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Archive for September, 2013

Ian Frazier–“Walking Normally: The Facts” (New Yorker, September 9, 2013)

Posted in Baby Island, Funny (ha ha), Ian Frazier, New Yorker, Parenting, Teenage Fanclub on September 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_09_09_13McCall.inddSOUNDTRACK: BABY ISLAND-“King’s Crossing” (2013).

Ibabyisland have no idea where I downloaded this song from.  I assumed NPR but I can’t find it there.  So, I’ll just have to direct the reader to their bandcamp site where you can stream and order the whole album.

The song opens simply enough with two chords played in 4/4.  Then the vocals come in and they are gentle and slightly echoed (making them very soft).  The chorus has multilayered vocals and a beautiful melody line and a whole lot of oooohs. It has a feel like the jangly pop of the sixties (I mean, look at the cover), but the song is not terribly jangly and that angular guitar really distinguishes it from the bands that they sound like.

There’s also a keyboard that throws delicate melodies and riffs over the top of the confection as well.   It is a perfect folk rock pop song—reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub (and the sixties bands that they sound like of course).  It’s a very pretty, mellow song and I like it quite a lot.

[READ: September 12, 2013] “Walking Normally: The Facts”

I don’t always like Ian Frazier’s works, but man, this one was so funny (if you are a parent of a young child), that I not only laughed out loud, I had to immediately share it with Sarah (who also laughed out loud).

The set up is simple.  A Claim is made and the Claim is followed up by a Fact which disputes the Claim.

The first claim: “When we are at the mall you say that you have walked so much that you need to be carried, because your legs are ‘all stretched out.’”

The Fact: While hyper extension of muscles, tendons, and joints is a real and serious problem among certain demographics…it is rarely seen in anyone four and a half years old.

So you see, this is a dad talking to his son.  And each claim is very representative of a four year old’s (or even an eight year old’s) concerns.  And some hit uncannily close to home. (more…)

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Robert Coover–“The Colonel’s Daughter” (New Yorker, September 2, 2013)

Posted in Death, Modest Mouse, New Yorker, Robert Coover, Short Story, The Kids in the Hall, Threats, Typhoon, Violence, War, Wolf Parade on September 19, 2013| 1 Comment »

CV1_TNY_09_02_13Viva.inddSOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Artificial Light” (2013).

typhoonartSince I mentioned “Artificial Light” the other day, I thought I’d link to it today.

The song opens with a pretty guitar melody punctuated by horns.  The singer’s vocal style is dramatic and often unexpected–especially the way he gets louder mid sentence and then drops to a whisper at other times (reminds me a bit of Wolf Parade or perhaps even Modest Mouse).

There are very pretty moments in the song (especially when the orchestration fills in).  But the horns also give it a kind of Spanish feel, which rides on top of the heavier guitars in the verses.

At about two and a half minutes, the song drops out completely.  It is picked up by some gentle guitar and horns as it builds back up.  By the end the chorus of voices builds the song to new heights and widths.

It’s interesting what you can do with so many band members in five and a half minutes.  This song really runs a breadth of ideas but remains quite pretty throughout.

[READ: September 12, 2013] “The Colonel’s Daughter”

The Kids in the Hall once made a sketch in which there was no beginning or ending, just a middle.

In the sketch, a man in a tutu slaps a man in a scuba diving suit saying.  “Stop it. stop it. I’ve got to stop you and your revolutionaries from taking over this country.”

This story is like the inverse of that sketch.  It has a beginning and an end but no middle.  Interestingly, since it is also about revolutionaries taking over a country, I now just insert that sketch into the story (I’m sure that makes Coover very happy.  I wonder if anyone else mentions this sketch in the review of this story).

I have mixed feeling about Coover’s work in general.  It often feels more style over substance.  And I fear that this one may have been playing with that somewhat. Interestingly as well, there is a lot of substance, but it is played in such as way as to make it almost seem meaningless—unless you are willing to really unpack it (which I wasn’t).

So, the Colonel is intent on overthrowing the President (the country is unnamed).  He has chosen the group of men sitting in the room with him.  Some of them know each other but not all do.  They look around and size each other up.  Indeed, 5/6 of the story is the men sizing each other up.  To me, the men are interchangeable.  I don’t know if that is lazy reading on my part or if it is indeed on purpose.

Each man gets a brief biography—the Deputy Minister, the Police Chief, the biplane pilot, the business man, the professor, the doctor and possibly someone else.

We learn a little about each man and why the Colonel would have chosen him.  We learn about his fears about the mission and who he mistrusts the most.  We also learn that one of the men is a double agent, working for the President.  Like a game of Clue, pieces of information are given that would let you know who the man is, but again, I didn’t feel like doing the work to figure it out.  I am curious to know if you can tell who it is from the story, but not curious enough to do the work (so I should not be rewarded). (more…)

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Lauren Groff–“Amaranth” (Lucky Peach, No. 8: The Gender Issue: Summer 2013)

Posted in Chastity Belt, Food, Guster, Humiliation, Jefferson Airplane, Lauren Groff, Lucky Peach, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Revenge, Sex, Short Story, Violence, Virginity (Loss of) on September 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

lp8SOUNDTRACK: CHASTITY BELT-“Black Sail” (2013).

noregerstChastity Belt are notorious for their band photo.  And the fact that their album is called No Regerts (sic).  By rights they should play ugly abrasive punk or something weird and edgy and probably a little scary.

So imagine the surprise when “Black Sail” opens and sounds like a Guster song–simple chords with a very catchy melody (it reminds me of a rawer version of “Architects and Engineers”).

Then the vocals come in and the singer sounds a bit like Jefferson Airplane-era Grace Slick–powerful but kind of slow.  It’s a very compelling mix.

Especially when things change in the chorus–a simple, pretty guitar riff leads us into the simple chorus “black sail, strong wind.”

The difference between the image and the music is so striking that i wonder if I’d have been as taken with the music with out the picture.  Was this a brilliant strategy or just a really bad idea (it has already made a list of unfortunate band photos).  You can decide for yourself, I’m including the picture at the end of the post.

And you can listen to the song on NPR or at their bandcamp site.

[READ: September 12, 2013] “Amaranth”

Amaranth is a 12-year-old girl who goes by the name Merry.  She is out driving with her father one night when he gets a call from his business partner.  Amaranth pretends to be asleep while her father goes to talk to the man.  But rather than a conversation, the partner, Otto, kills her dad.  And Amaranth saw the whole thing happen.

Amaranth is devastated.  But she is even more devastated when Otto starts coming around.  Like a remake of Hamlet, soon Otto and Amaranth’s mother are getting married.

Amaranth wants nothing to do with this; the rest of the story details the ways she rebels against the unpardonable acts.

First she begins starving herself.  She eats just enough to survive but her mother hates how thin she is getting. Eventually they send her to a place for girls with eating disorders.  She returns plumper, but with a new scheme.  This time her rebelliousness gets her put into a special hospital. (more…)

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Lucky Peach, No. 8: The Gender Issue (Summer 2013)

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Alice Waters, Amelia Gray, Angie Wang, Anthony Bourdain, Art, Ben Shewry, Calvin Godfrey, Chateaubriand, Chicken Divan, Chris Ying, Cook Book, Coq au vin, Crème brûlée, Crêpe Suzette, Cream Puffs, Culture Shock, Derek Ballard, Edie Fake, Fuchsia Dunlop, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gender, John Birdsall, John Ritter, Johnny Negron, Jonathan Franzen, Joshua Neuman, Kevin Pang, Lucky Peach, Mark Ibold, McSweeney's, Mei Chin, Michael Deforge, Mickey Zacchilli, Mimi Lok, Naomi Duguid, Nhân VĂn, Parenting, Peter Meehan, Pizzle Soup, Quiche Lorraine, Scampi alla Calabrese, Sex, Sexism, Soccer, Three's Company, Typhoon, Vinny Dotolo, Youngmi Mayer, Yuck! on September 17, 2013| 2 Comments »

lp8.1SOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Dreams of Cannibalism” (2013).

typhoonNPR was steaming this album for a while.  Now they’re giving away this song.

Typhoon is yet another band that has a crazy amount of people in it (between 12 and fourteen) and they have a vast array of instruments in play at any one time (Horns, violins, xylophones, electric guitars and mandolins for example).

At the same time, Singer Kyle Morton’s vocals are distinctive enough and are used like an instrument as well as to deliver lyrics.  This gives them quite a unique sound.

The song opens with an array of horns slowly building to a simple guitar melody.  The verses are somewhat quiet with occasional punctuations of band (and great backing vocals).  But as the song progresses, more instruments kick in (horns adding a melody line).  I really like the way the end of the song shifts direction totally, bringing in a complex instrumental section with interesting time shifts and even better backing vocals..

I enjoyed the whole album while it was streaming.  And while I can’t say that this song stands out more than the other songs, (I think “Artificial Light” is probably the best,) it represents the sound of the band pretty well.

[READ: September 2013] Lucky Peach Issue 8

I haven’t been reviewing Lucky Peach issues in their entirety because they are mostly about food and cooking and recipes and I don’t really have anything to say about that (I enjoy the articles a lot, but I don’t need to comment on them).

But I wanted to bring special attention to this issue because of the way it is presented.  This is the Gender Issue.  It has two covers (see the “female” cover tomorrow) and the magazine must be flipped over to read the different genders.

It’s not often that I think of food and gender as being connected, but there are some really interesting articles in here that talk about not only food itself, but about the people who prepare it.  Like the fact that most big name chefs are men even though cooking has traditionally been “women’s work.”

The women’s side of the magazine has these interesting articles: (more…)

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Gideon Lewis-Kraus–“Sleeping Together” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Culture Shock, Essays, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Gwar, Harper's, Kansas, Reggie Watts, Sleep, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Van Halen on September 16, 2013| 2 Comments »

aug2013

SOUNDTRACK: GWAR-“Carry on My Wayward Son” (A.V. Undercover, October 8, 2012).

gwarIf I thought Reggie Watt’s cover of Van Halen’s “Panama” was absurd, imagine my surprise when GWAR’s version of “Carry on My Wayward Son” proves to not only be not absurd but actually rather faithful.  Well, I mean Oderus Urungus is certainly not serious, but the band sounds amazingly tight–who knew they could play their instruments so well?

The opening is played very faithfully–solos and all–it’s quite impressive under all that foam.  The verses are played at breakneck speed (with Oderus barely singing and improving at times). The chorus is fascinating though as they slow it down quite a lot–with a different singer this might bring an extra gravitas to it, although this version assuredly does not.

I never knew Oderus’ mask fit so poorly before.  And I don’t believe I’ve ever really noticed the large green item hanging down between his legs.  See for yourself:

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Sleeping Together”

The final article of this forum about sleep is set in Tokyo.  Lewis-Kraus has gone to the first co-sleeping cafe. For about $30 for a membership and $30 for 40 minutes you can sleep with a woman.  Not sex–indeed, nothing sexual is allowed to happen. You just sleep.  Or more specifically, you lie next to a woman (seems unlikely that you could actually sleep).  You can also get options like staring into each other’s eyes, being petted on the head, spooning and resting your head on her lap.

There are, of course sexual cafes, as well. The kayabakura is a bit more explicit than the sleeping cafe–the women are all made up and act servile, but this is different.

The woman who the author sleeps with is Yukiko. Yukiko admits that most men don’t sleep, they talk.  She says that in their culture shame is very big, so men seek comfort and encouragement from women. (more…)

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Rebecca Solnit–“Insomnia” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Corporate skewering, Harper's, Insomnia, Prison, Rebecca Solnit, Reggie Watts, Sleep, Van Halen on September 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: REGGIE WATTS-“Panama” (A.V, Undercover, January 22, 2013).

reggiepanama This is from the A.V. Club’s third series of covers called A.V. Undercover.  In this series, the bands select what they are going to cover from a list (which gets shorter after each go).  I’ve been really enjoying Reggie Watts lately.  And I really enjoy this “cover” of Van Halen’s “Panama.”

In the pre-song interview he explains how he knows the guys in the band and that this version is a cover of an earlier demo version of the song.  Who knew the original content was so different

Check it out (and groove on the sweater).  “Oh woah, shipping canals!”

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Insomnia”

Solnit posits a wonderful idea–if only sleep could be hoarded and then accumulated or traded.  She has suffered from sleep deprivation off and on for decades–her mind just can’t turn off–like hamster on a wheel.  And like a hamster on a wheel, she is annoyed that all of the churning is so unproductive.

She talks about the two kinds of insomniacs–those who can’t fall asleep and those who wake up in the middle of the night (that’s me).  She quotes F Scott Fitzgerald who said “in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning.”  Because as anyone who has woken up at that time knows, everything is overwhelming, arduous and against you.  “At that hour you could probably contemplate pancake recipes with terror.” (more…)

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Sarah Manguso–“Motherhood” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Comedy Bang Bang!, Harper's, Parenting, Reggie Watts, Sarah Manguso, Sleep, Tiny Desk Concert, Van Halen on September 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: REGGIE WATTS-Tiny Desk Concert #227 (July 12, 2012).

reggieI know Reggie Watts from Comedy Bang Bang, but his name sounds familiar, like he’s been around for a long time.  And he has, although not in ways that I am familiar.  He’s been in a million bands (none of which I’ve heard of) and done a number of short films and concerts (prominently as of 2004).  Interestingly he was born in Germany to French and American parents.  And, yes, he lived his early life in Montana.

In his early bands, Reggie sang (he has a beautiful voice).  In recent years he has become sillier, doing improv and a lot of looped vocals.  he also has a lot of funny comedic lyrics.  But not all of them.  In this Tiny Desk concert, Reggie does three songs (with funny intros).  The first one “Song #4” is a “proper” song.

The other two are improved.  The middle one, about NPR is very funny (if you know your NPR).  In all of the songs he samples his voice creating bass lines and whatnot (he does amazing beat box work).  The set is really impressive that one guy can make so much beautiful music.

Although normally I enjoy just listening to the Tiny Desk shows, this is one that demands watching, just to see how he does it all.

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Motherhood”

Manguso writes about being a mother and how sleep deprivation as a new mom is actually somewhat enjoyable (I suppose she means in retrospect).  She doesn’t say anything all that new about being a mom and the experiences of waking up at the slightest sound (or lack of sound) from your children.  Although of course it’s original to everyone when it is their child.

And she does make some interesting observations about how when the baby is first-born you rush to help him or her at the first cry but as they get older you feel even more protective of them.   I also enjoyed the idea that maternal love is in no way a softening or weakening force but is actually a courageous act–sacrificing yourself for someone else. (more…)

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Hamilton Morris–“Gaboxadol” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Drugs, Essays, Hamilton Morris, Harper's, Insomnia, Research, Sleep, The Front Bottoms, Tiny Desk Concert on September 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: THE FRONT BOTTOMS-Tiny Desk Concert #297 (August 19, 2013).

frontbotI really enjoyed The Front Bottoms’ “Au Revoir” and was pretty excited to see they had a Tiny Desk Concert.  After watching this, I’m very curious to see what they do in a full band setting because their sound works very well in this stripped down fashion–with acoustic guitars, penny whistle and muted trumpet (!).

Lead singer, Brian Sella, reminds me a lot of Mike Doughty in his speaky/singing way (especially on “Swear To God The Devil Made Me Do It”–although less speaky than Doughty or Cake–there’s just something about his delivery that puts me in mind of them.

He’s also always got a smirk on his face, which makes me like them more.

I’m torn between wondering if they’re a novelty band that I wouldn’t listen to more than a few times or a cool alternative band whose idiosyncrasies only get better with each listen.  I love the way “Twin Size Mattress” has little elements (like the tambourine moment–and the “no fucking way moment) which elevate it above some of the seemingly sillier songs.  Not to mention the lyrics are really good in the song.  Indeed, even though the lyrics are funny, they are often very clever, too.

I really enjoyed all four songs in this set and I have listened to it many times now.  “Au Revoir (Adios)” sounds great.  All four songs comes from their new album Talon of the Hawk.  And the more I listen the more I’m convincing myself to jut get the damned album.

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Gaboxadol”

This essay was actually hard for me to read.  That’s because the first half was all scientific chemistry talk and I really got lost–I don’t really know what GABA receptors are or do and I didn’t even really understand what he was talking about what Stepan Krasheninnikov did in 1755.  And I worried that I wasn’t going to enjoy this at all.

But soon Morris brought it back to an area that dummies like me can enjoy   He talks about the history of Gaboxadol a drug created by Dutch chemist Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen in 1977.  The first time Povl took it (self-experiment was very common until recently) he said it made him feel like he had just had three beers–a very comfortable feeling.

But Gaboxadol never found its niche.  Povl knew it had relaxing qualities but he couldn’t specifically diagnose who would best benefit from it.  It was tried on the mentally ill.  The desired effects did not really arrive–but the side effects made people feel sleepy.  Then it was tried as an analgesic for cancer patients.  It relieved some pain but it made everyone sleepy (you see where this is gong, right?).  It was then tested on patients with anxiety disorder, but the side effects were more powerful that the anti-anxiety effects.

So then the drug was just shelved (were people just less experimental back then?)  It wasn’t until 1996 that Marike Lancel a somnologist in Munich read the research and decided to try it as a sleeping aid.  She realized that Gaboxadol assisted sleep and also had none of the side effects that Ambien had (apparently terrible insomnia once you stop taking it–so I’ll not be taking that, thank you very much).  Merck bought the rights to Gaboxadol for $270 million. (more…)

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Rebecca Curtis–“Herbal Remedies” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Corporate skewering, Doc Martin, Harper's, Insomnia, Mother Falcon, Rebecca Curtis, Scientists, Sleep, The Dambuilders, Tiny Desk Concert on September 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: MOTHER FALCON-Tiny Desk Concert #296 (August 17, 2013)

motherfBy my count there are fourteen people in Mother Falcon (the notes say 17 but I couldn’t see them all)–that’s a lot of people in a Tiny Desk concert.  And they all play an instrument.  I count trumpet, bassoon, three saxophones, three violins, two cellos, an upright bass, accordion, guitar and mandolin (the mandolin player is the lead singer (and a cello player too).

Despite the orchestral set up, the songs are short pop songs but with a lot of, well, orchestration.  The songs have gorgeous instrumental sections, especially in “Marigold” where the riff is powerful and made all the more dynamic by the woodwinds.

“Marfa” has vocals by the female lead (who plays guitar–I don’t see any band member names on the NPR site).  The strings really dominate here and remind me of the way The Dambuilders used strings–even though there is no heavy guitar.  The strings feel like they are playing rock songs rather than being used as background for a rock song.  “Dirty Summer” is a sing-along track with no real words–lots of oh ohs.

motherfalWatching one of the members climb on the desk to sing louder was pretty fun.  It was also cool hearing how excited they were to be on the Tiny Desk.  Check it out.

They sound really great and, although I have to suspect that they must be more dynamic live than on record–how could they not be?

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Herbal Remedies”

Curtis is a holistic nutritionist.  I was a little concerned that this whole essay was going to be about prescribing alternative medicines to people to help them sleep (that’s only part of the article–and sadly there’s no quick suggestions either).  Actually, I’m normally all for herbals, but I’ve been watching Doc Martin lately and, man, he really rails into the herbalist on that show.  I’m generally torn about herbal remedies–I absolutely believe in science, but I have no faith in corporations.  So I believe scientists find cures for things and then corporations mess with them and make us need more than we do.  And I also feel like old herbal remedies probably work to an extent and yet they have also not been scientifically proven.  What’s a skeptic to do?

Anyhow, the switch comes when Curtis admits that while her patients can’t sleep, she has no problems with it.   Except that she doesn’t want to sleep, she hates it.  She even slept with the light on (until her business associate warned that it ruins your “kidney jing.)”

She talks about what it’s like to sleep in different men’s beds.  I liked the descriptions–the way each bed and each man makes her feel a different way in the bed–like a princess, or someone who wakes up several times a night so she can cuddle again or, like a safe and secure person who can sleep uninterrupted all night long. (more…)

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Christine Smallwood–“Bed-Wetting” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Christine Smallwood, Essays, Fears, Green Day, Harper's, Sleep, The Who on September 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: GREEN DAY-¡Quatro! (2012).

quatroIf you have the hard copy of the three Green Day CDs, you’ll notice the back cover lists a fourth disc, ¡Quatro!.  I wasn’t really sure what ¡Quatro! was supposed to be, but I have recently found out that it is a documentary DVD/CD.  For those keeping track, Jason White who was a touring guitarist with the band for years and who has recently become a full-fledged member of the band, is on the cover.

According to press releases and such, ¡Quatro! will give a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process that resulted in the trilogy and their various live shows across the U.S.

It seems as though the release date is up in the air (no doubt because of the state of the band), although some of the material premiered as early as last November.  And their official site only says “in 2013.”  I probably won’t watch it as I find this kind of thing self-indulgent and pointless; however, some of these videos can be entertaining.  Indeed, if it had come as a bonus disc to one of the other three discs I probably would have watched it.

At any rate, the official trailer for ¡Quatro! is available on YouTube

And there’s a few other snippets (which were probably shown on VH1.

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Bed-Wetting”

Bed-wetting is fairly common, especially for those who are potty training.  Smallwood talks about all of the ways throughout history that people have tried to deal with it.  She gives this list (which I have abbreviated here):

  • Plugging the urethra
  • Constriction of the penis with bandages, strings, adhesives, or vises, one of which was described as a “formidable rat-rap looking instrument”
  • Eliminating sugar
  • Removing the child from school
  • Injecting the bladder with gaseous carbonic acid

(and I have left out a few of the more crazy ones).

By the late nineteenth century, naturally, Westerners began connecting bed wedding with masturbation (other symptoms of masturbation: flushed cheeks, paleness and paralysis).  At this time, victims were subjected to cold baths, hard beds and even whipping (which may have caused sexual fantasies but certainly didn’t help with bed wetting).

A fascinating piece of information—boys are more prone to night time wetting while girls are more prone to day time. (more…)

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