SOUNDTRACK: DIRTY PROJECTORS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #45 (July 6, 2020).
I have a mixed reaction to Dirty Projectors. I love some of their songs but am indifferent to a lot of other ones. They have a new song “Overlord” (performed here) that I absolutely love. But the final two songs are just okay to me.
That said, I love the overall sound of this session.
David Longstreth’s guitar sounds fantastic on “Lose Your Love”. Although the highlight is obviously lead vocalist Felicia Douglass (her dancing is super fun). The soaring gorgeous high notes of backing singers Maia Friedman and Kristin Slipp (with the keytar) are otherworldly.
Kristin introduces the second song, “Overlord” the one that I think is so great. The lead vocals are from Maia. There’s great guitar sound from David and a lot of fun percussion from Mike Johnson (and Felicia). But once again it’s those vocals that are wonderful.
Kristin stars lead vocals on “Inner World” while David starts on piano and then jumps to bass. Maia plays guitar on this one and it’s fun to see everything that Mike is banging on. “Search for Life” ends the set with no drums. David is back on guitar and Maia sings lead. For this song she sings in a very deep voice–it’s quite arresting. The backing vocals soar high as she sings.
Dirty Projectors’ lineup is always changing.
The lineup often shifts, but the creative nature of this band, headed by David Longstreth, doesn’t. It’s a band in which any member can take the lead, and that’s the beauty here. The band is releasing 5 EPs this year.
I think it’s time I give them more of my time.
[READ: July 10, 2020] “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away”
Stephen King is a truly masterful writer. He can write a story about a man looking to commit suicide and have you laugh out loud in the middle of it.
It’s not explicitly stated why Alfie wants to kill himself. He is a salesman (ahh). He is (happily?) married and has a daughter. It seems like perhaps the life of a salesman has gotten to him. He plans to go to a motel and shoot himself.
So how can this terribly sad, genuinely terribly sad, story be funny?
Because for the last dozen years or so Alfie has been collecting graffiti in a book–a small spiral bound book that he has been carrying with him forever. He looks for graffiti in bathrooms, in phone booths, anywhere he might find some. He is not interested in the mundane–the ones you might see everywhere: Here I sit, broken hearted–he is looking for the poetic.
Things like
- I suckt Jim Morrison’s cock with my poutie boy mouth.
- Don’t chew the Trojan gum it taste’s like rubber.
- Poopie doopie you so loopy.
He spent a lot of time thinking about these scratchings. He particularly liked the third one that ended -ie, -ie, then -y.
The title comes from something he read in a bathroom in Walton, Nebraska.
He imagined that he would collect all of these and publish them in a book someday. But of course he knew he never would.
He read through this book, remembering all of the places he had been. But as he was about to kill himself he realized that people would read the book as a suicide note or as a sign that he was crazy. He tried to figure out what to do with the book. Where to stash it. He couldn’t just get rid of it.
He finally decided to get rid of it outside. Then he saw something that made him think twice about what he was doing.
The story doesn’t have a happy ending, but maybe a hopeful ending.
King can really pack a lot of emotion into a story about toilet graffiti.
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