I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ASAF AVIDAN-Tiny Desk Concert #340 (March 2, 2014).

Asaf Avidan is a 33-year-old, Israeli singer, formerly with a folkish rock band called Asaf Avidan & The Mojos.  He has since gone solo and is touring the States.   His voice is the most notable thing about this performance—it’s feminine, but not in a conventionally feminine way.  It’s got a husky Janis Joplin vibe or maybe that weird Billie Holiday thing that she does.  And yet Asaf Avida is (clearly) a man and when he belts out songs, his voice is incredibly powerful.

And yes indeed, he knows how to use his voice very well.  His voice would be unconventional even if he was a woman—it’s creaky and crackly, it warbles and rises and swoops and yet it is very powerful nonetheless.  And I can see it being very polarizing.  I didn’t like it at first but it really won me over.

“My Latest Sin” is a slow finger plucked song (the guitar is beautiful) and most of the song is pretty quiet, but man can Asaf belt out the lines when he wants to. “Different Pulses” is a more robust song musically (even though it is just him on guitar). When he sing the “oh ho” part, he hits some real falsettos, but is still very powerful.

The way he mixes up his incredibly high pitched voice with the gravelly and growly makes this an incredibly engaging performance.

As he introduces the third song, “Reckoning Song,” he explains that it was remixed as an ambient song–which he hates.  He had asked the remixer to take it down, but the guy refused.  And it has since hit 150 million hits.  He’s grateful for the attention, although he still hates the remix. His version is quiet and powerful with some beautiful catchiness.

I’m very intrigued by this fellow and want to hear more.

[READ: June 20, 2014]  Johnny Hiro Book 1

This book collects the first three Johnny Hiro stories (from 2007-2008).  It was originally published by AdHouse books with the cover that you’ll see below.  This Tor reprint is identical (as far as I was willing to investigate).

I was immediately intrigued by the cover and the title.  I loved the play on Hero and Hiro and when I saw that a Godzilla type monster attacks them on the first page, I was sold.

So Johnny Hiro is an average Japanese American kid living in New York.  He has a bad job as a sushi chef, but he has a beautiful Japanese girlfriend who loves him very much.  Of course, when the first story opens and Mayumi is pulled away by “Gozadilla,” things aren’t looking that good for him.

But here’s some wonderful things that do happen in the story: Johnny rescues her while wearing her Hello Bunny slippers (she’s concerned that he will stretch them out); we learn that Gozadilla is mad at her because her mother stopped him in 1978 from trying to rampage Tokyo (so this is a revenge mission) and, best of all, they are saved because Mayumi calls Mayor Bloomberg for help (she got his number from the phone book because of an article in the New York Times).  Oh and the monster attack has left a huge hole in their exterior wall.These threads come to play throughout the stories in the book.  The two of them have to move because of the hole and their landlord is suing them for $50,000 in damages.  Those bunny slippers seem to follow them and, most importantly Johnny gets into all kinds of adventures.

In “Lobster Run” Johnny boss needs him to get some fresh lobsters because a venerable food critic is in their restaurant right this minute.  But he can’t buy any fresh lobster anywhere, so he will have to steal it from the other Japanese restaurant across town.  (There’s even a brief appearance by Alton Brown explaining what kind of lobster Johnny has just stolen).  Johnny steals the lobster easily but is soon followed by knife-toting busboys across the rooftops of New York. (There’s even a brief appearance by Alton Brown who claims that the escape could not have happened for real because the claw size of the lobster is too small–Fred Chao himself interrupts him with a “Dude!”)

In the next story Mayumi wants to go to the opera.  So they score some cheap seats (with a footnote from the New York Times explaining how–I love these touches).  But while at the opera, Johnny runs into a former colleague who has always had designs on Mayumi.  And who, in the interim has destroyed the career of Japan’s search engine magnate.  And that can only mean one thing–surprise attack in the bathroom!  (And a surprise appearance by David Byrne).

Next, Johnny and his boss go fishing and catch a massive fish, but when they get back to the restaurant they realize they have no aji to go with it.  So Johnny is dispatched to pick it up at the warehouse (where Alton Brown explains that there is no way it would be opened at that time of day–I think Alton outstayed his welcome then).  Due to a misunderstanding, the warehouse thinks Johnny has stolen the aji and a car chase across New York ensues (including a leap of the Triboro Bridge).

In the final story, Johnny and Mayumi are brought up before Judge Judy because of the $50,000 hole in their wall.  There’s some funny Night Court jokes (who said the jokes had to be current?).  And the lawyers are out for blood.  Are there any more favors they can call in to get out of this one?  There are indeed.  Then in a strange epilogue to the story there are cameos from L.L. Cool J and Grand Puba from Brand Nubian.

The final pages of the book include some very funny six panel comic strips starring Johnny and Mayumi.  They are much simpler, and are quite funny.  There’s lots more pop culture references, including a shoutout to OutKast.  It is clear that Chao loves these characters, and I look forward to reading Book Two