I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: LESLIE ODOM, JR.-Tiny Desk Concert #909 (December 2, 2019).

I knew I had heard of Leslie Odom Jr. but I couldn’t remember from what.  Apparently I have heard of him from….everything.

A Tony- and Grammy-winning star, Odom has added a slew of achievements to his portfolio since 2016, when he left his role playing Aaron Burr in Broadway’s Hamilton. He’s continued his work in television and film, written a book and released jazz and Christmas albums. He co-wrote most of the songs on his latest project, Mr; out earlier this month, it’s his first album of original material.

Dang.

His singing voice is fantastic and these songs that he wrote are really wonderful.

“Cold” is a hopeful ballad with a beautiful melody and a hint of contemporary musical theater.  It opens with a lovely acoustic guitar from Jeremy Ting and piano from Tommy King.  Odom’s voice is powerful and strong and he hits some nice falsetto notes.  This is all accented by rim shots and cymbal taps from Garrison “G-Beats” Brown.

His backing vocalists, Christine Noel Smit, Nicolette Robinson (Odom’s wife) and Astyn Turr add some nice calla and response and then harmony voices. There’s a pretty acoustic guitar solo as well.

And all the while Odom’s voice and lyrics are fantastic.

When it’s finished he says, “you are the second group of people to hear that song.”

Then he

recalled advice he’d received from a friend: “You have to get used to it — you are part of a cultural phenomenon in New York City,” Odom said, before quipping, “I feel so blessed to be a part of … Law & Order: SVU for three magnificent seasons.”

Up next is “Foggy,” which he says is the most personal song on the album.  It’s much more spare, a love song filled with the regret of failed good intentions.  It’s almost entirely just he and the piano.  Although half way through some xylophone notes add a cool echoing sound.  As the song nears its end, Astyn Turr sings along with him.

Introducing the final song, “Hummingbird,” he says “This song is admittedly… I think it’s a bop, but it’s an odd little bop.  But it has been tested by my 2 year old and it is her favorite song on the album.  For this song Tommy King and Theron “Neff-U” Feemster switch places so “Neff-U” (who worked with him to make the record) is now playing piano.

The song features some wonderful violin from Andrew Joslyn.  It’s a fun boppy song and I love that everyone raucously sings the “you’re my hummingbird” line.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this set, but Odom has a fantastic voice and his songs are really very beautiful.

[READ: August 2019] Gods Without Men

I had read a review of this book by Douglas Coupland on two occasions and each time it made me want to read the book.  So I decided to read the book.  And what a book.

Coupland had warned, in a sense, that there were UFOs and aliens–but not to be put off by them.  And he’s right.  The book centers around aliens and such, but there are no “little green men.”

Rather, the book looks more at a location and the spiritual power it has had on people throughout history.

The book bounces back and forth between various eras and the present.  In most summaries of the book, the present takes prominence–and it is the most often visited timeline in the book.  But at times I found the story in the present to be less interesting than those in the past.

The book begin in 1947 with a man named Schmidt.  Schmidt drove out to the Pinnacles “three column of rock that shot up like the tentacles of some ancient creature, weathered feelers probing the sky.”  He used his diving rods and sensed the power here.  He paid $800 to a woman who owned the property and then settled in.  Schmidt built an underground structure to live in.  He bought an Airstream trailer and set it up as a diner.  Then he put in an airstrip and a fuel tank.  Soon enough pilots were stopping in for fuel as they sailed across the desert.  Schmidt is an interesting character (with a reprehensible past).  He also, every night, lit up the lights on top of his property that said WELCOME.

One night a ship descended from the sky.

Maybe there are little green men–but we don’t see them.  Nor are we exactly sure what just happened.

The “present” of the book is set in 2008.  The first section of 2008 focuses on Nicky, a reasonably famous rock singer who is hanging out in the deserts of America.  He was trying to get his mojo back. He was wasting away in L.A. and decided to drive to the desert.  He pulls into a motel run by a woman named Dawn.

Then we jump all the way back to 1778.  This timeline kind of bookends the story but I didn’t really enjoy it.  Fortunately it’s short. It is the tale of Fray Garces and his initial reports of encountering the Pinnacle Rocks.

Back in the present the story follows Jaz and Linda.  She is Jewish, he is Sikh.  They married and had a baby, Raj. Raj is an unholy terror–crying and screaming constantly. They can’t find a babysitter who will stay.  They can’t sleep.  Life sucks.  Jaz’s parents, angry that he married a non-Sikh, blame the marriage for the boy’s problems.

The three of them are currently staying in the motel run by Dawn.  Strangely enough, Raj seems to be taken with Nicky.  He’s never responded to strangers but he seems to be calmed by Nicky.   Jaz doesn’t know who Nicky is–he looks like  a bum, frankly–so he is unnerved by this turn of events.  But Nicky is cool about it.

Then the book shows us 1958, the aftermath of Schmidt’s diner.  The Pinnacle is now a home for The Guide and the Space Brothers and the Ashtar Galactic Command.  The Guide said that humans needed to have a better relationship with the higher planes.  We follow Joannie who is attracted to the energy here–she knew this was the type of consciousness she’s needed.  She has a young daughter–Judy–who she hasn’t seen much of since she arrived, but she knows that Judy is okay.

Soon enough we learn that the Guide is Dr Schmidt.  He has brought everyone here because 11 years ago he was alone and friendless when he received a visitation.  He says that his new friends, The Ashtar Galactic Command, has had our civilization under observation for all of human history.  They had always refused to interfere, but now we were in a time of grave danger–in particular, the atom bomb.  We must cease all nuclear testing immediately.

As the night drew on, Joannie was selected to go visit the control room, hollowed out under the Pinnacle rocks.

Back in 2008, we have learned a lot about Jaz’s history.  His immigrant parents, his attending MIT and his disobeying their wishes.  We also learn about how hard he pursued Lisa when they first net.  How thrilled they each were to be married.

But in the present his marriage is in trouble.  And when Lisa sees that Jaz’s family have given him a necklace to ward off the evil eye–the evil eye that they feel comes form her–she can take it no more and she flees the motel in their rental car.

We learn about Lisa’s past and what she winds up doing with the car.  She gave up her publishing career to stay home with Raj.

What’s great about the story is that Kunzru really fleshes these characters out, flaws and all.  Neither is the villain.  It’s an unfortunate situation for both of them.

Jump back to 1969 where the town had been dealing with the lunatics at the Pinnacle for over a decade.  1969 brought hippies as well, which meant even more lunatics–and a lot more trouble.

This is how we first meet Dawn.  Dawn encountered Judy (Joanne’s daughter, remember) walking down the street towards the compound.  Dawn walked with her and they talked.  Judy told her about the Ashtar Galactic Command–the secret Earth base and how there were going to be a lot more, eventually.  Dawn was interested.

Later when she met Wolf, he seemed delighted to have a new person in the fold. Dawn is soon taken in with the group.

There’s one more time line in 1920 that I didn’t follow very well.  A man, Deighton, was called Skin Peeled Onion because of his burned face.  He hides out in the Pinnacle caves.

Back in the present, Jaz and Raj befriend Nicky.  We learn about Jaz’s high paying finance job where he created a successful but ethically questionable financial software program named Walter.

There’s a quick jump to 1871 for an example of american racism.

Then back to the present where we see Nicky after his day with Jaz and Raj.  He goes into town where he almost buys the Ashtar Command album at a local record store.  (We learn a lot about how the record was made and how weird it is).  He also meets Laila an Iraqi girl living in the area with her grandfather. She knows who he is and wants to hang out with him.  I would have loved to follow this trail further.

Later, when Nicky gets back to the hotel he is under suspicion because Raj has disappeared.

The story in the present suddenly begins to focus on Raj.  Raj was lost at the Pinnacle rocks.  It becomes a media sensation, in part because of the situation, but also because Nicky is a famous suspect.  Lisa goes on TV to plead her case and soon enough people start demonizing her.  She is a bad mother, a bad person, perhaps she is guilty.  It’s a wonderful insight into sexism in modern culture.

There’s a quick jump back to 1971 where the local police raid the Ashtar Command compound and Dawn’s expulsion from it and we see how she winds up at the hotel.

I was glad to see that Laila’s story wasn’t over.  In fact, Laila gets a pretty interesting story herself.  She is a young woman who has come from Iraq to California.  She lives in a village built by the military to be a fake Iraq for troops on their way over to the war.  Laila lives with fear, secrecy, war and tragic loss.  But she also lives with soldiers who have come to know and like her.  One night a soldier lets Laila wear his night goggles and that helps to tie everything together.

There was so much packed into this story and I loved about 80% of it.  In fact, the parts I loved I was totally engrossed with.  But there were a few things about it that I didn’t love or just couldn’t get that into.  Whether there was too much going on or if I am just selective about what I like I don’t know, but i do know that I came away from this book really liking Kunzru as a writer and wanting to read more from him.