I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS-Live at SXSW [excerpt] (2013).

Nick cave performed at SXSW and NPR was there to record the show.

But for reasons only some people know, we only get to hear three of the songs. (Well, technically you can hear the whole thing here, but they only had three songs available for download–the video for which is also at the above link)

“Jubilee Street” builds from a slow piece to a wild and raucous explosion.  It is perfect Nick Cave.  I liked the record’s version okay, but man, live the Seeds just do no wrong—this version is better than the record by a long shot.  “From Her to Eternity” is a blast of excitement belying the age of the song (and of the performers).  It sounds as fresh and raging as it ever did.  “Push the Sky Away” ended the set, and it is a perfect ending to a show.  It’s an atmospheric masterpiece—moody and evocative, stark and enveloping—perfect in this live setting.

I was supposed to see Nick Cave live right after 9/11, but he cancelled his show.  I feel like I missed out on a good one. Maybe I’ll be able to catch him next time.

[READ: July 29, 2013] “Stars”

This story has got to be an excerpt.  There’s just way too much going on and a completely unsatisfying ending for it to be a short story.

As it opens, Jessica is walking through the mountains of Cascade Creek.  She is pleased to be alone—she is something of a misanthropist [“She didn’t play well with others.”].  But as she reaches a meadow, she sees a wolf trapped by its back leg to a stake.  And a man with a  gun.  She immediately runs over and tells the man he can’t kill the wolf [the way this section was set up, i knew she would say this and found her reaction unconvincing at best]. To her surprise, the man is soft-spoken and tells her calmly that even if she were to let it go, it would not show her the same mercy.  She says she’d happily shoot him so that he doesn’t shoot the wolf.  So he gives her the gun and says she’ll never do it.  Which she doesn’t.  And then the man kills the wolf.

The scene shifts to a coffee shop early in the morning.  She looks at the people walking around, and those walking their dogs and thinks maybe she would have been better off is she were a dog.  She is simply different from others. She walks fast everywhere—often people think she is rude when she barges past (and I guess she is– someone called her a “douche cannon” which is bizarre and rather amusing).  And yet for all her difficulties, she was currently seeing someone—Andy.  Andy was boyish and light, the opposite of Jessica’s darkness.  She wasn’t sure if Andy had a job (they hadn’t been dating long), but he did have an office—where she discovered he frequently bedded women. 

Andy had invited her to his father’s house and in one of the funnier scenes in the story, we meet her father, who is abrupt and rude like her.  He dismisses her profession, and when shortly after, he asks if she wants to see his great collection of bamboo fishing rods, she says simply  “No.”  And the father walks away—not talking to them again for the rest of the night.

The scene jumps again to Jessica shopping.  She buys a cheap pair of shoes in an expensive shoe store—relishing the disappointment on the clerk’s face.  Then on the way home a woman tailgates her so she slams on her brakes and the woman plows into her.   Of course, the woman knows the policeman who comes to the scene.  And when he ask Jessica why she slammed on her brakes like that, she replies, “What is this really about, Officer?  Is it because you’re short?”

The next scene shows Jessica taking a leave of absence.  She begins walking as therapy (since therapists don’t work).  She even runs into Andy a few times and he tries to walk with her, but she ignores him and keeps walking.  And the story sort of fades away with the final word harking back to an earlier moment.

I just checked and found that this is not an excerpt and I am really surprised.

The funny thing is that I liked Jessica as a character—being something of a misanthrope myself–but I didn’t feel that she was fleshed out enough.  Three incidents do not a character make (which is why I was sure it was an excerpt).  And I was bummed that we didn’t get to see her at her job (I’d have liked there to be more stars in “Stars.”)