I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: KATIE VON SCHLEICHER-“Mary” NPR’S SOUTH X LULLABY (March 29, 2018).

I had never heard of Katie Von Schleicher.  I don’t know what the rest of her music sounds like.  But this ballad sounded a lot like Cowboy Junkies.

This is a pretty, sad song.  her voice is lovely, but the thing that I enjoyed the most was watching her guitarist Adam Brisbin play high notes and then a cool tumbling style of playing low notes.

This was recorded at the Spire Studio Tour Bus (basically a camper trailer, parked on Cheer Up Charlie’s lot, with brilliant recording gear, amps guitars) It’s the quietest song from Katie Von Schleicher’s magnificent 2017 album, Shitty Hits.

Katie Von Schleicher wrote to me just after this filming to tell me more about “Mary.” “I’ve been teaching a songwriting class and it’s funny now to break these things down into craft and intention,” she says via email, “but I do feel that writing to a person’s name is a really tender practice, one that can unlock kindness and a conversational tone. If speaking to a part of yourself, personifying it, singing warmly, you can spare your faults and self-criticisms by speaking as if to another person [and] maybe even take your own advice. As much as they’re personal, I’m also trying to get close to some of my favorite things, which also include Randy Newman’s ‘Marie’ and Raymond Carver’s short stories (so full of conversation). For me, ‘Mary’ is a place and time rather than a person, childhood and youth and the strange space I’ve found in going back to the house where I grew up in Maryland to make records now.”

[READ: March 28, 2018] “The Intermediate Class”

I really enjoyed the way this story used the set up of the foreign language class as a way to explore feelings and sentiments that are too hard to express.

Kiril’s mother wondered why he would want to take a German class now, why spend his time with “lazy old American housewives.”  His mother didn’t approve of his taking German back in college either.  He majored in computer science and had no time to waste.  Plus, he was a native English speaker (unlike her who was til trying to learn it).

Kiril has shown up to the Intermediate German class a little late, but the class was welcoming.  There were four people in the room: a woman with an Afro, Wanda; a pale thin woman, Morgan; a Latino man, Alejandro; a sunburned, angry white man, Arthur.  There was piano playing from behind a wall in the class.   It stopped and a man and a young woman came out.  The woman was Claire, a student in the class.  The man was the teacher.

He said he would ring a bell and they would only speak in German afterward.  When the bell rang the atmosphere changed. 

They told each other their names.  They talked about things they do for fun and for work. Alejandro drives a truck for work and rides in a train for fun.  Kiril was impressed by the way Alejandro talked about himself and he was happy when he and Alejandro were paired up for discussion.

Alejandro said (in German) that he lived with men who are not so good.  Kiril admitted of “That is a little bad.”

Claire then presented an essay called “An Interesting Week.”  The point was that she wanted something interesting to happen that week, but her boyfriend was sick and then she became sick and nothing interesting happened.  The teacher applauded the essay calling it komisch.  But when he asked if she played the piano during the week, she said she does not have a piano.  The teacher suggested her boyfriend buy her a piano, which left a pall over the class.

The next class, Alejandro was not there–he was taking a sick day krankentag. The teacher said “If you use this word, you will sound like a native speaker.”

After that class the teacher played piano but Claire no longer joined him.

Arthur is angry through much of the classes.  He said “I wan to speak to my wife, but not in German.”  He talked about a secret language.  The class admitted it was difficult to have a secret language, but the teacher grew impassioned that it was not impossible.  It seemed to exhaust him and the class was concerned for him. Although this all just angered Arthur further.

The following week is the last class and they were all to bring food.  Alejandro finally shows to class, but he looks to have a bruise on his eye.  Kiril is concerned but doesn’t have a chance to say anything.

As the teacher asks each of them their goals, Alejandro’s is complicated and when he tries to explain using German, he grows angry.  And as the teacher tries to figure things out, tempers rise.

The story ends abruptly and to my mind very unsatisfyingly.  There are so many things going on  and so many different things I’m curious about but they are never addressed.  I guess just like at the end of a class.