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Archive for December, 2023

Binnie Kirshenbaum–“The Gift of the Magi Revisited” [The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar #21] (2020)

Posted in Binnie Kirshenbaum, Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 21, 2023] “The Gift of the Magi Revisited”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Binnie Kirshenbaum.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 21. Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of Rabbits for Food, can’t find the receipt, so will settle for store credit.

I was concerned when I saw the title of this one because it’s a lot to reference a stone-cold classic in the title of your story and then say you are revisiting it.  I feared the worst: either Kirshenbaum would try to improve on the story or she would make a kind of anti-Gift of the Magi, which would be negative and nasty. (more…)

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Leopoldine Core–“The Skull” [The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar #20] (2023)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Leopoldine Core, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 20, 2023] “The Skull”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Leopoldine Core.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 20. Leopoldine Core, author of When Watched, steers clear of Facebook Marketplace.

This was a short story about, yes, a skull.  (more…)

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Michael LaPointe–“Private Hands” [The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar #19] (2021)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Jimi Hendrix, Museum of the Dandelion, Provenance, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar, The Walrus on December 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 19, 2023] “Private Hands”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Michael LaPointe.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 19. Michael LaPointe, author of The Creep, has a line on a shoe once worn by Jerry Garcia.

I’ve read a lot of short stories over the years and I keep this blog as a way to remember them.  But it’s cool when I can start a story and recognize it.  I read this story over two and a half years ago in The Walrus, but it rang familiar after the first few paragraphs.  Interesting that i didn’t remember how it ended.

Harvey has a lot of rarities that he sells.  He is trying to sell a 1963 Fender Strat that Jimi Hendrix played at the Juggy Sound Studio.  He asks $500,000 but he knows it’s too much (Harvey overpaid for it and wants to make some money back). (more…)

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Wax Jaw / Trash Boy / Jim E. Brown (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, December 18, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Jim E. Brown, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Trash Boy, Wax Jaw on December 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 18, 2023] Wax Jaw / Trash Boy / Jim E. Brown

I was pretty excited to go to this show.  I had seen Wax Jaw a few months ago and they were outstanding.  This was to be their last show of the year and it was back on home turf.  It was also going to be my last show of the year and it seemed like a great one to go out on.

Then it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  Our area was flooded like crazy–schools closed, rivers overflowing, the works.  I probably could have still gone to the show.  It looked like Philly wasn’t as badly affected as my area was, but when I looked on the map, it did suggest that  there were flooding issues along the way and around the venue.  It just didn;t seem like it was worth going to the hassle.

So I stayed home.

Bummer.

I’ve seen a couple of videos and the show looks insane.  I hope someone has recorded the whole show. (more…)

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Colin Winnette–“Ghost Mountain Island Murder Mystery” [The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar #18] (2014)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Colin Winnette, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 18, 2023] “Ghost Mountain Island Murder Mystery”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Colin Winnette.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 18. Colin Winnette, author of Users, isn’t sure that the snake is part of the experience.

(more…)

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Sara Lippmann–“Swanee” [The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar #17] (2014)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Sara Lippmann, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 17, 2023] “Swanee”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Sara Lippmann.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 17. Sara Lippmann, author of Jerks, removes her shoes before entering the ball pit.

I really liked the tone of this story, and I liked a lot of the content.  But I felt a little confused by the story in a few points. (more…)

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Karina Rykman (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, December 15, 2023)

Posted in Boygenius, Butthole Surfers, Coyote Island, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, Tom Tom Club, Ween on December 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 15, 2023] Karina Rykman 

I‘ve seen Karina Rykman play bass with Marco Benevento three times.   She exudes a joy that is infectious.  And her sound with Marco is outstanding–her fuzz bass is unparalleled.

So I’d wanted to see her solo for a while, even though her solo songs are a bit more discoey than I would have liked. She opened for Guster back in April and she and her band blew me away.  In fact, my wife liked her so much that she was totally on board with seeing her again.

Yes, her singing voice is rather discoey (she must use lots of effects on it to sound so echoey and outer-spacey, but man, when she jams, she gets down and dirty and often quite heavy.  But she also steps back and lets her impressive guitar player Adam November take over.  And her drummer Chris Corsico is pretty awesome too.

She sold out Milkboy (I was supposed to see her there in 2020 and I think it would have been a very different show) which she was pretty thrilled about.  And the crowd was 100% dancing to her groove.

She opened with three songs from her album Joyride (which had not come out in April).  “Joyride” and “All That You Wanted” are softer songs that accentuate her way with melody and hooks–the choruses are dynamite. (more…)

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Algernon Blackwood–“The Kit-Bag” [The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar #16] (1908)

Posted in Algernon Blackwood, Canadian Content, Christmas, Hingston & Olsen, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 16, 2023] “The Kit-Bag”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Algernon Blackwood.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 16. Algernon Blackwood, a prolific English author of ghost stories, died in 1951. His story “The Glamour of the Snow” appeared in the 2018 Short Story Advent Calendar, among other places.

Algernon Blackwood wrote a spooky story for the 2018 Short Story Advent Calendar.  It held up very well.  As does this one.

The story opens with the end of a court case.  A murderer (the defense attorney knew he was guilty) was found not guilty.  But the defense attorney was not pleased by the result.  He just wanted the case to be over. (more…)

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Strand of Oaks [Winter Classic VIII/IX] / Pat Finnerty (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, December 15 & 16, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Johnny Brenda's, Pat Finnerty, Philadelphia, PA, Strand of Oaks on December 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 15 & 16, 2023] Strand of Oaks / Pat Finnerty

I had every intention of going to this Winter Classic.  I even had a ticket to night one.  Which I bought very specifically because I had a ticket to another show on Saturday night.  Then at about 3PM on Friday the 15th, I realized that my other show was actually tonight!

And my wife and I were going to that show together.

And the Saturday night show sold out a long time ago.  Sigh.

By my calculations, this should be Winter Classic XIII, but the poster says IX, so I’ll trust he’s right.  And I’ll make sure I’m there for Number 10.

~~~~~~~~

In 2015, Timothy Showalter played his first Strand of Oaks Winter Classic at Boot and Saddle.

Every year since then he has played two to four shows around Christmas time to a small but rabid fan base.  Obviously he didn’t pay one in 2020.  And now Boot & Saddle is closed

I have been to three of these fun winter events.

When he announced December shows at Johnny Brenda’s, it just didn’t occur to me that these would be Winter Classic shows.  I’m not sure why it would have made a difference, but had I realized, I would have gotten a ticket before they sold out.  Even S said, you love those, I can’t believe you didn’t go.

When I’m looking for it now I see that it was clearly stated that this was a Winter Classic, but I guess I was looking in the wrong places. (more…)

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Coyote Island (Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA, December 15, 2023) [KARINA RYKMAN]

Posted in Coyote Island, Karina Rykman, Marco Benevento, Milkboy, Philadelphia, PA on December 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 15, 2023] Coyote Island

Coyote Island opened for Karina Rykman.  I hadn’t heard of them and when I listened to a song or two I thought they sounded kind of folkie and mellow.  Turns out

Coyote Island is the musical vision of producer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Mike O’Hehir. For many years Mike travelled the country with guitar in hand. With roots in folk music, the sound quickly expanded into a new genre-bending realm of psychedelic indie. With good vibrations, dancey grooves, and tropical psychedelia, Coyote Island offers you a sonic vacation from the doldrums of existence.

Okay, so that’s promo blather but it’s not far off.

When the band started, they played an excellent instrumental jam.  It rocked and was really grooving.  Their second song was kind of lite-reggae.  I don’t like reggae, but I enjoyed this song because it deviated from the formula in little ways.

Their next song was, as the blurb says, kind of tropical psychedelia.  There’s definitely the tropical element in the drums from Ryan Benoit.  And five-string bassist Garrett Roy Jones played a great low-end.

It was lead guitarist Amir Rivera who really blew me away.  I loved the way he casually played some really amazing solos.  He was fast, but also very clean and tasteful.

I don’t have any song titles, although I do know that they played a super fun and hugely surprising cover of “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” by Kylie Minogue–sung by Amir.  Another really fun moment was when Mike broke a guitar string–a low E of all things–and had to get a new guitar.  He climbed off the stage to their gear which was stacked up in the crowd.  While he grabbed and tuned a guitar, Amir led the rest of the band in this rippling fun instrumental.  None of this is to dismiss Mike, whoc joined in about halfway through and added a ton of little details.

Indeed, Mike is a fun and engaging front man.  He’s got a smooth island-inflected singing voice [I was stunned when he said they were from Maine as they sound like the least Maine-sounding band I could imagine].  He had on a fun outfit and was generally smiling and happy.

When the set was over he walked through the crowd and happily talked to anyone.

Without question they would make an excellent opening band in nearly any situation.  I hope to see them again.

 

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