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Archive for December, 2022

Lori Hahnel–“Dearest Clara” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #17] (2022)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Clara Schumann, Dresden Germany, Hingston & Olsen, Lori Hahnel, Robert Schumann, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 17, 2022] “Dearest Clara”

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

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 17. Lori Hahnel, author of Vermin, has practiced her scales enough for one day.

As Hahnel explains, “Dearest Clara” came out of the work I’ve been doing the past few years on a novel based on the life of Clara Schumann, the 19th-century German composer and pianist.

This is a few diary entries from Schumann (nee Clara Wieck). (more…)

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Lemonheads / Juliana Hatfield / On Being an Angel (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, December 16, 2022) (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 21, 2022) [RESCHEDULED DATE] [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Hennessey, Jersey City, NJ, Juliana Hatfield, Leah Hennessey, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, White Eagle Hall on December 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 16, 2022] The Lemonheads / Juliana Hatfield / On Being an Angel [moved from April 21, 2022]

Back in 2018, I saw Evan Dando play a solo set in Jersey City.  It was him with an acoustic guitar and he played over forty songs.

It was a shambolic affair, but fun.  I didn’t really feel compelled to see him again, but I thought it would be fun to see him with a band.  And when he announced this 30th Anniversary of It’s a Shame About Ray, my favorite album of theirs, I grabbed a ticket.

This show had been announced for a pretty long time before any other American dates were added.  I never bothered to get a ticket for it and eventually it sold out.  I’d much rather go to Union Transfer than a sold out White Eagle Hall show.  So, it was an easy decision.

It sounds like he played some extra or different songs at WEH (we didn’t get Mrs. Robinson).   But that’s okay.

Leah Hennessey was supposed to open but she was replaced by Juliana Hatfield and On Being an Angel.

I was a big fan of Juliana Hatfield back in the 90s.  I thought she was the bomb.  She had toured Philly back in 2015 and I considered going because it was the Juliana Hatfield Three playing again (I should have gone!).  She also played in 2019, but I wasn’t quite as sure about that one for some reason.  But here she was opening for The Lemonheads!

A few minutes after On Being an Angel cleared their stuff, Juliana came out.  It was just her and her guitar plugged into a tiny amp.  The volume was perfect  She sounded great.

On Being an Angel are a four-piece from Austin.  Given that they were opening for Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, I was expecting a sound that fit in with them.

They were actually a bit heavier and a bit more fuzzy than I would have expected.  And I loved their sound instantly.

And then singer Paige stepped up to the mic and…we couldn’t hear her at all.  Was it Union Transfer’s fault?  That seemed unlikely.  We were very close to the stage and that can certainly impact how you hear a band, but it seemed like the lead guitar (from Nick) was just cranked up super loud and drowned out everything else.

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Lemonheads (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022)

Posted in Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on December 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2022] Lemonheads

Back in 2018, I saw Evan Dando play a solo set in Jersey City.  It was him with an acoustic guitar and he played over forty songs.

It was a shambolic affair, but fun.  I didn’t really feel compelled to see him again, but I thought it would be fun to see him with a band.  And when he announced this 30th Anniversary of It’s a Shame About Ray, my favorite album of theirs, I grabbed a ticket.

Juliana Hatfield finished and didn’t really need to clear her gear (as we’ll see).  And yet for some reason, it took Evan and the other two guys almost 45 minutes to come out on stage.  

This wasn’t an auspicious sign.  I was actually 40% surprised the show hadn’t been cancelled outright.  But it sounds like Evan Dando has gotten his shit (somewhat) together, so maybe this is a new lease on life for him.  

Eventually the band came out on stage.  Bassist Farley Glavin and drummer Lee Falco came out first.  Then Evan came out on stage, grabbed an acoustic guitar and they launched right into “Into Your Arms.”  This is one of my favorite songs of the 90s–so sweet and delightful.  I had literally no idea that it was a cover until I was reading someone else’s review of this tour (it was written by Australian duo Love Positions (Robyn St. Clare (who wrote the song) and Nic Dalton).  It sounded like he hadn’t really warmed up yet and this was his way of easing into the show.  He didn’t hit any of the higher notes.  But he still wounded quite good. (more…)

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Erika Swyler–“Good Neighbors” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #16] (2022)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Erika Swyler, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 16, 2022] “Good Neighbors”

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

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 16. Erika Swyler, author of Light from Other Stars, doesn’t like the sound of those hoofprints.

I loved the audacity of this story.  A couple is mourning the loss of their old neighborhood.  I loved this:

You bought a starter house, then a show house or a major renovation, then you retired to somewhere else, leaving an enormous home behind to mark where you’d been.

When Janie and Phil bought their house thirty years ago they were living in the woods part of suburbia.  But now they lived in the shadows of mansions.  The Hutchinson’s, like everyone else apparently, seemed to be moving to Boca. (more…)

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Juliana Hatfield (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022) [LEMONHEADS]

Posted in Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on December 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2022] Juliana Hatfield

I was a big fan of Juliana Hatfield back in the 90s.  I thought she was the bomb.  And I was really excited to see her play live when she opened for the B-52s at Boston College back in 1993.  I actually hated the B-52s (they were so overplayed at my college in 1991 that I never wanted to hear “Love Shack” again in my life) so I left before they came on.

And then, some time around 2000 I lost track of her.  I was always happy to hear she was putting out new music, but I didn’t give it much of a listen.  However, her 2018 album that is all covers of Olivia Newton John songs is pretty sweet.

She had toured Philly back in 2015 and I considered going because it was the Juliana Hatfield Three playing again (I should have gone!).  She also played in 2019, but I wasn’t quite as sure about that one for some reason.  But here she was opening for The Lemonheads!

A few minutes after On Being an Angel cleared their stuff, Juliana came out.  It was just her and her guitar plugged into a tiny amp.  The volume was perfect  She sounded great as she started singing a song I knew immediately.. (more…)

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Rebecca Watson–“Punchline” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #15] (2022)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Rebecca Watson, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 15, 2022] “Punchline”

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

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 15. Rebecca Watson, author of little scratch, is wondering if you’ve heard the one about two people who walk into a bar.

I really enjoyed this delightfully odd story of getting to know someone, sort of. 

The narrator, whose name is not Briony, met a man at a her friend Amy’s birthday party.  Their eyes didn’t meet across a crowed room. Rather they met in a mirror.

They didn’t introduce themselves, but they did wind up spending the night together.  The fact that they didn’t know each others’ names was part of the thrill.

The next morning he said he knew her name (were they really drunk enough not to ask each other last night?)  He said it was Bryony (It isn’t).  She replied that it was coincidence how similar their names are since his name was clearly Brian.  he said he would call her Brian, short for Bryony. (more…)

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On Being an Angel (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022) [THE LEMONHEADS]

Posted in Juliana Hatfield, Lemonheads, On Being an Angel, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on December 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 14, 2022] On Being an Angel

On Being an Angel are a four-piece from Austin.  Given that they were opening for Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield, I was expecting a sound that fit in with them.

They were actually a bit heavier and a bit more fuzzy than I would have expected.  And I loved their sound instantly. 

And then singer Paige stepped up to the mic and…we couldn’t hear her at all.  Was it Union Transfer’s fault?  That seemed unlikely.  We were very close to the stage and that can certainly impact how you hear a band, but it seemed like the lead guitar (from Nick) was just cranked up super loud and drowned out everything else.

The guy next to me even typed out on his phone (fix the vocal levels) but no one reacted to that.

Then I saw this comment in a 2019 review of them in Austin: “[On Being an Angel] tore apart the crowd’s broken chatter with a roaring wall of sound. Rumbling electric fuzz nearly drowned out Paige Applin’s faint vocals as the slowcore quartet played.”  The rest of the band sounded great–a big grungy sound that I was really excited to hear on record, too.

But when I listened to the (first) record, the sound was really different–far more mellow, far less noise.  The opener, “Eyes Shut” has a fantastic 90s alt rock sound with a catchy lead guitar riff.  But on record, it’s a quiet folk song with no riff at all.

The newer record (on being a tape vol. 2) has a much heavier sound.–much more satisfying.  Paige’s vocals are also forward in the mix.  (more…)

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Foals / Inner Wave / Glove (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, December 14, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Foals, Franklin Music Hall, Glove, Inner Wave, Philadelphia, PA on December 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 14, 2022] Foals / Inner Wave / Glove

Back in 2008, Foals were a weird indie rock band.  Cryptic, with odd instrumental passages.  By their third album, Holy Fire, they had ditched all of that for huge bombast.  But it was still great, “Inhaler” was my favorite song of the year, getting bigger and bigger until it somehow exploded.

I kind of forgot about them, and then heard that they were releasing a two part epic: Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost.

In 2022, they released their most recent album, Life is Yours, recording now as a trio.  I actually hadn’t heard anything from the album.

I had tickets to see the Lemonheads that night.  And I really wanted to see them, so Foals would have to wait until next time.

Although now that I check the setlist, I think that Foals show might have been the better bet.  Maybe.

Inner Wave was going to open for Chicano Batman when I saw them in 2020, but when the show was rescheduled, there was a new opening band.

Inner Wave is a five-piece ensemble, and three of the bandmates – lead vocalist and guitarist Pablo Sotelo, bassist and vocalist Jean Pierre Narvaez, and guitarist and keyboard player Elijah Trujillo – go all the way back to middle school. Some back-in-the-day homies left the band in 2016, and keyboardist Chris Runners and drummer Luis Portillo joined the group. [They are] an indie rock quintet who seamlessly float between psychedelic and synthwave sounds.

I can see them opening for Chicano Batman with their retro sounds and soft vocals.  I don’t exactly see it working with Foals.

Glove opened for A Place to Bury Strangers, a show I did not go to.  Glove is a retro synth band, in the vein of Depeche Mode or New Order.  They’re from Tampa but look like they are straight out of the 80’s UK music scene.

I don’t quite see them opening for Foals either, unless the new Foals music is a lot more synthy.

 

 

 

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Ander Monson–“I’ve Thought About Taking Up Another Life” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #14] (2017)

Posted in Ander Monson, Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 14, 2022] “I’ve Thought About Taking Up Another Life”

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

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 14. Ander Monson, author of The Gnome Stories, will get to the sports pages eventually.

This story had a very strange bookending component.  The narrator, as the title says, would like to start another life.

And so, he (I believe) cites the example of a couple, usually middle-aged, let’s call them Diana and Henry.  They have been married for a while and have two kids.  And then one of them suddenly disappears. (more…)

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Venita Blackburn–“Not a Donut” [The 2022 Short Story Advent Calendar #13] (2022)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 13, 2022] “Not a Donut”

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

Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 13. Venita Blackburn, author of How to Wrestle a Girl, never forgets to like and subscribe.

I enjoyed everything about this story until the end, when it got very real and broke the bubble that the story had created.

Dan Conway’s wife left him and his son Silus. Dan was ordinary but confident.  he was sixty and Silus was an adult as well.  But Silus was diagnosed with high needs on the autism spectrum.  So Dan rarely allowed Silus to be on his own.  Silus rarely spoke more than a few catchphrases (like “Not a Donut”) which Dan knew how to interpret.

Dan had started going to New Light Missionary Baptist church a few months earlier.  It had gotten three and a half stars which was Dan’s sweet spot (he didn’t trust four stars or above, figuring they must be fake, because who could ever perform that well at anything).

After one Sunday, Dan learned that he could leave Silus for the young adult session and the ladies would look after him. 

He seemed to really hit it off with Sis. Wilson.  There’s a wonderful moment where she startles him while he is watching Silus from behind a palm tree. 

“Jesus shit,” yelled Dan. 
Sis. Wilson slapped her thigh, laughing as he began to apologize for the language.  “Jesus wept,” she replied.  

There’s some background on Dan and Silus that really Fleshes out what a good man Dan is.  

There’s also a scene where Dan tries t o get Sis. Wilson to work out at the gym.  It’s during this session that she asks him why he didn’t go to a white church (I’m not sure from context clues if I was supposed to realized the racial implications in the story already).

Later on when Dan tries to scare Sis. Wilson the way she did to him earlier, it does not go well.   And that made me very sad.

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