SOUNDTRACK: JÚNÍUS MEYVANT-NonCOMM 2019 Free at Noon (May 15, 2019).
Júníus Meyvant is the stage name of Icelandic singer Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson. His band is a soulful Iceland six-piece with outstanding musicianship.
The set started off strong with “High Alert.” A cool bassline and organ propel the song forward with accents from trumpet and Sigurmundsson’s soulful voice.
The second song, “Holidays” is much slower as it starts with a wavering keyboard and groovy bassline. It’s just as soulful though–possibly more so, with nice horn accompaniments.
“Across the Borders” showcased a psychedelic-jam side of Júníus Meyvant, as well as the pianist’s skills. After some powerful trumpet, the song settles down into a slow groove. Midway through, the drummer plays a cool little fill and the band launches into a fast keyboard-filled jamming romp.
“Love Child” is a sweet, smooth love song with gentle horns guiding the melody.
“Ain’t Gonna Let You Drown” had a rich, gospel sound to it, it’s his new single. He slowed down the tempo for their last song “Thoughts of My Religion,” a personal ballad with a catchy chorus.
It’s a lovely set which you can listen to here (for some reasons Night Two’s shows are much much quieter on the player).
[READ: May 15, 2019] “What’s Love Got to Do With It?”
I have read many many stories by Boyle and I like him quite a lot. I like that he writes about so many different topics from so many different perspectives. He is even unafraid to be sympathetic to people who don’t seem to deserve it.
It was somewhat unfortunate that I read this story and the next one by him (written about 19 years apart) by him on the same day because they were both rather creepy and voyeuristic and sympathetic to people who really don’t deserve it.
This story is about a woman who chooses to take a three day train ride rather than a three hour plane ride to Dallas. It wasn’t long after the school shootings. The shootings had happened at her daughter’s school although the daughter was unharmed. This had nothing to do with her choice of taking the train, exactly, but she felt it would afford her some down time.
At morning breakfast she was seated across from a young man–Eric–about her daughter’s age. They had a pleasant light conversation–first about state capitals and “sexy” cities and the dangers of Splenda “its made from nuclear waste.” He soon revealed that he went to the same school as her daughter And just to complicate things. He knew the shooter.
The narrator won’t mention the shooter’s name so she calls him E.R. but she relates what Eric had to say about E.R.
Eric tells a sympathetic story of how E.R. was really quite a loser. Shy, not very attractive. Freshman year was a blur, and he felt invisible to girls. Come sophomore year, he fixated on one girl in his Contemporary Lit class. So much so that he snuck into her sorority and politely, nervously asked if she would like to “do it” with him. She had no idea who he was and he’s lucky she didn’t hit him or press charges. Rather she just turned away with her friends and blew him off. He couldn’t go back to that lit class.
His anger took shape in a spontaneous and unexpected way. He was so sick, so jealous of seeing people making out on campus that one day he threw a full cup of soda on such an exploratory couple. He fled the dining area and was not caught. This became something of his thing. He did it to several other couples–substituting Gatorade for soda because it was stickier. Until the time it was raining and his slipped on the wet floor and was beaten by the studly guy and hid girlfriend.
The narrator asks him if he knew that E.R. was going to .. and Eric replies, “Not really.” She is puzzled by this answer, “either he knew or he didn’t.” His cryptic reply is “he had a soul. A great soul.”
She leaves but before she goes she says so did the children he killed.
The next day she sat with a couple in their thirties who were taking the train because they had a near accident on a flight and felt much safer on the train (the narrator wants to point out that trains derail and crash all the time–there’s no safety anywhere). The couple also finds that the train gives them plenty of time fro drinking and sex “its like what else is there to do?”
At the evening meal, Eric sits quietly beside her while she is reading. He talks about the book she is reading and says he was supposed to read that for Contemporary Lit. He talks about a girl in that class that he started follow.
“I wasn’t stalking her or anything, only seeing what she did, where she went, who she hung out with, what she ate, that kind of thing. It was like, I don’t know, field biology.”
The narrator is incensed: “Do you have any idea how wrong that is? That’s harassment. You could be arrested. You should be.”
He compares it to the Sioux Indian who would touch an enemy with a stick to show they could do it. He says it was like that. And then one day she turned around and recognized him and that was worth it all.
Eventually, E.R. bought a gun and even joked with the guy there that he might need to give earplugs to the intruder before he shoots him.
It seems suspicious to me that he knows all of this so intimately (especially since his name is Eric (and the killer’s initial is E) but we find out that he killed himself after shooting seven others).
Eric says he ts telling her all of this so she knows “what we have to go through?”
We?
“Yeah well, I’m just like him. Nobody wants me, and I’m sorry, but especially the bitches.” When Eric asks her point blank if she thought her daughter would date him, she has to be honest–but that could because he’s a psycho.
The last paragraph is introspective but rather unsatisfying after all of that intensity.
For ease of searching, I include: Junius Meyvant
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