I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GUSTER-Live Acoustic (2013).

There was one more Live Guster release around the time of those three full album recordings.

This one is called Live Acoustic and it comes from a tour in 2012.  There’s no dates or locations assigned to the songs and indeed they are all done acoustically.

The most notable aspect of this disc is that none of the rockers are included.  This is good because it means they aren’t trying to strip those songs down.  But at the same time, it means that the disc never really takes off like a Guster show would.  It’s not all ballads, mind you–most of the songs from Easy Wonderful that are included are uptempo, and of course “Satellite” is a super fun single, but there’s nothing like “Fa Fa” or “Barrel of a Gun” or “Amsterdam.”  It speaks volumes to Guster’s songwriting skills that I didn’t even miss these favorites until I really looked at the track listing.

They include songs from all of their albums (except Parachute which was all acoustic) and a “deep B side” from the Satellite EP.

For the most part these songs sound great in an acoustic setting.  My only quibble is that some of the songs have really great orchestration which I miss (but that’s personal preference I suspect).  A bunch of the songs have strings which are a nice addition, especially on a song like “Either Way” and the amazing wild violin solo in “Satellite.”  This reminds me of when we saw them with Kishi Bashi and he played the violin on “Satellite”

The one really nice factor is that with everything stripped away, the guys’ voices sound really powerful.  And as I say, because the tone is somewhat mellow the song selection works to this and you don’t miss the bigger songs.  Plus any show that ends with “This Could All Be Yours” is a great one.

• Backyard [KEEPIT]
• Do You Love Me [EASYWON]
• Long Way Down [KEEPIT]
• That’s No Way to Get to Heaven [EASYWON]
• What You Call Love [EASYWON]
• Beginning of the End [GANGING]
• Diane [KEEPIT]
• Rocketship [GOLDFLY]
• Empire State [GANGING]
• Rise and Shine [SATELLITE EP]
• Two Points for Honesty [LOSTANDGONE]
• Either Way [LOSTANDGONE]
• Satellite [GANGING]
• Rainy Day [LOSTANDGONE]
• Hang On [GANGING]
• This Could All Be Yours [EASYWON]

[READ: January 19, 2017] “Maybe It Was the Distance”

I enjoyed this story so much, I could have read twice as much (and it was pretty long).

This is the story of a Jewish family: Irv and his 43-year-old son (Jacob) and 11-year-old grandson (Max).  It begins very amusingly with them heading to the Washington National Airport (they refuse to call it Reagan National).  Irv also hates NPR (which they were listening to) because of the flamboyantly precious out-of-no-closet sissiness and the fact that they had a balanced segment on new settlement construction in the West Bank.

The first half of the car ride devolves into an argument between the three of them about opinions and Jewishness.  Jacob is frustrated by his father and Max is both precocious and still a child–it’s all very funny.  Especially when they argue while the light is green.

They were heading to the airport to pick up their Israeli cousins.  They were picking up Tamir, who was Jacob’s age, and his son Barak.  Jacob and Tamir’s grandfathers were brothers in a Galician shtetl that was overlooked by the Nazis.

Issac (Irv and Jacob’s family) moved to America while Benny (Tamir’s family) moved to Israel.  They would visit every few years.  Isaac would show off his American lifestyle and then spend two weeks complaining about Benny after they’d left.  And then Isaac died (he had outlived cancer and Gentiles). Tamir surprised everyone by coming in for the funeral.

Jacob discussed Isaac with Tamir and said that basically he did exactly same thing every day (and the details are very funny, if not sad).

Jacon had visited Israel when he was 14 “an overdue present that he didn’t want for a bar mitzvah he didn’t want.”  There is a fascinating scene with an air raid siren that none of the Americans understand but which the Israelites accept as a daily routine.  The Israeli side of the family was wealthier than the American and it seemed like Tamir had everything before Jacob. He was downloading porn before Jacob had a word processor.  Tamir also drank before Jacob, smoked pot before Jacob, got a blow job before Jacob, etc.

Once Tamir had served his time in the Israeli army he became ambitious and made shitloads of money to buy loads of shit.  His homes and cars and ego and his girlfriends’ breasts got bigger every year.  Jacob meanwhile was an honorable, ambitious, near-broke novelist.

Tamir and Barak were large, strong men (Barak was 14).  When they arrived, Tamir gave Irv a big hug and pushed a fart out of him. “I made you fart!” Tamir said, pumping a fist.  He did it again “This time even better–if you applied a very specific definition of ‘better.'”  Then he reached out once more and said “This time you shit.”  Irv backed away.  Everyone who wasn’t Irv laughed.

They go to the food court and eat Panda Express and then Tamir begins talking Israel.  It has the best Italian food (Jacob says, you mean outside of Italy, and Tamir says no, including Italy).

Jacob needs a break so he goes to the rest room.  And while there he sees…Steven Spielberg peeing next to him.  Jacob is stunned,. He loves Spielberg (and there’s a very funny thought process about all of his films, especially Schindler’s List).  But he must inspect the man’s goods, right?  So he peeks over and sees that he is uncircumcised.  Gasp!

Jacob can’t wait to tell the family.  But Tamir says he doesn’t know who Spielberg is.  Nevertheless he goes off to talk to him about this uncircumcised thing  And so he does.  I love that we never find out if it was really him, if Tamir really knew him and what the answer to the pressing foreskin question is.

They get back in the car and talk more about Israel with Jacob wanting to know about living so close to death.  Irv wanted to talk about the situation.  Tamir just wanted to talk about his money and his heated toilet seat.

Throughout the story there have been references to something that happened at the National Zoo when they were kids.  Finally, the last section flashes back to Tamir and Jacob, both 13 visiting the zoo.  They had a good time, but Tamir was unsatisfied.  He woke up Jacob in the middle of the night with the plan to sneak into the zoo and do something crazy.  Jacob, a good and sensible boy, can’t allow it but he keeps going along thinking “This is so unlike me.”

The ending is thrilling and then sad.  And I could read an entire novel about this family.  And I wonder if he’s working on that.