I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY-LIve on Mountain Stage (April 11, 2013).

I saw Bonnie “Prince” Billy several years ago when he opened for Godspeed You Back Emperor.  His set was really good.  And yet I have never bought any of his music (his back catalog is just too intimidating to want to jump into).  But i still enjoy his music, and this Mountain Stage appearance shows off his songs and his between set humor.

He plays four songs here: “Oh How I Enjoy The Light,” “We Love Our Hole,” “Screaming Issue” and “You Remind Me Of Something (The Glory Goes).”

“We Love Our Hole” is from an Australian movie about surfing (and features some great baking vocals from Emmett Kelly and especially Cheyenne Marie Mize.  And “Screaming Issue” is a Loudon Wainwright song (it seems funny to me that he has so many songs but he chose to do a cover) and he does a great job of it.  “You Remind Me of Something” may be my favorite song of the set.

One of these days I’ll have to dive into his recorded work.  But, oh where to start?

[READ: September 19, 2013] Two Pints

Two Pints is a delightful, short book that shows just how funny Roddy Doyle is.  I’m not sure how easy it is to find in the States, but if you’re a fan of Doyle’s humor, this is worth tracking down.

It is a series of conversations between two mates at the pub.  Each entry is dated starting with 24-5-11 (May 24, 2011 for us Americans) and ending 4-9-12 (September 9, 2012).  At first I thought that they were regular meetings, but they aren’t.  Some come weekly some more frequently.  But in each visit, the two men meet at their local with a pint to discuss the events of the day (often quite reluctantly).

Of course they also talk about their wives and kids and grand kids (the one crazy piece of nonsense is that one man (neither are named) keeps talking about buying wild animals for his kids (polar bears, hyenas and the lot).  It’s so strangely far-fetched for something that is otherwise down to earth, that I’m just not sure if Doyle was making a point or just being goofy.

But otherwise, one man begins talking and the other joins in.

They talk about Gaddafi (one of them thinks he’s the guy at the chipper, the other one is sure he’s spotted him working at the airport—the perfect hiding place).  They talk a lot about the Queen (it’s okay to hate the Brits again, phew) and The Pope (the mean German pope, not the nice new pope).  They talk about politics and voting.  They even talk about Anthony Weiner.

And technology.  Like the one who gets the HDTV and can read the tattoos of the Sein Fenn members from the protests years ago..

And they talk about all the famous people who died (shocking amount in that time: Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Maeve Binchey, Davy Jones, Donna Summer, Robin Gibb, Jon Lord (from Deep Purple—that dialogue goes crazy pretty quick!)).  They also talk about how their wive react to this news (devastated by Whitney and Donna).

There’s some very funny (and bad) jokes like taking the piss out of naming your baby “Harper Seven” (Beckham), one of them follows up by saying that his friend named their baby Cancer because the husband died of cancer.  Their last name is Ward of course.

And, they talk about sports, like the Olympics–there’s a lot about the Olympics–and of course the football (it helps to know the teams, but you can get by if you don’t).

The language is vulgar as you might expect from two old fellas in the pub, but Doyle has always had a great ear for dialogue (curses and all).

I laughed out loud a number of times at this book and I really wanted a lot more.  Do it again, Roddy.