I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GRIEVOUS ANGELS-“Saturday Night in a Laundromat” (Moose: The Compilation, 1991).

Back in the 1990s, it was common to buy a compilation or soundtrack or even a band’s album based on one song.  Only to then find that you didn’t really like anything else on it.

Maybe that single sounded like nothing else on the album.  Maybe the movie was almost entirely one genre, but they had that one song that you liked over the credits.  Or maybe the compilation was for something you didn’t know, but a song you really wanted was on it, too.

With streaming music that need not happen anymore.  Except in this case.

I bought this compilation, used, recently exclusively for one song, Rheostatics’ “Woodstuck.”  It’s a goofy song and this is the only place you can get the studio version.  The actual compilation was not well documented, so I didn’t know what the other bands on it might sound like.  It turns out to be a compilation for Ontario based Moose Records which specialized in Rock, Folk, World & Country.  They put out another compilation in 1992 and that’s all I can find out about them.

Grevious Angles sound an awful lot like Cowboy Junkies–slow, downbeat folk/country that tells a story.  The story of being in a laundromat on a Saturday night is kind of interesting.

The band is still playing (after taking a brief hiatus in 2004 for singer songwriter Charlie Angus to enter politics for four years.

In this song, Michelle Rumball has a deep, sultry voice.  She left the band after this album, so I’m not sure what they sound like now.

[READ: July 1, 2019] “Super Dads”

The July/August issue of The Walrus is the Summer Reading issue.  This year’s issue had two short stories, a memoir, three poems and a fifteen year reflection about a novel as special features.

Another except from this novel was published in The 2019 Short Story Advent Calendar.

In this excerpt, three men, Frank, Nick and Prin are heading to Dizzy’s World, a theme park that has seen much, much better days.

Nick and Frank are from Terre Haute and used to go to Dizzy’s World all the time as kids.  They both have fond memories.  Prin is not from the area and has never heard of the place.

All three had been hired by an evangelical millionaire to help build a theme park inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy.  Prin was a University professor. He understood footnotes and he knew that most people hated even the idea of them.  He was hired to talk footnotes to footnote haters.

They couldn’t drive to Disney World or get tickets on short notice to the creationism theme park.  So Dizzy’s World was the best they could do.

The parking lot was empty aside from a few scattered cars.  Nick was concerned about them going there–he didn’t think it was safe.  But Frank, who was driving, didn’t seem concerned.

The only people they saw were junkies.  The only people in the cars were buying drugs or doing drugs.  Even the security guard seemed to be stoned.

The park was nominally open, but they would need to contact the one guy working there if they wanted to ride anything.  The employee assumed they were planning on doing drugs or worse, and warned them that the police do patrol the area.

Frank has the fondest memories of the place.  He recalls winning a Walkman for his daughter at one of the booths–it was a very happy day in his life.  They went to Arby’s afterward to celebrate: “Megan loved Arby’s.  Loves.”

The place is a bombed out wasteland.  Junkies have taken over every spot.  But then they see the centerpiece of the them park, a giant roller coaster with a dragon head on the front car.  It was a crumbling ugly wreck, but it was exactly what they were looking for: In the seventh circle of the Inferno, Dante and Virgil are stuck and they take a ride on a human-faced monster.  This is perfect.

Happy with their result they head back to the car only to see that it has been ransacked.  Everything of value was stolen or smashed.  Then Frank notices in the backseat that he had coupons for all of the fast food restaurants but only the Arby’s coupons were taken.  He convinces himself that it must have been Megan (who we gather has left him).

He starts asking the junkies if any of them have seen Megan.  He even considers offering money until a guy who say that this is His parking lot comes to tell them to get out.

This novel, called Dante’s Indiana sounds pretty interesting.