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Archive for May, 2015

David Albahari–“Hitler in Chicago” (Harper’s, October 2014)

Posted in David Albahari, Ellen Elias-Bursać, Excerpt, Harper's, Isaac Bashevis Singer, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Short Story, Stompin' Tom Connors, tagged on May 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harperioctSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Icehouse, Victoria, BC (July 18 2001).

ice-house-oyster-bar-tofinoAfter playing the free show earlier that afternoon, the Rheos played a show at The Icehouse that evening.  And it seems like quite a number of people showed up.  And they were not disappointed.  They also got to see Michael Phillip Wojewoda on drums.

Although the show begins with some slightly sketchy sound quality, it clears up pretty quickly.  This show starts with a bunch of great older material “King of the Past,” “Fat,” “Northern Wish.”  There’s an amazing guitar solo in “Christopher.” And “Fat” is one of the best live versions I’ve heard.

When they play “Four Little Songs” it gives MPW a chance to sing his bit.  But when someone requests “Guns” Dave says that MPW doesn’t do poetry.  At what I believe is a fan’s request, the play “The Pooby Song,” and then joke that they are going to play the entire Nightlines Sessions. 

Then they talk about Stompin’ Tom Connors and how they met a 65-year-old man who scares the Canadian into you.  This is an intro to “The Ballad of Wendel Clark” which includes two Stompin’ Tom fragments “Gumboot Clogeroo” and “The Ketchup Song.”  The seven minute version of “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” ends with a crazy riff and noisy drums–a rare jam section.  There’s more great drums on “Song of Flight” and excellent harmonies on “California Dreamline.”

This is a really fantastic show–one of their best.  And as Lucky notes the “Dopefiends -> California Dreamline -> Song of Flight -> Self-Serve -> Winter Comes Reprise” is killer.  The end of the show tacks on an amazing version of “Horses.”  But it doesn’t seem like it’s from this show.  The sound is a little different, and it seems pretty certain that the night ended after “Record Body Count.”  But who knows.

[READ: April 19, 2015] “Hitler in Chicago”

This short story, from the book Learning Cyrillic, is fascinating in the way it begins as one thing and then turns into something else entirely.  David Albahari is a Serbian novelist and the story was translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać.

As the story opens, the narrator talks about how afraid he is of flying on planes.  He would much rather ride by carriage.  Why is everyone in such a hurry, anyway?  But he needs to fly and so he does.  He pays careful attention to the stewardesses and then tries as quickly as possible to fall asleep.

On this flight to North America, he falls asleep pretty well, but when the book he was reading falls off his lap, it wakes him up.  His seat mate picks up the book and smiles.  The book is by Isaac Bashevis Singer and is called Enemies, A Love Story (a real book).  The woman says that knows Singer and asks if he has read the story where Singer met Hitler in New York.  He has.

Then she says,

“I spent a night with him.”
“Hitler?”
“No, she said, I would never have allowed myself such a thing.  I meant Singer.”

(more…)

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Robert Boswell–“The House on Bony Lake” (Harper’s, October 2014)

Posted in Death, Harper's, Rheostatics, Robert Boswell, Sex, Short Story, tagged on May 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harperioctSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Centennial Square, Victoria, BC (July 18 2001).

victoriaThis concert was a free outdoor show outside of City Hall in Victoria.  It was in the afternoon and the band also played a paid show later that night.  How interesting.  They even joke at the end wondering if anyone will be coming to their show that night.  Someone asks if it will be the same songs and Dave says yes, and same sweat too.  They have a good rapport with the audience (the fact that it is outside makes the crowd sound really tiny although I imagine it wasn’t).

It’s also the first show (online anyhow) to feature Michael Phillip Wojewoda on drums.

The sound is a little odd here, even though it is a soundboard recording.  Maybe it’s because of the outdoor atmosphere of the location–perhaps they mixed it differently?  I have no idea.

They play most of the songs from, NotSS, but there’s also a few classics like “Stolen Car” and “Saskatchewan.”  They even play a great rendition of “Junction Foil Ball” which Dave says reveals was on their Nightlines record but that they re-recorded for the new one (which was not out yet).  Martin explains that the origin of the story is about a guy who collects the tin foil from cigarette wrappers and makes a ball out of them.

In “CCYPA” there’s along part with no singing—it seems as if something went wrong.  The volume also rises and falls a bit which is weird.  There’s a similar pause in “I Fab Thee” where Martin resumes singing ooh ooh ooh.  He explains that “P.I.N.” is played on a tenor guitar.  And then later they joke that they were going to name their album Kid, Eh?

This may be the first time they’ve played “In It Now” at least that I know of.  I love when they play “Satan is the Whistler” but they never seem to get the end right—this one is no exception.

The end, “Saskatchewan” is amazing—a very slow dramatic rendition.  It’s a nice show and as Lucky says in the notes, “Always a treat to see the Rheos twice in one day!”

[READ: April 15, 2015] “The House on Bony Lake”

Boswell crams a novel’s worth of information into this long short story.  It begins as Paul wakes in his Airstream. He is next to Melinda and they are talking about old TV.  She is naked and asks if he wants to have sex again.  He says he’s too sleepy.

Then we get some back story.   Paul’s marriage is over and since that happened he has slept with several women in the area–none of them resemble his wife.

And then we go further back–“In the whole of the twentieth century, the Iris clan floated just two offspring to the shores of adulthood.”  And floated is a good choice of words, because the family, all those generations had lived near Bony Lake the whole time.

His grandfather was Colman Sheelin Iris (there’s an amusing story about their last name).  He built the house that Paul grew up in but he refused any changes to it–no electricity, no upgrades–during his life time.  And during his lifetime his wife bore four children.  Only one, Sean, survived to adulthood. (more…)

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Keith Ridgway–Never Love a Gambler (2001) [New Directions Pearl, 2014]

Posted in DakhaBrakha, Death, Irish Writer, New Directions Pearls, Noir, Short Books, Short Story, Small Books, Tiny Desk Concert, Yuck! on May 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

gambler SOUNDTRACK: DakhaBrakha-Tiny Desk Concert #435 (April 25, 2015).

dkahDakhaBrakha are a band from Kiev, Ukraine.  There are four members, one man (unsure how he is dressed because he plays the accordion which covers his body) and three women.  The women are dressed in fetching white gowns (with lovely detail work done on them) and gigantic woolen “farmer’s hats.”

The women play drums, (with what looks like a wooden spoon), bongos a horn instruments that sounds a bit like a kazoo (I wish NPR gave more details here) and a cello.  They also provide most of the singing.

The first song, “Sho Z-Pod Duba”features bowed cello.  It opens with the male yelling quite loud and some wild yipping and shrieking from the women by the song’s end.

The second song, “Torokh” features lead vocals by the middle woman (the one with the kazoo).  But it also features interesting backing sounds and hums from the other two women.  The cellist (who is plucking the strings like an upright bass) also sings a partial lead vocal.  When the kazoo (which isn’t a kazoo at all, and is more like a penny whistle with some kind of vibrating piece on it) kicks in, the song goes utterly bonkers for a few measures.  The male singer starts yelling and the song is just insane until it stops and slowly builds again.

The end of “Torokh” and a lot of “Divka-Marusechka” has the women singing in the style of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares (Bulgarian folk harmonies).  This song is the most unsettling of the three because the accordion and cello play an incessant drone that is a two note lurch.  The male sings lead while the females sing harmony and dissonant harmonies as well as a bird call kind of sound.  The end has one of the women signing an almost hip hop style while the other sings a higher, faster lyrics (all of which is in Ukrainian, so I have no idea what they are saying).

It is a strangely familiar music and yet it is also disconcerting.  I listened to it three times and I loved blasting it in my car–t woks great at loud volumes.  I also want to get one of those hats.

Check it out here.

[READ: March 28, 2015] Never Love a Gambler

This is a collection of three short stories from Irish writer Keith Ridgway.  They are quite dark and explore the criminal underbelly.

“Never Love a Gambler”
In this story we meet a family, the father of which is a gambler.  We meet his son and wife as they talk tough to the loan shark’s thug.  The son is pretty tough, standing up to Mossie, who gets the whole bar quiet when he walks in.  Mossie explains that he has been round to their house and they have some lovely things, but he can’t find the gambler himself.  They tell him that they don’t know where he is and then set out to try to find him.  In the meantime, they find a filthy homeless dog and a boy who is waiting to be picked up by his dad.  And they go on a quest together.  The stories converge in a dark but funny (but actually very dark) way. (more…)

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Jess Walter–“To the Corner” (Harper’s, July 2014)

Posted in Adele, Fears, Guns, Harper's, Jess Walter, Jesse Boykins III, Jessie Ware, Racism, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Tracey Ullman on May 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: JESSIE WARE-Tiny Desk Concert #434 (April 20, 2015).

jessieI don’t know Jessie Ware.  She is one of those singers who has a beautiful singing voice which totally masks the fact that her speaking voice has a hugely pronounced British accent (have you heard Adele speak?).  Ware’s speaking voice sounds a bit like Tracey Ullman, which I find charming.

She sings three songs.  They feature her and an electric guitar (played by Joe Newman) and they are soulful and pretty.  On the first song “Say You Love Me,” she is accompanied by her opening act Jesse Boykins III (meaning that this post features a Jess, a Jessie and a Jesse).

The other two songs are “Wildest Moments” and “Champagne Kisses.”

The blurb says that her shows are usually pretty big nightclub dramatic events (which is hard to imagine given how sweet she is).  I can see her really belting out these songs.  She sounds very good in this subdued setting, although it’s not my kind of music at all.

You can watch Jesse and Jessie here.

[READ: April 13, 2015] “To the Corner”

I didn’t really enjoy the other two items in this month’s Harper’s and I was a little disappointed with the way this story started out.  Interestingly, I checked and I didn’t like the way the last story of Walter’s that I wrote about started either.

This story starts with a bunch of kids–shirtless, pants hanging low, standing on a street corner. They are being tough, watching as the girl from their bus walks by.  And I just thought–yawn.

But after a few paragraphs, the perspective shifts to an old man who is watching the kids.  The man has lived in this house for nigh on fifty years.  He has been through boom and bust and bust and bust.  His siblings have all moved away and their houses are worth a fortune, but he remained, and his neighborhood has gotten worse.  He looks at the boys and their whole attitude offends him.  He, Leonard, worked hard all of his life: Korea, G.I. Bill, Junior College, marriage, kids.  And his kids are successes (even the one who listens to right-wing talk radio).  But look at these layabouts. (more…)

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Diane Cook–“Bounty” (Harper’s, August 2014)

Posted in Diane Cook, Drinking, Edmar Casteneda, End of the World, Harper's, Short Story, The Last Man on Earth, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on May 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

augustSOUNDTRACK: EDMAR CASTANEDA-Tiny Desk Concert #46 (February 8, 2010).

edmarOne thing that’s awesome about the Tiny Desk Concerts is that they give me an intimate look at a band I love.  The second awesome thing is when you get to see an artist who is truly amazing, but whom you realistically would never encounter anywhere else.

Edmar Casteneda plays the Colombian harp.  And he plays the harp like no one else I have ever heard.  His genre is Latin jazz He uses the bass strings for rhythm and the high strings like a guitar.  And most interestingly is the way he uses his hands like a percussive addition on the strings.  I’ve never seen anyone else play the harp (usually an ethereal instrument) so aggressively before.  He sounds like several people playing at once.

Between songs he explains traditional Colombian harp playing and improvisation.  He demonstrates the way his version is different from the traditional way of playing.  And then he explains the fretboard on the harp which allows him to create sharps (which is pretty cool).

He only plays two songs, but the set is 15 minutes, so these are long songs.  And they are really gorgeous.  I prefer the first song, “Entre Cuerdas” to the slightly more new agey sounds of “Jesus de Nazareth,” although they are both mesmerizing.  At around 10 minutes, his hands are simply a blur–how does he know what strings he is hitting?

It’s kind of a shame that the dominant camera angle is face on because you really can’t see what he’s doing all that well, and his hands are really marvelous.  But it’s a small quibble with such an enjoyable performance.

Without a doubt check this out.

[READ: April 4, 2015] “Bounty”

This story begins with a flood and a dead body.  And very few other people left alive.

We have been watching The Last Man on Earth on Fox and this idea of the last person on earth is being explored on that show.  Interestingly, in this story, things are different. The owner of the house isn’t the last man on earth.  In fact, while he is safe on his mountain top house (while water levels are rising), people keep coming to his door asking for food or water.  And he is pissed about it.  He slams the door in their faces and yells at them to get lost.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a story about the end times in which someone was so unpleasant.

There’s a house on another hill not far from him.  And that house is absolutely full of refugees.  This is the main character’s neighbor–and they don’t like each other.  This generosity gives the protagonist even more reason not to like his neighbor. (more…)

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Silvina Ocampo–“The Basement” (Harper’s, August 2014)

Posted in Daniel Balderston, Dave Rawlings Machine, Excerpt, Gillian Welch, Harper's, Silvina Ocampo, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation on May 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

august SOUNDTRACK: DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE & GILLIAN WELCH-Tiny Desk Concert #45 (February 1, 2010).

daveI had never heard of Dave Rawlings (although I have heard of Gillian Welch). He is evidently a producer and session musician.  And the recording of this Tiny Desk Concert is timed with the release of his first album.

Rawlings and Welch (who sang on a number of tracks on the album) play a mix of country and alt-country/folk.  And while their voices work great together, I think it’s Rawlings’ guitar playing that really sets this Concert apart.

They play four songs, and if the blurb is correct, the first was a warm up that sounded great so they kept it.  That first song is Bill Monroe’s “I’m on My Way Back to the Old Home” a rollicking whirlwind of guitar fun with heavy country flavors.  The second song they play is the lead track on the album.  “Ruby” is a mellow ballad which reminds me of two other songs (see if you think the same).

The third song they introduce as “a depressing song.”  It is minor key and slow.  The melody is surprisingly catchy.  Although when it shifts to Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer,” it’s not because the songs sound alike but because they have the same spirit.  Rawlings’ voice doesn’t sound like Young’s at all, but he sounds great with this great song (and Welch’s harmonies are perfect).

The final song “Sweet Tooth” is a very country (sill country) song.  What I like about it is that Rawlings puts his capo on the 10th fret!  It’s no a song I’d listen to, but it’s cool to know they can play it.

Check it out here.

[READ: April 4, 2015] “The Basement”

Ocampo was an Argentinian poet and short story writer.  This is a short story from Ocampo’s Thus Were Their Faces. which was translated by Daniel Balderston.

I didn’t really get this story.  It is essentially about a woman living in a basement apartment.  She says it is very cold in winter but an Eden in the hot summer months. She has very few things with her and no electricity or running water, but she is very clean.  And she doesn’t have to pay rent.  The lady upstairs feeds her (and she has candy, as well).

This entire excerpt is one very long paragraph and as the paragraph moves along she beings talking about the mice who share her place with her (they are preferable to the flies that are so prevalent in Buenos Aires). (more…)

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Benjamin Kunkel–“As Flies to Wanton Boys” (Harper’s, July 2014)

Posted in Benjamin Kunkel, Excerpt, Harper's, Play (Drama), Rosa Díaz, Tiny Desk Concert on May 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: ROSA DíAZ-Tiny Desk Concert #433 (April 17, 2015).

rossaI find Díaz’ voice a little unsettling. This surprises me because I usually like voices that are unconventional.   But I find her singing to be perhaps too vibrato filled?  Too emphatic maybe? It is especially harsh when set off against the beautiful backing vocal of cellist Daniel de Jesús.

I like the sentiments in Díaz’ songs, like “Beware Of Men Who Don’t Remember Their Dreams” but I don’t like the way she sings it–especially the end.  The second song is sung in Spanish.  “Lloronsito” is a term of endearment usually used for women, but says she dedicates it to the male crybaby.  I prefer this song, perhaps because it feels more natural in Spanish?

“Daddy Said” has a more bouncy melody.  Again there’s some great lyrics, but Díaz really lets loose.  The notes say that she is passionate and that’s clear, although I fear that she kind of goes overboard.  Maybe it would sound better if there were more musicians to really get into it with her?  But it’s not like her voice is bad.  At a few points she and Daniel harmonize beautifully.

I just didn’t love this set.

[READ: April 11, 2015] “As Flies to Wanton Boys”

This is an excerpt from Kunkel’s play Buzz.

In the excerpt there are three characters: a college girl (who is conducting an interview), Tom (the playwright being interviewed) and Tom’s wife who we hear on the answering machine.

The college girl wants Tom to talk about his thoughts about the state of American drama. But she notices that he seems preoccupied.  And he is.  He is very upset about the flies in his house (his wife called the exterminator and she will be mad that there are still so many in the house).  Well, actually she is not legally his wife.

He says he’s not a fascinating subject today.  She keeps trying to drag information out of him.  He wants to know why people will listen to long boring interviews on the radio but not plays. Even the girl says she doesn’t go to plays. (more…)

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Christina Nichol–“Democracy in Batumi” (Harper’s, July 2014)

Posted in Africa, Cat Stevens, Chadwick Stokes, Dispatch, Excerpt, Harper's, Hillary Clinton, State Radio, Tiny Desk Concert, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on May 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: CHADWICK STOKES-Tiny Desk Concert #432 (April 13, 2015).

chadI had recently been hearing about Chadwick Stokes on WXPN.  But I didn’t really know anything about him.  I just looked him up and found that he has been making music for almost twenty years, with the bands Dispatch and State Radio (under the name Chad Urmston) and now as a solo artist.  He apparently is a big time activist as well, and his accolades ring high.

The three songs he plays her are wonderful.  He has a great voice that reminds me in some ways of Cat Stevens (even though Stokes is from Boston and certainly rocks harder than the Cat).  Although he even mentions Stevens in the third song.

I love the way the first song, “Pine Needle Tea” starts out slowly (with Stokes on the guitar) and a delicate xylophone playing along.  Then half way through, both accompanists start playing floor toms–one with stuff on it to deaden the sound and one (Will’s) with no deadening to really pound away.

I love the faster parts in the second song “Horse Comanche” and also how in the slower parts both guys sing lovely high harmonies.  It makes me laugh that the fellow who plays the melodica solo stands almost ramrod still while waiting for his time.  (He is actually Stoke’s brother, Will).  I have grown to really enjoy the melodica lately.  I love how the end of the song has the repeated refrain with great harmonies and the melodica all playing together.

Chad jokes after the song that “Comanche” has a dropped D E string and he always forgets to retune it live (and his brother says he forgets to remind him to re tune it) so half way through the next song “it goes Wah.”

The final song is called “I Want You Like a Seatbelt” which gets a laugh.  It is a funny title but it proves to be a great simile.  I love the vocal melody of this song.  And when it really gets going it is infectious.  It’s just way too short.

I need to dig into his back catalog.  And here’s a link to this great Tiny Desk.

[READ: April 10, 2015] “Democracy in Batumi”

Sometimes an excerpt from a novel (Waiting for the Electricity) piques my interest. In this case, however, it really didn’t.

In this excerpt, Slims Achmed Makasvili is from Batumi on the Black Sea.  He is writing to Hillary Clinton (we’re not told why to her specifically).  He says that Batumi is not very well-known.  The local dictator is tearing down old buildings, but Slims wants Clinton to know that Batumi is a natural port for petroleum deliveries.  He says that there are great business opportunities available for America here. Then he asks if she knows the movie Jesus Christ Superstar.

The next letter (they are undated so it is unclear how far apart they were written) talks about how Clinton’s version of democracy and his are quite different.  The Batumi Center for Democracy has expanded and even has an air conditioning unit. (more…)

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Raina Telgemeier–Sisters (2014)

Posted in Biography, Brian Eno, Calvin and Hobbes, Daniel Lanois, Foxtrot, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Parenting, Raina Telgemeier, Tiny Desk Concert, YA Books on May 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sistersSOUNDTRACK: DANIEL LANOIS-Tiny Desk Concert #415 (January 13, 2015).

lanoisI don’t really know very much about Daniel Lanois. I know he’s a great producer.  I know that he’s worked with Brian Eno on an umber of projects. I even know that he has at least one album out of his own.  But other than that he’s an enigma to me.

And he remains so here.

He and his bassist Jim Wilson and drummer Brian Blade, play three instrumentals that are more or less improvised.

Lanois stands with his back to the audience, facing the other two guys. And aside from some closeups of his gear, the only interesting thing visually that happens is that the drummer knocks over an LP during a song and picks it up.

Lanois’ gear is totally perplexing to me—there’s knobs and buttons but no keyboards, so I don’t know where the sounds are coming from.  The bassist keeps a steady rhythm while Lanois turns and spins and slides things. Musically it’s not all that interesting—it’s sort of mellow background electronica.

The best part of the whole deal is the drummer. He plays some amazing fills and runs on that snare and hi hat.  It’s amazing the complexity he is able to achieve with just a bass, snare and hi hat. He also smiles a lot which is nice to see from these rather dour men.

Lanois doesn’t say a thing during the set, not even when it’s over.  You can see it here.

[READ: February 10, 2015] Sisters

I really enjoyed Smile, although I found out about Smile when Sisters came out.  So this is a sequel to Smile (although Raina still has her braces on during the book, so I guess it’s more of a concurrent story).

As the story opens, Raina (age 14) and her family (her mom and dad. her baby brother (6) and, grr, her sister (age 9)) are visiting relatives in Colorado.  Their dad has some work to attend to so he will be flying in a few days later, but everyone else is going to hop in the van and drive from Colorado to California and then back–so that’s basically two weeks in the car and one week in California.  Ugh.

The only saving grace is that their van has three rows of seats so each girl has a seat to herself while their brother rides shotgun.

Before they head out, we see that Raina and her sister Amara are on each other’s nerves constantly–with Raina ultimately shouting “Why did I ever ask for a sister?!”  Then we see flashback of Raina as a young girl desperately wanting a sister to play with.  And when Amara finally came–Raina was in love–until she realized that the baby would be sharing room with her.  There’s a joke about Amara meaning “immortal” in Sanskrit and “love” in Latin and her father muttering “it also means bitter one.”  And it turns out that Amara is a pretty cranky kid–especially where Raina is concerned. (more…)

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Jill Sexsmith–“Airplanes Couldn’t Be Happier in Turbulence” (The Walrus, May 2015)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Horses, Humiliation, Jill Sexsmith, King Kong, Marriage Trouble, Neurotics, Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith, Short Story, The Walrus, tagged on May 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

2015-05SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Ted’s Wrecking Yard Toronto, ON (May 30, 2001).

twyFor this final show with Don Kerr, the band played for what seems like ever.  Darrin says he edited out any quiet bits so the show could fit on two discs, which it does.  And even at that it’s still about 2 and a half hours long.

Only five songs are repeated from the previous night (and they are all from the new album, except “Stolen Car,” which Martin sings on this night) and “Take Me in Your Hand” which is pretty awesome.  There’s also no Kevin on this night, so the set is full of a few of the more rocking songs (as opposed to the Harmelodia stuff).

 After a rocking “Fat” they play two rarely played songs “Remain Calm” and “The Idiot.”  But the set list is just a perfect collection of the songs that I love most: “Aliens,” “King of the Past,” “Saskatchewan,” “California Dreamline,” “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” and “Horses.”  Wow.

Some notes: “There’s an awkward introduction to “The Idiot” which they hadn’t played in a long time.  The “Aliens”/”King of the Past ” pair is great.  I also loved the way they run right into “Mumbletypeg” while Martin is still feed backing the previous song.  “Horses” has an angry chant from Dave (the “facts” chant) and you can really hear DB wailing on the acoustic guitar at the end of “Stolen Car.”

Don gives a nice thanks (he says he’s about to cry) and they open “Take Me in Your Hand” with a jaunty “Ob La Di” riff and lyrics about Don.

There’s a lot of banter, including an Ed the Sock joke (“Don Kerr fired by Ed the Sock.”)  It’s a wonderful ending to a wonderfully time with Don Kerr.  Incidentally, Ted’s closed in 2001 as well, and the band, who played many multinight sets there moved their Green Sprouts Week to The Horsehoe.

This is a great show, and the sound is outstanding.  And since Don is leaving to play with Ron Sexsmith, here’s a story by Jill Sexsmith (presumably unrelated).

[READ: April 25, 2015] “Airplanes Couldn’t Be Happier in Turbulence”

I enjoyed the way this story began with some very down to earth information and then ends in a preposterous and yet still strangely believable situation.  It’s about exasperation and the need to do something, anything, when everything feels out of control.

Madison (it’s hard to believe that there are grown women with that name) has wanted to scale the Empire State Building ever since she watched King Kong as a kid.  Her husband, Frank, is a grounded individual, an actuary who is full of facts and statistics.  When she says she want to go there, he says “There’s a 0.28 percent chance of getting pistol whipped” in New York City.  He also quips, I suppose you want a  pony, too.  She jokes that she does, although she is afraid of horses–especially ponies, the “kneecap biting form of the horse” (I can attest to this, having been bitten on the kneecap by my neighbors supposedly nice pony).

Madison has never taken a vacation from her job.  She is anxious at the thought of empty days in front of her.  Her boss and coworkers keep trying to get her to go.  This year for her birthday she and Frank are going to New York City.  Her boss throws a going away party even though two of the four days are on the weekend. (more…)

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