SOUNDTRACK: FLOCK OF DIMES-Tiny Desk Concert #246 (August 10, 2021).
Flock of Dimes is a fun band name. It’s the solo project of Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner (I thought Wye Oak was a solo project as well–no, it’s a duo). [Gee, why wasn’t Andy Stack invited to this sing along?]
For this Home Concert, the solo project turns huge with nine people sitting around having a big ol’ sing along (I’ll assume they are all vaccinated and that this was filmed before Delta took off).
The setup is pretty simple: three guitars (I love that the guys on the couch are lefty (Michael Libramento, baritone guitar) and righty (Alan Good Parker, tenor guitar) so it looks appealingly symmetrical). some percussion and a lot of voices (the men on the right of the screen seems somewhat less invested).
The friends who are singing along include the three singers from Mountain Man: Amelia Randall Meath, Molly Sarlé and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. Meath is also in Sylvan Esso and her bandmate Nick Sanborn is also present (he’s one of the less invested men). The set is filmed at Sylvan Esso’s new studio in Durham, N.C., called Betty’s.
“Two” is a bouncy number with lots of percussion. I like the way the backing singers join in from time to time, but not constantly–it introduces new voices throughout.
One of the invested men is percussionist Matthew McCaughan from Bon Iver–he’s got a full complement of instruments at hand. Joe Westerland (from Megafaun) is the other percussionist, he’s just a bit more subtle in his actions, but you can see him gently tapping through “Two.”
“Price of Blue” is a little slower but it has a wonderful melody. The harmonies really standout on this song.
I don’t know the originals of these songs, but I have to assume the blurb is correct
These acoustic performances actually shed new light, thanks to radiant and radically different arrangements, while fully capturing the warmth we look for from Tiny Desk concerts.
Whatever the case, the backing vocals are tremendous. You can really hear Molly Sarlé’s gorgeous harmony vocals.
“Awake For The Sunrise” feels like an old fashioned fire side sing along. I’ve enjoyed Wye Oak’s music but I don’t know it very well. I rather like Wassner’s delivery here–but i feel like these songs might not be as good without these harmonies!
[READ: August 12, 2021] New Teeth
I’m guessing that Simon Rich had a baby.
This collection of stories is loaded with stories about little kids. And that’s all right because he has a very funny take on being a parent.
The other stories tackle the corporate environment and are full of fish-out-of-water stories.
“Learning the Ropes” is about being a new parent. But it is written from the point of view of two pirates. And hilarity ensues.
What’s odd to me is that in his first books, his stories were really short, but I feel like lately his stories have gotten much longer–sometimes too long. This one in particular kind of dragged at times, because it’s pretty much a one-note joke: what? pirates raising a little girl?! One pirate is a concerned parent which means he wants them both to care about the child. It’s got a few very funny moments, and of course, when the pirates who speak in pirate style (“The only man I trust is me first mate”) say things like “Arr… it be called ‘limit testing.’ She be acting out because she be craving discipline,” well, that’s classic Simon Rich right there.
“Laserdisc” is a short (therefore funny) piece about a laserdisc player discovering it is obsolete. Rich is great at personification in these types of stories. The laserdisc and DVD player’s reaction to an iPad? Great.
“The Big Nap” is a genius parody of detective fiction. Our hero detective is a two year old boy. His baby sister has lost her unicorn. There’s something wonderful about the way Rich writes this story like a real detective story:
What kind of scratch could a baby like Anna come up with? She wasn’t old enough to have a piggy bank. She didn’t even have pockets.
And then to throw in the very real life of a two year old
The detective stared at the bars of his crib. The grown-ups had taken away his freedom, his power, and his dignity. But this time he joke was on them. because now he had nothing left to lose.
This is what keeps me loving Simon Rich.
“Beauty and the Beast” sounds like it was taken from reality–Rich having to be the beast for his daughter who loves the soundtrack to the movie. The part that it’s the remake with Josh Gad is hilarious, as is the general Josh Gad love by the end.
“Chip” is similar to “Laserdisc” as it is about obsolete technology. The difference here is that the technology interacts with humans and the story turns more into a critique of office politics. The story is a little slow to get going but once Paula becomes fully invested, the story really takes off.
“Revolution” is a story that I feel like Rich has written before. Not this one exactly but something like it. It’s about the son of a king who is spoiled and obnoxious. Through some machinations he winds up staying with a peasant family. And hilarity ensues.
Not really in this one. The young monarch befriends a an invalid girl, whim he calls The Invalid. He decides to help the peasants in their revolt against the king. It works until the rulers come down harder on the only people who could have done the attack (duh–be prepared for a new Pain Tax)). Most of these stories have happy endings, and while this one isn’t unhappy its pretty dark.
“Clobbo” is about a nineteen foot tall ape-man experiment who gets a job in a government office. And hilarity ensures. Rich is quite adept at putting unexcepted character in commonplace situations. He also seems to really enjoy office humor (has he ever worked in an office?). Clobbo was once superhero– destroying the Space Worms and all, but the city has a budget crisis and they need to close his fortress of solitude.
The new mayor suggests he work in the government building as Senior Coordinator for the Office of Community Affairs’. He is obviously terrible at it.
I know this story isn’t the same as Revolution or Chip but the feel is very similar. Maybe these would be more fun if read a few month apart.
“Case Study” is another hilarious premise. The doctor who is working with Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man, brings his wife in to meet him in hopes of having a kind o breakthrough with Merrick. They immediately hit it of and soon enough his wife is dressing up and getting in better shape to meet with Merrick.
Rich’s tone in this is great
It was observed by this physician that this wife seemed impressed by the subjects’ comment, even though it as obviously a line…and it was observed b this physician that in general the subject kind of sucked.
“Raised By Wolves” is a total Simon rich premise and it was very funny. A girl who was raised by wolves was brought into society, educated and by the age of thirty-five had married and had a healthy daughter.
Lauren never interacted with the wolves that raised her, except when they came over for Thanksgiving.
So the wolves are real wolves, but they can talk (that is addressed) and they feel bad for the way they raised her. Lauren’s husband keeps trying to patch things up (“would anybody like to eat this dead elk’s ass?”). The ending is surprisingly touching,
“Screwball” is a very long story about Babe Ruth. Interestingly, I thought it was over after three pages (because there is a photo on the next page and a large amount of white space on page three). And I thought it was perfect. Perfect set up and punchline. The fact that it’s thirty pages longer was a bummer for sure.
In the acknowledgements he explain that he did some research on Babe Ruth for this story but that most of it is fiction. There are some genuinely funny moments, although Ruth’s naiveté (while essential to the story) seems hard to believe. I preferred the three page version.
“Everyday Parenting Tips” was printed in the the New Yorker.
It starts off easily enough with the calming assurance that it is normal for children to be afraid of monsters. It shows a sign of a healthy imagination. By five they should be convinced that monsters aren’t real.
The problem however is that some monsters are real. Ever since the Great Monster Uprising, when the monsters arrived from the Dark Place, monsters are an unavoidable part of out lives.
The piece is pretty funny, but the ending goes for a more serious tune which kind of falls flat.
I still enjoy Rich’s books but overall they don’t make me laugh the way they used to.
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