I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES-Tiny Desk Concert #410 (December 6, 2014).

Paul Janeway stands on Bob Boilen’s desk wearing gold shoes  and singing his heart out.  Janeway is the lead singer of St. Paul and the Broken Bones, a seven-piece soul band based out of Alabama.

Janway has a powerful voice and sings in a very old-school soul style.  The Broken Bones consist of two guitarist, a keyboardist, a trombone, a trumpet and drums.

They play three songs, “Half the City,” and “Call Me” (in which he does some great shuffle dances on the desktop and seems to almost fall off the desk) are full throttle dancing soul music.  The final song is kind of a sad song, a story about how the band got together called “Broken Bones and Pocket Change.”

There’s a funny moment when Bob asks if he’s hot way up there and he Janeway replies, “Is it hot?  Naw man, we’re from Alabama.”

The band was fairly new back in 2014, but I see that as of this week, they have a  new album coming out. So good for them.

[READ: March 1, 2016] The Zabîme Sisters

When I read this book, back in March, I had been reading a lot of First Second graphic novels (I’m very close to having read them all!).  And reading this publishers entire catalog has led me to read amazingly detailed and interesting stories about real events.  And that’s pretty awesome.

This story is set in Guadeloupe, but unlike some of the other real-life stories of horror and degradation that I’ve read, this one is a simple story of childhood in a Caribbean island.

Not a lot happens, and yet the story is charming and enjoyable.

The story is told in 3 parts.  It is about three sisters, I’m not sure if they are triplets or just close on age.  I like how they have similar features but distinctive hair.

The first part is The Sinkhole.  We learn that there is going to be a huge fight at the school today at 10AM.  One of the sisters is very excited to watch it (I assume she is the oldest).  The fight is between Vivien (the terror) and someone else (who could it be? they wonder).   The other two girls don’t really care about the fight they just want to have fun on a non-school day.

While they are out playing, one of them gets her foot trapped in a sinkhole, but the real story comes when two boys walk down the path.  One of them has stolen (and broken)his father’s pipe and he s pretty despondent about it..

Part Two focuses on the Broken Pipe, but it opens with a young angry boy who yells at all the others because they are in his father’s mango tree.  This all leads toward the action of the fight.

Part Three is “You’re All Chicken” and shows the kids gathering for the fight.  While the fight is going on, and the oldest sister is watching, the other two sisters ran off to a cabin for a picnic.  Who would have guessed that someone brought a bottle of rum along with her?

Part Four is the actual fight and we find out that who Vivien is going to fight.  Vivien is full of bluster (and brings a dog with him). The kids are afraid of him, but he seems to be all talk, especially as his enemy hangs around longer and longer.

I love that it ends not ambiguously exactly but letting you know that after a of these events, life will continue as it always had, more or less.  And that’s ok.

The afterword explains about Aristophane’s life.  He was born in Guadeloupe and then moved to Paris to study art.  He made a series of short graphic stories in the 90s.  This book was his final book before his death in 2004 (at 37).  It was translated by Matt Madden.  This book shows a new technique to his lines.

Initially I was unimpressed by Aristophane’s art.  The opening scenes of the girls in bed are so dark (intentionally so, it turns out) that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make anything out in the story.  But it comes around very nicely and soon you realize that his style is really interesting–it feels like brush work but evidently isn’t.  And he really plays with textures nicely.

For ease of searching, I include: The Zabime Sisters.