SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Rainy Day Women 12 & 35″ (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Five” December 14, 2020).
Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.
“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”
The fifth night is a classic rock staple: a singalong from Bob Dylan.
So now everybody must get stoned (not in the Law of Moses sense) as we put some blood on this track: Rainy Day Women 12&35 by the immortal Bob Dylan!
Anyone who has listened to classic rock radio has heard this song a hundred times. And if you heard it when you were younger, it made you chuckle because he says “everybody must get stoned.” I have often wondered if there is any more depth to the song than that. Also, why it is called “Rainy Day Women 12 & 35.”
Kurstin plays the piano on this one–a bouncy barroom piano rag. He also adds harmonica.
Grohl plays drums and sings. These drums are about the simplest thing that he’s ever played–a two beat snare and bass drum. He doesn’t try to sing like Dylan (that would be too obvious), although he definitely sings more like Dylan than himself.
It’s a straightforward song and both of them have a lot of fun with it.
[READ: December 15, 2020] “The Game”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth 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
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
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.
It’s December 15. Kris Bertin, author of Use Your Imagination!, would like to buy a vowel. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
This story is about allowing fate to control your life.
The narrator and his friend Brad both work at a University. They are both published authors although neither has written anything since they got the jobs.
Brad believed in “all that shit”–he got his fortune told, did Tarot, I Ching, Ouija–he did it all. He believes that he is fucked on a cosmic level. He is trying to bring his wife and child to where he is working, but he can’t afford to do so yet.
The narrator tries to convince him it’s all junk and says he’ll do a fortune for him right now. But Brad knows that having any of that divination shit in your house is bad luck. However, he does have a can of dice.
The dice are a large assortment of letters–from multiple Boggle games. Brad tells him you roll the dice and you read what it says–not all the letters obviously, just what speaks to you.
The first roll produced
GOGET ON THE ROOF QIUCK
So they did. The roof was beautiful–a lovely night, a lovely view, and a flat surface to keep rolling.
IMPORTNT BEARD convinces them to grow beards–a long term plan, of course.
PISZA HAWAEE decides their dinner and GO TO BED changes their plans when they have to be to work in four hours.
They start playing the game every day. And they make sure to follow all the prompts. UNDRA BRDGE PLEASE tells them where to go. But some are harder to figure: ALWAYS BEET BALLS.
And how will they know which one to choose when it says WRECK A CAR.
The real crisis comes when they roll TELL THE TRUTH and they both admit some harsh truths to each other. This does bring them closer though.
The narrator notes that it never says anything like GO ORGANIZE A LESSON PLAN or MEMORIZE CHAUCER.
Eventually Brad saves up enough money to bring his family up (after blowing $400 on BUY A NEW STOVE).
Once the family comes up, the narrator moves out and stays respectfully away. He decides to start at square one. He starts dating a woman and writing again. He still sees Brad, but Brad has been getting his act together–going to the gym and being responsible.
But the narrator can’t stop playing the game. UNDRESS AND STAND IN WINDOW. BREAK WRIST WITH HAMMER HA HA HA.
What comes next?
Leave a Reply