SOUNDTRACK: STEVE KIMOCK-Tiny Desk Concert #532 (May 16, 2016).
I’d never heard of Steve Kimock before. He is a guitar player, evidently known for his improvisational playing.
Based on that, I was doubly surprised that the first song not only had vocals, but that they were by someone else in the band (the unnamed female pianist). “Careless Love” sounds incredibly familiar. Even on the first listen, it sounded like I’d heard it before–the vocal melody and her voice, the bass riff, everything seemed familiar, although I’m still not sure if I actually know it.
Kimock’s guitar is metal (or aluminum). It’s quite unusual looking–all shiny and silver. It’s a hollow body but it sounds unlike an acoustic guitar. He’s joined by Bobby Vega on bass–and his bass is so smooth (even on this acoustic).
For the second song, he switches to a hollow bodied electric guitar. He says that “Tongue N’ Groove” is an oldie for himself and Vega (for whom it is also very early in the morning). The singer switches to piano for this instrumental that has a light jazzy feel. It’s quite a lovely song.
For the final song, “Surely This Day,” he switches to an acoustic guitar which he plays across his lap (and uses a slide). This is beautiful solo song with some wonderful moments.
[READ: February 15, 2016] Exquisite Corpse
I really enjoyed this First Second comic. It was translated by Alexis Siegel and it doesn’t feel translated at all.
This is the first book by Bagieu that I have read and I immediately loved her style which has simple lines but also subtle shading. It feels at time realistic and at times cartoony.
The story focuses on Zoe. She is working as a kind of model–a pretty girl who stands near things like cars or boats or whatever. She doesn’t love the job (who would) and on the second day we see a guy honks her ass. The other models are doing the work part-time to put their way through school, but Zoe is the only one with no other options. They tell her she should change jobs or stop complaining.
On the subway ride home we see she is not so made up and by the time she gets home her hair is a mess and she is wearing a plain old T-shirt. Her boyfriend is a real tool (he’s the most overtly unbelievable character in the story).
The story shifts perspective to a writer who looks a little like the cartoon Woody Allen character. He is not working. He looks out the window and Zoe spies him staring. So she rings his bell and goes up.
He is freaking out that she is coming to his room. He thinks that she is a reporter looking to ask questions. But she just wants to use the toilet and maybe flirt a little. She has no idea he is the famous author Thomas Rocher.
He quickly goes from being afraid of her to being annoyed that she has no idea who he is. And then he winds up inviting her to come back again. This all works as a major inspiration for him to start writing again.
Eventually she visits him again. He is super nice to her until she asks one too many questions, then he gets mad and storms off. But she still tells all her friends about him, which makes him more “real” to her.
Soon she is spending all of her time there and eventually she moves in with him. She throws herself at him and they spend a weekend in bed together. But when she asks him to go for walk with her he refuses. He says he never goes outside. She doesn’t understand it,
Things get even weirder when she sees him with another woman at the kitchen table and it turns out to be his ex-wife! She is now his editor and is exited that he is writing again.
And then several things come to light at once–Thomas’ former marriage–his writing success and subsequent slump and then his astonishing secret (which makes the title of the story all the better).
This was such a great story. The more I read the more I loved the way Zoe was drawn–sexy and flirtatious without being exaggerated. Her hair conveying so much and the occasional panel where her eyes go from sort of normal to really cartoonlike. It was so effective.
And the ending was magnifique.
#10yearsof01
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