I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: DR. DOG-Tiny Desk Concert #7 (October 20, 2008).

I have been hearing a lot about Dr. Dog lately (they are from Philly and the radio station we listen to is from Philly, so that makes sense).  But I had assumed they were a new band.  So imagine my surprise to see that they were the 7th Tiny Desk Concert and the first full band to play the Tiny Desk.  (Their first album came out in 2005!).

It’s fun to watch a five piece band squeeze into the Tiny Desk (the drummer is playing a small pink suitcase) and the fifth member of the band is playing some various percussions (I wonder if he does more in the band).  It’s also funny when one of the guitars breaks a string and the singer says “son of a bitch.”

Dr. Dog proves to be quite interesting.  Their first song is “The Beach.”  It’s a rocking awesome track–the guitar is great and bassist Toby Leaman’s move is raspy and powerful.  I really like this song a lot.  The second song is quite different, it’s a bouncy boppy song that sounds a bit like a more rocking Grateful Dead (that bass).  This song has a different singer–Scott McMicken, who plays lead guitar on “The Beach,” but acoustic guitar here.  (The other guitarist, Frank McElroy  played acoustic on The Beach and electric on this one).

After a lengthy discussion they play the third song (in a different version from the record) “How Dare.”  This song opens with their great harmonies (a wonderful feature of the band).  It also has a jam band quality (Toby’s back on vocals but less raspy and powerful, and more bluesy)/on this track.

The band seemed to think they were only to play two songs, and frankly it’s a shame they only play 3. At 12 minutes it one of the shorter Tiny Desk concerts.  But I am a convert to Dr. Dog, and I need to hear more from them.

[READ: November 10, 2013] “Reunion”

After listening to Richard Ford in yesterday’s podcast, I decided I wanted to read his take on the Cheever story “Reunion.”  And while I can definitely see that it was inspired by a kernel of an idea in Cheever’s story, I probably never would have put the two together had I not known.

Ford’s story opens the same way as Cheever’s with someone waiting in Grand Central Station.  It turns out that the person is Mack Bolger.  Bolger is waiting intently for someone.  We quickly learn that the narrator who spies Bolger had had an affair with Bolger’s wife, Beth about a  year and a half prior to this meeting.  It ended abruptly when Mack confronted them in their hotel room (in St. Louis).  Mack (who is a large man) boxed the narrator’s ears a bit and sent him running from the room in varying stages of dress (and without a precious scarf which his mother had given him).

He had not seen Mack again, although he did see Beth on one final instance–a sort of final closure.  They met in a bar and tied up loose ends, and that was that.

So when the narrator sees Mack he gets this sudden urge to speak to him:

just as you might speak to anyone you casually knew and had unexpectedly but not unhappily encountered. And not to impart anything, or to set in motion any particular action (to clarify history, for instance, or make amends), but just to speak and create an event where before there was none. 

This seems surprising to me since he was not only at fault (even if he says their marriage was dissolving already), but he also received a bit of  a thumping from Mack.  Nevertheless he decides to do it.  And as he approaches Mack, Mack catches his eye. This totally disarms the narrator (he has lost the element of surprise), but he knows he can’t back down now.  So he continues.

Mack asks what he wants, but never really looks at him–he is clearly waiting for someone and is scanning the crowd continually.  The narrator assumes it is Beth he is waiting for but won’t say anything.  Mack, filling the air, tells the narrator that he has moved to New York City.

During all of this the narrator remembers scenes from his time with Beth–the way they made fun of Mack, the time they had sex while she was talking to Mack on the phone.  The way Mack’s voice was kind of odd, especially on someone so formal looking.  And while thinking of all of these things all he can think to say is “Did you buy a place?”  Mack seems unwilling to let this stupid conversation go into any more depth than is called for and seems perturbed by the question.

Then he tells the narrator that Beth is in Paris and he is waiting for his daughter–is that all right with him?  The narrator says of course, and that’s when Mack asks him to leave as it would be difficult for him to introduce the narrator to his daughter.

And the ending of the story is a simple deflation of the narrator–he was initially the victor, but there is no question who comes out ahead here.

This was an interesting story–especially given the connection to Cheever.  I haven’t read much Ford, but I will certainly be interested in reading more.