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Archive for the ‘Artists’ Category

G. Willow Wilson (writer); Elmo Bondoc [12], Takeshi Miyazawa [13-15] (artists)–Ms. Marvel: Crushed (2015)

Posted in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Elmo Bondoc, Feminism, G. Willow Wilson, Graphic Novel, Jidenna, Ms. Marvel, Religion, Romance, Superheroes, Takeshi Miyazawa, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Video Games, Violence on September 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: JIDENNA-Tiny Desk Concert #646 (September 5, 2017).

I had never heard of Jidenna despite all of his apparent hits.  I was rather turned off by the initial song, “Trampoline.”  The chorus of “Bounce Bounce Bounce like a trampoline” was dumb enough and the music was cheesy enough that I didn’t like this at all. Although the lyric “the lady ain’t a tramp just coz she bounce up and down like a trampoline” is at least female positive.

So who is this guy?

MC Jidenna is Nigerian-American: he rocks thrift-wear tailored to a T.  Jidenna and his band recently visited NPR to perform three reworked selections from The Chief–A tribute to his father, a Nigerian chief, the record is peppered with African rhythms and themes.  They excitedly explored every nook and cranny of the Tiny Desk in search of props, eventually settling on a toy, the magic microphone, a tambourine and a bottle of whiskey.

But then he said some eloquent words about NPR–“a beacon of light of information in this information age,” and I was impressed that it wasn’t just all bouncing asses.

For then he began”Long Live the Chief.”  This rap song has some great sounding rough guitars.  His delivery is sharp and fast and the lyrics are fantastic. But its the music that really won me over–the sound of the guitars, the unexpected rhythm and some great drumming.  It was like a 180 degree turn.

But I love these lines:

Ridin’ for my niggas gettin’ locked up in the slammer
Elders saying everything’s a nail to a hammer
And niggas can’t spell but we know our Instagrammar
Well done’s better than well said
I read niggas well, a nigga well read
Really I ain’t met nobody smarter
That’s why I got admitted but I still rejected Harvard
I’m the fresh prince, in a school where they couldn’t read
Mama put me in a school with the Kennedys
When I met Bill Clinton I was seventeen
But dead presidents is all my niggas need
Dining with the governor’s daughter
And her father say I remind him of Obama
I’m the chief diplomat, every day
And I’m black and white, Janelle Monae

And then in another 180 degree turn (but not full circle, more like 180 degrees in the opposite direction) came “Bambi.”  This is a gentle lullaby–a sweet song to a lost a love.

The women among the tribe
They will be jealous of this lullaby
I’ll drink alone in my hotel and cry
‘Cause now they know you are love of my life

It sounds like a sweet reggae song or a proper doo-wop 50s song.  he seems to have a Jamaican accent (or is that a Nigerian accent?) as he sings the chorus “Bahm-bee.”

I really can’t get over the diversity of these three songs.  And by the end, his charm really impressed me (although i still don’t like “Trampoline.”

[READ: October 1, 2016] Ms Marvel: Crushed

This book collects books 12-15 of the Ms. Marvel series and includes a bonus of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2.

There’s yet another crossover moment in this book because we start book 12 in the Kingdom of Asgard where Loki, who is apparently a good guy now? is punished for his bad idea and is sent to earth to help out Ms Marvel.

I love how Loki flairs to blend in on earth and is called a hipster viking dude.  This first story is light-hearted because Kamala’s friend Bruno admits out loud (but Kamala does not hear) that he is crazy about her.  He even asks her to the dance but in such a lame way that she thinks he is joking.

Loki overhears this and decides to write her a love letter instead.  It is over the top and outrageous and Kamala thinks it is from a crazy stalker.  But she is still curious to see who it is so she goes to the Valentine’s Day dance. (more…)

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G. Willow Wilson (writer) Adrian Alphona, Jacob Wyatt (artist)–Ms. Marvel: Generation Why (2015)

Posted in Adrian Alphona, Captain Marvel, Dogs, Feminism, G. Willow Wilson, George Saunders, Graphic Novel, Jacob Wyatt, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Ms. Marvel, Religion, Superheroes, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on September 18, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JASON ISBELL-Tiny Desk Concert #645 (August 28, 2017).

Everybody seems to love Jason Isbell.  I’d heard the songs that people liked and I didn’t really think all that much of them.

This Tiny Desk Concert made Isbell sound much more country than I’d realized (I didn’t know he was with the Drive-By Truckers, either).

I was a little resistant initially, but the first song “Chaos and Clothes” really won me over with the words and melody.  By the end of the song when the fiddle and violin are in full swing and the bassist is playing a cool bass line on that weird tiny fake-looking bass guitar the song really takes off.

But it was Isbell’s playful and funny side that made me rally enjoy him and his band.

He asks the drummer how he is dong and then comments on the hat that they wished they could have worn (they point to tiny top hats).

Isbell says, “Abraham Lincoln had a tiny head, it turns out.  Where’s you’re novel about that, George Saunders.”

Then he jokes about the bass guitar: “that’s’ why you need the hat,  your bass is so small.  Abe Lincoln played a tiny bass.

When they finally get going, the second song “Molotov” has a false start-“I spent so much time on that word and then I said the wrong one.”  The violinist says its alright she didn’t do the best either.  I love the dramatic melody and delightful swing to this song.  It’s really good.

They have a lengthy amusing discussion about babies’ defense mechanisms. The whole banter section between the second and third song is really funny.  Jason leans into his guitarist who jumps and says “thank you.”  This makes Isbell laugh, “if you scare Sadler, he says ‘thank you.'”  Sadler says it’s a defense mechanism from when he was a baby.  Isbell looks at him: “Why would you have o defend yourself when you were a baby?” They talk about baby defense mechanisms and Isbell determines that saying thank you is a good idea: if you were going to kill someone and they said thank you, you’d pause–wondering if you fell into their trap.

He jokes, “we shouldn’t have taken all that acid before Tiny Desk.”

There’s a lot of laughter and then Amanda worries that she has boogers.  It’s quite light-hearted (she doesn’t, by the way).

There’s another false start for “Last of My Kind.”  He pauses the song and then invites an audience member up on “stage” to play.  He says that when he was younger he always imagined that this would happen to him–that someone would have once just asked him to come up and play.

The final song is really good, with a lot of great details in the words, and Ashwin, “a guest in the building who got more than he’d likely expected from his visit to NPR headquarters,” makes good use of his special performance.

His band is The 400 Unit: Sadler Vaden (guitar); Amanda Shires (fiddle, backing vocals); Jimbo Hart (bass); Derry deBorja (keyboards); Chad Gamble (drums); Ashwin Wadekar (guitar on “Last of My Kind”).

[READ: March 15, 2015] Ms Marvel: Generation Why

This book collects issues 6-11 of the Ms. Marvel series. I really enjoyed the first collection a lot, but I hadn’t seen any of the follow ups.  So I was pretty excited to see that my library had gotten all of the published volumes.

In addition to having a great story line about a Pakistani-American teenager who received superpowers, Ms Marvel has a lot of fun with inside-Marvel jokes (which I know some people get tired of, but which I like and which I think works very well here).  Ms Marvel is Kamala Khan.  She is a huge fan of the Marvel Universe (which of course is real), and she had taken the name of Ms Marvel in honor of Carol Danvers, the first Ms Marvel.

Jacob Wyatt drew books 6 & 7 and Adrian Alphona did 8-11.

The book opens with Kamala’s parents–god-fearing Muslims, sending her to Sheikh Abdullah.  She is obviously concerned with talking to this religious leader. Her new career as Ms Marvel has kept her from doing most of the things she should be doing as a decent Muslim girl. But the Sheikh is surprisingly cool.  She doesn’t reveal her secret but he senses that she is doing good and perhaps she just needs the help of someone–a teacher?  She heads downtown where suddenly there is a sinkhole in the ground.  As Ms Marvel, she jumps in and discovers gigantic crocodiles.  The person who has carted these gigantic creatures proves to be a human-cockatiel hybrid who IS NOT A BIRD.  He is bad guy named The Inventor.  And just as things start to get really intense, a teacher of sorts comes to help out–Wolverine!  It cracks me up that she takes a selfie with him. (more…)

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Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams–The Man Who Danced with Dolls (2012) [Madras Press: Series Three, Book Three]

Posted in Death, Dolls, Madras Press, Marjorie Minkin, Marriage Trouble, Phish, Short Story, Small Books, Violence on September 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-The White Tape (1986) (1998).

Phish (also known as The White Tape) is a self-produced album released by the American rock band Phish on cassette in 1986. Often cited as the first Phish “album”, The White Tape was originally a collection of original material that the band used as a demo/sample tape for venues, and was sometimes labelled “Phish”

This release is largely kind of goofy, although there are lots of kernels of songs and indeed songs that are still played today.  As Wikipedia puts it: “The album also contains avant-garde experimental pieces, instrumental passages, electronic noises and studio trickery.

“Alumni Blues” sounds kind of slapdash (at least the lyrics) and demo-y (almost a generic blues) but overall very much like a full song.  There’s some great bass lines and solid guitar.  It’s got some crazy nonsensical percussion and crickets at the end of the song.  “And So to Bed” is a very pretty guitar instrumental with lots of pretty ringing chords (it could be a Led Zeppelin song but clearly isn’t).

“You Enjoy Myself” is a one minute a capella version of the melody of YEM, it’s beautiful and weird at the same time with lots of pitch shifting on the voices.

“AC/DC Bag” is a weird, early song (that doesn’t make much sense outside of the “Gamehendge” story).  This version is very slow and kind of loungey (especially the way Trey sings the chorus).  but al of the main parts are there just like they still are today.  The rather surprising “Fuck Your Face” is a wild guitar solo (reminiscent of something Zappa might do) in 17/4 time signature.  It was done entirely by Mike Gordon (who sounds like he’s 12 years old). It ends with this declaration: “Hi, I’m Bill I was the one who the did the cover art for the Stones’ Sucking in the 70s LP.”

“Divided Sky” is an 1 minute introduction to the song played on acoustic guitar (presumably 12 strings) and xylophone.

  “Slave to the Traffic Light” is an unusual version of the song—it’s less fluid than later versions.  The opening is done on that acoustic guitar again and it’s not instantly recognizable as “Slave.”  But the voices are kind of silly.  Not that the song is serious, but it makes it even less so.

“Aftermath” starts with some crazy noises. It sounds like pure studio trickery until it resolves into a very pretty guitar instrumental.   “Ingest,” meanwhile, is the song of weird effects a weird synth with sampled laughter—pure nonsense (and not credited to anyone).

“NO2″ is more nonsense—credited to Mike–this time keyboard effects making it sound like a dentist’s office.  It’s about 5 minutes of noise—hard to listen to more than once.  However, it ends with 2 minutes of beautiful almost Spanish style acoustic guitar.  It segues into “Fluff’s Travels” which doesn’t really seem to have much to do with the “Fluff’s Travels” that appears on Junta.  This one is 90 seconds of slightly disorienting playing and odd-sounding operatic vocals.

I didn’t realize “Dog Gone Dog” which has since become known as “Dog Log” was quite so old.  It sounds like a live version here–bot too different from later version except for the synth sounds.  “He Ent to the Bog” is an even weirder Mike Gordon piece than the other weird song, with sampled words, crazy noises and then a series of really bad jokes about hamburgers told by an unspecified woman (including a joke that name checks Farah Fawcett-Majors).  And it’s nearly 4 minutes long.

“Run Like an Antelope” is an interesting version—with a jaunty bouncy folkie introduction (much bouncier than the recorded version).  There’s some wild soloing in the middle of the 7 minutes.  The spoken word nonsense is done very quickly.  There’s also cheers from some other album tacked on.

Mike’s last contribution is the bizarre (clearly Mike is the weird one in the band) “Minkin” a jazzy peace that is mostly a spoken word “infomercial” piece about painter Marjorie Minkin (who is Mike’s mother).  It’s much funnier knowing that she is actually Mike’s mom.

“Letter to Jimmy Page” is an electric guitar workout, but it’s only a minute and could be longer.

Only “Alumni Blues”, “AC/DC Bag”, “Slave To The Traffic Light” and “Dog Gone Dog” (a.k.a. “Dog Log”) have the four band members together.  And Trey wrote everything except the few Gordon pieces.

[READ: November 22, 2016] The Man Who Danced with Dolls

Back in 2014, I ordered all 16 books from Madras Press. believing that I’d been told about a cool gem of a publisher.  And I had been. Unfortunately, after publishing the 16 books they seem to have gone out of business or so. They still have a web presence where you can buy remaining copies of books.  But what a great business idea this is/was

Madras Press publishes limited-edition short stories and novella-length booklets and distributes the proceeds to a growing list of non-profit organizations chosen by our authors.  The format of our books provides readers with the opportunity to experience stories on their own, with no advertisements or miscellaneous stuff surrounding them.

For this particular book, proceeds to benefit the New Hanover Humane Society.

The story opens with a man reflecting back on visiting his grandparents.  He is a translator and has become one most likely because his grandfather insisted that he learn German.  Since the boy’s father was more interested in learning French, his grandfather insisted on German.  So he learned fascinating words like

  • gurtmuffel: someone who doesn’t wear their seatbelt and
  • fensterln: for someone to go through a window to make love to their sweetheart while her family doesn’t know anything.

His grandfather developed brain cancer and the first thing that went was his ability to recall these unusual words. (more…)

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The Story of Canada in 150 Objects (1867-2017) (2017)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, Acting, Alice Munro, Art, Bagels, Basketball, Bears, Beavers, Bison, Books about music, Books about writers, Canada geese, Canadian Content, Canadian Geographic, Canadian Music, Canoeing, CBC Radio 1, CBC Radio 2, CBC Radio 3, Computer Programming, Cricket, Crokinole, Curling, Donuts, Douglas Coupland, Environmentalism, Essays, Field Recordings, First Nations, Five-pin bowling, Friendship, Funny (ha ha), Grey Cup, Group of 7, Heliskiing, Hockey, Interviews, Inuit, Inukshuk, Inunnguaq, John McCrae, Language, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Maple syrup, Nanulak, Native Americans, Non-fiction, Nostalgia, Pauline Johnson, Pemmican, Poetry, Poets, Political Humor, Porky's, Poutine, Qimmiq, Racism, Research, Rheostatics, Ringette, Santa Claus, Scholarship, Science, Scientists, SCTV, Snow, Stanley Cup, Stompin' Tom Connors, Technology, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus, Tim Horton's, Tom Thomson, Trivial Pursuit, Walruses, War, Will Ferguson, tagged on August 28, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON (December 11 1996).

This is the final show on Rheostatics Live in which the band is opening for The Tragically Hip.

For this show, the intro music is also from The Wizard of Oz, but this time it’s Judy singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”  It’s just one verse before fading out and then guitars fading in for Martin to play “A Mid Winter Night’s Dream.”

Turns out that this setlist is similar to the one from Buffalo with a lot of new songs.  Although there are a few older/more popular songs in places.

The new songs include “Fat” which sounds great of course.  I gather they are maybe sharing a microphone because at the end Dave says “See you in the next song, Martin.”  “Okay, Dave.”  This leads into a perfect version of “All the Same Eyes.”

Martin says “We are the Rheostatics.”  Dave says “We are the Rheostatics, not to be confused with The Howell Brothers (?).  They couldn’t make it but we got their jackets.  It’s nice of you to come out early.  We’re playing selections from our new record. Get it before it’s reduced to clear.”  (You can hear someone laugh on tape).

This is a segue into the single “Bad Time to Be Poor.”  It’s followed by another Tim song, “Claire” with the acoustic guitar opening in place.  There’s another lengthy guitar solo, although it’s not quiet as exciting as some of the other ones.  But Martin was saving up for a spirited version of “California Dreamline.”

They end their set with a rough rocking “Feed Yourself.”  During the spoken part, they slow things down to just a bass and washes of guitar.  It’s a pretty intense ending and a good preparation for The Tragically Hip.

[READ: June 25, 2017] The Story of Canada in 150 Objects

In celebration of Canada’s 150th year, Canadian Geographic and The Walrus created this special issue–a fun way to describe many elements of Canadian culture through “objects.”

The objects are grouped in vague categories.  Some have just a few words written about them while others get a few pages.  Some are humorous, some are more serious.  Most are happy or amusing, some not so much.  And all of it together paints a diverse and complex portrait of the country–as well as teaching this person from South of the border a number of things I did not know.

It’s with comic pride and humility that the first object is politeness (which is not an object at all, of course).  The amusing thing about this article about “politeness” is that while the author of it is very pleased to be so polite, he also can’t wait for his fellow Canucks to forget to be polite so he can rub it in with a extra smarmy “You’re Welcome.” (more…)

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Kathryn Siebel–The Trouble with Twins (2016) [audiobook 2016–Cassandra Campbell & Katherine Kellgren]

Posted in Adventure, Audiobooks, Cassandra Campbell, Cats, Child Development, Children's Books, Explorers, Fantasy, Fears, Fire, Funny (ha ha), Giants, Greed, Hospitals, Humiliation, Idiots, Júlia Sardà, Jealousy, Katherine Kellgren, Kathryn Siebel, Language, Marriage Trouble, Nightmares, Parenting, Regrets, Runaways, Set at School on August 15, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2017] The Trouble with Twins

I grabbed this book because it seemed kind of interesting.  I see also that this book was released in the UK as Missing Arabella, which I think is a slightly better title).  I wasn’t entirely sure if we’d like it.  I mean, we don’t have twins and this is about twins and I wasn’t sure that our 12-year-old boy would like a book about twin girls.

But holy cow was this book outstanding!  It was utterly hilarious and the way it was read aloud was genius.

The book begins with this wonderful setup:

And so it begins in front of the fire, the story of two twin sisters.  One remains with her family in their lovely country house, where yellow roses perfume the air.  The other waits for her in another house, where she stands alone at huge arched windows.  She is restless, pacing wooden floors that creak in the night when a cat jumps down from the bed to chase at shadows.

And then in different typeface:

“What are their names?” the girls asks.  “The sisters.”
“Arabella and Henrietta.”
“Are they lonely,” asks the girl.
“They belong together,” says the mother.  “And it makes them sad to be apart.”
“Can’t you tell a happy story?” the girl asks.
“With puppies and a garden?”
“Yes!” says the girl.
“I’m only telling it the way my mother told it to me,” the mother says.
“And will there be puppies?” the girls persists.  “Or only gloomy girls at windows?”

(more…)

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Art Spiegelman–“A Sigh and a Salute: an appreciation of Si Lewen and his Parade” (Harper’s, August 2016)

Posted in 13 Engines, Art Spiegelman, Canadian Music, Graphic Novel, Harper's, History, Hitler, Holocaust, Humiliation, Non-fiction, Political Humor, Racism, Rheostatics, Si Lewen, Sketches, Violence, World War I, World War II, Yuck!, tagged on July 21, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Clinton’s Tavern Toronto ON (October 20, 1990).

From the Rheostatics Live website:

Very good sounding show though a bit hot in places. I had to stitch it together from 2 tapes and a messed up order but I think I got it right. Interesting that back in 1990, before even Melville was recorded, they were playing such a large selection of songs from Whale Music and even Introducing Happiness plus a bunch of songs that didn’t end up on any album such as Fluffy, Seems Like, Woodstuck, Memorial Day etc. One of the only times they played all three Joey related songs in succession. Louis Melville guests as well as Jim Hughes of 13 Engines. I don’t believe this is the full show as they talk about to going into Edmund Fitzgerald but the tape ends.

I had planned to post about these Rheostatics live shows in order, but I’d somehow missed this one.  Interestingly though, they play a bunch of songs that they would not record for several years–some of them are early incarnations of songs, too.

As the Daves introduce the band, the phrase one fell swoop comes up.  And Bidini says that they are One Fell Swoop.  Then Clark says we are One Swell Poop.   Bidini continues: The Holmgren Brotehrs, Dave and Dave.  That’s Frosty Flake on bass and Ken “The Rat” Linseman on the rat pedal.  I gather that Bidini has a mustache (there’s a Freddy Mercury joke later in the show), but he says “The mods called me a rich kid on the street because of his mustache.  They called me dude too.  Which isn’t modish or contemporary.

After some noise and static Dave says the first song was supposed to start with a technological flourish of some kind.  It’s “Jesus Was Once a Teenager Too” [Introducing Happiness] and it is sung by Dave and Dave (!)  It sounds so strange and there’s no middle section at all.  Midway through they call out Lewis Melville from Guelph Ontario to play the guitar.

They play they crazy noisy staccato intro to “When Winter Comes” [Melville] and the song rocks out.  At the end Bidini says it is three songs rolled into one: Big Bear’s Birthday, When Winter Comes and Victoria.  They play “Northern Wish” [Melville] and “Woodstuck.”  Dave introduces “Seems Like” as written about a guy Martin met in Dublin who told the band they had no vision.  It includes the line:  “a sentimental flower child bawls me out for lacking vision…fuck you, dude.”

Then they introduce a song “about a great hockey player gone bad its called “Beer” [Would eventually be “Beerbash” on Whale Music].

Bidini says they are really the tragedy corner here–that was depressing so is this one (“Soul Glue”) [Whale Music] Tim says, “I thought you meant we were sucking.”  There’s no Benjamin Hayward in the lyrics.  And during the part about the police, someone chants “911 is a joke.”

Clark gives a bizarro story as an introduction to “Ditch Pigs”: he and Martin got into fisticuffs punch up in the Rockies.  They stole policeman’s peanut butter and smeared it on each other and then fell into a ditch.  None of that is true, someone points out.

Marty’s got a case of the bombastic flu–the four week flu.  And so they play “Martin’s First Day of School” [never released] although they claim it is from their forthcoming album Rheostatics Cut Their Head Off and Go Swimming or form their triple CD retrospective Smelling a Dog on a Sunny Day.

They play “Memorial Day” which is also kind of a downer [never recorded].  And then a fun introduction to “Who” [Whale Music]:

Just back from Neil Young’s ranch in Topanga Canyon Mr Jim Hughes of 13 Engines.   Then comes “Chanson les Ruelles” [Melville], “Sickening Song” [Whale Music] with lots of accordion that segues into “What’s Going On” [also Whale Music] with a nice solo at the end by Martin.

This leads into “Fluffy,” the only time it’s available live here.  Martin hits some absurd high notes–I wonder if they ever intended to record it.  Dave introduces a song called “Dealin at the 7-11” which would of course be Legal Age Life at Variety Store [Whale].  Then comes two songs from Melville: “Christopher” and “Horses.”  “Horses” starts acoustic ad kind of slow, but it gets really loud with some interesting guitar solo sounds and a few changed lines.

Clark says after a minute (my-noot) break they will be back momentarily.

When they come back Dave Bidini congratulates the Cincinnati Reds for winning the world series “Big Bad Jose Canceco arriving there on the hook, you got what you deserve, you big asshole.”  Yipes.  Clark diffuses this but apologizing to all hockey fans for the baseball season hanging on so long.  Long live hockey!  Death to the fat mans’ sport.  They Clark explains that they have challenged the Leafs to a fun game against their Rock and Roll Hacker Jets: Dave Tim and Dave on the front line and Rick “whomp um” Wamsley in goal.

Someone shouts that Judy quit her job.  They seem excited and then when martin sings “Record Body Count” he sings–“Judy pulled herself to her feet.”  Then they play “Joey 2” and “Joey 3.”  It’s followed by great versions of Saskatchewan” & “Dope Fiends.”

There’s a fun green sprouts theme (with someone singing loudly and out of key) and then a surprising “Rain Rain Rain” [Whale] described as a quiet version with Clark cracking up at the end for unknown reasons.  There’ s cool version of “Aliens” [Melville].   And then one of the last versions of “Good on the Uptake.”  It’s really long with some hearty jamming.

We find out that it is almost 1AM, and then there’s a nice version of “Lyin’s Wrong” [Melville].  Dave gasps and says “Martin transformed into a gay librarian right before my eyes.”  It’s clear that they are planning to play more songs.  Indeed it seems like they have many more songs to go.  Bidini says he’d love to play Edmund Fitzgerald tonight and then the tape cuts off.

For such an old tape, the sound quality is quite good and the song selection is really fascinating since they had barely released any of the songs.

[READ: August 17, 2016] “A Sigh and a Salute”

This is the second essay about an artist that Spiegelman had written for Harper’s in 2016.  I wonder if it will become a regular thing?

This essay is about Si Lewen, an artist of whom I’ve never heard.  It is actually from the introduction to Parade: An Artist’s Odyssey.

Spiegelman says he has one of Si Lewen’s “Ghosts” hanging in his studio.  Lewen began the series of Ghosts in 2008 and has made over 200.

Spiegelman gives Lewen’s complex history: Born in Poland in 1918, his family moved to Berlin as World War I ended.  They were trying to escape Polish antisemitism and found the German version. When Hitler became Chancellor, Si Lewen aged 14, decided to leave Germany.  He and his brother left the family behind and went to Paris.  There was some luck on his side.  Si’s uncle in America had organized a fund-raiser for Admiral Byrd’s expedition to the South Pole.  Byrd’s brother, a Senator, arranged for Si’s entire family to get Visas in America in 1935.  But even America wasn’t great for Si.  In 1936, while sitting in Central Park after visiting the Met, a policeman upon hearing his accent grabbed him, rowed him out to the island in the center of the lake, bludgeoned and robbed him.  What the holy fuck? (more…)

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Jen George–“Creative Licentious” (Harper’s, September 2016)

Posted in Art, Artists, Barenaked Ladies, Harper's, Huh?, Humiliation, Jen George, Rheostatics, Rush, Short Story, The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, tagged on July 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Ontario Place Forum (May 30, 1992).

This is a short set with the band opening for Barenaked Ladies, just prior to the release of Whale Music.

It’s a pretty intense set what with Horses, Shaved Head, California and Queer–especially since they’re opening for BNL.

The beginning of “Aliens” is cut off, but it sounds great and the end of the song Clark throws in a really fast verse of “Tom Sawyer.”  Indeed, the whole show sounds great.

While introducing “Soul Glue,” Dave says “Ladies and gentlemen, Doctor Christopher Brown” he plays piano and keys and is the Canadian musician who has been around for years in various bands.  “Horses” sounds great with the whole band really into it.  “Shaved Head” is wonderfully intense until the very end when Clark starts singing “pray for me King George” for some reason.

Bidini says this is the first time they played Ontario Place and he thanks them for being very gentle.  Then Clark adds “Don’t forget to get up and wag your bums around folks or else you’re gonna get cold.”

Then there’s another great Martin song, “California Dreamline.”  Before the final song, they introduce each other (incorrectly) and also Brown and Lewis Melville on pedal steel.  And then they encourage everyone to make Ontario Place, “one big green sprouts music club.”  “Queer” sounds great and has a little slide guitar section (from Melville) and a piano section (from Brown) before seguing into the finale of the song.

I love this note added to the concert:

 This was the night that Rheos and BNL finished their show at Ontario Place and then all made their way to Clinton’s Tavern to join The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir onstage. That was the show where BTC started their final song People Get Ready with all members of the Bourbons on stage and then gradually they swapped out with other musicians until the song finally ended with none of the band onstage, only members of other bands.

[READ: August 28, 2016] “Creative Licentious”

I believe that this is an excerpt from a story called Instruction.  And while an excerpt is often unsatisfying in its incompleteness, I don’t think any more of this story would have made it any better.  In fact I found it too long as it was.

The basic premise is that artists are subject to all kinds of abuse.  George takes the abuses over the top and makes them repulsive–he fosters an “only the strong survive” type of attitude. In addition to producing a piece of art a week, students must also attend interviews, perform menial jobs, as well as carpentry and maintenance around the building.  They must also repair the stables and bury the dead horses at the rate of once per week.

If the story had ended there, I would have been amused by the excesses of the story but this was one of a dozen or so sections, each of which goes to the same extremism as the above (and more). (more…)

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Laurence Yep, Joanne Ryder–A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans (2015) [audiobook 2015–Susan Denaker]

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Audiobooks, Children's Books, Culture Shock, Dragons, Drawing, End of the World, Friendship, Funny (ha ha), Joanne Ryder, Laurence Yep, Mary GrandPré, Money, Monsters, Supernatural, Susan Denaker, Unfinished series on July 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: January 2017] A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans

We listened to this book on our recent trip to Vermont. dragon

It was utterly unnerving to have the delightful Susan Denaker read this book because she was the author of the Penderwicks series which we love.  And her voice of Batty in that series is identical to the voice of the main girl, Winnie in this series.  But once we got past that (and it did take a while, we found this story to be fun and enjoyable.

But this story went in a direction I absolutely was not expecting–especially based on the title.

Each chapter has a heading like in an instruction manual for the care and feeding of Humans: If you value your happiness and sanity, take your time and choose your pet wisely.  To train your pet you will need three things patience, patience and above all patience.

And it seems to start out with that premise in mind.

For this book is narrated by a dragon, known as Miss Drake.   As the story opens, Miss Drake is in mourning because her pet, Fluffy, has died. Fluffy is the name she gave to Amelia, and older lady whom the dragon appeared to.  When Fluffy died Miss Drake planned on going to sleep for 20 or 30 years to get over it.  But just two days later, a little girl waltzed into her den–the girl had the key and everything! (more…)

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Jason Segel, Kirsten Miller–Nightmares! The Lost Lullaby [Book 3] (2016) [audiobook 2016–Jason Segel]

Posted in Adventure, Alternate Reality, Audiobooks, Big Books, Children's Books, Death, End of the World, Football, Funny (ha ha), Goblins, How I Met Your Mother, Humiliation, Jason Segel, Karl Kwansy, Kirsten Miller, Marriage (Happy), Medusa, Monsters, Nightmares, Parenting, Superman, T., The Muppet Show, Unfinished series, Unlikable main character, Yuck!, Zombies on July 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: December 2016] Nightmares! The Lost Lullaby

I was really excited to get this third volume of the Nightmares! series.

The previous book ended with the startling revelation that on the first day of the new school year, India Kessog (INK) is sitting in Charlie’s classroom.

INK and her sister ICK were responsible for creating the tonic that nearly destroyed Orville Falls–not to mention the Dream Realm, the Netherworld and the Waking World.

Charlie and his friends knew that INK was on this side of the portal and that her sister ICK was still in the nightmare realm, but they never expected that INK would come to them rather than then having to track her down.

INK is still dressed like she has always been–in old-fashioned clothes with a red bow–exactly the way that she (or ICK, they are twins) terrorized everyone’s dreams in Charlie’s town.  As INK walks through the school–observing everything very carefully–all of the kids keep their distance and stare and whisper.

When she sits down to eat, she is repulsed by the chicken nuggets–who wouldn’t be?  But she loves the tater tots.  That must make her okay right? (c’mon, EVERYONE loves the tater tots).  Charlie is just about to go approach her when his little brother Jack beats him to it.  And he starts talking to India (he calls her Indy) like she was his friend instead of a monster.  They seem to be having a good conversation until a new characters approaches. (more…)

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Jason Segel, Kirsten Miller–Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic [Book Two] (2015) [audiobook 2015–Jason Segel]

Posted in Adventure, Alternate Reality, Audiobooks, Big Books, Children's Books, Death, End of the World, Funny (ha ha), Goblins, How I Met Your Mother, Humiliation, Jason Segel, Karl Kwansy, Kirsten Miller, Marriage (Happy), Medusa, Monsters, Nightmares, Parenting, Superman, T., The Muppet Show, Unfinished series, Yuck!, Zombies on July 4, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: December 2016] Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic

2I though the first Nightmares! book was great.  I had listened to both of these books before, but what was fun about listening this time is that the end of book one gives a little hint at what book two would be about.

Towards the end of Book One, the story tells us that Charlotte’s business was doing well, although a new store had opened up in the next town and was also doing very well–possibly taking away her customers.

And that’s essentially what book two is about.  (No, not about small town commerce).

But let’s back up.  In book one, Charlie Laird and his three friends Paige, Alfie and Rocco prevented the evil president of the Netherworld from taking over the waking world.

Back up some more.  Nightmares aren’t bad.  They are there to frighten us, yes, but their goal is for us to face our fears and come out stronger.  They don’t want to hurt any of us. But the nightmares have an enemy–the goblins.  The goblins have been forced out of the nightmare realm never to return.  And they are constantly trying to get back into the Netherworld. (more…)

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