I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: GURR-“Christmas Holiday” (2018).

I really enjoyed Gurr when I saw them live this year.  I wanted to see what their studio music sounded like and I found this release called the Christmas Business EP.  There are two songs that feature Eddie Argos from Art Brut.

This first track has a very B-52’s vibe to it.  With Eddie Argos doing his thing and the women from Gurr singing lovely backing vocals, it sounds like a punkish update to their style.

A thumping beat introduces Eddie speaking (in his own distinct way) “Silent Night, holy night everything is gonna be alright.  Silent Night holy night, maybe not but lets pretend it might.”

Then the Gurr women sing a line (with lovely ahhs behind it).

The chorus is simple and catchy “We’re on Christmas holiday / sat around with nothing left to say / We’re on Christmas holiday / you don’t have to stay if you donb’t want to.”

The song is short (less than three minutes) and it continues with more great Eddie Argos lines like “We’ve got something cooking in the kitchen / it doesn’t fit in with your dietary restrictions” (this sounds the most like the with B-52’s since both women do the ahhs.)

After another chorus, Eddie ends the song with this heartfelt Christmas wish

I’ve gathered you all here today to say … I  hope you are all enjoying Christmas exactly the same amount as … I am enjoying Christmas.

Check it out here.

[READ: December 1, 2019]“Beginnings“

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fourth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

The Short Story Advent Calendar is back! And to celebrate its fifth anniversary, we’ve decided to make the festivities even more festive, with five different coloured editions to help you ring in the holiday season.

No matter which colour you choose, the insides are the same: it’s another collection of expertly curated, individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

(This is a collection of literary, non-religious short stories for adults. For more information, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.)

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

Want a copy?  Order one here.

I’m pairing music this year with some Christmas songs that I have come across this year.

The story it is told in many different parts–22 numbered sections.  Number 1 is called “The Beginning” and in its entirety, it consists of

 I find you impossibly beautiful, the man tells me. Give it a year, I tell him, and you’ll find me impossible

I really enjoyed that the story was about a (married) woman and an editor whom she works with.  Each numbered section proved to be edited (or questioned) as it was going along.

Number 2 is also called The Beginning.  It explains that they are at a literary event.  Although for them it is not an event, not an action but something that happens to you.  The blurb says these are not religious stories, and indeed they are not with a line like, “I would very much like to fuck you, he says.”

She says that it can’t happen because she’s married.  He goes off and gets them both a drink and then he tries to edit their conversation.  She says “I want to be your friend.  I will never sleep with you.”  He deconstructs those sentences and says “I want to be your friend” is good.  We have desire, we have something you want.  That’s good.  On the other hand, “I will never sleep with you” is boring because we ignore desire.  At the end of the section in parentheses, the editor/herself, asserts: (Flirting is harmless. Without action you don’t have a beginning. Find the beginning).

Section 4 is also The Beginning and it inspects the beginning of an affair.  It starts at 3:00 a.m. over a Burger.  But the parentheses say (try to locate the starting point of the emotional arc).

Number 6 is The Beginning and says it starts when you lie naked with a man who is not your husband.  Number 7 says it starts when you kiss a man who is not her husband.  Number 8 says it starts when you agree to have him drink with a man who is not your husband.

Section 9 ends with the parentheses (when does he start to lose interest).

Section 10 is titled “The Middle.”

The middle has to do with her husband and her home life.  Her husband’s mother has cancer.  He thinks that maybe they might go on a vacation to the place where they went on their honeymoon–Sorrento.

Section 17 is “The End” and it talks about how three months later, the editor is leaving me.  Parentheses: (POV character is passive here.  Implicate her more).  So Section 18 says Three months later at an Indian restaurant I am leaving the editor.  At the end of this section, the parentheses note: (foodstuff in the section is just a tad heavy handed).

I love that in 20 (still “The End”) it says of course he does actually tell me that I’m impossible.  The man who never loses his calm shouts these words

Section 21 goes back to “The Middle” which is a nice surprise as it’s back to her husband. He’s doing their taxes and there’s a section where she goes to a laundromat to find that it’s closed.

The final section, 22 returns to “The Beginning” when it’s just her and her husband.  But is it before or after?

I really like the way the story was constructed.  I had to re-read several parts of it to make sure I understood what was going on–but not in a bad, confusing way more in a complicated way in the way that relationships and affairs are complicated and awkward.

This was a great opening to the Calendar.

Read an interview with Oria here.