I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GORDI-Tiny Desk Concert #740 (May 7, 2018).

I had an idea of what Gordi sounded like (a much more rocking band, who was I thinking of?)  Rather, Gordi is Sophie Payten a woman with a piano (and a harmonium and a guitar).  Gordi has a lovely deep voice (dusky and evocative) that is not afraid to break.

The blurb says her voice

usually gets enshrouded somehow: It often sounds like it’s echoing down a stairwell, or else she’s bathed it in vocal effects a la Imogen Heap or Gordi’s occasional tourmate, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. But Payten’s voice is an expressive and powerful instrument on its own, as her debut appearance behind the Tiny Desk demonstrates.

Aside from a bit of looping — in the strangely infectious notes that open “Heaven I Know,” from last year’s terrific Reservoir — Gordi here keeps her voice both unadorned and centered within warm, cool arrangements that include piano, acoustic guitar, pedal steel, a harmonium named Barbara, a saxophone played by Yellow Ostrich’s Alex Schaaf, and more. The effect here is rawer than on Reservoir, but that’s part of the point: These songs stand up to being stripped down, every time.

“Heaven I Know” is really pretty with a staggering sense of loss.  She met her backing badn while they were playing with The Tallest Man on Earth.  She plays piano, there an electric guitar and some kind of synths in the back.  And the drums (played by Zach Hanson) crescendo as needed.  The song runs a little long but it’s quite pretty.

For “Can We Work It Out” guitarist Alex Schaaf switches to saxophone.  Gordi pulls out the harmonium.  She says she bought the harmonium on the Australian version of Craigslist called Gumtree.  She bought it from an Indian lady named Barbara so the harmonium’s now called Barbara.

For the final song, “On My Side” she’s on guitar and Ben Les switches from keys to pedal steel.  The song is a little faster with some great harmonies from the drummer.

This is really lovely stuff.

[READ: October 10, 2017] Death of the Pugilist

Okay, so this is a boxing story.  That means that there is going to be a fight and the guy he is writing about is either going to win or lose.

That’s the attitude I took when I started this story–I don’t care for sports stories in general and feel that they have to work very hard to be more than just win or lose.

This story is a little different because each section starts with a question.

Who was Burke? His beginnings.

Jacob Burke was an Irish dockworker–strong as anything.  By 19 he was known as a hard worker, but when the dockworkers rioted for wages, someone saw him throw a punch and invited him to box.  He was good.  When the newspaperman asked him if he ever fought he thought “There’s a man never fought?”

He did very well and got the nickname Muscular (which he really liked even though he couldn’t read the word).

Then he was scheduled to take on Blindman a Scottish 35 year-old brute.  Benjamin McGraw was really really big and really really tough.  His people wanted to schedule a fight–anybody, anyone–who would take on Blindman.  Blindman wasn’t blind, but during a fight when his eyes were swollen shut he still managed to win by saying he could follow his opponent’s breathing.

No one agrees to fight Blindman and eventually Muscular’s name is put forth.  The excitement and tension builds and builds.

There is advice and philosophy about fighting .  There are posters and moneys put forth. And then eventually the fight begins

Muscular is shocked at how big Blindman is–he can’t even imagine where body parts begin and end.  There is no way he can fight this guy.  And no one, literally no one, expects him to win.  He even begins to get mad at his handler for putting him up to this.  And then the fight starts.

I feel like the ending of the fight is given earlier in the story, but I’m not going to give away the ending here.

I will say that although I read the whole story with a dismissive attitude, it really won me over by the end. Both in the story telling and the way the pieces were revealed. I feel like if you can win me over with a story about boxing, you’e a good writer.