I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: AMELIA CURRAN-Live at Massey Hall (April 29, 2016).

I knew of Amelia Curran but I didn’t know her work before this show.

She says that growing up in Newfoundland it’s all about original music and the oral tradition and story discovering.  She loves to play at the pub back home.

But she continues that when you move into a more professional scene–recording your first album–you also become a Canadian musician, which is an extra thing that happens later.  You look to Neil Young and Joni and Massey Hall.  You come from a musical place like Newfoundland and then coming to Canada and “arriving.”

She plays great folkie songs.  Lyrically her songs are rich, but I find the drums to be quiet compelling on most of the songs.  There;s nothing flashy, but I really like the way the drums are somewhat unconventional or rhythmically interesting, like on “Song on the Radio.”

She is also quite sweet as she says, “Well thanks, oh golly.”

After “Blackbird on Fire” she says “the teenage me on the inside is really freaking out.”

Before “The Reverie,” she says “I’d like to play you a love song and to introduce you to this handsome fellow on the electric guitar Dean Drouillard.”

Before the nest song, “The Modern Man: she says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know if you know, but this handsome lad on the bass guitar has the best hair in the business.  This is Devon Henderson”

And before “The Mistress” (which is probably her biggest hit), she says “I know it’s hard to believe but there’s even more handsome up here.  This man behind me on the drums is Joshua Van Tassel.”  This song is more jagged and sharp than the others.  It’s a darker, more pointed song and it’s really great.

“Devils” is a slower, moodier song, with snaky electric guitar leads.  Next up is “Time” which is  a beautiful song that’s just her on the acoustic guitar.  It’s quite different from the other songs, much more stark.

For the final song, “Somebody Somewhere,” she says, “Here’s a happy-sounding song I wrote about being depressed.”  This song has more great drums and some cool guitar sounds that change on each verse, including a great buzzy sound during the second verse.

[READ: June 18, 2018] “Omakase”

Even though I love sushi, I had never heard of the titular “omakase” which is a meal consisting of dishes selected by the chef, typically with suggested wine pairings.  And frankly it’s something I’d likely never do (if I was paying for it).

This is the story of a couple who’d met online two years ago.  Three months ago they had moved in together.  They both liked sushi and omakase–they liked the element of surprise.   It also worked for their personalities–she second guessed herself too much and he liked to go with the flow.

They went to a tiny room with a sushi bar and cash register.  The woman (their names are never given) imagined it could fit no more than six people.  How had he even heard of it?  There was a young waitress and old sushi chef who ignored them longer than she imagined they would.

The story leaves the meal from time to time. The first time is for aside about New York City trains.  How she has not gotten used to the subway and the delays.  Tonight’s delay was because of someone jumping in front of the tracks.  In Boston people rarely did that, “probably because the trains came so infrequently, there were quicker ways to die.”

I like the way the story also unfolds their relationship every couple of paragraphs.  How they both agreed to move in together and each tried to get a job in the other;s city–It was easier for her to find work in New York than it was for him to find work in Boston (although she did wonder how hard he had tried).

Back in the restaurant, the man seemed to be flirting heavily with the waitress–even more so when he found out she had a boyfriend.  The woman caught herself straying at the girl–the girl caught her, too.

When he found out the chef could speak English he tried to talk to him too–about the mugs they used –he guessed the type it was, but the chef just looked at him suspiciously.

When the woman told the chef that the man was a potter, the man grew annoyed saying they were having fun.

She liked that he handled things easily and, really, the flirting didn’t bother her.

Their first date had been via Skype–he suggested they watch The House of Flying Daggers at the same time and discuss it.

She wondered if maybe they might watch something that wasn’t overtly Chinese.  But he had heard it was good.  It was during the movie when he said the Chinese word for tricolored glaze (Sancai) that she was shocked.  She later asked her friends is this was red flag–she didn’t want to date him if he was only interested in her because she was Chinese.

They said no, it’s a male martial arts film and he’s just trying to impress you.

The next Skype was different type of film, an English romantic comedy. Followed by an American action film.  And she learned that his last girlfriend was Jewish.  Flags lowered.

The food was excellent, the chef superb.  The man said to the chef that he had seen him working diligently behind this bar many times but had not come in.  The chef said that was impossible, it was his first day.  Fortunately the man did not push the issue and the woman;s concern that he would say something about Asians looking the same passed

Then the waitress brought out sake.

The man started talking to the chef again, where had he worked, why had he left.  The chef was reluctant to say.  The man kept asking the chef why he had left–tired of the stress?  The chef admitted he was fired.

When she first brought the man home, she was surprised that her parents liked him so much–her father had brought out a secret bottle of expensive whiskey.  When the man ate with chopsticks instead of cutlery, they “smiled at him as if her were a clever monkey.”

The chef eventually told them why he was fired–after the woman finally asked him.  But as the chef began complaining about a former Chinese boss, the woman spoke up that she was Chinese.  The man seemed offended on the chef’s behalf.

The meal ended soon after, but there’s not much about their relationship after that.  It seems like cracks are forming in the glazing.