I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK:BOWERBIRDS-Tiny Desk Concert #35 (November 16, 2009).

This show was recorded July 7, 2009.  It’s fascinating that it didn’t get posted until four months later.

As the Bowerbirds first started I didn’t think I would like them primarily because of the opening lyrics of “Hooves” “Back to when I was born on a full moon, I nearly split my mama in two.” It just seemed an offputting way to start especially when sung over very simple acoustic guitar.  But after the first verse, the band joins in with some Ahhs, which flesh out the song very nicely.  The accordion and violin fill in where necessary and make this a much more compelling-sounding song.

The second song, “Teeth” opens with a very full sound–I really like it–bowed double bass, violin, accordion and guitar and when the backing vocals complement the lead vocal, it’s really quite beautiful.  “House of Diamonds”  is a folkie song, but the final track “In Our talons” (which comes from their first album) is really dramatic, with a some great vocals, a cool section that slows down the tempo and rousing accordion-driven conclusion.  (There’s something a bout an accordion that when played right can add incredible tension to a song).

You can watch it here.

[READ: February 13, 2014] A Visit from the Good Squad

This book made many best of list at the end of 2010.  I’ve wanted to read it for some time now, so when I saw it remaindered at Barnes & Noble, I grabbed it (yes, the library is cheaper, but I find that sometimes I will read things more quickly if I buy them).

I was expecting to be blown away by the book.  But I wasn’t.  At least not at first.  And the real reason for that was because I read it over too long of a span of time.  There are a lot of intricacies in this book that demand attention.  It’s not a difficult book, but the structure of the book is not linear, and there are connections that are made and lost and resumed.  And if you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to miss them.  I enjoyed it quite a lot and I really liked the way the story filled in parts as it went along (you’ll see why that is significant shortly).  And I loved the way the end tied everything together so nicely.  But I found that I got even more out of it while writing this recap because it helped me to make connections I initially missed.  So definitely read this, but either read it quickly or read it twice in a row.

So this book is set up that every chapter is narrated by or focuses on a different person at a different time in the story’s history.  It’s a fascinating way to tell a story for the obvious reasons, but also because most of the characters are interrelated in some way (which was the clever part).  And other characters arrive and disappear while still keeping continuity in the story.

There are thirteen chapters, which means 13 stories.  Naturally there are more than 13 characters, so this makes for an interesting look at this world.

The first chapter and more or less the thread throughout the stories is Sasha.  In the first chapter, (which is third person but in which Sasha is the protagonist), we see her planning to steal the wallet from a woman in the bathroom stall next to hers.  She is on a date with a man named Alex, who is new to New York and is still kind of wide-eyed about it.  He is amazed when later on he sees that Sasha has a bathtub in her kitchen (which she never uses).  Sasha’s chapter is interspersed with her at the therapist’s office as she talks about her kleptomania and about her life as the assistant for Bennie Salazar–THE Bennie Salazar, record producer extraordinaire who discovered The Conduits.

The next chapter introduces us to Bennie.  But Bennie is no longer The Bennie Salazar, he is washed up Bennie, trying to communicate with his son and stuck listening to mediocre bands.  His life is so lost that he has been buying flakes of gold as a kind of medicinal supplement.  The only constant in his life has been Sasha.

The next chapter flashes back to Bennie and his friends as kids (1979).  This is from the point of view of Rhea.  We’re at Alice’s house. Benny and Scotty are there (they love Alice–Alice loves Scotty but has never said anything).  Jocelyn loves Scotty and Rhea is waiting for Bennie (who is waiting for Alice, etc).  But Jocelyn is not waiting.  She has met up with a guy named Lou who is married and is not above sleeping with a willing young girl.

The next chapter is called Safari, which was excerpted in The New Yorker back in 2010 and which I liked quite a lot.  It follows Lou on an expedition with his kids and a potential mistress as well as some members of a band which Lou is producing.

Then we move on to Alice’s point of view as many years have passed and they stand at Lou’s deathbed.

The next chapter reintroduces us to Scotty.  Bennie is a huge producer at this point but Scotty had vanished and is currently almost homeless and fishing in the East River. He goes up to Bennie’s office (and sees Sasha) where Bennie, a little frightened because Scotty is clearly crazy, gives him his card and says to call him if he feels like playing more music.

Then we move to part B, where we see Bennie and his then-wife Stephanie have moved to a posh suburb where they clearly don’t belong. Stephanie is trying to make inroads and more or less succeeds.  But by doing so she is going behind Bennie’s back.  Which even her stoner brother Jules notices.  But that stoner brother proves to be useful to her when she goes to meet her client, Bosco.  Bosco was guitarist for the Conduits.  He is now old and fat and really unhealthy and he is planning on doing a comeback.  Stephanie knows no one will care, until Bosco says it is going to be basically a suicide tour–at what point in this hectic lifestyle of a tour will Bosco die?  And Jules says he will write about it.  Stephanie’s boss, La Doll, is the publicist’s publicist, and Stephanie is afraid to tell her about this new “gig.”

We meet La Dolly, Dolly, in the next chapter where we learn how she made her fortune, lost her fortune and then made it all over again, with a little help from a genocidal dictator.  In the meantime she’s trying to keep her daughter, Lulu, in her prestigious school and keep news about her involvement with the dictator away from her.

In the following chapter we see what happened to Jules to make him the way he was when we first met him.  And this also ties to Dolly’s chapter.

The next chapter rockets forward to the 1990s.  We’re with Rob and Drew.  Drew is currently dating Sasha and is planning on becoming President some day.  Rob has recently returned from rehab after trying to kill himself.  Rob is one of the few people who Sasha has ever confided in.  She explained how she had run away with a drummer in a band and that her parents had a detective following her around. She and rob were very close until she started dating Drew, then Rob seethed internally.  They had all gone to see the Conduits together where Sasha was introduced to Bennie and they were all invited to his house for a party.

The next chapter flashes back to Sasha’s running away.  She was living in Italy and her uncle Ted was sent to find her.

Chapter 12 is done in the style of  PowerPoint presentation. I was really impressed at the way it conveyed so much in such a simplistic format.  This was written by Alison, Drew and Sasha’s daughter.  We learn from Alison about Sasha’s hangups and about what happened to Rob.  What I especially loved about this chapter was that Alison’s brother Lincoln, who is autistic, is obsessed with the pauses in songs.  And I loved how much was conveyed by this silence.  It was very cleverly done.  [Someone has created a YouTube mix of these songs].  The slides tie up many of the threads in wonderfully simple but profound ways.

The final chapter is set in the future.  Bennie is still alive, Lulu has all grown up, texting is even more obnoxious than it is now and even babies are given devices to communicate.  And the chapter has a surprise narrator which brings the book full circle.

This was a very clever book, I wish I had devoted more time directly to it.  But I’m glad I finally got around to reading it.  It also confirms my desire to read more of Egan’s books.  Perhaps The Keep, which seems to be quite popular.