I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE DUDE OF LIFE & PHISH-Crimes of the Mind (1994).

Crimes of the Mind is the debut album from The Dude of Life, Steve Pollak, a childhood friend of Trey Anastasio and a lyrical contributor to many of Phish’s early songs. Phish is the backing band for the entire album.

The album was recorded in 1991 but wasn’t released until 1994. The Dude of Life performed several of these songs in a live setting with Phish on a number of occasions.

Of all of the “Phish” albums, this is the one I listen to the least.

The main riff of “Chalkdust Torture” was used in the song “Self” on this album.

Dude

“Dahlia” is a kind of sloppy rock song—it certainly has a Phish feel to it, but as soon as the vocals come in, you know it’s going to be different.  Lyrically, however, it sounds a lot like crazy early Phish—a song about a girl who is a little nuts and a really catchy melody.  The song has a weird climax with the sucking Cherry Charms Blow Pops line.

“Family Picture” opens with a watery bass, it has a kind of silly Phish-iness to it—you wouldn’t be surprised if Phish played it but again, although Dude’s voice makes it much sillier.  Once again there’s a fun chorus and a rather silly guitar solo.  “Self” is a wonderfully selfish song (“I don’t care about anyone but myself”).  I also like that he rhymes “bluer” with “sewer.”  Once the song starts rocking, it features the main riff as “Chalkdust Torture” and then it really takes off.

“Crimes of the Mind” is a simple song with a catchy chorus.  “She’s Bitchin’ Again” has a very cool guitar riff and motif, and while the lyrics are funny, the addition of the woman bitchin’ at him is a bit much (especially since her voice is quite unpleasant and isn’t quite singing).  “TV Show” is the first thing that’s close to a ballad.  It starts slowly but after the sound of keyboards building and ramping up, the song kicks into high gear with the chorus of “life is a TV show that should have been canceled long ago.”  “Trials and Tribulations” is a funny/weird romantic song about the Swiss Miss, Captain Crunch and Mr Clean, with a cute melody for the guitar riff.

“Lucy in the Subway” is of course a kind of follow up/piss take on “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”  It sounds nothing like The Beatles’ song, being a simple, rather than psychedelic song, but that befits the tone about a girl down on her luck–she is “with daffodils” if you were wondering about the D).   “Ordinary Day” is the kind of simple song—singing about nothing happening—that makes you wonder how people write them.  “Revolution’s Over” is as close to punk as this line up will get—fast drums, fast tinny guitar and a quick riff.  The middle has some funky weird jam stuff

“King of Nothing” is a slow, almost ponderous song (except that Dude’s voice is more goofy than deep).

Since Pollak contributed much to Phish’s early silliness it’s not surprising that these songs are rather silly too.  But the band plays really well and holds it all together.

[READ: November 14, 2016] Stone Animals

Back in 2014, I ordered all 16 books from Madras Press. believing that I’d been told about a cool gem of a publisher.  And I had been. Unfortunately, after publishing the 16 books they seem to have gone out of business or so. They still have a web presence where you can buy remaining copies of books.  But what a great business idea this is/was

Madras Press publishes limited-edition short stories and novella-length booklets and distributes the proceeds to a growing list of non-profit organizations chosen by our authors.  The format of our books provides readers with the opportunity to experience stories on their own, with no advertisements or miscellaneous stuff surrounding them.

The format is a 5″ x 5″ square books that easily fit into a pocket.

Proceeds from Link’s book go to The Fistula Foundation.

Many of the books from Madras Press have been unusual–some of them downright surreal.  And this book, which finished up series 3, is no exception.

I started to read this when I was on a camping trip–I was tired and exhausted from a long day, and I genuinely thought I was having lack of concentration issues because this story didn’t really seem logical.  When I read it again in the light of day, it still didn’t exactly seem logical, but I was able to follow it a little better.

The story follows a family–husband and wife and two kids.  They are moving from New York City to the suburbs.  The house that they are purchasing has two giant stone rabbits on the front porch.  The children’s don’t want to leave the city exactly but the adults are pleased with the house.

Seems straightforward, but the way it is constructed is quite strange.  It’s from a third person close-but-ignorant narrator.  “It was not a question she had expected to be asked.”  The question, which is never stated: is the house haunted?  The agent says that it is reflected in the asking price.  The youngest child, the boy, has problems with all kinds of things in the house.  He starts to believe that everything is haunted–first his toothbrush (he needs a new one from New York City) and then slowly, everything else in the house.  The daughter and mother also start feeling like everything is haunted as well.

The daughter has been sleepwalking but doesn’t believe it when they say she is.

What’s interesting about the construction of the story is that none of the haunted items–the TV, the upstairs bathroom–actually “do “anything to anyone.  There’s no attacks, there’s no ghosts, it’s just this ominous feeling that everyone has.

And this feeling impacts everyone in different ways–the wife feels compelled to paint and repaint every room in the house (despite being very pregnant–she wears a gas mask as a precaution).  The husband actually says the room is getting smaller from so many layers of paint.

Meanwhile, the husband is regularly being called in to the office to handle crises–even though he is supposed to be working from home.  His boss (known as The Crocodile) has a large rubber band ball that she seems to use instead of communicating.  And when he does finally try to get home, he never seems to be able to make it.

The stone rabbits, meanwhile, represent the real rabbits who multiply and live under their house.  Their warrens must go miles deep (someone has a dream/nightmare/premonition that he can see the acres of rabbit holes under their house).

The entire story is surreal and the ending is even more surreal than the rest.

There’s a lot that I enjoyed about the story, although honestly, it could have been a lot shorter.

This book, unlike most of the books in the Madras Press series is illustrated.   There are illustrations from a whole slew of authors (who I didn’t know could draw). They all refer to a specific section of the story.  Lisa Brown (a delightfully strange picture of a girl with her arm in a rabbit’s mouth), Lilli Carré (a strange perspective of a man riding a rabbit), Anthony Doerr (a kind of scratchy pencil), Lily O’Donnell, with art direction by Lev Grossman (a haunted cat drawn, I assume by the young girl), Daniel Handler (a rough sjkketch of a rubber band ball), Paul Hornschemeier (a very cool drawing of each family member and their “problem”–its my favorite picture in the book and is very surreal), Ursula K. Le Guin (a strange watercolor-looking picture), Laura Miller (a wonderfully realistic and creepy picture of a rabbit peeking in a house), Audrey Niffenegger (who drew an excellent rabbit and toothbrush), Tao Nyeu (a cute drawing of rabbits in their warrens under the house), Arthur Phillips (a rushed pencil drawing of a toaster) and Lane Smith (a sweetly sleeping rabbit).