SOUNDTRACK: TREY ANASTASIO-One Man’s Trash (1998).
This is Trey Anastasio’s first solo album. It is a 30 minute collection of odds and ends (hence the title) and experimental pieces. There are some kernels of real songs and some simple noise experiments (most of which are shorter).
The first three songs are kernels of songs. “Happy Coffee Song” is a simple blues riff with a guitar solo and scatting lyrics. “Quantegy” is three minutes long. It’s got a bass line like Led Zeppelin’s The Lemon Song but with Trey just narrating about quantegy and materials with synths behind him. “Mister Completely” sounds like a Phish song with intertwining lines and a catchy riff.
“A Good Stalk” is the first of the experimental noise tracks. Feedback and backwards drum sounds make a 50 second soundscape that does indeed sound like a “A Good Stalk.”
“That Dream Machine” is a fast looping guitar pattern that sounds like it could be a King Crimson melody from the 80s. “The Way I Feel” introduces a funky bass line (with cowbell). “Rofa Beton” is almost three minutes of soft but fast echoing drum patterns.
“For Lew (My Bodyguard)” brings lyrics into the songs again. This song is about two minutes long, primarily keyboard washes and synths that follow the vocal line for
‘Cause Satan is real on the fainting couch,
I can feel my curved back sink into the hot orange light;
Feels good against my arms.Mustard walls surround me like soldiers face to face
At the Battle of Trenton.
I can feel my curved back sink into the chapel pew.
While Maurice stands guard outside, no one can defy me.
No one can get by me with Maurice standing guard outside.‘Cause Satan is real on the fainting couch.
Satan is real inside me,
From my head down to my kidney bean.
Yup.
It’s followed by three way experimental pieces. “At The Barbecue” is a kind of free jazz saxophone/trumpet experimental piece. “Tree Spine” is similar to “Stalk” with pulsing deep sounds and what could be the sound of insects eating a tree. “Here’s Mud In Your Eye” is a minute of splashing sounds–made by mouth?
“The Real Taste of Licorice” returns to proper songs with a lively three minute acoustic guitar piece.
“And Your Little Dog Too” is the longest piece at 4 minutes. It’s echoing drums and sound effects with Trey yelling in the background. It sounds like it is meant to be almost a savage dance.
“Jump Rope (fast version)” is thirty five seconds of meandering keyboards and what sounds like fast whipping loops (yes, like a jump rope). “Jump Rope (slow version)” is not a slowed down version of the above. In this one the looping sound is like a slow moving UFO.
“Kidney Bean” closes the album. The phrase kidney bean appeared earlier (in “For Lew”). The return is an elliptical 30 second song with the loud monotone recitation of “Now we’re talking kidney bean.”
There’s not a lot here for the casual listener. Or even for big fans. It’s the kind of thing that would be released for free if that was something that could have happened in 1998. I suspect people were kind of pissed to have paid money for this.
But it is kind of fun, if you like weird Phish nonsense.
[READ: May 1, 2019] “Child’s Play”
Alice Munro is a master of the short story. This story is utterly fantastic. They way it is written and the stunning ending are mind-blowing.
The story more or less begins with an introduction to Marlene and Charlene. They were not twins as people might have guessed (from their names). They were not even related. But they were at camp together and they bonded over their similar names. They bonded over their physical similarities and differences. They bonded over the camp counselor they didn’t like (Arva, “she even had an unpleasant name”).
Camp was religious, but it was United Church of Canada, so there wasn’t much talk of religion, exactly. Mostly it was talk of being nice. But Marlene had a story of being not nice.
There was a girl in Marlene’s neighborhood named Verna. She was described as her neighbor’s granddaughter, but there was no evidence of Verna’s mother. Marlene had an aversion to her right from the start. She told her mother that she hated Verna.
Her mother’s standard reaction was “The poor thing.” Marlene’s didn’t think her mother liked Verna either rather it was “a decision she had made to spite me, she pretended to be sorry for her” She said “How can you blame a person for the was she was born?”
Because children are repelled by anything that is off-center or out-of-whack.
Verna spoiled Marlene’s games “like an older child, but one who had no skill or rights, just an inability to understand she wasn’t wanted.” She would stand and watch Marlene. Then she would move closer. She ruined Marlene’s games when she tried to play them.
Marlene’s worst childhood moment was when a girl in school thought that Verna was Marlene’s sister or cousin. No!
Charlene seemed to love talking about Verna. She had her own terrible story–walking in on her brother having sex with his girlfriend–but Verna was the centerpiece of summer camp. Especially when Charlene came running over one day in camp to say Verna’s here!
What?
A contingent of Specials (here too they were called Specials) had been brought in to enjoy the final weekend of camp. And Verna was indeed one of them. Marlene tried to avoid her as best she could. Charlene helped–she enjoyed being part of the ruse. It wasn’t until the last day, just as some people were starting to leave, that Verna saw them in the water and headed out towards them.
The end of camp was uneventful–Marlene doesn’t even recall saying goodbye to Charlene. It just wasn’t a big deal, there was so much excitement to leave. They certainly never wrote to each other after camp.
Years later Charlene sent her a letter after she saw that Marlene’s book was published. Marlene was an anthropologist and in addition to writing professional essays, she also published a book (slightly less academic) called Imbeciles and Idols (“a title I would never get away with today and that even then made my publishes nervous, though it was admitted to be catchy”).
Marlene didn’t write back. There didn’t seem to be a need to.
Many years after that, there was a letter from Charlene’s husband. Charlene had cancer and she really hoped that Marlene would come visit her. Had summer camp really meant that much to Charlene?
Marlene wanted to ignore the visit, but she felt compelled to go. When she arrived Charlene was asleep but there was a note for her. It asked her to go see a priest at a church in her hometown. The letter was cryptic and seemed like a burden. Should she bother?
It’s at the end of the story that Marlene reveals what the letter means, and it is stunning. What a terrific story. Wow.
Leave a Reply