SOUNDTRACK: INDIGO SPARKE-Tiny Desk Concert #951 (February 26, 2020).
I was sure that I had heard of Indigo Sparke before–in some kind of NPR context. But I can’t find any evidence of that.
The only thing I can figure is that I must have listened to this Tiny Desk Concert when it was first published, because I remembered her telling the story about driving a car (before the second song).
Indigo Sparke is an Australian singer-songwriter. She sings quietly and plays an electric guitar almost without amplification (aside from occasionally loud drone sounds). Bob says,
I asked everyone to gather a little closer than usual around my desk for this one.
“Colourblind” starts the set off as she quietly strums and sings.
Up next is “the day i drove the car around the block.” She introduces the song by telling about
trying to learn how to drive on the other side of the road while in Los Angeles, with a huge vehicle and a stick shift.
After that introduction, you might think the song was amusing. But it is not
It is a tale of defeat and solace:
“Take off all my clothes, kiss me where the bruises are,” …
“Love is the drug, and you are in my blood now.”
Sparke sings a little too slowly for my liking–the kind of stretched out vocals that make it hard for me to follow the thread of the song (or maybe that you need a few listens to fully appreciate).
Before the final song, she invites her partner, Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief up to play guitar with her. She tells us that the song is so new it has no title–if you think of one while she’s playing it, let Bob know. It has since been named “Burn.”
Lenker’s addition of chords (and lovely harmonics) add a nice extra layer to the song.
[READ: March 21, 2020] Paradox Girl: First Cycle
Who doesn’t love a story that begins: “Do you know what happens when you violate causality?”
Paradox Girl is a time-traveler who has changed her past so many times she doesn’t know what he truth is. She also lives with about a hundred copies of herself.
Her partner in crime-fighting is Axiom Man.
This book had so much that I love in a superhero story–strong female characters, wild humor and all kinds of time-travel paradoxes. It even had fantastic artwork from Yishan Li–I love the light purple lines that indicate some time travel magic.
But I guess I learned that this is something of a one-note premise. Which means that most of the stories are variants on the one idea that she can appear anywhere at anytime and that her other selves will be there as well.
Often this works pretty well, but I guess reading six comics in a row gets a bit samey.
The very first Chapter “A Day in the Life of a Paradox” sets up the story pretty well. Paradox Girl travels through time. But more importantly she loves Waffos–banana flavored frozen waffles. It is this love of frozen waffles that determines all of her actions in the first chapter–saving the world is more or less a byprouct to making sure she gets that last Waffo.
Chapter Two, “Paradox Girl vs a Wolverine” is a fun play on the Wolverine charterer obviously, but also does actually feature a wolverine. The story is told in an amusing loop in which one iteration of Paradox Girl is thwarted by herself in the past (over and over). As she tries to get to sleep, her previous selves seem to do things, one involving a wolverine, that prevent any peace and quiet.
Chapter Three was really confusing (as time travel paradoxes tend to be). It is called “Chekhov’s Gun’s Paradox,” and starts in the present. (There is a gun, obviously). It then flashes back through many iterations as Paradox Girls explains just what happened to make the guy in the EMT uniform so furious at Paradox Girl. It’s mostly pretty funny, but elliptical enough top leave few big questions about what the heck happened.
Chapter Four is “Time Wounds All Heals” and is an interesting (non-superhero) story about an old man who has lost everything in his life except a broken pocket watch. There’s not a lot that Paradox Girl (any of her iterations), can do except listen–a tough job for a superhero (although I enjoyed that so many iterations of her came to listen to the story).
Chapter 5, “The Paradox Who Loved Me” takes the time paradox joke to its furthest extent by employing a bottle episode technique. Set on a train, the various characters are all played by Paradox girl–the hero, the villain, the extras, and each one is Paradox Girl at a different time (when I was that character, I didn’t get to do that). Its funny but gets really confusing. The surprise ending, though, is very very funny.
The final Chapter “House of MMMMMM” brings those Waffos back. A bad guy captures Paradox Girl and locks her up because the Waffos are causing her so much havoc.
The best part comes early in the story when she meets the bad guy whose name plate says “Dr. Dr.”
Your name is Durr Durr?
I am Doctor Doctor
So your first and last name are both doctor?
No my last name is doctor and I am a doctor.
The end of the book has some extra shorts featuring Paradox Girl.
One with Louis Pasteur and aliens.
One called “Proteges” in which Whiz Kid and Big Bang are brought in from the future.
“The Rainy Day Paradox” which features the evil TimeWinder.
“Rustle’s Paradox” features a time machine toaster that can only toast that which cannot be toasted.
And “Shock Reception” is all about a birthday party for Paradox Girl(s).
The very end of the book has a preview of Witchblade by Caitlin Kittredge, Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valeza. It’s intriguing and seems to have a strong feminist story line, although just as the excerpt ended, it got pretty violent so I don’t know if I’d look for it.
I Just Read About That... 
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