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Archive for the ‘Artists’ Category

Mark Millar & Frank Quitely–Jupiter’s Legacy Book One (2015)

Posted in Built to Spill, Frank Quitely, Graphic Novel, Mark Millar, Superheroes, Supernatural, The Incredibles, Violence on October 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

jup[iterSOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-The Normal Years (1996).

btsnormalIn 1996, Built to Spill signed with a major label.  In the meantime, K Records, released this collection of early singles and rarities (not bad for a band with two albums out).

It’s not a bad collection, but it’s also not terribly essential.”So & So So & So from Wherever Wherever” is a very good song, with a weird almost seasick guitar intro and then some big heavy guitars in the chorus.  It, like most of the songs here, is pretty lo-fi.

“Shortcut” is a fast and simple song and is only 90 seconds long.  “Car” is the original version of the song from Love.  This one has no strings and is “Some Things Last a Long Time” is a Daniel Johnston song.  It opens slow with “ah ah” backing vocals and slow guitars although at 90 seconds the guitars kick in and pick up the noise.

“Girl” is done on an acoustic guitar song.  It seems very honest and confessional with the lyric that he would like “someone I can talk to; someone I don’t have to talk to.”

“Joyride” is like the opposite of “Girl.”  It’s probably my favorite song here–sloppy and funny, with a great line: “I screwed her and she screwed me but we never once had sex.”  And the whole second verse talks about the structure of the song, including which chords are being played.  It even includes a car crash.   “Some” is a live recording that opens with slow pounding drums and a long solo to start.  It mellows out by the end.

“Sick & Wrong” is an early single with a surprisingly funky bassline.  “Still Flat” comes from the Red Hot & Bothered collection, so it sounds better recorded than the other songs.  It also has a trombone.  The final song, “”Terrible/Perfect” starts slow but builds big and ends with a long mellow instrumental section.

While there are certainly some good songs here, it’s really for the die hard fan.

[READ: September 29, 2015] Jupiter’s Legacy

Jupiter’s Legacy Book One collects books 1-5 of the Jupiter’s Legacy series.

I didn’t love the artwork of this story.  There was something about it that I found disagreeable.  And it made my initial impression of the story less than great, too.  There is a bunch happening all at once that needs to be unpacked and I was a little distracted by the art.

But the story is so good.  It takes ideas that have been bandied about recently–What do superheroes do if there are no more super villains?  What do the children of superheroes do?  And what would happen if superpowers become illegal–and adds a personal drama (and a very elliptical storytelling style).

The story opens in 1932.  A group of people are requesting transportation to an island which the ship’s captain says simply isn’t there.  The leader, Sheldon, has had a dream about it being there and everyone (including his brother William) trusts his visions completely.  And they do find the island just as Sheldon imagined.

Then we flash forward to 2013.  We see two young people who look a bit like the earlier men and women.  It turns out that they are the son and daughter of the 1932 folks.  They are celebrities living in Los Angeles, and they looks somewhat the worse for wear.  Meanwhile in Vermont actual superheroes are battling Blackstar.  And that’s when we see Sheldon is one of those superheroes.  He has gray hair but, well, he’s a superhero–in tights a cape and he is known as Utopian.  He is super string and has a cool ability of removing a person’s mind from their body and putting it in a safe place while that person’s body is getting pummeled.  This prevents them from fighting back. (more…)

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Mark Millar & John Romita, Jr.–Kick-Ass (2010)

Posted in Built to Spill, Caustic Resin, Graphic Novel, John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass, Kicking Giant, Mark Millar, Superheroes, Violence, Yuck! on September 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

kickassSOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL CAUSTIC RESIN (1995).

caustic This is one of those CDs that I used to see all the time back when I shopped at Tower Records in Boston.  Either they had a lot of copies of it or it was always at the front, or something.  But I never forgot the title of this EP, which I only purchased a few years ago.

The title is funny because it is indeed a merging of Built to Spill and Caustic Resin.  But it’s not a split single with the two bands playing.  Rather, it is Doug Martsch from Built to Spill playing with the three guys from Caustic Resin James Dillion on drums, Tom Romich on bass and Brett Netson on guitar and vocals on “Shit Brown Eyes.”  (Remember how Doug was planning to have different musicians on each album?).

The EP has four songs totaling about 25 minutes.

“When Not Being Stupid Is Not Enough” is over 9 minutes long.  It opens with a lot of instrumental stuff until about 3 and half minutes when the title lyrics come in as does the organ.  By 5 and half minutes the song doubles in speed and builds with some great soloing.

“One Thing” has loud and screamed vocals from Martsch (probably the only BtS song like that). There’s a lot of wild psychedelic keyboard work in the middle of the song which alternates with a lengthy guitar solo.  They pack a lot of jamming into five minutes.

“Shit Brown Eyes” was written by Caustic Resin.  It’s a fairly conventional sounding song.  There’s lots of guitar work and dual vocals.  It’s a little chaotic, but there’s more beautiful soloing toward the end.

The final song is a cover of Kicking Giant’s “She’s Real.” The song is also fairly conventional (I don’t know the original) but they stretch it out to 8 minutes.  It has a slow and mellow opening.  There’s a lengthy fairly quiet guitar soloing section and then the end has a rocking section repeating “be my, be my baby” (but not a cover of the original).

This is an interesting EP, and might serve as an introduction to Caustic Resin (who I don’t really know) more that Built to Spill.  It’s certainly not their best album, but “When Not Being Stupid Is Not Enough” is really fantastic.

[READ: July 20, 2015] Kick-Ass

I really enjoyed the movie of Kick-Ass.  I knew it was from a comic book but I’d never seen the book before.  And then I walked right past it in the library and had to check it out.  This book collects issues 1-8 of the first series.

The movie is changed in different ways (made more “upbeat” mostly) but the story line is pretty consistent.  Dave Lizewski is a fairly  normal kid.  He’s not a jock, but he’s not picked on either.  He likes comic books but isn’t a major geek.  He crushes on a hot girl and she won’t give him the time of day–pretty standard fare.  But he wants something more.  And he wonders why no one has ever tried to become a super hero for real.  Obviously there’s no magic or superpowers involved, just a costumed avenger helping people?  Why not?

So he decides to do it.  He puts on a scuba suit an and a mask and heads out. Now, unlike every superhero, he has no major back story.  His mother is dead, but from an aneurysm, so there’s no revenge.  And his dad is pretty cool, so there’s no struggle there.  He just wants some excitement.  And he finds it.  He runs into some kids spray painting on a wall.  He has no fighting skills, and he gets the crap beat out of him.  And as he flees, he is hit by a car.   He winds up in the hospital, barely alive. (more…)

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Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Avon Oeming–Powers Bureau: Volume 2 Icons (2014)

Posted in Brian Michael Bendis, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Canadian Music, Michael Avon Oeming, Rheostatics, Scribbled Out Man, Superheroes, Supernatural, The Violet Archers, Unfinished series, Violence on September 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

powers SOUNDTRACK: THE VIOLET ARCHERS-Victoria, BC (October 2005).

violetarcI have reviewed this show already, but with some context of other shows, it seemed worth revisiting.  The opening act was Scribbled Out Man (their bio on the CBC Music site says that they are friends of the Rheos).

I suspect this dates from 2004, as Tim says the album is coming out late spring or early summer and might be called The End of Part One (it was released in 2005).

The opening track is a soundcheck.  It sounds fine, although the “real” version later is better.  They play 12 songs at this show (compared to 8 in the previous show).  They cover all of the songs from their debut except “Outrovox” which is a short instrumental and “Fools Gold Rope” which is sung by Ida.

The opening two tracks are just Tim on guitar, singing the lovely simple song, “Simple” and the slightly darker, minor chord “All the Good.”  They sound good, but it’s more fun when the full band comes out.

Yawd on guitar and keyboard, Steve Pitkin on drums and Bass on bass.  “The End of Part One” sounds great, but Tim has some major guitar problems playing “Life and Then” a normally great song.  The rest of the set goes off without a hitch.  It’s true that the band sounds better when Ida sings with them, but in this original incarnation, they’re quite good.

For the final song “Here Comes the Feelings,” Tim asks, should we do the false start?  That’s become part of the song.  Steve counts to 5 and then we go–but we’re gonna get it wrong.  And they do.  But once they get past that, it’s a great set closer.

The band is still looking for a name, Tim suggests “The Gay Apparel.”

[READ: May 27, 2015] Powers Bureau

I hadn’t heard of Powers Bureau before (this book collects issues 7-12).  My initial thought was “do we need yet another superhero book?” But this book is different in a fun way.  Also I love the artwork–it is blocky and bold and reminds me of the Bryan Lee O’Malley style.

So this book is about Federal Agents Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim.  They used to be homicide detectives who worked solely on (super) powers-realted cases.  But there was a disaster of some kind (presumably in book 1) and now all powers-related cases are Federal cases.

The two arrive at a crime scene in which a woman is tied up naked in the bathtub (way to open, huh?).  The boyfriend is the suspect, but he says that the woman (whom he did tie up for sex purposes) suddenly appeared next to herself, killed “herself” then fled.  It sounds preposterous, until they realize that the woman is Matzuii, who can split her self into multiple parts.  So essentially she killed herself. (more…)

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Kyle Higgins, Alec Siegel, Rod Reis–C.O.W.L.: Volume 1 Principles of Power (2014)

Posted in Alec Siegel, Graphic Novel, Kyle Higgins, Rheostatics, Rod Reis, Superheroes, The Violet Archers, Tim Vesely, Unfinished series, Violence, tagged on September 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

cowlSOUNDTRACK: THE VIOLET ARCHERS-Fall Nationals The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto (November 17, 2003).

veselyThe Violet Archers were (are?) a band formed by Tim Vesely, bassist for Rheostatics.  They released their first album, after the release of Rheostatics’ final album, 2067.  However, given that this show was recorded in 2003 and they talk about an album, it’s clear that Tim was writing stuff all along.

The band released two albums, which I’ve mentioned before: The End of Part One and Sunshine at Night.  They are both poppy and kind of mellow (with some noisy parts). And they are both great.

This show comes not only before the first album was released, it comes before the band even has a name.  It occurs on night 8/13 of the Rheostatics Fall Nationals 2003 at the Horsehoe.  This night was called SoloStatics Night (Martin also does a show).  The band for this set is – Yawd Sylvester (guitar/keyboards), Steve Pitkin (Drums), Bass (Bass).

The show starts with “Coordinates” which “shows of Tim’s hot guitar licks.”  The heavier parts rock pretty loud.  Yawd is playing some wild notes until the song smooths out some.  It also has an ending coda which not on the album.  “Life and Then” is a more upbeat song (with backing vocals).

Tim explains that the name of “The End of Part One” was inspired by his daughter’s speaking part on Harmelodia (she says end of Part 1).  For this song, Yawd plays keyboards.  Then Tim thanks Yawd for wearing pants tonight.  And thanks Bass for having his stomach sewed up before the gig.

“First the Wheel” is a protest song about food and war.  There’s a big guitar sound that sounds a bit more aggressive than the album.

Tim says that we (the band) don’t have a name, but this song does.  “Track Display” is a slow, mellow song with the unfortunate moment that as Tim is singing “things just sound so nice” that he hits a bad chord.  There’s some nice organ sounds and overall the song sound fine.

Some jokey band names shouted out: Marshmallow Room, Jello Enema, Submissions, Beauty Call, Beauty Kong, My Three Bearded Men, The Hairy Beards

“Saved Me” with simulated horns by Tim is quite nice.  Then Tim says the record is almost done, and it’s due out early next year.

The final song is listed as “Come the Night” but later on the record it will be call “A Rising Tide.”  I love the way the chorus turns minor and dramatic (along with Tim’s falsetto vocals).  It’s a good set and a good introduction to this band.

Amazingly, there is also video footage courtesy of Mark Sloggett can be found here.

[READ: May 25, 2015] C.O.W.L.

I saw this book at work and was quite intrigued.  I love a new graphic novel series that seems different.  And one called C.O.W.L. Chicago Organized Workers League sounded promising.

But I have to say that right off the bat I really didn’t like Rod Reis’s artistic style.  The book is set in Chicago 1962 and has a decidedly noir element.  It is translated very well by Reis’ style.  But I just don’t like it–it’s very dark and shadowy and I prefer my comics brighter.  I also found that the book looked like the it was computer designed–like the characters were cut and pasted and sometimes angled by computer–I found it a bit unsettling at times.

But I can get around that if the story is good.  And this one is.  After World War II, a group was assembled to try to bring all of the superheroes together.  It was started by The Grey Raven, Blaze and Sparrow.  They were organized by the titular labor union which also impacts other city workers.  (I love that idea).

And they were very successful.  But now, in 1962, the public is not sure what to do with C.O.W.L.  They have successfully taken down all of the supervillains, so what is their purpose?  This book collects C.O.W.L. issues 1-5. (more…)

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Mark Mothersbaugh–Myopia (2014)

Posted in Adam Lerner, Booji Man, Cary Levine, Devo, Human Highway, Maria Elena Buszek, Mark Mothersbaugh, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Neil Young, Pee Wee's Playhouse, Sex, Shepard Fairey, Steven Wolf, The Lego Movie, The Royal Tenebaums, Violence, Wes Anderson on September 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

myopSOUNDTRACK: DEVO-“Satisfaction” (1977).

devoThis has to be the most audacious cover of its time.  Devo took one of The Rolling Stones’ more beloved song and turned it into a weird, angular piece of art.

The original has a simple riff, a surprisingly slow pace an a slinky, sexy groove.  Devo has sped it up and, most importantly, made it angular and complete unsexy.  I have been listening to this song over and over trying to figure out what is going on.

The drums are consistent but there’s all kinds of interesting sounds in the drums.  The guitar and bass are doing one or two repetitive riffs that don’t quite make sense individually, but work well together.  The bass line itself is just fascinating–how did anyone think of that?

Lyrically, the song is the same, but instead of sounding like a guy who is trying to score, he sounds insane.  And the babybabybabybabybabybaby section is hilarious and weird.  Then they throw in a modified “Satisfaction” riff loud on the guitar at the end with the band chanting “Satisfaction.”  Talk about deconstruction.

No Devo song would be complete without the visual element.  All five of them wearing their plastic hazmat suits, moving in stiff/jerky motions, more robot than human.  And of course, Mothersbaugh himself looks crazy with swim goggles on and mussy hair.  Then they show his modified guitar–the first item in close up.  There’s duct tape all over it, and extra knobs and some kind of square bottom section.  It seems impossible that it is making the sounds that he is shown playing on it since the strings (or is it just one string?) seem so loose.

There’s the guy doing flips (Wikipedia tells me he is dancer Craig Allen Rothwell, known as Spazz Attack, whose signature dance move was a forward flip onto his back).  And of course, there’s an appearance by Booji Boy sticking a fork in a toaster.

What on earth did Mick and the boys think of this?

This cover was done in 1977 and it is still remarkable today.

[READ: September 1, 2015] Myopia

We saw Mothersbaugh’s Myopia show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.  In retrospect I would have loved to spend more time there (although the kids probably wouldn’t have).  So when I saw that there was a book for the show, it seemed like a worthwhile investment.

And this book is a fascinating and comprehensive look at Mothersbaugh’s life and output as a visual artist and a founder of Devo.

Mark was a quiet kid and he was legally blind when he was born.  It wasn’t until he was around 5 that he got a pair of glasses which totally changed his world.  He was always artistic and rebelled against convention.  His world was greatly expanded when he went to college.  But he was at Kent State when the four students were killed by the National Guard. This affected him profoundly and send him investigating the world of devolution.

Of course most people know of Mothersbaugh from Devo–who were huge in their own way in the 1980s.  I was a young lad at the time and while I liked “Whip It,” I never thought they were cool (if only I knew).  But before creating Devo, Mothersbaugh was creating all kinds of visual arts.  He was doing print making at college, he was doing postcard mailers to people. It was only when he realized how much cheaper it would be to make music than to constantly be making print items that he devote some energy to Devo instead. (more…)

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Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Gordan Sudzuka–Wonder Woman: Volume 6: Bones (2015)

Posted in Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Goran Sudzuka, Lawrence Arabia, Myths, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Wonder Woman on September 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

vol6 bones SOUNDTRACK: LAWRENCE ARABIA-Tiny Desk Concert #75 (August 23, 2010).

lawLawrence Arabia are from New Zealand.  I don’t know what their album sound is like, but in this Tiny Desk, they play a sort of country folk.  With outstanding harmonies.

“I’ve Smoked Too Much” has some lovely “Do Do Doo’s” and the “ooohs” behind the second verse are just perfect.  I also like the way the bridge ratchets up the songs from the early country vibe to a more rocking feel.  Of course, with percussion provided by a shaker egg and tambourine, it’s impressive that they can get as rocking as they do.

The blurb only gives me the name of the lead singer (as the band is his and he says it is “his” album), so for everyone else I have to resort to instruments.  Thus Lead singer/guitarist James Milne and tambourine player have nice beards, but the shaker player has an amazingly thick beard.

“The Beautiful Young Crew” opens with Milne saying he had a morning voice problem and it isn’t as deep as it should be.  But he overcomes that with some nice humming.  The lyrics are amusing: “They love each other, but they hate each other, they’re afraid of each other because they want to screw each other.”   There’s some more lovely harmonies (dah dah dahs).  And then the electric guitarist now plays a gentle trumpet solo (thoughtfully facing away from the microphone).  At the end of the song, Bob thanks him for dropping the spit on the floor.  The trumpeter says it is condensation which makes Bob laugh.  And then the trumpeter delicately wipes it up with a tissue.

Before the third song, Bob asks about the album title, Chant Darling.  Milne says that he was in a covers band called The Chant Darlings.  He likes how it sounds so different in America (in New Zealand ChAHnt DAHrling) in America ChEHnt darlin’ (with a southern accent).

“Apple Pie Bed” has a more conventional structure–very rock and roll.  But the harmonies (ahhs and ahhs and the repeating of the lyrics) elevate everything.

The harmonies on the final song “Like a Fool” are the best yet with multiple parts.  And this song is just Milne on guitar and lead vocals.  But the three other guys really flesh out the song.  I’m curious to hear what these sound like on record–is there more to them?

[READ: May 29, 2015] Wonder Woman: Volume 6: Bones

After reading the Sensation Comics book of Wonder Woman short stories I was intrigued to read this book.  I actually assumed it was Vol. 6 of the same series, but indeed it is not.  This is Volume 6 of another series that I don’t know.  I’m not sure if the previous volumes are different story arcs or not.  The back of the book suggests that this is the end of the series (it collects Wonder Woman 30-35 and Secret Origins 6).  So at least I know how it all ends.

This series was written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Cliff Chiang and Goran Sudzuka.

The previous volumes have set up that Wonder Woman is an Amazonian named Diana.  She is the daughter of Hephaestus.  The Greek gods play a huge part in this story.

They live on Paradise Island, where only women are permitted.  The crux of this story concerns the birth of a baby boy (named Zeke) to, I assume, a human-only mother (there’s some backstory alluded to which I don’t really know). (more…)

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Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman Volume 1 (2015)

Posted in Amanda Deibert, Amy Mebberson, Batman, Cat Staggs, Corinna Bechko, David A. Williams, Dean Haspeil, Ethan Van Sciver, Gabriel Hardman, Gail Simone, Gilbert Hernandez, Ivan Cohen, J. Giels Band, Jason Bischoff, Marcelo do Chiara, Marcus To, Marguerite Sauvage, Neil Kleid, Ollie Masters, Peter Wolf Crier, Rob Williams, Sean E. Williams, Sexism, Superheroes, Tiny Desk Concert, Tom Lyle, Wonder Woman on September 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

wwSOUNDTRACK: PETER WOLF CRIER-Tiny Desk Concert #74 (August 17, 2010).

pwcWhen I saw the name of this band, I assumed it was Peter Wolf, the former lead singer of the J. Giels Band.  But indeed it is not (confusing much?).  Rather, it is a singer named Peter Paisano and his drummer Brian Moen.

They play three songs.  Paisano has a good voice.  But to me the highlight of this show is the drums.  Moen uses this really heavy-looking set of “brushes” that bring a deep resonance to his drums.

“Untitled 101” is short (all the songs are short with no guitar solos).  I like the breakdown when it’s just the drums.  “Saturday Night” he dedicates specifically to Bob Boilen.  It is a bit more dramatic in delivery.  The end has some nice hummed parts, but I find the sounds that Peter makes to be unsettling (more of a grunt than a hum), especially compared to the normal hums of Moen.  “Crutch & Cane” has a bit more of that unusual pronunciation, which I think I find more upsetting than interesting.

This was a short set, but I’m not likely to track down more from them.

[READ: May 26, 2015] Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman

I was never a big fan of Wonder Woman when I was growing up (I was a boy after all).  I never watched the show, really.  As it turns out, I had no idea about Wonder Woman’s origin story, which is totally fascinating (I also don’t know if it was ever introduced in the TV show).  Turns out that Wonder Woman’s real name is Diana.  She was a Princess on the Amazonian island of Paradise.  An island where only women lived.  And, most interestingly, she was made from clay when her mother could not bear a child of her own. Whoa!

So this book is a collection of short stories by different artists with very different styles. (more…)

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David Silcox–The Group of Seven and Tom Thompson (2011)

Posted in A. J. Casson, A. Y. Jackson, Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Arthur Lismer, Big Books, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, David Silcox, Edwin Holgate, Emily Carr, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael, Frederick Varley, Group of 7, J. E. H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris, LeMoine FitzGerald, Nature, Rheostatics, Tom Thomson, Trains on September 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sicocSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Music Inspired by the Group of 7 (1995).

go7albumIn music there’s always a… key in which the composition is set…  In painting there’s a mother color that goes through all–it holds the painting together…you might call it the signature of the painting.

And thus opens the Rheostatics Group of 7 record.  I had always been vaguely dismissive of the album because it is mostly instrumental and, while good, I just didn’t listen to it that much.  After seeing it live it’s time for a reappraisal.

The disc opens with “One” a lovely minute-long piano introduction.  It’s followed by “Two” which has a series of piano and guitar trills as they set a bucolic mood. Then the drums kick in.  This song starts slowly with some plucked strings (and a sample from Queen Elizabeth).  What I love about this piece is that after the trills, the song seems to build to a very cool cello riff (provided by drummer Don Kerr).  Then there’s a vocal section (of bah bahs) which was really highlighted when they played it live.

The first highlight of this record for me is “Three,” which is known as the Boxcar song.  Someone shouts “All aboard” as the chugging begins and the cello and drums keep an excellent rhythm with Martin’s amazing guitar melody.  “Five” is another waltz with, to my ears, a vaguely Parisian sound.  Martin sings a few verses (and a chorus of “blue hysteria”).  It’s a lovely, delicate piece.

“Six” is a longer piece which centers around a slowly swirling guitar and cellos motif.  It ends with some noisy moments and more rainfall.  Until a noir sounding coda creeps up with piano and upright bass,.

Then comes “Seven” a cello based version of the awesome song “Northern Wish.”  I prefer the original because it is so much more intense, but this quieter version is really interesting and subtle.  “Nine” starts slowly with some gentle acoustic guitars.  But it builds and grows more intense (it has the subtitle “Biplanes and bombs”).  As the song progresses (around 3 minutes) Tielli’s guitar comes in and the backing notes grow a little darker.  The last 15 second are sheer noise and chaos (live they stretched this section out for a while, and it was very cool to see Hugh Marsh makes a lot of noise with his violin).

“Ten” uses some nontraditional instruments including what I assume is a didgeridoo and all kinds of samples.  On stage Tim and Kevin were swinging those tubes that whistle to make the noises).

Eleven is a reprise of track one, Kevin’s Waltz, with the vocals sung by Kevin Hearn.

I have really come to appreciate this album a lot more.  It doesn’t have any of my favorite songs on it, but it is a really amusing collection fo songs.

[READ: August 20, 2015] The Group of Seven and Tom Thompson

I have had this book for a number of years.  I’m not even sure where I got it (in hardback no less).  I know that I purchased it because of the Rheostatics, because I had never heard of the Group of Seven before the band made their record inspired by them.  Since I was going to see the paintings live, I decided to read up about the Group a bit more (I liked the paintings a lot, I just hadn’t read much).

Sadly, the Art Gallery of Ontario wasn’t open for viewing when we went to the concert (which makes sense as it was at night) and we didn’t have another opportunity to go to AGO.  Fortunately, we also went to Casa Loma which had a room full of Go7 paintings, so I was delighted to see some of these up close.  (They may have been prints, it was unclear, but it was cool seeing them).

So the Group of Seven were (initially) seven Canadian painters who joined together to create uniquely Canadian works of art from 1920 to 1933.  Their art was meant to celebrate their country which they felt was under-represented in art.  They planned to not follow conventional European styles of painting and often made striking scenes of nature.  They are largely known for their landscapes, although they also painted portraits and other works.

The Group of 7 originally originally consisted of (links are to Wikipedia bios): Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). Later, A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926; Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930; and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932.

Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson (1877–1917) and Emily Carr (1871–1945). (more…)

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Tom Watson–Stick Dog Dreams of Ice Cream (2015)

Posted in C., Children's Books, Dogs, Ethan Long, Food, Funny (ha ha), Ice Cream, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Neil Innes, Short Books, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Rutles, Tiny Desk Concert on August 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sticiceSOUNDTRACK: NEIL INNES-Tiny Desk Concert #127 (May 11, 2011).

innesNeil Innes is one of the musical voices of Monty Python and The Rutles.  He is also the creator of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.  I was delighted to see that he did a Tiny Desk concert.

In addition to creating clever songs, he is big into wordplay.  So, he has some great statements before starting:

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen here and viewer.”

“It’s wonderful to be.”

“You know, not so long ago and its been very lucky for me.”

He plays his perhaps most well-known song, “I’m the Urban Spaceman” on guitar.  It is wonderfully surreal (at the end he describes it as a medley of hit).

For “Democracy” he play a tiny ukulele.  This song is not funny (well a little).  It is political, straightforward and pointed.

For the final song, he play The Rutles’ “I Must Be In Love” (with appropriate accent).  He tries to get everyone to sing the really high Ooooh note and then gives up.

And then he’s gone.  It’s delightful.

[READ: August 10 2015] Stick Dog Dreams of Ice Cream

By this point (the fourth book) the Stick Dog series has gotten a little predictable.  I mean, basically the dogs want to get food right?  But Watson still manages to keep the stories funny.  I see that for this book the illustrations are “by Ethan Long based on original sketches by Tom Watson”  I have a hard time believing that Watson was too busy to draw these very simple figures, but whatever.

I also find it hard to believe that these dogs have never tasted ice cream before–surely they have scavenged a wrapper somewhere.  But best not to think too carefully, right?

because it is summer time and it is very hot.  The dogs are all looking for something to cool them off.  They go out in search of a nice cool water source.

But the best parts of the story are when the dogs get distracted.  On the way for water, Poo-Poo smells something.  They hope it is hot dogs or pizza, but it is…a squirrel.  Stick Dog is afraid of this because Poo-Poo will be not let the squirrel go.  But Stick Dog convinces him to leave it.  And they are off. (more…)

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Zena Alkayat, Nina Cosford–Jane Austen (2015)

Posted in Books about writers, Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft, Nina Cosford, Soak, Tiny Desk Concert, Zena Alkayat on August 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

austenSOUNDTRACK: SOAK-Tiny Desk Concert #459 (August 3, 2015).

soakSoak is Bridie Monds-Watson.  I hate to mention this, because it’s not the focus, but it is impressive that she’s only 19.  And her voice is really lovely.

I recently bought her album Before We Forgot How To Dream, and it’s really good.  The arrangements are complex and thoughtful.  And the album is beautifully orchestrated.  So this stripped down performance shows that she’s not all about production.

Her voice is pretty heavily accented and is almost a mumble, but not quite–it’s the kind of quiet voice that makes you lean in to hear.

The opening track, “Sea Creatures” (an amazing single) sounds pretty with just the acoustic guitar (I prefer the album version, but this is a really neat rendition).  For “B a noBody” and “Wait” she switches to an electric guitar.  It’s got a cool echo effect on it, but it is still quiet and hushed.

She says that she’s nervous playing at the Tiny Desk, but that looking around at all the CDs and poster it “feels like my bedroom.”  This is another delightfully intimate performance behind the Tiny Desk.

Bob Boilen did an interview with her a few weeks ago and she really won me over with her musical knowledge and sense of humor.

[READ: June 4, 2015] Jane Austen

This book also comes from the series called Life Portraits.

This is a very brief (128 pages, but mostly one sentence per page) biography of Jane Austen.  But the real “selling” points of the book are the beautiful illustrations/paintings by Nina Cosford.  They are lovely watercolors which do a great job illustrating whatever detail is listed on the page.

We get basic birth details–born Jane Austen on 16th December 1775.  She grew up on a farm with six brothers and one sister.  There’s even an illustrated family tree.

Her parents turned their farm into a boarding school so she knew lots of children.  But it was her cousin Eliza, a fantastic woman married to a European Count who spoke French and wore continental fashions who became Jane’s lifelong friend.  With Eliza around, all the girls  talked about marriage and money.  (more…)

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