I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: TAIMANE-Tiny Desk Concert #956 (March 6, 2020).

This Concert opens with super fast percussive guitar. No!  Not a guitar, a six-string ukulele!

Taimane wears a crown of flowers.  There are flowers in front of the desk and in other places.  Taimane is from Oahu Hawaii so this love of colorful flowers makes a lot of sense.

So much magic unfolded in such short order. Within the first moments of Taimane’s stunning set, we hear her play fiery flamenco, a famous phrase from the opera Carmen, a touch of Bach and more than a nod to her Hawaiian homeland, all on her ukulele.

As she plays, this medley of “Carmen,” “E Ala Ē,” and “Jupiter” Ramiro Marziani adds some guitar and then Jonathan Heraux adds in percussion on the cajon.

After a brief introduction the Marziani stars playing the bass line to Carmen and she starts playing the lead on her uke.  She also plays an amazingly fast flamenco “solo” on the uke.

The playing and percussive style are not unlike Rodrigo y Gabriela.

As Taimane starts singing, violinist Melissa Baethoven adds harmony vocals and then Li’o comes out to do a Polynesian dance.

In what is a first at the Tiny Desk, a dancer named Li’o performed in a hau skirt made from dried lauhala leaves, with a lei of white conch wrapped around his neck. His Polynesian dance, along with the stick percussion, added to the beauty and the intensity.

After a brief cajon solo, Li’o returns without the skirt to show off his impressive legwork as he dances to a super fast ukulele melody.

Taimane is a an amazing ukulele player.  She began playing ukulele at age five; these days, it’s seemingly become an extension of her body.

Taimane has five albums out.  She

chose to represent the elements of the earth on her latest album, Elemental, and she brought the most feisty of those elements to the Tiny Desk: “Fire.” This music draws inspiration from Cuban traditions, with moments that are sensual as well as ecstatic.

This song is fast and fiery, including some impressively fast strumming from Taimane.  Then Ramiro takes a solo as everyone claps along.  Then after another impressive solo from Taimane, things slow down: “this is the sexy part,” she says.

The final song came as surprise because she does not play anything, she sings.  This is a lovely slow song called “Maluhia” which means peace.  It’s like a delicate cool down after the fire of the previous song.

I never knew a ukulele could sound like that.  I realize that this is a six-string and is considerably larger than a tiny four-string, but it’s still amazing to hear (and see).

[READ: March 29, 2020] “The Interpretation of Dreams”

This is a fascinating story set in 1924.  A thirty-three year old man, Gūnter Zeitz tracks down Sigmund Freud to talk to him.

Freud has a lisp and seems cranky to be interrupted by Zeitz.  But Zeitz starts flattering Freud’s ego and starts talking about dreams.  And by the end of the conversation, Gūnter says what he has wanted to: “I want to be a psychoanalyst, and I am hoping you will train me.”

Freud agrees and says the training will consist of Gūnter’s own analysis and Freud will be his analyst.

The story is interrupted by some of Gūnter’s own dreams (with no analysis).

Freud seems to be a less than ideal analyst.  Gūnter sees that Freud has fallen asleep (his cigar started burning a hole in the carpet).  Freud says nothing during these sessions.  But when Gūnter checks again and again to see if he has fallen asleep Freud is just starting at him.

The plot of the story shifts unexpectedly to one of romance.  There is a woman whose session ends just as his begins. She barely acknowledges him and seems shy or perhaps annoyed.

Then walking home from works he spies the woman in the park reading. Her name is Josine and she says that Freud is a charlatan and a fool.  He won’t listen to her and he says things that are not true.

There are some other diversions from the plot–a flashback to Gūnter’s mother explaining what the phrase “give up” means.  Also a discussion of Hitler and how people are more likely to fall for the big lie than the small lie.   Most people would never consider fabricating colossal falsehoods.  Gūnter finds him a ridiculous anachronism, yet others fear that he must be taken seriously.

Gūnter ‘s relationship with Josine progresses quickly (including a midday sexual dalliance).

But it seems that perhaps Freud would like Gūnter to entertain thoughts of his daughter Anna.  Freud invites Gūnter over for a dinner party.

These threads don’t ever really culminate in anything–it almost feels like an excerpt rather than a short story which is kind of shame because I enjoyed what was happening, just not the way it ended.