SOUNDTRACK: THE AVETT BROTHERS-Tiny Desk Concert #18 (June 22, 2009).
I have recently become a fan of The Avett Brothers. Indeed, my first review of one of their songs was very mixed. But I have come around. And this Tiny Desk show is a great example of the power they have in a live setting–especially one as personal as this.
For this set the two brothers (Seth on guitar and Scott on banjo) play a song from their then new album (the beautiful “Laundry Room” complete with amazing harmonies and beautiful cello) I & Love & You. It builds slowly but after about two minutes, it turns into a big (upright bass is included, too) catchy song. And in the last minute it becomes a huge stompin’ track (predating those other banjo bands by a few years).
Scott’s voice is really powerful (Bob Boilen asks if he swallowed an amplifier).
The second song is a the time not released yet, “Down With the Shine” (they joke that they’re then going to play a song they haven’t written yet). It’s full of phenomenal harmonies. And the commentary afterward about traveling with the brothers is very funny.
The final track goes back to their previous EP and is called “Bella Donna,” a pretty ballad sung by Seth–he seems to do the more mellow tracks. It’s a pretty ending to this all too short Tiny Desk Concert.
Watch it here.
[READ: January 10, 2014] The Hare
The Hare was the first of Aira’s books to be translated into English (back in 1998 with this simply gawdawful cover). It has recently been republished by New Directions Press with a far more tasteful cover. The translator, Nick Caistor, is the same although I noticed in an online excerpt that while the English language is the same, the New Directions version has translated a Spanish newspaper (El Grito) into English (The Crap) when it wasn’t translated in the earlier version. But aside from that, it all appears to be the same.
I had been putting off reading this book because it is his largest book (most of Aira’s books are barely over 100 pages, while this one is almost 250) and I’d also read some lukewarm reviews of the book, so I saved it for last. Of course, now he has a newly translated book out, so I decided it was time to read The Hare.
Not the best attitude for a book an it definitely impacted my early reading of the story. And I’ll sum up that impact as saying I thought that the book itself was strangely flat but that the ending was fantastic. Had I been more open t0 the absurdity I think I would have enjoyed the whole thing a lot more.
This is the crazy story of Clarke, a British naturalist and explorer. He has traveled to the pampas of Argentina to find a mythical Legibrerian Hare (which can fly).
When the story first opens, we meet Rosas, the Restorer of the Laws. We learn how Rosas settles affairs in the region. And then he meets with Clarke. Clarke does not appear English, but that doesn’t really matter. Rosas takes the opportunity to show off his impressive (if insane) horseback riding skills as a demonstration of…what exactly?
And then Clarke sets out with two companions–a young boy named Carlos who tells Clarke “you’re 35? you could have a child my age,” and a taciturn gaucho named Gauna or Guana (Clarke isn’t sure). They travel across the pampas in search of the Hare, but pretty early on they learn that the Hare is pretty much not real.
Nevertheless, the three riders continue on their (well, Clarke’s) quest. Clarke and Carlos eventually have pretty lengthy chats in which they learn that they have a lot in common including that they are both adopted. But as for the plot, well, that’s a strange, nigh impossible thing to summarize. They meet other Indians (many of whom are terrible stereotypes, but may actually be true for all I know–Aira is Argentinian after all) and engage in very regional behaviors.
There are Indians who live in caves and barely come out into the light of day. But they also have terrible wars amongst themselves, basically because they have nothing else to do. There are Indians who smear themselves in grease, Indians with many wives and Indians with a story about a dangerous Widow who is out to destroy them all. They also meet Indians in whose languages (Mapuche and Voroga) every word has at least two meanings–and one which explains that the Hare they are looking for is actually a diamond.
Poor Clarke is at a loss, but he keeps pressing on. He even starts to follow some other threads. Like when Carlos falls for Yñuy, a girl who is pregnant but with whom Carlos falls in love instantly. Or when the Guana decides that the Widow is a woman that he loves. And perhaps he is tracking her instead of guiding them. There’s even a man on the horizon who seems to be perpetually nearby but never gets close enough for them to actually see him.
Each chapter goes to a new extreme (of drugs, of violence, even of talking)–a kind of surreal Odyssey.
My dissatisfaction with the book was twofold. One, I don’t know enough about the Argnetinian pampas and tribes to “get” any kid of truth or joke in the scenes. The book is reasonably funny, so I assume that there are more jokes that are funnier if you’re in on them. So that’s my fault. But beyond that, I felt like each chapter was long and “surreal” without a lot of payoff. Or, if a payoff, not the kind I wanted. And I fear that I started reading the book just to finish it.
But here’s the thing–the ending, the last chapter, is magnificent. The book ends in what I can only describe as an English style comedy of manners. It is very funny, with coincidences all over the place. One crazy surprise leaves you laughing and then another surprise makes you laugh even more.
I admit that there are certain types of book (like this one and the Odyssey) that I find a slow on first read. I actually really like the Odyssey now that I’ve read it a few times, but that first time was pretty dull. And that may be true of this story as well. The payoff was so good that I feel there must be more to enjoy in the story as well. And maybe one of these days I’ll try it again (but with the New Directions book as the cover is much less offensive).
For ease of searching I include: Cesar Aira.
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