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Archive for April, 2017

Fiona Maazel–“Let’s Go to the Videotape” (Harper’s, June 2016)

Posted in Advice, Americas Funniest Home Videos, Anderson .Paak, Cars, Death, Harper's, Marriage (Happy), Parenting, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on April 6, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ANDERSON .PAAK & THE FREE NATIONALS-Tiny Desk Concert #558 (August 15, 2016).

I had heard so many great reviews of  Anderson .Paak but I didn’t really like his album.  But I love this Tiny Desk—there’s something great about this live set.  First off, I love that he’s on the drums–and I love Paak’s drumming—all high hats and rim shots and total funk.  Especially when he starts tapping with his fingers on the snare.  And I really love the funky sound of the keys and the bass.

For this Tiny Desk, they reworked three cuts from Malibu,

Guitarist Jose Rios and bassist Kelsey Gonzalez inject a hard-rock edge into the Hi-Tek-produced “Come Down.”  He opens this by saying, “This song is appropriate since its like a sauna in here right now.”  (The opening lyrics are: Y’all niggers go t me hot.”  It is fun and funky and a great opener.  At the end, he asks the bassist: “What is that song about, Jose?  Coming down off of what?  Substances?  That’s what you into?”  “No. Naw.”  “I like water myself.”

The second song “Heart Don’t Stand A Chance” features a lot of keyboards.  It’s a slow, groovy song.  Much more soulful than funky.

“Put Me Thru” is really funky.  He says “This song is about Jose’s ex-girlfriend.  She still your ex-right?”  “Yea.”  When it ends he jokes Tiny Desk, Big Heart.

Normally bands play 3 songs, but everyone is so into the set that they get to play one more.  “What else y’all wanna play?  Should we do requests?” Someone shouts, “Suede”  And he shouts, “OH!  I though this was a more cultured, mature….  So you all like being called bitches over here?”  He cautions, “I talk a lotta shit on this song, is that okay?”  We’ve never done this song like this.  He asks Jose, “Go over the notes. You know the chords?”  “It’s only a loop—only two chords.”  They all laugh.

“Suede” is a super funky, pretty vulgar song.  But .Paak is so charming, it’s hard to criticize.  Especially at the end of the show when he says, “That actually my mom’s favorite song.”

[READ: September 5, 2016] “Let’s Go to the Videotape”

This was a fascinating story about a widow who submits a video of his child to Americas Funniest Home Videos.  His son, Gus, was riding a bike for the first  time.  As he was going along, he hit a rock and flew over his handle bars into the bushes.  His helmet pulled down over his eyes.  Nick kept filming, seeing that he wasn’t hurt.  And then Gus looked up and said “Daddy, am I okay?”

Nick sent the video to some friends and they all thought it was very funny.

The video had made it to the finals and they were in the studio watching the other finalists’ videos.  And then it was their turn.

Gus was very uncomfortable–mostly because of his clothes but also because of the attention. (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–new television (Harper’s, June 2016)

Posted in Acting, Film & TV, Harper's, Korn, Politicians, Prince, Rivka Galchen, Ro James, Tiny Desk Concert on April 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RO JAMES–Tiny Desk Concert #584(December 5, 2016).

I’d never heard of Ro James, but he reminds me a lot of Prince (never a bad thing).  He sings a kind of R&B that is more than R&B, like Prince.  Although he sings mostly in an almost rapping style, he has an admirable falsetto.  But when he starts really singing, he’s got a great roughness in his voice–just like Prince.  And the blurb tells us that it’s okay that he sounds like Prince:

Lots of us try to be cool, but the trick has always been in the subtleties; they’re what allow us to walk that thin line between cool and corny. Enter Ro James.

Ask where he’s from, and James will say, “Everywhere.” He spent his childhood and teenage years from Germany to New York, and from Hawaii to Indiana. Rosie Gaines of Prince’s New Power Generation is his aunt, so James comes by his coolness honestly. In 2013, James independently dropped his EP, Coke, Jack And Cadillacs. His debut album, Eldorado, exemplifies that cool. It’s a hazy ride that explores love, lust and other vices without the lovey-dovey clichés. The album always feels current, even as his slick wordplay and acoustic vibe could easily slide it into a ’70s or ’90s hit list.

James and his band [Marlon Lewis (drums); Greg Moore (guitar); Eric Whatley (bass)] recently stopped by the NPR Music offices to play two tracks that seem tailor-made for a Tiny Desk concert, as well as a deconstructed version of his club jam from Eldorado. His falsetto falls right in the pocket with the lead guitar of his breakout hit, “Permission.” This new arrangement of his follow-up single, “Already Knew That,” maintains the bounce of the studio version, but the restrained arrangement allows listeners to follow the playful words much better. In between songs, he asks, “Y’all hot, or is it just me?” — at which point a few in the audience immediately giggle and emphatically agree while fanning themselves. Ro James is still the coolest.

There’s not much more for me to add except that I was won over by him.  He describes “Already Knew That” as when you find somebody you like and their playing games with you: “you already knew that you want me as much as I like you.”  I was amused by the title of this song (which is the same as a Korn song and plays of a joke that we used to tell in grade school about what these letters stood for: “A.D.I.D.A.S. (All Day I)”: all day I dream about sexing you.  And yes, he was pretty hot in all that leather.

[READ: September 12, 2016] new television

In continuing with my publishing pieces from Rivka Galchen, here’s a piece about TV.

In this essay, Galchen reviews the miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a show that I would never in a million years watch.  When the nonsense with Simpson happened the first time, I may have been the only person in American who deliberately did not tune into the slow chase.  I chose any channel that it wasn’t on. And all through the trial I tried my best to ignore everything.  Which wasn’t easy.  And now years later, it has all come back again.  And I still don’t care.

Despite my lack of interest in the show and spectacle, I did enjoy Galchen’s analysis.  I liked her comparison of the treatment of Marcia Clark to the treatment of Hillary Clinton in this election season (and we see how that turned out). #ITMFA.

Likability is about wealthy good-looking celebrities, but the most villainous character is police officer Mark Furhman, the detective who was caught on tape saying some pretty awful things about minorities.  In a real life twist that seems obvious, he’s now a regular guest on Fox News. (more…)

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Shaolin Warriors: The Legend Continues (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, April 5, 2017)

Posted in Acrobats, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Jackie Chan, New Brunswick, NJ, Set in New Jersey!, Shaolin Warriors, State Theatre on April 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 5, 2017] Shaolin Warriors

When I first saw this listing in the State Theatre calendar, I knew I had to get tickets for the four of us.   I didn’t really know what to expect, but I knew that it would be different from the acrobats, and yet have that same inspiration behind it.  I sort of imagined simple displays of strength, focus and cool Shaolin spirituality.

I did not expect that there would be a “story.”  And indeed there was one.  We follow two children as they make their way into the Shaolin temple and grow and develop into Shaolin adults.

The only compliant I have is that the program notes state this: “Shaolin Warriors, highly acclaimed as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” live on stage, is definitely a must-see for family audiences and martial arts lovers alike.”  By invoking Crouching Tiger, it suddenly set my expectations way too high. That film is mind-blowing, a visually stunning production.  And this production is nothing like that.  Rather, they could have described it as a Jackie Chan film come to life, and that would be more accurate (and still impressive). (more…)

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Alexander Kluge–“Sinking Ships and Sea Dramas” (Harper’s, March 2017)

Posted in Alexander Kluge, Babies, Ben Lerner, Death, Excerpt, Gucci Mane, Harper's, Isabel Fargo Cole, Ocean, Religion, Short Story, Suicide, Supernatural, Superstitions, The Bible, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Yuck! on April 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

harpers-magazine-march-2017-4 SOUNDTRACK: GUCCI MANE-Tiny Desk Concert #586 (December 12, 2016).

gucci

Usually when someone is popular I have heard of him or her.  So I’m always surprised when someone gets a Tiny Desk Concert and I don’t know them (especially given his story).

Gucci Mane sounds kind of familiar, but I don’t think I’d ever heard of him before.  So what does the blurb say:

Gucci Mane’s smile makes you feel like there’s still some good in the world. He’s really earned it, and that thing is infectious. We asked him to come to NPR because we wanted to be a part of the victory tour he’s been on this year: In the past six months or so, Gucci Mane was released early from the federal penitentiary; he proposed to his girlfriend on the kiss cam at a Hawks game, and she said yes; he’s releasing a total of three albums, all over which he celebrates his newly committed sobriety; he and Courtney Love look like they get along; and he remade “Jingle Bells.”

In this Tiny Desk concert, Gucci Mane performed with just his longtime producer and friend, Zaytoven, on piano. Their version of stripped-down is a minimal backing track and plenty of church-groomed trills. They performed with the understanding that everyone in the room knew their songs — one from 2009 and two from this year — and knew that this performance would represent a surreal dip into a parallel universe where ingenuity is rewarded, snobbery is gone and love is real. Gucci Mane agreed to this unlikely set as a gesture to those people — for remembering his work while he was away, and for cheering on his resurgence, his health, his charm and his singular nature.

Gucci does the three songs, “First Day Out,” “Waybach,” and “Last Time,” all accompanied by Zaytoven, easily my favorite stage name and the absolute highlight of this show for me.

Gucci Mane’s flow is a kind of slow drawl.  It’s kind of charming and engaging.  I find it really strange that he’s rapping over himself (I guess).  But it’s so stripped down that it’s weird to hear his backing track so clearly.  But that live piano totally make the show fantastic–Zaytoven has some amazing chops.

[READ: February 21, 2017] “Sinking Ships and Sea Dramas”

The introduction to this story was pretty fascinating.  This piece is an except from a manuscript in progress inspired “in part by lines from the work of Ben Lerner, the poetry editor of Harper’s”

This was translated from the German by Isabel Fargo Cole.

I’m not sure what Lerner wrote that inspired this, but this “cycle” consists of 6 ruminations on death and the sea. (more…)

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David Szalay–“Dona Nobis Pacem” (Harper’s, March 2017)

Posted in David Szalay, Elton John, Forbes, Gallant, Harper's, Plato, Regrets, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Vacation on April 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »

harpers-magazine-march-2017-4SOUNDTRACK: GALLANT-Tiny Desk Concert #595 (January 30, 2017).

Despite the impressive cred, I had never heard of Gallant.  I mean, check out these bona-fides:

When Christopher Gallant was featured in Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list, the testimonial came from none other than Elton John, who said, “When I hear his voice, I just lose it.” The two even performed Gallant’s song “Weight In Gold” together back in September.

Gallant performed a stripped-down version of that hit when he came to the Tiny Desk earlier this month, and preceded it with another of his best-known songs, “Skipping Stones.” Written with Jhené Aiko, that tune radiates sultry intensity and passion; here, the talented Dani Ivory (who’s performed as a touring member of Imagine Dragons) sits in for Aiko.

Ology, Gallant’s 2016 debut, is up for a Grammy — for Best Urban Contemporary Album [it lost to Lemonade] — and another of its falsetto-driven highlights opens this three-song set. On the record, “Bourbon” is produced with a funky, old-school, Prince-like drum track, but here, a steady drum beat grounds the hypnotic song just as well, if not better. Best of all, “Bourbon” gets a welcome bonus at the Tiny Desk: a guest rap by Saba, a charismatic rising star and frequent Chance The Rapper collaborator.

The musicians for this set are: Gallant (vocals); Wes Switzer (bass); Dani Ivory (keys, vocals); Dylan Jones (guitar); A.J. Novak (percussion); featuring guest rapper Saba in “Bourbon.

I don’t really like R&B all that much, but I can certainly appreciate a great voice and man does Gallant have one.  On “Bourbon”his falsetto is really really impressive.  And Saba has an incredibly fast flow.  And on “Skipping Stones,” again, he has such an amazing falsetto.  I don’t know what the recorded version’s female singer sounds like, but while Dani Ivory does a fine job, she really can’t compete with him.  And on “Weight In Gold” he hits some amazing high notes with ease.

[READ: February 21, 2017] “Dona Nobis Pacem”    (means grant us peace)

This story has an epigram from Plato’s Republic in which someone asks Sophocles about his love life, if he can still make love to a woman.  Sophocles replies: “Shush man, I am very happy to have escaped from that–as happy as a slave who has escaped from an insane and heartless master.”

The title of the story “Dona Nobis Pacem” means “grant us peace.”

This story is written as an address from a sixty-two year old divorced professor of philosophy to a 58-year-old widowed member of the faculty.  They have known each other for many  years.  Her husband died two years ago and since then the two of them have holidayed togetehr a few times.  Their vacations have been primarily to Italy or the Alps or, as in the current vacation, to the Aegean shore of Turkey and the Greek Islands.

They often shared a room–their vacations were amicable and pleasant.

And then in Bergama, their hotel had but one bed. They reluctantly agreed to share the bed.  And that’s when things changed. (more…)

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Golden Dragon Acrobats (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, April 2, 2017)

Posted in Acrobats, Branchburg, NJ, C., Golden Dragon Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on April 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 2, 2017] Golden Dragon Acrobats

Just over four years ago we saw the Golden Dragon Acrobats perform Cirque Ziva.  The founders of Golden Dragon Acrobats created Cirque Ziva as a special touring production in 2011. This show was quiet similar to that performance, (I wasn’t sure if, since it wasn’t called Cirque Ziva, it would be very different) but there were some minor changes that were pretty exciting.

More exciting was that since the kids were much younger four years ago, they didn’t exactly remember things that well, so they were pretty thrilled by everything.

I had mentioned that Cique Ziva had flash in costumes and sets.  For this show the costumes were certainly here, although the sets were pretty simple.

As you can see from the “setlists” below, the acts were pretty similar and in pretty much the same order.  The show opened with the thousand hands.

Since the acts were basically the same, I’m going to copy much of what I wrote then and see if I have any updates: (more…)

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Jason Shiga–Demon Vol. 1 (2016)

Posted in Alternate Reality, Death, Demons, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jason Shiga, Regrets, Run the Jewels, Suicide, Supernatural, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, Yuck! on April 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

semonSOUNDTRACK: RUN THE JEWELS-Tiny Desk Concert #597 (February 6, 2017).

When Killer Mike and El-P walk out to the Desk, El-P drinks from a formerly unopened liquor bottle (E&J), which Bob says has been aging for 8 years.

Then as the music from DJ Trackstar begins, EL-P says “I insist that you clap your hands like this, lets see if NPR has rhythm”–and after a few claps everyone is way off, to much laughter.

The blurb says

Like any good pair of twins, Run the Jewels have a freaky sort of unspoken fraternity. When El-P (née El-Producto, née Jaime Meline) — rapper, producer, and all-around godfather of the backpacker scene of the late-90’s — and Killer Mike strode in with their usual uniforms — Mike in a gold chain as thick as a garter snake, El in a fitted Yankees cap and pair of blue-mirrored sunglasses — the two didn’t have to do as much as nod to one another before upending three tracks from their latest LP, RTJ3, in strange and perfect symbiosis.

On “Talk to Me,” I feel like Killer Mike’s flow is a little better than El-Ps at least in the beginning.  El-P also says fuck a lot, which I noticed when I first downloaded their album, as well–lots of fucks, which is kind of lazy, I think.  Or maybe I just like Mike’s lyrics better.  Like this:

Born Black, that’s dead on arrival
My job is to fight for survival
In spite of these #AllLivesMatter-ass white folk

After he says this line, they stand back to back, middle fingers raised.  El-P says “this is the pose we do in this song.”

Before “Legend Has It” El-P grabs a banana like a microphone and says it feels more natural that way (Mike then signed the banana for Bob and he had it laminated).  As the song begins, Mike says, “y’all can dance to it your boss ain’t looking.  It’s a little slower and El-P has his flow on and has some great lines:

I am the living swipe right on the mic, I’m a slut
I don’t know how to not spit like a lout
I’ll spill a pound of my kids on your couch

and

I don’t play chicken, you prick, I’m a fox
You wanna kick it, I’ll give you the rocks
You kiss the wood chipper blade if you balk
I’m fuckin’ magic, in fact I’m a warlock of talk
I got a unicorn horn for a (stop)

But the crowd is on it this time when they chant and the crowd goes “RTJ!”

As the song ends, El-P says “You know why they do these things because for that least one week you cannot complain about your jobs.”

The final song is “A Report To The Shareholders.”  Before it begins, El-P says.  “It’s oddly awesome to be here.”  Then he takes one more swig.  Mike shouts, who got the weed?

It is much slower, almost spoken. Each guy gets a verse, between them, there s little instrumental and El-P says ” we haven’t figured out to so in this part.”  My favorite line of the show comes in this song:

“ooh, Mike said ‘uterus'”
They acting like Mike said, “You a bitch”
To every writer who wrote it, misquoted it
Mike says, “You a bitch, you a bitch, you a bitch”
Add a “nigga” for the black writer that started that sewer shit

The two do indeed play off each other perfectly–echoing the last lines of each other’s words.  And despite how angry they sound i the words, they are a surprisingly genial bunch.

[READ: December 8, 2016] Demon Vol. 1

I’ve really enjoyed pretty much everything that Jason Shiga has created.  I love the style of his characters–seemingly very simple yet very expressive.  And I love that his stories are bizarre, complex and mind-blowing.

I’m delighted that this series is being distributed by First Second since I like just about everything they do.  Although I am a little surprised that the published it, given how icky it gets.

Shiga has drawn some books that were kid friendly, but this book IS NOT!  It is about suicide and murder and bad language and all manner of adult things.  Indeed in the forward Shiga notes, “It’s been a dream come true working on this project, pushing past the limits of common decency–of good taste–with every new page. (more…)

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Lynn Crosbie–“It Is I Who Styles Donald Trump; or, Cherie (de Melania Knauss-Trump)” (The Walrus, April 2017)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Buffalo Clover, Canadian Content, donald tRUMP, Fashion, Hoax, Idiots, Lynn Crosbie, Margo Price, Short Story, The Walrus, The White Stripes, Tiny Desk Concert, Toilets, Unfunny, Unlikable main character, Yuck! on April 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MARGO PRICE-Tiny Desk Concert #582 (November 28, 2016).

It is my fervent hope that I will wake up this morning and the world will say April Fools, and that these last few months will all have been a prank.  Or that this day marks the first day in formal steps to get the buffoon out of the White House before more people get killed.

Barring that, I can post these Trump-based pieces.

Margo Price is beloved by NPR.  I find her a wee bit too country for my tastes.  And yet, once again, a Tiny Desk Concert changed my opinion of her.

Price came to NPR on the day after the election.  I was in a fog of disbelief that day.  I can’t imagine how she managed to play and sing.  Here’s the intro:

When I greeted Margo Price in the NPR garage before her Tiny Desk performance, tears were streaming down her face. It was Wednesday morning, Nov. 9, the day after the 2016 election. For her — as for many Americans — it was a stunning and bewildering moment in time, a day when life and the everyday took on new meaning. And so when she and her band began to play “All American Made,” a song she’s sung many times before, those words about America’s changes and failures in the 21st century seemed even more powerful.

As this Tiny Desk progresses, even “Four Years Of Chances,” her song of a love gone wrong, feels less about a lousy husband and more about presidential politics. She dedicates her third and final song, “About To Find Out,” to Donald Trump; she says it was originally written about a “musician acquaintance of mine who’s a complete sociopath.” When the song ends, she rips open her red cowboy shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words “Icky Trump”— a play on the title of The White Stripes’ song “Icky Thump,” which criticizes the U.S.’s immigration policies. She smiles, wipes a tear away: It seems cathartic, but temporary.

The music includes piano, guitar (of course), some slide guitar and harmonica.

“All American Made” plays down the twang in her voice and the lyrics are great.  It was written for her previous band Buffalo Clover.

1987, and I didn’t know I then
Reagan was selling weapons to the leaders of Iran
well it won’t be the first time and it wont be the end
They were all American made.

I was just a child
Unaware of the effects
Raised on sports and Jesus
and all the usual suspects

It’s a slow folk song with harmonica and a nice guitar solo.

“Four Years Of Chances” is actually about a failed relationship.  And we can all only hope that we don’t have to wait as long as she did in this song before ending this relationship.  It’s a faster song with good slide guitar work.  There’s a guitar solo, a piano solo and I like the way it goes up two steps after the solo.

I gave you four years of chances
But you threw em all away
I gave you one thousand, four hundred sixty-one days

“About To Find Out” seems so uncannily about Trump it is hard to believe it was written about someone else (as it says, it was originally written about a “musician acquaintance of mine who’s a complete sociopath”).

Well I’ve had about enough of your two-cent words
And the way you’re running your mouth
No you haven’t got a clue or another thing to do
Except to take another picture of yourself
You’re living high on the hog looking down at us all
You may have come so easy and happened so fast
But the harder they come, they fall

You have many people fooled about your motivation
But I don’t believe your lies
You blow so much smoke it’s bound to make you choke
I see the snakes in both of your eyes
But you wouldn’t know class if it bit you in the ass
And you’re standing much too tall
You may have come so easy and happened so fast
But the harder they come, they fall

Tell me what does your pride taste like honey
Or haven’t you tried it out?
It’s better than the taste of a boot in your face
Without any shadow of a doubt
You better learn where the line is
You missed a lot you’ve gotta learn about
How’s it gonna feel to be put in your place
Well I guess you’re about to find out

Some folks today have got nothing to say
Except to talk about their wealth
But the poor’s still poor and the war’s still war
And everybody wants more for themselves
Like a rich man’s child you never walked a mile
One day you won’t have nothing to sell
You may have come so easy and happened so fast
But the way I see it you fell

Uncanny.

So yes, this Tiny Desk Concert has totally won me over to Price.  Although I really need to never hear “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” again–it is just waaay to twangy for my sensitive ears.  But more importantly, I hope she hasn’t given up the fight.

[READ: March 12, 2017] “It Is I Who Styles Donald Trump…”

My only other exposure to Crosbie was in the April 2012 issue of The Walrus, in which she wrote a couple of short pieces.

Obviously, I am all for hating on Trump, for ridiculing him and making him look as pathetic as he actually is.  And this entire issue was more or less devoted to the horror that is Trump.  So having a story that mocks him is something I can appreciate.

But, as with the comedians who mock Trump’s hair or skin rather than his racism, bigotry, lack of knowledge of the world, lying and everything else, this story is strangely superficial, and overall, just kind of strange.

It begins amusingly enough: “Last night I dreamt I went to Mar-a-Lago again.  I stood shuddering at the gates–was I to be the mistress of an estate named in colloquial Spanish?”

It even seems like it might go for an interesting angle: “as he sleeps his lips purse, and his hands fly our, defensively.”

But, as the title states (so I guess I was expecting too much), this is mostly about Trump’s hair: she “quickly took over this industry.” (more…)

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