She doesn’t like him to see her naked, and they are very reserved in their love-making.  And from the start Stamm places a dark tone over the story.  The get a place in the town that he likes but it’s pretty run down.  He hadn’t brought much to the apartment, and he seems critical of some of her purchases.  He even comments that “forever is a long time” when she says that the towels she bought will last forever.  And then on the bus, a man, dressed in a long black coat stares at Lara over and over.  It may be innocent, but it’s still disconcerting.

When they get home, she takes a bath (she won’t let him in the bathroom) and asks him to go to the restaurant downstairs to buy a bottle of wine.  She finishes the bath and he’s not back yet, so she reads the paper.  Which is full of more grim news.  When she reads about a dead body found in the lake nearby and since we know she doesn’t feel comfortable about the restaurant downstairs, we know something bad has happened. (more…)

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