SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Mrs. Robinson’s, Kitchener, Ontario (December 20, 1997).
What’s most fascinating about these Rheostatics live shows is coming across venues that have no internet presence. I can’t find a photo or anything of Mrs Robinson’s in Kitchener. Did it even exist? Who knows?
The quality of this show is very good although the overall volume is too low. There are also complaints from Dave about his monitor not working. It doesn’t impact the sound for us, but I guess he couldn’t hear very well. The intro of “Michael Jackson” is all messed up, but they play on through it. Then they actually take a pause for an unspecified length of time to fix it (but still do a show that’s over 2 hours long).
Martin and Dave are very chatty for this show. The intro is quite long, with some good banter including a discussion of the weird table in front of the stage which people can use for stage diving or go go dancing. Martin explains the origins of “Junction Foil Ball” (about a guy who makes a ball out of the tin foil in cigarette packs. They make a joke about Don the drummer being from Kirkwood Lake which is where Alan Thicke is from. And a joke about Polkaroo.
They also introduce Tim Mech (their guitar tech) whose band PEEP-SHOW was one of the winners of Musician magazine’s “Best Unsigned Band Competition” in 1997. He takes a long solo in “Claire.”
This was their last show of 1997, so this wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
[READ: March 3, 2014] Shantytown
This has been my favorite Aira book so far (and I’m now caught up to his English language releases). The plot was simple and interesting, and the fantastical elements really worked with the story instead of overshadowing it (which his stories sometimes allow, but which isn’t really a criticism per se, just a point of fact).
This story begins with Maxi, a kind-hearted, but not terribly smart or sensible young man. He is unemployed, did not finish any real schooling and doesn’t have a lot to do. He has been going to the gym daily, so he is very strong. And he has recently begun helping the garbage scavengers.
These scavengers are people who live in the Shantytown nearby. It is a collection of houses, most very tiny and quickly constructed, where the poorest people live. And many of these people collect and either sell or use rich people’s garbage. They come up every night before a garbage pick up and root through the streets for anything they can use. And Maxi has begun helping them shift their carts Since he is so strong, he finds that none of the their carts are very heavy. And although he has never spoken to any of them and they have not spoken to him, he decided to start helping them and now he gets great satisfaction in carrying their stuff.
The shantytown is an unsavory place where drugs are sold and not too long ago a young girl was murdered. Recently a policeman, Agent Cabezas has been trying to get to the bottom of this whole drug thing. The drug of choice is proxidine which makes things clearer. Even Cabezas himself takes it (even though it is illegal). But there has been a lot of suspicious activity with a man dressed as a pastor who might be a dealer. And then there’s Maxi who is suddenly hanging around the shantytown. And, quite frankly, Cabezas has decided that he’s tired of being a good cop. He is ready to take what is his.
This sets in motion a series of coincidences (which are entirely believable, if you accept that Maxi is not very observant). They involve Maxi’s sister Vanessa and her friend Jessica. These two girls fight all the time, but then quickly make up. Their relationship is mostly about talking to each other–about nearly anything. Cabezas believes that these girls are buying drugs and he thinks he can use them to his advantage. There is also the cleaning woman in Jessica’s apartment block. She lives in Shantytown and surely can be useful to someone. Vanessa even calls her once at Jessica’s, to see if she can tell her about teh Shantytown.
By the end of the story, everyone is trailing Maxi into the Shantytown to see what they can learn about a fat man who everyone thinks is a Pastor (he talks about religion) and the drug dealer. It coincides with the most tumultuous rainstorm to ever hit Buenos Aires, and as the rain rises, and tempers flair, the surreal nature of the story comes to the fore. While the ending pushes the realm of believability it has a ring of hyperreality that makes it all the more intriguing.
Aira often has philosophical ideas threaded in his story and this one is no exception–ideas about generosity, usefulness and corruption run through the tale and Aira explores them in detail. I have found some of Aira’s stories to be tough to follow, but this story is straightforward and really engaging. I was totally hooked by this one.
This book was once again wonderfully translated by Chris Andrews.
For ease of searching I include: Cesar Aira.
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