I Just Read About That…

  SOUNDTRACK: DANA FALCONBERRY-Tiny Desk Concert #292 (July 29, 2013).

This Tiny Desk Concert introduced me to Dana Falconberry:

Dana Falconberry’s songs are gentle, almost invariably delicate, sometimes mysterious and frequently feather-light. But her music’s sweet, intricate softness never stands in for strength: This is a confident songwriter, whether she’s ambling through six- and seven-minute epics (“Leelanau,” “Dolomite”) or chirping sweetly in the bouncy “Crooked River.”

The compositions on Falconberry’s most recent album, last year’s Leelanau, are sturdy enough to be stripped down for a space like Bob Boilen’s desk at the NPR Music offices. But each benefits immeasurably from the broad assortment of lovely flourishes she re-creates here with the help of five instrument-swapping backing players. What makes Falconberry stand out in a crowded field of singer-songwriters is her music’s unfailing impeccability, and this Tiny Desk Concert finds her and her crack band hitting every immaculately crafted mark.

I tend to agree with the blurbs, but this one really is spot on: delicate, impeccable, sturdy.  These are words I would absolutely use to describe these songs.  I would also use fantastical–not suggesting that there might be fairies floating around during these songs, but it wouldn’t surprise me if one made an appearance.

“Dolomite” is a beautiful 7 minute song with many different sections.  Falconberry’s delicate (but not wimpy, it must be said) voice works perfectly with the capoed guitar she’s playing.  After the first verse, she’s joined by a cello, banjo and backing vocals, and the song builds.  Then after almost 2 minutes the bass and drums jump in and the song, while staying basically the same, gets a whole new feel (the bassline is staccato and unexpected while everything else is so smooth).  At around 3 and a half minutes the keyboards start adding these pretty little runs that make the song seem even more magical.  The middle of the song has the three female singers rotating through a  series of oohs and ahs as they make a cool-sounding fugue.

For “Crooked River,” the bassist switches to melodica.  Once again there’s a great sequence where each of the female singers sings one note in a very complex melody–it’s quite enchanting.  The cello is plucked giving the whole song a very different feel from the first.

Before the final song Bob asks if she has had any desk jobs.  She says she has had her fair share.  “I currently have a desk job…I hope. We’ll see when I get home.”

For Leelanau, the keyboardist switches to accordion, and there is prominent banjo and delicate melodica.  The verse is really quite catchy, and after the verse there is a gently rocking section where everyone joins together–it bursts forth in contrast to the rest.  It is repeated a few times throughout the song, and each one is more fun than the previous.  The middle has a kind of slow break down with the cello scratching and the melodica and accordion sounding like they are running out of breath.  Dana even hit’s Bob’s gong.  The accordion is even “breathing” without making a musical note.  The song returns to that super catchy verse and jam section and just as you think its going to fade to an end, there’s very cool chime that echoes and then a huge buildup to the conclusion.

I was so entranced by Falconberry’s music that I need to hear more of it.

[READ: September 19, 2016] Bandette 2

Two years ago I wrote about Bandette Volume 1: “The book was very exciting and sweetly charming as well.  I’m looking forward to Volume 2.”  And I waited and waited for it to come out.  I even saw Vol 1 the other day and wondered when we’d get volume 2.  Well, apparently this has been out since 2015, but the library just acquired it.  So I’m happy to say it’s not my fault it took two years for me to get around to reading it.

Even though I didn’t exactly remember how book 1 had ended, Tobin & Coover added a helpful “Previously” section to get us caught up.

The wit and charm of the first book is back in spades. Bandette continues to be seemingly immune to the world around her–she says what she wants and does what she wants and no resistance will get in her way–whether it is verbal sparring or her uncanny gravity-defying stunts.  Her love of chocolate remains as well, of course.  And the tone retains that agelessness.  It feels like this book could have been written in the 1950s but for the cell phones and scooters.

Chapter One reminds us that Bandette is a civilizan as well  She has dark hair and a love of pastries–she even gives the bakery owner priceless urn (from where) as payment for the delicious sweets.

Then she gets a call from Daniel who is checking in with her.  While she is talking she hears some tell-tale footsteps on his end and knows that he is in danger, but she convinces him to flee and all is well.

Then the story shifts to Absinthe’s house.  He still has on his bad-guy green sweater and red sunglasses.  But Margot, the beautiful lady in his house, seems fed up with him.  And we actually see her steal a smooch from the other bandit, Monsieur.

But Abstinent has other things on his mind, like the henchmen who disobeyed him.  He has sent Il Tradici, The Strangler to kill the men.  And the police are too late to stop it.

In the previous book, in addition to fighting the crime of Absinthe, Bandette made a bet with Monsieur to see who could steal more stuff and become the greatest thief.  That continues and Bandette even gets her hands on something priceless in an airplane–narrowly avoiding Il Tradici two times.  Bandette escapes on a pig truck and takes an adorable piglet as a souvenir which leads to one of my favorite scenes of the year:  She gets into a good fight with Il Tradici and after three dodges and a flip says Voila, I have placed a pig upon your head (and the pig is very cute standing up there).

Inspector Belgique is not easily dissuaded from the case thopugh.  And, even more wonderfully, neither is Matador.  Matador (the masked heroine whom Absinthe was sure was killed) is very much alive and ready to fight.  Bandette steals bit of her thunder but Matador still shines and uses her weapon with exquisite precision.

And of course, Daniel and the urchins are always there to help her out.  Will his love for her ever be consummated?  For now we’ll never know.

There is so much bonus material in this book too!  The Foreword is very funny as they write of the sympathy we should feel for the average policeman.  Think of the poor police ma who had to “go up on the roof of Apple Corps–that’s six flights of stairs, in case you didn’t know–and tell The Beatles to stop playing their historic, final, live, free public performance ever as a band?” or “having to chase drunk naked soccer fans that streak across the pitch (meanwhile soccer players who are good at chasing people, who are already wearing the right shoes for that surface, stand by and let the poor cop to do it.  The poor man must not only participate in an impromptu Benny Hill sketch in front of forty thousand fans and a world video audience but is also expected to cover up the naked guy’s junk with their own personal police helmet as they drag him offstage.”

There are also some extra bonus strips in the back.

The first one “Freckles and Dalton in The Distress Call” (art by Jonathan Hill) focuses on Bandette’s helping Freckles and Dalton actually talk to each other.  “Absinthe in Let the Chips Fall Where I Say” (art by Ron Randall) actually shows Absinthe beating someone (unfairly) at cards. Commander Pippins in “The Medal” (art by Lucy Bellwood) shows an old solider as he is prepared to award his final medal.  But why does he seem to be just wandering aimlessly?  He must have a plan.  Pimento, the dog gets a brief story called The Jewle of My Eye (art by Sheli Hay).  Simone in “The Stumble” shows Bandette “accidentally” helping a poor person in need (art by Emi Lenox).  Daniel gets his own section called Its All in the Timing (art by Patrick Sherberger) in which Daniel’s timing is perfect, just not for what he imagined.  And finally a short Bandette story called “Fellow Thieves” (art by Ron Chan) in which she makes friends with a feline who is not easily swayed.

After these short stories, there is a long prose story called “Daniel’s Story.”  It is a 13-page saga of how Bandette assists Margot to escape from the hands of Absinthe. Even though the main story involved Margot and Bandette, this story provides a different storyline–one that must have happened in the middle of the  “real” story?  Bandette is able to sneak things past Margot–a keen thief herself and reunites her with people who are very important.  It’s a great story and I feel like Tobin writes prose just as well as he writes comics.  There’s incidental art by Coover, which is pretty cool, too.

Next is a small history of actual items that Bandette has stolen in the story called What’s Bandette Stolen Now?

The final two sections are “Writing Bandette” which shows the original writing script of three pages from chapter 8.  and “Designing Bandette” which is several very detailed pages of the inspiration behind Bandette’s style.  She says she was inspired by Audrey Hepburn and Audrey Tatou (for Bandette) Peter Falk and Herbert Lom for the look of Belgique.  Monsieur has a dash of Cary Grant and Peter O’Toole.  And Il Tradici was inspired by Henry Fonda with a splash of James Coburn.

This series is delightfully fun and still filled with tension.  I love it.