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Archive for January, 2016

Louise Erdrich–“The Reptile Garden” (New Yorker, January 28, 2008)

Posted in Anaïs Nin, Drugs, Hospitals, Louise Erdrich, Mariachi Flor De Toloache, Native Americans, New Yorker, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on January 11, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1282008SOUNDTRACK: MARIACHI FLOR DE TOLOACHE-Tiny Desk Concert #499 (January 8, 2016).

florI enjoyed Mariachi El Bronx not too long ago.  I guess I didn’t expect much more from Mariachi Flor De Toloache.  But wow, they blew me away.

I compared them to Mariachi El Bronx because they also wear the traditional Mariachi outfit and they use the somewhat comically over sized guitarron (played by Lisa Maree Dowling).

But about a minute through the first song, “Let Down” when the three women sing harmony (a wonderful three-part harmony)–it’s already amazing.  And it just gets better.

“Let Down” is a slow song sung (in English and Spanish) by Shae Fiol who also plays vihuela (which has a great sound for a tiny four-stringed guitar).  The trumpet solo (by Anna Garcia) is great and interesting and the pizzicato violin notes really add character.  But when the song suddenly picks up tempo half way through it gets really fun.  And then Shae sings the first of several beautiful and amazingly long notes.

The second song is a cumbia called “Dicen.”  This one is sung by the violinist Mireya Ramos who says “dont be shy, shake you shoulders “.  There’s group harmony and then she gets the audience to sing the chorus “Ay Ay Ay.”  The song merges into a verse of “Blue Skies” which makes the song even more fun.  Shae sings this part and once again shows off her vocal skills with some more amazingly powerful high notes.  And then Mireya really shows off her fiddling skills with a great solo and some dexterous bow work.  And then she shows off her own amazing vocal notes–holding an incredibly long note through several octaves with great control.

After those first two songs (16 minutes worth), they do yet another one.  This one straight from Mexico (the roots of mariachi) called “Guadalajara.”  It opens with great harmony vocals and a cool vihuela strumming until the trumpet announces a good old mariachi song.  Shae once again amazes with her high shrieks and calls.  And by this time the entire audience (even those of us listening at home) are totally into it.

How do they hold these notes for so long?  (Some are around fifteen seconds). It is truly a wonder to behold.

This was only a fraction of the band and apparently when they are all together live they are really something to see.

[READ: January 9, 2015] “The Reptile Garden”

With a name like “The Reptile Garden,” this story did not do anything that I thought it was going to. In fact, when I finished I had to rethink the story to remember why it was even called that.  That’s pretty cool (since it works).

The story is set in the fall of 1972.  The narrator is a half Native American woman who is going to study at the University of North Dakota.  She is very smart but she knows she doesn’t fit in.  She chose to study French because she dreamed of going to Paris some day.

She says the white girls listen to Joni Mitchel and grow their hair long, while other girls–Dakota, Chippewa or mixed blood like her were less obvious on campus.  Aside from a few who swaggered and had American Indian Movement boyfriends.  (more…)

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T. Coraghessan Boyle–“Ash Monday” (New Yorker, January 21, 2008)

Posted in Basia Bulat, Fire, Japan, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Rats, Short Story, T. Coraghessan Boyle, T.C. Boyle, Tiny Desk Concert on January 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

S2008_01_21OUNDTRACK: BASIA BULAT-Tiny Desk Concert #106 (January 24, 2011).

basiaFor some sad reason, this video cuts off about half way through the second song, so you need to watch it on YouTube instead.  Basia Bulat is a Canadian singer of Polish descent.  She’s adorable and plays weird instruments.  What’s not to like?

The first song “The Shore” is done entirely on a pianoette–she may be the only singer to play one.  The pianoette is a zither-like instrument with a strummed section and a hammered section.  Her voice is low and breathy.  And when, during the second verse, her backing band’s harmonies come in, it’s quite breathtaking.

The second song is done on guitar. It’s a Polish folks song–she says it was a big hit in the 60s in communist Poland.  She sings it in Polish and says it was a great way to learn her Polish words and pronunciations.  “W Zielonym Zoo” means “In The Green Zoo.”  It’s cute how happy and smiley she is as she explains this song.  It begins with just her on guitar and it’s quite a delight when Holly Coish on ukulele, Allison Stewart on viola and Ben Whiteley on bass join in.

pianoetteHer brother Bobby Bulat joins her on percussion for “Heart Of My Own.”  This song is louder and more dramatic and a lot of fun. The final song  “In The Night” is one she normally plays on the autoharp (see, unusual instruments) but she didn’t have it so she plays a rollicking guitar version with the full band (there’s some great violin solos in it).  Just before it starts she says that if it sucks, don’t use it.  It doesn’t suck at all.

I really like Bulat’s music a lot and this is a great way to witness it up close.  And here’s a picture of a pianoette.

[READ: January 8, 2015] “Ash Monday”

I wasn’t sure how much I would like this story (same old intro from me) because I didn’t like the main character (or one of the two main characters).  Dill is a delinquent.  He’s 13 and with a car (well, he has the car, he just cant drive it).  And hes loves the smell of gasoline.

When his mother tells him to goes outside to light the grill (as he does most nights–his mom doesn’t cook in the house apparently), he puts gasoline in it to light it up.  On this night he discovers a rat in the grill, so he takes the opportunity to dose the rat with the gasoline and set it on fire.  (If you’re squeamish, there is also the death of hundreds of chinchillas although that is from natural causes).

We don’t learn much about Dill’s mother except that her husband is gone and she is looking to date someone new.

The scene cuts to the next door neighbor, Sanjuro Ishiguro (Dill calls him “Itchy-goro” and once called him a motherfucking gook).  Ishiguro is a respectable businessman.  He works long hours often getting to work before everyone else.  And although he gets along with his workmates, he is definitely not one of them.  They like to ask him about sports when they know he knows nothing about it. (more…)

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E.L. Doctorow–“Wakefield” (New Yorker, January 14, 2008)

Posted in E.L. Doctorow, Iron & Wine, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Unreliable narrator, WNYC--93.9 New York, Yuck! on January 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

1.14.2008 SOUNDTRACK: IRON & WINE-Tiny Desk Concert #105 (January 21, 2011).

irionwineI have enjoyed Iron & Wine, but not extensively.  I knew that it was more or less a Sam Beam project (until recently, as the band has since grown in size).  And I knew that he sang beautiful folk songs. I did not know that he was such an amiable and sweet fellow.

For this Tiny Desk, Beam plays four songs.  Three are from his then new album, Kiss Each Other Clean, and they are great.  Beam’s voice sounds fantastic and his playing is excellent too.

After the first song, “Half Moon,” Bob Boilen asks him when he has time to write songs and Beam replies that he has less and less time.  He has to get up early to take the kids to school, so he works like a day job for song writing.

For the second song, “Big Burned Hand” he begins with the capo on fret five and then switches it to fret four apologizing that it’s early.  It’s another beautiful song.  At the end he apologizes for the word “fucking” in the final line (“the lion and the lamb are fucking in the back row”) but says that no other word would have had the same impact.  He doesn’t use words like that lightly in his songs.

He says that “Tree By The River” is a song he had been writing for ten years.  He was afraid it was always turning out saccharine, but thinks he finally got it.

Before playing the final song, Robin Hilton requests an old song (I can’t hear it) which Beam says he will butcher.  Robin says he will die happy if Beam plays it, but Beam says he’ll die unhappy if he plays it badly.  So instead, the final song is an older one, “Naked As We Came,” which has become a set-ender for the band.   Stephen Thompson says it’s great to hear this in this stripped down acoustic format instead of the full band version that has been common now.

And speaking of the full band, when Kiss Each Other Clean came out, the full band of Iron & Wine performed it live on WNYC (you can hear all four of these songs with the full band). And NPR has archived that performance, which you can download here.

[READ: January 7, 2015] “Wakefield”

I have always intended to read more from Doctorow, but he always seems to fall off my radar.  So I don’t know how this compares to his other works.  I really enjoyed it even if I felt like I had to suspend my disbelief a number of times in what was otherwise a somewhat realistic story.

Realistic or not, I really loved the conceit behind it.  The narrator and his wife of many years have had a fight about something stupid.  He went off to work as usual, but on the way home strange things happened.  First there is a problem with is train and he winds up arriving home much later than usual.  And then he finds there’s a power failure (it was interesting to read this right after Updike’s power failure story last week).

He gets out of his car and sees that there are raccoons behind the garage so he chases them away.  When he goes upstairs in the garage he sees that there are baby raccoons there too.  He chases them away and, since the power is still out and he is mentally taxed, he sits in a tattered rocking chair.

He only wakes up the next morning.  And he knows that his wife will never believe the truth. (more…)

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Tove Jansson–Moomin: Volume One (The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip) (2006)

Posted in Adventure, Animals, Ballake Sissoko, Boredom, Children's Books, Cute, Drawn & Quarterly, Evening News London, Funny (ha ha), Moomin, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, Tove Jansson, Vincent Segal, Yacouba Sissoko on January 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BALLAKE SISSOKO AND VINCENT SEGAL-Tiny Desk Concert #104 (January 17, 2011).

moomin 1sissokoBack in April 2010, another kora player with the same last name (Yacouba Sissoko) played a Tiny Desk Concert with Regina Carter.  Sissoko plays the kora and he is mesmerizing to watch (and to listen to).  Vincent Segal plays the cello and he does things with that instrument which I’ve never seen anybody do before.  It’s a great duo.

Together, the play some beautiful music.  On the first song, “Chamber Music,” Sissoko provides both the lovely backing music as well as some fast plucking.  And Segal keeps up and often outplays his partner.

For the second song, “Balazando,” Segal plays the cello like an upright bass and even plays a little bass solo (including some harmonics).  Then when Sissoko starts playing Segal, plays such high notes that it sounds almost like a flute and even has a Chinese feel to it.

Before the third song starts watch as Sissoko tunes the kora (by twist ting the ropes that hold the strings in place).  “Niandou” opens with Sissoko playing a fast melody (with an up close camera to really show his fingers).  Then Segal play a lovely riff of high notes on the cello.  The song ends with a very fast section–some quick bass playing on the cello followed by some very fast bowing before returning to the slow opening.

The fourth song features some cool harmonic bowing, the likes of which I’ve never seen on a cello before.  The end of the song sees Segal strumming the bowl like a guitar–he can do it all.

Together, they make some beautiful music.

[READ: January 5, 2015] Moomin Volume 1

Inspired by reading the D&Q 25th anniversary book, I decided to check out the books that have been sitting in the children’s section of my library every time I go–Moomin!  They are oversized and lovely books and since I’ve paused on Peanuts I thought I’d read some Moomin–which I have never read before.

It was fascinating to read in the D&Q 25th Anniversary book that Moomin started because Jansson tried to draw the ugliest creature she could think of.  And it eventually morphed into the adorable round creature that we know as Moomin.

This book contains four stories.  I feel like the strips are printed like an every day four panel strip.  Each four panel strip is signed and numbered (but not dated) and most of them (but not all) read like they have a punchline at the end.  So I’m not entirely sure what to make of the publishing run.  Although the front pages state that it originally ran in the Evening News, London 1953-1959.

The four stories are Moomin and the Brigands, Moomin and Family Life, Mooim on the Rivera and Moomin’s Desert Island. (more…)

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Seth Price—“Nice Insane” (Harper’s, July 2015)

Posted in Art, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Excerpt, Food, Harper's, Sean Lennon, Seth Price, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Tiny Desk Concert on January 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

july2015 SOUNDTRACK: THE GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER-Tiny Desk Concert #92 (November 17, 2010).

goastt  The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger is a band created by Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl.  I really liked their most recent album so I was pretty interested to hear this much earlier Tiny Desk Concert.

I love this acoustic pairing.  Lennon plays the acoustic guitar (and sings and sounds a bit like his father’s more delicate side.  Meanwhile, Charlotte plays a ton of instruments and sings as well.

The show starts with them talking about tambourines and how they are unavoidably loud (so Sean’s is on the floor).

“Jardin du Luxembourg” has some great chord changes and Charlotte’s lovely accordion (with a kind of French flair).  As with all of these songs, there’s interesting lyrics like, “people say your brain is like cream cheese it takes the shape of anything you please.”  At the end of the song, Charlotte comments that she tried to play the accordion quietly but if she does it sounds like it has emphysema.  Sean says that she just learned to play it ten days earlier.

For “Schroedinger’s Cat” she switches from accordion to melodica and xylophone.  Charlotte sings harmony along with Sean.  There are more interesting lyrics here too (trippy ones, of course).  It references Socrates, Aristotle, Dorian Gray and many more cultural touchstones.

On “Dark Matter, White Noise,” Charlotte plays bass (and sings lead on alternating verses).  The chorus is gorgeous again, with a sort of minor key tone.

“The World Was Made For Men”  is the first song they ever wrote together.  Again, they sing together and sound fantastic.

At the end of the show, he threatens to do a 2 hour tambourine solo.

GOASTT is really something.  I am bummed that they opened for a band I wanted to see this summer but was unable to attend.  I hope the two bands tour again together this year.

[READ: January 6, 2015] “Nice Insane”

This was the second short piece in this issue of Harper’s.  I don’t know Seth Price.  This is an excerpt from his novel Fuck Seth Price.

Generally, I dislike reading excerpts, although sometimes they make you want to read the full novel.  That did not happen in this case, though.

This excerpt focuses on the “moment of inspiration that had rejuvenated his [presumably Seth’s] painting career, making him rich but ultimately leading him to reject contemporary art.” (more…)

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Diane Williams—“A Little Bottle of Tears” (Harper’s, July 2015)

Posted in Diane Williams, Harper's, Heligoats, Huh?, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Troubled Hubble, Unreliable narrator on January 6, 2016| Leave a Comment »

july2015 SOUNDTRACK: THE HELIGOATS-Tiny Desk Concert #98 (December 15, 2010).

heligoat I thought that I would have written about all of 2010’s Tiny Desk shows last year, but it turns out that I missed two.  This was one and tomorrow’s will be the second.

According to the blurb, Stephen Thompson says that this was the 100th Tiny Desk Concert.  I have counted all the shows (twice) and using my counting method, I found this to be the 98th show.  So either this was aired out of order or they never aired two shows.  I have noticed that I’ve been off on all of their milestones, so something is up (and I’m pretty sure it’s not my counting).

Chris Otepka is the Heligoats. He has another band called Troubled Hubble, but Heligoats are his acoustic unplugged band.

In addition to singing unusual songs (he’s a songwriter for whom lyrics are very important (if not always comprehensible)), he tells some elaborate stories between songs.  His stories seem spontaneous, although I expect that they are not (especially the cremation story)

“Goodness Gracious” is a slower song (although he somehow makes a really full sound with just his (small) acoustic guitar).  There’s some great lyrics and twists of phrase in this song.  And his voice is quite nice, too.

“I’m Pretty Sure I Can See Molecules” is a song he says he started writing when he was 8 years old.  He says he liked pushing his fingers back into his eye sockets to see what kind of fractals appeared.  He gives a lengthy explanation about this phenomena which he says is the cause of floaters.  All of this is an introduction to this uptempo song.  I really like the somewhat “off” chord he plays between chorus and verse.

Before “A Guide to the Outdoors,” he talks about cremation and the metal parts in his body.  And about having his will explain about his robotic existence.  The song seems to be a letter written to the person who has found his dead body?  It’s surprisingly upbeat though.

The final song, “Fish Sticks,” is my favorite.  It is about a man named Carl Beakman who gets a grant to protect a wetland for migratory birds (I suspect all of this is nonsense, but whatever).  I like the way the song has super fast strumming and the bouncy chord progression in the verses.

The Heligoats require close listening, and the songs are worth it.

[READ: January 6, 2015] “A Little Bottle of Tears”

As part of last year’s push to read a lot of books, I blew off most of my magazines.  So this year I’m going to get back to all the issues I missed and I’m going to try to keep up with my subscriptions going forward.

I’m starting with the Harper’s that I hadn’t read in 2015 and then I’m going to move on to the errant New Yorkers.

I’m starting with this story.

I haven’t really liked any of Diane Williams’ stories.  I find them maddeningly elliptical.  She has some excellent sentences and turns of phrase but as for an entire story, I’m always left wondering what I just read.

This is a short piece about how people could have better friendships if they weren’t so old. (more…)

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John Updike–“Outage” (New Yorker, January 7, 2008)

Posted in John Updike, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Power Failure, Rapsody, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on January 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

17208SOUNDTRACK: RAPSODY-Tiny Desk Concert #498 (January 5, 2016).

rapsAs part of my New Year’s resolution, I’m going to try to keep up with the Tiny Desk shows as they happen.

This is the first Tiny Desk Concert of 2016, and I’m afraid it was pretty disappointing.

Rapsody is a rapper, but I feel like she doesn’t have a lot of flow.  Or if she does, it’s kind of slow and meandering.  There was nothing really captivating about her style.  And her rhymes weren’t all that exciting either.

“Godzilla” is a very pro-God song (the twist on God and Zilla is interesting), but the song isn’t that inspired.  She spends most of the song asking people to clap (the room is full of students from Howard University).  Her rhymes are just not that interesting in this song.

Her second song (with a horrific cheesy sax solo throughout) has a great premise–a song about the boys who have grown up too fast because they lack strong black fathers.  The problem with it is that a song like this, which could be powerful as a message, has a chorus of “I been the motherfuckin ….”  Which ain’t going garner much airplay.

“Hard to Choose” is about being a black female in hip hop.  She wanted to be a good role model for young girls.  Once again, her flow isn’t that exciting and her rhymes don’t really  do much for me.  Of course, she disses hipsters who don’t understand, and I guess that’s me.

Rapsody has some great messages.  I wish her a lot of success and I hope that her positive messages are heard by millions.  I just wont be listening.

[READ: January 5, 2015] “Outage”

As part of my new year’s resolution, I’m going to read all of the old New Yorker stories from 2008-2015 to fill in any gaps (I’ve missed about 50 stories in seven years).  In a few months I should have all of the stories from 2008-2016 (or close to the current story as possible) read and posted.  How exciting!

This was something of a perfect short story and a great way to start the back issues.

I don’t read a lot of Updike, for no particular reason.  So I don’t really know if this is the kind of thing he typically writes.   But the way it was constructed and the details he put in made this story seem so effortless and very true.

Set in the suburbs of Boston, Brad Morris is working from home when a storm comes through the area.  The weatherpersons had made a huge deal out of it since they are “always eager for ratings-boosting disasters.”  But the actual weather seemed to be on and off heavy rain.

And then just as the storm seemed to be over, the power went our.  The description, “the house seemed to sigh, as all its lights and little engines, its computerized timers and indicators, simultaneously shut down.”  That is exactly right. (more…)

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Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels (2015)

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Anouk Ricard, Archer Prewitt, Archer Prewitt, Big Books, Brecht Evens, Brecht Vandenbroucke, Canadian Content, Chester Brown, Chris Oliveros, Chris Ware, Consumerism, Daniel Clowes, Diane Obomsawin, Doug Wright, Drawn & Quarterly, Frank King, Funny (ha ha), Guy Delisle, Helge Dascher, Humiliation, Interviews, Jillian Tamaki, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, John Stanley, Julie Doucet, Kate Beaton, LGBTQ, Library Related, Marc Bell, Marriage Trouble, Menstruation, Moomin, oshihiro Ratsumi, Pascal Girard, Peter Bagge, Seiichi Hayashi, Seth, Sex, Shigeru Mizuki, Supernatural, Surreal, The Coctails, The Sea and Cake, Tom Gauld, Translation, Unfinished series, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, Yuck! on January 4, 2016| Leave a Comment »

dq25SOUNDTRACK: ARCHER PREWITT-“O, KY” (2005).

wikldernessArcher Prewitt formed The Coctails (a kitschy lounge act) in the early 90s, several years before the lounge revival.  Then he joined The Sea and Cake and has been making amazing music with them.  And he has also released several solo albums.

He has also published some comics (Sof’ Boy) with Drawn & Quarterly.

This song comes from his album Wilderness.  The title of the song is clever, too.

It’s upbeat and folky with a little psychedlia and rock thrown in.  I like Prewitt’s voice quite a bit–it’s simple but really strong.  But the selling point on this song (and others from this album that I have listened to) is the composition and arrangement of these songs.

I like the way this one goes from simple guitar to orchestration (although presumably not a real orchestra) for the chorus.  And how post chorus there are flutes and other instruments to pick up the momentum which adds a vaguely psychedelic feel to it.

At four minutes (the song is five) it changes direction entirely and turns into a nearly new song with big guitars and drums. And it rather rocks.

And just to make Archer the all around dude that he is.  He also drew the cover art.  Jeez.  He’s probably super nice and friendly, too.

[READ: January 3, 2016] Drawn and Quarterly: Twenty Five Years 

I have liked a lot of D+Q books for a long time, although I never really considered a comprehensive look at their publishing house.  This book–about 775 pages long–is about as comprehensive as it gets.

This book contains a few previously published cartoons and excerpts as well as a whole slew of previously unpublished pieces.  There are essays and histories and reminiscences and love love love for the little Montreal graphic novel publisher.

I didn’t know much about the history of D+Q–that Chris Oliveros started the publisher in 1989 out of his house.  That he was the only employee for years.  And that he was essential in getting the term “graphic novel” used by everyone–including the library of congress!

He weathered distribution problems, he weathered the rise and fall of indie comics in the late 90s and he has come through with some of the most beautiful books published.  D+Q has also brought attention to foreign artists as well as out of print artists.

Really, if you have any respect for graphic novels (that aren’t superhero-based) you owe thanks to D+Q. (more…)

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Alex Brian–Diary of a Minecraft Creeper (2015)

Posted in C., Minecraft, Unfinished series, Unfunny on January 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

creeperSOUNDTRACK: TOP 20 MINECRAFT SONGS [Youtube link] (2014).

tntI genuinely didn’t know what to pair with this terrible book.

So, why not pair it with 20 Minecraft parodies.  In keeping with the terrible quality of this book, this link on YouTube counts down from 10 to 1 and then repeats songs and labels only some of them.  It’s a mess.  But it’s obviously made by a fan who wanted to string stuff together and isn’t trying to sell anything.

I will say that in general I really like the quality of the music that the parodists produce for these parodies.  They actually do try to recreate the sounds.  And they do a good job.

And C.  and T. love the TNT parody.  They have listened to it so much that when I heard the real song (Taio Cruz’ “Dynamite”) recently I thought I can’t believe they are playing that Minecraft song in this store.

And no I didn’t listen to the entire hour of this video.

[READ: January 3, 2016] Diary of a Minecraft Creeper

I saw this book in the library catalog and decided to get it for C.  since he loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Minecraft.  And as you can see from the cover this book is clearly appealing to fans of both (by ripping off both, obviously).

I picked up the book and was shocked to see the that the font was I would say 22 pt double spaced on every page.  There are basically 11 lines of text per page with some blank pages between chapters. You could, literally, read this in 3 minutes.  Which C. did.  And then he said. It is terrible.  Well, but I guess it is funny.

So he asked that I read it.  And it is terrible.  And maybe funny if you are 10.

I can only hope that it was written by a ten year old and that his parents vanity published it for him.  (more…)

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P. Craig Russell–Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung (2014)

Posted in Big Books, Books about music, Gods, Graphic Novel, HMSTR, Marriage Trouble, Myths, P. Craig Russell, Patrick Mason, Richard Wagner, Sex, Supernatural, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Violence, Yuck! on January 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

rhineSOUNDTRACK: HMSTR-Tiny Desk Concert #413 (December 24, 2014).

hmstrThe only thing I could think of to pair with a complete telling of Wagner’s Ring Cycle (aside from the entire thing itself, which… forget about it), was the smallest, most inconsequential music I could find.

Enter HMSTR.

HMSTR played the Tiny Desk Christmas show in 2014.  And really, they must be seen to be believed.  Not because they are spectacular, but because the joke isn’t really very funny if you just listen to the music.

Starting with some bizarre synth sounds, after 20 seconds the songs bursts into a lo-fi punk anthem.  It’s all buzzing guitars and a simple synth over some majorly lo fi drums.  There’s even a somewhat catchy “chorus” section.  After a minute, the guitars fade and sleigh bells signal the end of the song.

So whats the joke?  See for yourself

All in a tiny Tiny Desk setting.

[READ: May 20, 2015] Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung

Yes, this is a massive graphic novel depicting Wagner’s “Music Dramas.”  The text was translated by Patrick Mason and then Russell adapted the whole thing to fit his story.

Everyone loves “Flight of the Valkyries,” but hardly anyone has listened to the entire Ring (it’s 4 operas and 15 hours long).  Except for the Bugs Bunny version, of course.  I have been interested in the Ring for a long time, but I wasn’t willing to devote that much time to it either.  So this book is perfect. (more…)

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