Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for July, 2013

Three Poems–(The Walrus: Summer Reading Issue, July/August 2013)

Posted in Canadian Content, Death, Derek Webster, J. Mascis, Mazzy Star, Poetry, Poets, Suzannah Showler, The Walrus, Vincent Colistro on July 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

walrusjulySOUNDTRACK: J MASCIS-“Fade Into You” (2013).

jmazzy I really liked this Mazzy Star song when it first came out.  Over the years I have gotten a little tired of it–it was a bit overplayed and a bit too…something.  So it’s nice to have this remarkably faithful cover from J. Mascis.

Mascis is of course the singer from Dinosaur Jr, and is usually fond of screaming guitar licks and wild vocals.  But one must not forget that Mascis is also a king of melody (underneath the noise are beautiful pop gems).  And this simple acoustic song fits very well with his vocals style and falsetto.  There are some beautiful overdubbed guitar licks, and it never veers into the treacle at all.

I prefer Mascis’ to the original now.

Perhaps more fascinating than the cover is why he has released it:  It accompanies a limited edition (360 pairs) of shoes.  [So limited edition that my size is sold out already].

The shoes are vegan (or however you phrase that) and feature a purple faux suede and a stripe from Mascis’ guitar strap.  As the write up says: In addition to having a design inspired by J Mascis’ guitar strap embroidered on the back, the purple shoe comes with an exclusive 7″ picture disc of Mascis covering the Mazzy Star classic “Fade Into You”.

And I have to say that the $75 price tag is surprisingly cheap for a limited edition/star inspired/benefit type shoe.  You can buy a pair (maybe) here.  Or just listen to the song at Pitchfork.

[READ: July 15, 2013] Three Poems

This issue of The Walrus is the Summer Reading issue.  It includes three short stories and three poems.  In light of my recent decision to try to read more poetry, I was pleased to see three poems here, even though in my head Summer Reading is all about Fiction.

Since there are only three poems (by different authors), I’m going to mention them all in one post, as I hate to write more words in a post than the author did. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Shelagh Delaney–A Taste of Honey (1959)

Posted in Absolutely Fabulous, Babies, Charles Dickens, LGBTQ, Marriage Trouble, Morrissey, Parenting, Play (Drama), Pregnancy, Prostitution, Racism, Shelagh Delaney on July 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

honeySOUNDTRACK: HORRIBLE HISTORIES-“Charles Dickens” (2013).

dickensHorrible Histories is a British children’s show.  They tell you histories of people and things in fun ways. Like this.  (It sounds awesome).

This biography of Charles Dickens (which lyrically is amusing as well as informative) is done in the style of The Smiths.  The music is very clearly The Smiths and of course the singer hits all of the Morrisseyisms that he can.  In addition to some actual Smiths lines (Dickens take a bow, heaven knows I’m miserable now), the song more or less mashes up “Heaven Know I’m Miserable Now” and “This Charming Man.”

It’s very funny and catchy as well.  Check out the joy:

[READ: June 30, 2013] A Taste of Honey

I discovered this play because it was mentioned in a documentary about The Smiths,  It was one of Morrissey’s favorite movies; he quoted a line from it in “Reel Around the Fountain” (I dreamt about you last night and fell out of bed twice”) and the song “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” is basically a summary of the play (with lines from it).

It’s a fairly modern story for 1959 England (Delaney was 18 when she wrote it), but it seems like rather a downer to be a favorite film/play.

It is the story of Jo, a young girl who is stuck in the dreaded life of living poor in Manchester (The river the color of lead).  She has no father around and her mother, Helen, (described as as a semi-whore (!), is quite unpleasant). Indeed, the opening scene of the play is the two of them bickering in a hole in the wall flat that feels dirty just by reading it.

Eventually a man comes along who promises to take Helen away from all of this.  He may be her pimp (specifics are not really given in the story and I wondered if they would be more obvious if it was 1959 (or in the movie).  But it’s clear that he has money and seems to be willing to bring Helen home.  At the same time, he is terribly mean to Jo–treating her worse than her mother does.  By the end of the scene, he takes Helen away, leaving Jo on her own. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Nick Hornby–Songbook (2002)

Posted in Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, Badly Drawn Boy, Ben Folds Five, Bruce Springsteen, Concert, Decadence, Essays, Marcel Dzama, Mark Mulcahy, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Nelly Furtado, Nick Hornby, Paul Westerberg, Rod Stewart, Rufus Wainwright, Sex, Short Books, Soulwax, Suicide, Teenage Fanclub, The Bible on July 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

songbookSOUNDTRACK: songs from Songbook (2002).

songbook2Songbook came with an 11 song CD.  I’m curious, given the way he speaks so lovingly of the songs in the book how come more bands/labels didn’t want to be included on it.  The proceeds went to charity and it would just be more exposure for the artists.  There were a lot of songs I didn’t know and would love to have heard (or would love to hear while I was reading).  And frankly I see no downside to throwing a track on a compilation which is a collection of someone’s favorite songs.  Of course, things were very different in the music world in 2002.  Now, someone will just make a playlist on their iPod of theses songs, and post them to Spotify.

PAUL WESTERBERG-“Born for Me.” I’m much more of a fan of Westerberg with the Replacements, as he got a little too polished as a solo guy.  But this song has a fun, shambolic quality to it (it doesn’t even sound like Westerberg singing).  It wouldn’t be a favorite song of mine, but it is a nice one.

TEENAGE FANCLUB “Your Love is the Place Where I Come From” and “Ain’t That Enough.”  I really like Teenage Fanclub a lot.  They are one of my favorite jangly pop bands.  So these two songs rank pretty high for me.  Although I admit to liking their slightly more rocking songs a bit more, “Your Love” is a very pretty ballad and “Ain’t That Enough” is just gorgeous.

THE BIBLE- “Glorybound” Hornby says he knew these guys.  It’s an okay song, a little too slick for me and very of its time.

AIMEE MANN-“I’ve Had It”  I like Aimee Mann very much.  I can’t say that I paid a ton of attention to the lyrics of this song (I didn’t know it was about touring) but I’ve always liked it—the understated yet beautiful melody and chorus are very nice.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT-“One Man Guy” I like Rufus a lot.  I don’t own any of his music, but I really like everything I hear from him.  His delivery is so louche, it makes me smile every time.  This song is actually one his father wrote and sang many years ago (very differently).

ROD STEWART-“Mama You Been on My Mind” Hornby’s essay on Rod Stewart is hilarious.  And his defense of early Stewart is wholly believable.  I, of course, know Rod from his later, laughable stuff, so I never considered his early work  But this track is pretty good.

BADLY DRAWN BOY-“A Minor Incident” Sarah and I love Badly Drawn Boy, and this soundtrack in particular.  Hornby’s discussion of how he Damon got to do the soundtrack is very interesting.

BEN FOLDS FIVE-“Smoke” I’ve liked Ben for years now (going to see him in two weeks).  This song has always been a favorite both for the lyrics, which are great and because that weird harp-type sound is him playing the strings of his grand piano with a pick.

MARK MULCAHY-“Hey Self Defeater” I don’t know Mulcahy at all.  This song has a beautiful wavery guitar and gentle vocals (it’s funny to read about Hornby rocking out when most of this disc is quite mellow).

ANI DIFRANCO-“You Had Time” I was a huge Ani DiFranco fan back in the day, but this song is unknown to me, or should I say unfamiliar to me.  It’s on one of her very early albums.  Perhaps it’s more that I must have ignored the piano opening, which Hornby pays close attention to and really explains it in a useful way, showing how it is more about a beautiful melody being born from chaos.  And now I respect the song a lot more.

[READ: 2002 and July 1, 2013] Songbook

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written this very book in my head….  A list of favorite songs and why they are so important to me?  How cool is that.  I have no idea how come Hornby got to write it (I know, High Fidelity), but still, what a nice cozy assignment.  And to have this book illustrated by Marcel Dzama is even cooler.

This book came out in 2002 after About a Boy (and in the year that About a Boy was being turned into a film).  Hornby had recently hooked up with the McSweeney’s gang and began writing for The Believer in 2003.

I had no idea that the book was released in the UK under a different name (31 Songs) or that they also released an accompanying CD (A Selection of Music from 31 Songs) with 18 songs on it (see my comment above about CDs).  Although we got fewer songs on the disc in the US, at least ours came with the book. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Caleb Crain–”Outside T-Club” (Harper’s, July 2013)

Posted in Caleb Crain, Drinking, Excerpt, Harper's, Jenny Hval, Justin Timberlake, LGBTQ, Robin Thicke, Rockettothesky, Travel on July 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: JENNY HVAL-“Innocence is Sexy” (2013).

hvalI saw this video on Stereogum.  I was actually intrigued by her last name: Hval.  Then I read a bit more about her–she’s an experimental Norwegian singer with four albums out (two under the name Rockettothesky).

I watched the video and was so mesmerized by it that I didn’t even really notice the music the first time through.  In the video, Jenny has her body filmed in all manner of unexpected angles and poses–she is shaving parts of her body, strategically positioning other parts of her body.  And pressing and squeezing her flesh in ways that are not often shown.  She is also jogging (both in a jogging outfit and in a dress–the juxtaposition is fascinating.  And then there’s the dress that appears to be made of latex.  At a time when men (Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke) are making videos of naked women, Jenny makes us question what we see and why.  It’s very cool.

It’s also interesting musically.  The first words of the song are: “That night I watched people fucking on my computer.”  The song has an interesting guitar riff playing behind her spoken words until she starts singing with a vaguely operatic Middle Eastern tonality.  After a more mellow verse, Jenny ends a with a fascinating little scale of notes.

The same confrontational style of singing occurs at the end when the music stops and she keeps singing “in and out and in and out” in a less then pleasing manner.

As I say I am fascinated by her.  Although I can’t help but wonder if this would be a case of more exposure being less satisfying.

[READ: July 11, 2013] ”Outside T-Club”

In this story, which an excerpt from a novel called Necessary Errors the narrator, Jacob, pulled out some significant pages about Eastern Europe from a travel guide. He hid the rest of the book in the garbage, keeping only the pages on gay life in Czechoslovakia.

He was living in Boston, but was heading to Prague.  This was after his boyfriend moved away to start a new job for a men’s magazine.  He had sent Jacob a postcard which tried to make it seem like Jacob would be on a  fun adventure, and he imagined Jacob hooking up with a tall dark Russian guy.

Turned out Czech men were neither tall nor dark. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Sheila Heti–“Mini Ching” (Harpers, July 2013)

Posted in Advice, All Songs Considered, Beck, Canadian Content, Excerpt, Harper's, Sheila Heti, Short Story, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on July 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: BECK-“I Won’t Be Long” (2013).

beckSo Beck has a new song out, too (on NPR they’ve been saying this is the year of the cicadas–bands are resurfacing after years of dormancy).  I’ve actually heard this a few times on WXPN, but I never realized it was Beck and it has left no impression on me.

It’s tough to say it doesn’t sound like Beck since every album is different, but this song really doesn’t sound like him.  The drums are cheesy drum machine drums (like from the early 80s), the keyboards are cheesy keyboards (like from the early 80s), and the song is really really simple (with a strange instrumental break in the middle).  And its five minutes long.  It just doesn’t make a big splash like Beck usually does.

This is all leading me to say I don’t love it.  I usually really like Beck’s gamut of music, but this is a little too bland for me (the last minute or so adds some more details which are more interesting).  I suspect if it wasn’t Beck it wouldn’t get played at all.  I wonder if this is going to be a whole album of this style of music.

[READ: July 11, 2013] “Mini Ching”

This is an excerpt from “How to Be Good When You’re Lost.”  In it, Heti interprets six of the sixty-four hexagrams that comprise the I Ching.  I don’t know exactly what the I Ching is.  I mean, I know vaguely what it is but not exactly.  I assume that there is no real explanation for the hexagrams?

The four excerpted here are #53 Gradual progress; #24 Return  #49 Revolution #33 Retreat.

Again, I don’t know how many others have “interpreted” these mystical hexagrams.  But Heti creates are wise fortune cookie-sounding advice for each one. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Rebecca Makkai–“Other Types of Poison” (Harper’s, July 2013)

Posted in Biography, Birds, Books about writers, Death, Eddie Vedder, Essays, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Memoirs, Pearl Jam, War on July 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-“Mind Your Manners” (2013).

mannersAfter Eddie Vedder released an album of ukulele songs, it seemed like perhaps he was putting aside his heavier ways.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.

This new song (album out in October) plays up their faster side, with short fast chords (think “Spin the Black Circle”).  It starts out heavy, and when the verse proper starts the band really kicks in.  The chords are heavy, but the bridge is fairly light and breezy.

The end features some chanted vocals (seldom used by Pearl Jam but effective here).  But to me the real standout moment comes from Mike McCready’s solo.  It is noisy and weird–he seems to be experimenting with all kinds of sounds in these 20 seconds or so.  It’s unexpected from him and very interesting.

I do not like how the song ends, which seems almost abrupt by accident.  Perhaps the released version gets cut off a few seconds early.  Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited about the new album (and tour).

[READ: July 11, 2013] “Other Types of Poison”

This is credited as memoir.  It is three short “stories.”  All of which I enjoyed immensely–but especially the first.

The first is called The Ink.  In this tale, Makkai’s  ancestors were hiding out in a little lake house when soldiers came to the door.  I loved that no one can remember the details of whether the soldiers were German or Russian or if that even mattered.  The important part is that the soldiers hung around and made themselves at home.  (The old lady was too old and scary to try anything with and the boy was too young).

Then they ran out of booze and one of the soldiers, noticing an inkwell, said he would drink that.  The inkwell was a gift to the boy, because the old woman was a writer.  And although the cost was dear, the soldier drank the whole thing.  Then he stumbled out of the house, face completely blackened.  From then on, the old woman claimed that had she killed a soldier with ink.

I love Makkai’s ending: She says she doesn’t of the details are correct, but “If this were your family legacy—this ridiculous assertion of the might and violence o ink , this blatant and beautiful falsehood—could you change it? Would you dare?” (more…)

Read Full Post »

Hamilton Morris—“Blood Spore: Of Murder and Mushrooms” (Harper’s, July 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Death, Drugs, Essays, Hamilton Morris, Harper's, High Times, The Flaming Lips, Utopia, Violence on July 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS–Live from SXSW 2013, playing all of Yoshimi battles the Pink robots.

yoshimiThe day before their main set, which featured songs from their newest album, The Flaming Lips did a surprise set in which they decided to play Yoshimi in its entirety–something they had never done before.

Indeed, there are a few songs from the album that they say they have never played live before.

They have an hour to do the deed.  But, Wayne being Wayne, he can’t stop talking between songs long enough for them to actually complete the album and they are left without playing the final track.  (I haven’t heard of that happening to other bands).

The set sounds pretty good.  It is quite different from the album in that the live unit plays all kinds of interesting sounds effects and updated keyboards and whatnot, it alters things in small and large ways although it doesn’t make it sound completely unlike the album.

Wayne’s voice is not as great as it used to be and he can’t hit all the notes anymore, which is a little disappointing (and may explain why the newer albums are not quite so soaring).  But they are clearly enjoying themselves, as is the audience.

The only bad thing about this set (you can stream the video at NPR) is that the volume is very low.  It sounds good, but is a little too quiet to be fully enjoyable.  And, of course, you don’t get to hear “Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia).”  Although you do get to hear how they came up with the title “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell.”

[READ: July 11, 2013] “Blood Spore”

This was a Folio in the center of the July issue of Harper’s.  The Folio is a lengthy article that’s printed on a different type of paper.  The Harper’s Folios are usually quite good.  And so was this one.

This essay is about the life and death of Steven Pollock.  Pollock was into mushroom.  Really into them.  He believed that they held cures to many different ailments and he set about trying to prove it.  He had a fully functioning lab and he did extensive tests on the different types of mushrooms and spores that he collected.  (Some of the tests simply included ingesting them, but he also used scientific methods).  He ordered manure and other kinds of bases and then he set about growing and testing different genus of mushrooms.

True, he was also interested in their psychedelic powers, but he believed they could do much more.

In order to make money he sold paraphernalia in High Times.  He was very successful (his company name and color ad in the magazine was quite a hit and he made an astonishing amount on the quasi legal market).  Most of his money went back into research.  He believed that when he made $2 million, he could get a proper lab.

The whole article was really interesting—seeing what Pollock did, seeing how some of the mushrooms he cultivated lasted throughout the years and how he managed to get some to spread (by getting spores in various materials in time for a Hurricane to blow them all across the South).  Pollock’s personal favorite mushroom, which he described as being the most amazing trip he’d had, was on the verge of extinction.  And he died believing that it was no more.  Fortunately somehow made it to Amsterdam where now it is a very common (and very popular) strain of the fungus.

Shame he was murdered under mysterious circumstances and the author began researching this article because he received a tape that someone claimed showed who was guilty of his death. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Tom Gauld–You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack (2013)

Posted in Art, Books about writers, Comic Strips, Consumerism, Death, Demons, End of the World, Fables, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Golems, Meta, Myths, Nature, Neurotics, Noir, Short Books, Smarty Pants, Surreal, Technology, The Future, The Guardian, Time Travel, Tom Gauld, Travel, UFOs, Video Games, War, We Were Promised Jetpacks on July 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

jetpackSOUNDTRACK: WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS-“Quiet Little Voices” (2009).

jetpacksWhen you have a book with “Jetpack” in the title, the appropriate band is We Were Promised Jetpacks, no?  I’ve heard a lot of good things these guys.  But all I knew for certain was that they were Scottish.

I listened to their debut EP, The Last Place You’ll Look, which I liked a little.  But I didn’t care for the sound of the EP itself, it was rather flat.  A few listens got me enjoying the melodies and such but it never grabbed me.  Especially when I compared it to “Quiet Little Voices,” the lead single from their debut full length, These Four Walls.

The vocals are a bit stronger, the guitars and bass are both more clear.  The overall feeling is just brighter.  Now this may be a sign of selling out (is that something bands still do?), but really I think it’s just a better production for this song.  Which has a big chorus (and good backing vocals).

I listened to a few more tracks from These Four Walls and they are all good too.  I guess start with the albums and save the EP until after you’ve absorbed the band.

[READ: July 5, 2013] You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack

Gauld makes comics like no one else I know.  Most of his people are silhouetted or are the most rudimentary designs–simple triangle-shaped clothes, circle heads with dots for eyes and little else–maybe a nose if it’s profile. (Okay, there’s a bit of Chris Ware, but more like a much more relaxed Chris Ware).  And the wonderful thing is just how much he can convey with these painstakingly simple drawings.

The content of his comics is usually quite clever and often literary.  While I admit there were some I didn’t get (Like the Eric Gill cartoon–shame on me?–Aha: “[Gill’s] personal diaries describe his sexual activity in great detail including the fact that he sexually abused his own children, had an incestuous relationship with his sister and performed sexual acts on his dog.”  Geez, now the comic is very funny.).  There were some in which I liked the set up but would have preferred something funnier (like the Tom Waits comic–shame on him?)

But overall this collection was really enjoyable.  And I laughed a lot. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Grantland Quarterly, Number 5 (2013)

Posted in Alex Kahn, Alex Pappademas, Amos Barshad, Anachronisms, Andy Greenwald, Baseball, Basketball, Batman, Biking, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Books about music, Books about writers, Boxing, Breaking Bad, Brian Phillips, Bryan Curtis, Charles P. Pierce, Charlie Pierce, Chris Ryan, Chuck Klosterman, Contests, Cycling, Daniel Kellison, David Cho, David Jacoby, Drugs, Essays, Football, Grantland, Hockey, Hua Hsu, Jane Leavy, Jay Caspian Kang, Jonathan Abrams, K-Town, Katie Baker, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Louisa Thomas, Mark Lisanti, McSweeney's, Molly Lambert, Olympics, Racism, Rafe Bartholomew, Religion, Rembert Browne, Sexism, Shane Ryan, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Soccer, Tennis, Violence, Zach Baron on July 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

grantlandSOUNDTRACK: The xx–Live at KEXP (July 25, 2012).

I xxkexphave casually seen The xx on a few shows and I’m intrigued by them.  I’ve never really given their albums any time though, so I can’t say anything much about them.

However, I really enjoy the sound they get live (which is funny since in the article below they talk about how much of a perfectionist Jamie, the studio tech guy, is about the recordings).

This set from KEXP (KEXP always has great audio quality) contains four songs “Fiction” “Reunion” “Sunset” and “Angels.”  And I have to say the band sounds amazing.  So close, so clean, so intimate.  Oliver’s voice is right there, whispering in your ears, and Romy’s guitars sound gorgeous–gentle vibrato, chiming chords; her voice is also beautiful.

The thing that throws me about The xx is how spare their music is.  Sometimes it’s almost like there’s no music at all. And I keep thinking of reasons why I wouldn’t enjoy such simple music (it’s usually not my thing). Or that it should only be experienced in a dark room by yourself.  But the melodies are so beautiful that I think they’ve made a convert of me.  I really adore these songs.  And I must have heard “Angels” somewhere because it is completely familiar.

I wonder if they sound this good on record.  You can watch the show here:

[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #5

Grantland continues to impress me with articles about sports that I don’t care about.  They style that the writers have (and the humor they impart) is wonderful.  And it goes to show that if you are passionate about something you can make it interesting to anyone.  So, even if I don’t know who some of the people who they’re talking about are, I can still enjoy what they say about them.  Plus, their entertainment coverage is really fun, too.

BILL SIMMONS-“Battle of the Olympic Heavyweights”
I really enjoyed this article which compares Olympic swimming and gymnastics to see which one “wins” in this battle for TV coverage and the hearts of Olympic fans (hint: it’s gymnastics, but Simmon’s categories are very good).

BRIAN PHILLIPS-“The Death’s Head of Wimbledon”
Phillips tries to cover Wimbledon and finds it very difficult to manage because it is all designed for TV, not in person coverage.

REMBERT BROWNE-“I Feel Like a Free Man”
The amazing decision of Frank Ocean to come out and how little it impacted his career. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Yes is the Answer and Other Prog Rock Tales–edited by Marc Weingarten & Tyson Cornell (2013)

Posted in A Clockwork Orange, Anachronisms, Andrew Mellen, Asia, Be-Bop Deluxe, Beth Lisick, Caravan, Charles Bock, Death, Drinking, Drugs, Esquire, Essays, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Genesis, Guided By Voices, H.R. Giger, History, James Greer, Jeff Gardiner, Jim DeRogatis, Joe Meno, John Albert, King Crimson, Larry Karaszewski, Mara Lethem, Marc Weingarten, Margaret Wappler, Marriage (Happy), Matching Mole, Matthew Specktor, Nathan Larson, Nick Coleman, Paul Myers, Peter Case, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Rick Moody, Robert Pollard, Rodrigo Fresán, Rush, Seth Greenland, Shudder to Think, Soft Machine, Sonic Youth, Styx, Surreal, Technology, The Incredible String Band, The Nice, Todd Rundgren, Tom Junod, Wesley Stace, William T. Vollmann, Yes on July 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

yitaSOUNDTRACK: WXPN (88.5 Philadelphia) xpnand wxpn.org online-Prog rock Marathon (2012-??).

Every January, Dan Reed plays a prog rock marathon on WXPN.  This year I was able to enjoy portions of it.  I rather wish the playlist was still available (you can search, but only by artist), because I’d love to rave about the tracks they played (like the live “Supper’s Ready.”)

I was delighted by the great mix of songs they played and (as I learned from reading this book) I was surprised by how many prog artists I didn’t even know.

In 2014 I’ll be listening again and maybe this time I’ll copy the playlist to document what I’ve missed.

[READ: July 7, 2013] Yes is the Answer

This book was sitting on a cart outside of my cube.  I was intrigued by the title (it didn’t have that trippy cover, so I didn’t know what it was).  But “Yes is the Answer” was calling me.  Especially when I looked at the cover and saw that the cover had an excerpt from a William Vollmann story in which the protagonist plays In the Court of the Crimson King (track 5) for Reepah and watches her face as they band went Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!.

Quoting Vollmann (from The Rifles), playing King Crimson?  What could this book be?   Then I saw the subtitle and I knew I had to read it all.

I’m not going to review these essays because that would be like making a radio edit of a side long track, but I’ll mention the band the author focuses on and any other relevant details. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »