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Archive for the ‘Walter Keane’ Category

McSweeney’s #4 [Timothy McSweeney’s Trying, Trying, Trying, Trying, Trying] (Late Winter, 2000)

Posted in 19th Century, Amy Fusselman, Ben Miller, Christopher P. Riley-Zaleniev, Colin Meloy, Corporate skewering, Dee Dee Myers, Denis Johnson, Digression, Dreams, Edgar Allan Poe, Essays, Fables, Flash Fiction, Franz Kafka, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Haruki Murakami, J. Robert Lennon, Johannes Vermeer, Jonathan Lethem, Joshua Bearman, Joshuah Bearman, Jules Verne, Katherine Anne Porter, Lawrence Weschler, LGBTQ, Lydia Davis, Marcy Dermansky, Margaret Keane, McSweeney's, Meta, Orson Welles, Paul Collins, Paul Debraski, Paul Maliszewski, Pink Floyd, Postmoderism, Rachel Cohen, Rick Moody, Sarah Vowell, Sean Wilsey, Sheila Heti, Sherwood Anderson, Short Story, The Decemberists, The Smiths, Vladimir Nabokov, Walter Keane, Wikipedia, Willa Cather, Wislawa Szymborska on May 29, 2009| 5 Comments »

scan0014SOUNDTRACK: COLIN MELOY-Colin Meloy Sings Live! (2008).

colinColin Meloy is the lead singer and songwriter for the Decemberists.  This is a recording of Meloy’s solo acoustic tour from 2006.  The recording is from several venues on the tour, although it is mixed as if it were one concert.

Meloy is a great frontman, and this translates perfectly into the solo atmosphere.  He is completely at ease, telling stories, bantering with the crowd, and generally having a very good time.

The set list includes some popular Decemberists songs as well as a track from Meloy’s first band Tarkio (whom I have never heard, but figure I’ll get their CD someday).  Meloy also adds a couple of covers, as well as snippets of songs added to his own (Pink Floyd’s “Fearless” gets a couple of bars, as well as a verse from The Smiths’ “Ask.”)

This disc is not going to win anyone over to the Decemberists, as Meloy’s distinctive voice is a love it or hate it deal.  However, if you’re on the fence about them, hearing these songs solo can only convince you of what great songs they are.  The Decemberists add a lot of arrangements to their songs.  You get a lot of interesting and unusual instruments.  Which I like a great deal.  But to hear that these songs sound great with just an acoustic guitar is testament to Meloy’s songwriting.

The intimacy of the venues also really lets these songs shine.

[READ: May 29, 2009] McSweeney’s #4

This is the first time that McSweeney’s showed that it might be something a little different. #4 came, not as paperback book, but as a box full of 14 small, stapled booklets. Each book (save two, and more on those later) contains a complete story or non-fiction piece.

There is something strangely liberating about reading the stories in this format. It gives me a sense of accomplishment to finish a book and put it down, so having 14 makes it seem like I’ve accomplished a lot.
This was also the first issue that I’m certain I didn’t read when it originally came out, for whatever reason. So, it’s all new to me.

DIGRESSION: When I was looking up publications for my Wikipedia page about McSweeney’s publications, I kept encountering records for these individual booklets.  This was rather confusing as I couldn’t find any other records or ISBNs for these booklets.  Rest assured they are all collected here. (more…)

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