I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: KEATON HENSON-Tiny Desk Concert #293 (August 3, 2013).

Keaton Henson is a quiet guitar player.  He plays delicately (although his amp is turned up pretty loud so we can hear everything clearly).  He sings quietly as well.

After the first song, he even speaks quietly and apologizes for bringing everyone down on a Friday afternoon.

The blurb jokes:

The day before Keaton Henson arrived to play the Tiny Desk, we hosted a group called The No BS! Brass Band, a nearly dozen-piece horn section with an almost brutal (and totally amazing) sound. It was one of the loudest and most thrilling, heart-pounding Tiny Desk sets we’ve ever had.

Keaton Henson’s performance could not have been more unlike the show the day before. When a cozy crowd of curious listeners showed up the next day to see him play, I asked everyone to get as close as they could, without freaking out the admittedly shy singer from London. Don’t let the presence of this fantastic recording (by our engineer Kevin Wait) fool you. Henson’s voice was so fragile and hushed, if you were 10 feet away you would have barely heard a peep from him.

Remarkably, Henson has only been playing music for a couple years; he took up the guitar to help heal his broken heart after a failed relationship. He’s also a poet and illustrator who’s released one graphic novel called Gloaming and is already at work on another. For this Tiny Desk performance, Henson performed three songs from his new album, Birthdays.

“You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are” opens with some pretty, vibratoed harmonics before the guitar strumming comes in properly.  “Sweetheart What Have You Done To Us” has a very cool section in which the chords shift up by a half step which changes the tone of the song quite a bit.  It’s interesting that he’s recorded so closely and loudly that you can hear everything–mildly errant strings or unexpected note playing (he uses his thumb as a pick).  You can also hear how carefully he is miked for this set because you can practically hear the water going down his throat as he drinks it.  “You” plays with a rising and falling melody as it rumbles under Keaton’s delicate voice.

[READ: June 20, 2016] Sidekicks

I recognized Santat’s style from the fun picture book Oh No!  Sarah brought home this book and I thought it looked really fun.  And it was.

The premise is by now familiar (although since he did it 5 years ago, this book might be more original than it seems).  And it does take the whole idea of superheroes at home in a rather new direction.

The book opens on Roscoe, a large dog, waiting for his master to get home.  His fellow pet, a hamster named Fluffy, is chowing down on snacks while they watch TV.  Roscoe gets mad at Fluffy since Harry will be home soon and they are just sitting around.  Then Harry appears on the TV, crashing to the ground.  For Harry is in fact Captain Amazing.  He ensures the TV viewers that everything is under control.

But then he sees that he has crashed into a Nuts cart.  And he freaks out because he is allergic to peanuts (a hilarious premise for a superhero weakness).

When Harry gets home, he ignores the pets and begins talking on the phone.  He explains that the allergic reaction was pretty intense and he’ll be out of work for a bit.  He also thinks that maybe he’s getting older and he should get a new sidekick.  But he promises no pets this time.  No way!

Meanwhile, a box has appeared at Harry’s house and inside is a chameleon.  Harry is pretty delighted to have a new pet and decides to call him Shifty (because he is shifty-eyed).  Roscoe and Fluffy are none too pleased to have yet another pet in the house, but Shifty proves to be funny and resourceful.

This proves to be especially true when both Roscoe and Fluffy decide that, despite Harry’s promise to have no pets as sidekicks, the two of them have planned to become his new sidekick.  Fluffy dons a USA costume and chases after a thieving racoon.  Shifty offers to be Fluffy’s sidekick.  But when he runs into an alleys, there are three cats drooling at him.  As they cower from the cats a shadowy figure called The Claw appears.  Fluffy and Shifty are terrified until Fluffy says he knows that guy.  And indeed, The Claw proves to be Manny.

Turns out that Manny was Captain Awesome’s old sidekick (and the former pet of their house) whose nickname was Static Cat. Manny is more or less prowling the alleys doing his good deeds and wishing to be left alonbe.  But Fluffy convinces him to help them use their powers for good.  And things are going pretty well.  Until they see Metal Mutt (that’s Roscoe in costume).  Roscoe is actually a pretty tough dog.

And soon, there is a battle over who will be Captain Awesome’s new sidekick (in fact there are auditions and some 5,000 applicants show up).

Meanwhile, there’s a new superhero on the prowl. His name is Wonder Man and he is capturing all of the villains in Metro City.  Something seems off about him.  Is Manny right?  Is this Wonder Man trouble?

There’s a few threads going on in this clever story and they all meld together wonderfully at the end.

This story was funny and clever and played with superhero tropes in really interesting ways.  I really enjoyed it.