I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: NEKO CASE-Tiny Desk Concert #316 (October 31, 2013).

I was pretty excited when this show happened, because NPR streamed it live.  But I gather they have since edited it down and there’s no finding that full version.

But that’s all fine because I don’t know that all that much has been cut out.  And we still have evidence of Neko Case singing in a gorilla suit and Kelly Hogan (of the gorgeous pipes) sings with her eyeball in a bird’s mouth.

Her band plays three songs from her then new album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You.

It’s funny that the tone when she arrives is spooky (with a heart beat and whispered comments), but when they begin “Night Still Comes,” it sounds as beautiful as ever.  The music is spare–just keys and drums, but between Neko and Kelly’s vocals, the sound is amazing.

For “Calling Cards” the keyboardist switches to guitar and, delightfully, Kelly Hogan uses the blades from a Garden Weasel as beautiful chimes.  We have the same tiller and they really do sound clear and pretty like that.  It’s also delightful to hear Kelly’s voice coming out of a creepy skeleton creature.

The final song is “the spookiest number”… “it could get stabby.”  Neko says she tried to get a sexy gorilla costume, but they were out.  “Local Girl” features one of the best Kelly Hogan vocal lines: “you know you do all of you shame on you all of you lie.”  I can’t help but think that Neko brings the best out in Kelly.  And of course, Neko’s voice sounds great all the way through the set.

The show is just way too short for how good it is!

Happy Halloween!

[READ: September 8, 2016] Ogres Awake!

I’ve really enjoyed the books in The Adventures in Cartooning series, and that includes the Adventures in Cartooning Jr. Books, like this one.

These books are all short (which makes it hard to write about them without spoiling everything), but they’re a lot of fun and they work hard at helping young kids learn to draw.

The Knight is playing fetch with Edward, his horse.  They hear a rumble and plan to go inside before it rains, but then the Knight notices that Ogres are all around the castle, sleeping.  He knows how much trouble the ogres can cause so he runs to tel the king.

En route, he rushes through the castle, knocking things over in the kitchen and causing commotion.  He finally gets to the king who is very busy reading a comic. He finally tells the Knight not to worry.  (I actually guessed that the Knight would cause more damage than the Ogres, but that’s not the direction they went with this story.  Rather, the king leads him outside to the garden, where the gnomes are waiting.

The Knight is upset that they are in a smelly old onion patch.  But the gnomes loudly defend their garden.  There are beets and sweet potatoes and Lima beans and corn.  The Knight is outraged that a war is on and their making a salad!

Well, the Knight is put to the test with a blade (in an unexpected way).  Could the gnomes in the kitchen be making a potion that makes the knight 300 feet tall?  We can only hope.

The inside front cover shows you how to draw the Knight in many poses, including as a tuba player and as a master of disguise.  And you can learn to draw Edward running (fast!), or angry or as a space explorer.

The back page shows the new characters and how to draw them.  So there’s the gnomes: struttin’, dancin’ and sleepy ; and there’s also the ogres: standing, attacking and checking the news (on his phone).

As with the other books in this series, this one was very cute and a lot of fun.

#10yearsof01