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Kanata Konami–Chi’s Sweet Home: Volumes 6-8 (2011-2012)

Posted in Cats, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Kanata Konami, Manga, Marriage (Happy), Short Books, Translation on July 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CHI’S SWEET HOME (new) end credits (2010).

I have yet to watch the anime of Chi’s Sweet Home, so I don’t know how new this is (r frankly even if it is new–of course why would this poster lie).  My kids will love it but it’s only available subtitled so I’m not sure how much they would enjoy that.

This song was a surprise to me because the voice is deep, at least until the ending Meow Meow Meows come in.

Regardless, it’s catchy and I prefer it to the opening theme.

[READ: July 2012] Chi’s Sweet Home 6-8

Ah, this series has been magnificent so far.  And we have now caught up to what is available in the U.S. and almost to what is available in Japan.

If you missed the first post, Chi is a kitten and these are her adventures.  As with the first 5 books, the action in these three takes place over a very short period of time (weeks, maybe).  So Chi remains an irrepressible kitten during these stories.  And that’s just what we like.

Each of the stories is 8 pages long (Book 8 ends with story #146).  Each one follows a short arc with a few of the stories continued in the next story.  In these books, Chi encounters her first pigeon, she sees the neighbor’s dog buring a bone and she wears a collar (very briefly).  She also gets locked out, falls asleep in a park and gets rained on.

Most of these books concern Chi exploring the outside world.  She is well settled in to her new surroundings and she is preparing to explore the world around her house.  She meets a little kitten called Cocchi who is a streetwise kitten and at first wants nothing to do with Chi.  But Chi s so innocent that she tags along, usually bringing out the playful kitten in Cocchi (even as he gets mad that she does so).  When they both get in trouble by sneaking into a garden shed and knockig thngs over, Cocchi even expreses concern about Chi.  Even though she loves her human family, she is starting to make cat friends. (more…)

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Lucky Peach #4 (American Food: Summer 2012)

Posted in Andy Warhol, Animals, Anthony Bourdain, Chumbawamba, David Chang, Diner, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Food, Funny (ha ha), Harold McGee, Lucky Peach, Steve Keene, The Treatment, Yuck! on July 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CHUMBAWAMBA-“That’s How Grateful We Are” (1990).

Chumbawamba called it quits this week after 30 years of being a band together.  Most people assume they put out one single and that’s all. And in some ways that is true.  Because most of their other music was way too radical to be played anywhere–even when it was as catchy as this.

This is a six-minute dance-funk song off of the first Chumbawamba album I ever heard (Slap!).  It opens with a little girl saying “Okay, lay some drums on me.”  After some drums and hammered percussion, she says, “gimme some bass” and a funky riff starts.  It’s followed with accordion, horns guitars and, Chumbawamba’s signature–chanting.

It’s a call and response song with a wonderfully catchy chanted chorus.

On first listen you might catch a few unexpected words (black lung, attack, attack, we took to the streets).  But then you get swept up in the chorus again (and maybe the accordion solo).  But on further inspection, the song is about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956:

Working in a forge, black lungs, burnt skin
Callouses, arched back, hammering, hammering
Stalin watching over us pigeon shit head
We’d spit on the floor at this red bastard god.

Not exactly pop music, but you can sure dance to it.  I haven’t listened to too much of their more recent music, but their early stuff is wonderful and worth looking for.  Thanks for the music lads and lassies.

[READ: July 2012] Lucky Peach Issue 4

I can’t get over how much I enjoy Lucky Peach.  I just loaned a past issue to a friend and he loved it too.  He’s looking forward to trying some recipes and he’s been fascinated by the articles, too.  I don’t read any other cooking type magazine, and yet I can’t get enough of this one!

DAVID CHANG & CHRIS YING are still on board with their note “From the Editors” and PETER MEEHAN, JONATHAN GOLD & ROBERT SIETSEMA talk about “American Cuisine, Whatever That Is”

This issue features a choose your own adventure from COURTNEY McBROOM AND ALISON ROMAN–“Voyage of the Taco Belles” in which they travel to Texas and California to compare “Mexican” food.  It’s a fun adventure with many pitfalls and many delicious locations.  No one could conceivably eat that much.

DREW ALTIZER-“Swan Oyster Depot” photos from the independent seller.

DAVID TREUER-“No Reservations” gives a fascinating history of the Objiwe peoples.  How they don’t have a cuisine per se, but they do have specific foods they eat.  Also, that their way of life was not decimated when the white man came because they did not eat bison, they ate from the water and from smaller animals.  But when the white man gave them fatty fried foods, their diet was changed for the worst.  A fascinating look and an unexpected content from a “food” magazine.

PETER MEEHAN, BRIAN KOPPELMAN, ANTHONY BOURDAIN and ELVIS MITCHELL all talk about the movie Diner.  I have never seen it, but it sounds pretty important in a certain range of cinema.  I liked hearing their various opinions of the movie.  Elvis Mitchell (from NPR’s The Treatment) is particularly funny.

TOM LAX-“The Schmitter” talks about The Schmitter a crazy sounding sandwich from Philadelphia that should give the cheese steak a run for its money.  (Cheese, Steak, Grilled Salami, “Special” sauce, Tomatoes, More Cheese and Friend Onions).  Yum!

HAROLD McGEE-“Harold McGee in Outré Space”–He’s back with a lengthy article on eggs and his attempts at peeling hard-boiled eggs without ripping the egg inside–his experiments are pretty out there!

BEN WOLFE–“American Microbial Terroir” How microbes and bacterium form on salami in different regions and how those bacteria inform the flavor of the meat.  Gross but very interesting.

STEVE KEENE-“Portfolio”  He did the cover for Pavement’s Wowee Zowee album and here has a new portfolio of his new style of painting–on plywood.

DANIEL PATTERSON-“We Waited as Long as We Could” He talks about the Rascal House, a restaurant that he went to as young kid with his grandfather.  It’s about the demise of this kind of establishment in general too.

BOB NICKAS-“Someone Has to Bring Home the Bacon” Nickas looks at Andy Warhol and his various accomplishments regarding foot (including the aborted Andymat)

JOHN GALL-“Defrosted Foods” a photo of defrosted foods

NOZLEE SAMASZADEH-“A Modest Proposal”  This clever article talks about eating foods and plants that we consider invasive.  The best idea is to sell back the Asian carp to the Chinese–they love it and we don’t eat it, meanwhile it is invading our waterways.  Seems we could get back all the money they owe us!  Plus, why not eat Nutria?

MATTHEW RUDOFKER-“Knives Out” Look at these amazing knives (that I will never buy).

JONATHAN PRINCE-“Photo-Op Food” A very funny article about politicians trying (and often failing) to blend into regions by eating “local” food.  And the funny photo-ops they often provide.

MARC MARON-“Pan-American” The tale of a used cast iron frying pan and the story behind it.

DOUGLAS WOLK-“Love, Love, and ALE-8 One” This is the story of an independent locally created soda.  It’s based in Winchester, KY and serves more or less the Winchester area.  The soda is in huge demand there.  It’s the story of a brief but failed expansion and a determined independent spirit.  Check out their site and stuff.

DAVID SIMON-“Pickles and Cream” appreciating the only contribution Simon’s grandfather ever made to the culinary arts.

LAUREN WEINSTEIN-“Sushi, USA” a comic about sushi.

MARK IBOLD is still on board (hurray!) bringing culinary fun from Southeastern PA.  This time: John Cope’s Fancy Golden Sweet Corn.

There’s of course lots of delicious (and sometime crazy) recipes written in their own wonderful somewhat disrespectful style.

Oh, and just to put your mind at ease, the picture on the cover is of a cow eating a veggie dog.  Even knowing that it’s still disturbing.

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Joseph Boyden–“Kikwaakew” (The Walrus, July/August 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, Culture Shock, Joseph Boyden, King's X, Native Americans, Pearl Jam, Short Story, The Walrus, Tres Mts. on July 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TRES MTS.-Three Mountains (2011).

Tres Mts. are a side project that features dUg Pinnick from King’s X and Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam.  It also features Mike McCready from Pearl Jam on some solos (and he played live with them as well).  The drummer is from the Fastbacks, but I don’t know the Fastbacks.

To me this sounds like a King’s X project–dUg is just to powerful a presence to not dominate.  And of course there is some heavy off-beat stuff, just like King’s X.  The biggest differences are the lack of harmonies and the more screaming guitar solos.  And yet it also sounds a lot like a Pearl Jam record–Ament writes most of the songs and his Pearl Jam instincts are in full force.

Overall the disc plays with different sounds–some hard fast rockers a few slow soulful numbers and some big choruses.

“My Baby” is a fast blast of rock–one might even say dUg fronting a Pearl Jam song (Mike McCready plays a wailing solo).  “Oh Lord” has some really dissonant chords on it, it shows the noncommercial side of the band.  I really like it, although I gather it’s not a favorite of others.  “God Told Me” sounds a bit more like King’s X’s slower ballads with gentle vocals.  “Makes Me Feel” is a meandering, atmospheric song with subdued vocals and tribal drums–Pearl Jam makes songs like this although it’s unusual for King’s X.  dUg does the whispery vocals really well.

“Holes in the Road” is just a straight out rocker–pretty much a classic rock song.  “In the Middle” and “Life” are gentle ballads.  I get “Life” stuck in my head quite a lot.  “Afrosheena” is a beautiful soulful song–dUg’s voice soars through the chorus–it really highlights what a great voice he has.  “She’s My New Song” has more of that classic rock feel–guitar solos after every verse.  This song feels like it could be thirty years old, it’s great.

“Utah” is probably my favorite track on the disc–it’s funny (“she moved to Utah…with the mailman”), it’s fast (the opening riff is great), it’s got stop and start sections and a little dissonance, all in under 3 minutes!  “Break” is a slow ballad that opens like a Pearl Jam ballad–a beautiful slow guitar intro.  The final proper song is “Mystery” a noisy rocker with dissonant chords and interesting guitar sounds.  The bridge is very King’s X.

The disc ends with “Shes My New Reprise” which is an instrumental (mostly) jam of “She’s My New Song” that gets super fast at the end (with bongos!).  It’s a great fun ending to a great fun record.

These three (four) guys hit all the right strides on this record.

[READ: July 13, 2012] “Kikwaakew”

Sometimes it’s fun to read a story about something that is completely unfamiliar to you.  In this case, this is a story about a Cree man trapping animals in the snow.  Xavier, who has only one leg (!), is away from his sons looking for the animals he has trapped.  Xavier has had a hard life.  His wife died giving birth two his twin boys, and he has to work very hard during the winter to have sustenance for the year.

Before this journey his Aunt Niska came and told him she would use her shake tent and offer prayers.  He knows that she is trying to tell him something from far away–possibly that something bad is coming.  He can just tell, from the way something seems to be watching him.

This was a fascinating look at  trapping–how he baits his traps but has to snowshoe (with the prosthetic keg) out to check them all.  He hopes to find a fisher (I had never even heard of this animal) which is like a giant weasel, whose pelt will give them enough money for the rest of the year.  He knows there is a fisher around, and he is trying his best to catch it, only to find that something has taken his bait and destroyed the traps. (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.–Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1970)

Posted in Canadian Music, Death, Funny (ha ha), Hitler, Homer, Kurt Vonnegut, Marriage Trouble, Play (Drama), Sexism, The Cars, Violence, Wolf Parade on July 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WOLF PARADE-Expo 86 (2010).

Wolf Parade is a strange band, no doubt. Both singers can craft super catchy songs, but they like to layer them with odd sounds and lots of song parts making the songs more challenging (and better in the long run).

“Cloud Shadow on the Mountain” starts the disc off with drums and an eccentric voice.  And the lyrics? “I was asleep in a hammock/I was dreaming that I was a web/I was a dream-catcher hanging in the window of a minivan/Parked by the water’s edge./I’d say that I was all alone.”

The song has some loud guitars, some great guitars riffs and (the most notable feature on the album) retro sounding keyboards.  On this song the keys play an alternate melody that compliments the song very well.  There’s some heavy rocking sections and a slowed down drums and vocals section.  It’s fairly exhausting how much is in this one song.  By the end, he’s repeating “you will never be born as a scorpion.”

“Palm Road” is a more straightforward and catchy song, although it’s certainly offbeat.  “What Did My Lover Say” opens with a cool guitar riff an counterpointed keyboards.  As with most of the songs on this record headphones or at least good stereo speakers really make a difference.  The rest of the album is hard to speak of in different terms because each song is unusual with angular guitars and interesting vocals.  The keyboards also provide unsettling atmospherics.   None of the songs are easy to sing along to, until one day the shifts in melody and phrasing sink in and it all sounds wonderful.

What I find notable about these songs is that they are all long (most are around 5 minutes) and they feel long–not in a dragging out way (although maybe “In the Direction of the Moon” drags) but in a–so much has been going on, this song must be really long kind of way.

Some other highlights include “Ghost Pressure” with its great keyboard riff (that feels not unlike The Cars).  Speaking of The Cars, the keyboards on “Oh You, Old Thing” have the great spacey Cars sound from the 80s.  “Pobody’s Nerfect” melds the catchiness that the guys are capable of with just the right mix of unexpectedness.  And the closing song “Cave-O-Sapien” seems to combine all of the best qualities of the above songs in to one–a great riff, catchy “oh oh ohs,” and bizarre lyrics, “I had a dream of a gorilla.”

This album is definitely not for everyone, but multiple listen reap big rewards.

[READ: July 8, 2012] Happy Birthday, Wanda June

I have been chugging along nicely through Kurt Vonnegut’s oeuvre.  My plan was to read all of his novels and then read his short stories.  And then maybe read his plays (I wasn’t sure about that last bit).  But as I mentioned yesterday, reading a simple play can be a delight (and can be a very quick read, too).

Vonnegut opens the book with a prologue about how and when he wrote the book.  It was originally a play called Penelope, and he thought it was terrible.  Fifteen years later he kept the basic idea and rewrote it as Happy Birthday, Wanda June.  And the idea is straight out of Homer.  In the Odyssey, Penelope is Ulysses’ long-suffering wife.  When Ulysses came home from his travels some twenty years later, he was feted as a hero and the world (well, his world) rejoiced (except for Penelope’s suitors, of course).

So in this play, Harold Ryan is a loud, manly hunter and soldier, ready and happy to kill anything in his way.  He has been on an expedition for eight years–his plane went down and he  is presumed dead–even Mutual of Omaha thinks so.  His wife, Penelope Ryan believes him to be dead and has been entertaining two suitors–Dr Norbert Woodly, a pacifistic doctor and Herb Shuttle, a vacuum cleaner salesman.  The only person who doesn’t presume him dead is their son Paul Ryan, who bristles not only at the thought of his father being dead, but even more so at these wimpy suitors.  Although Paul is too young to ever have rally known his father (he’s 12), he keeps hopes alive that his father will return one day.

What I like about the play is that it maintains Vonnegut’s voice right from the start.  It opens with a speech from Penelope:

My name is Penelope Ryan.  This is a simple-minded play about men who enjoy killing–and those who don’t. (more…)

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Dan LeFranc–“The Big Meal” (Lucky Peach, No. 4: American Food: Summer 2012)

Posted in Canadian Music, Dan LeFranc, Death, Drinking, Food, Funny (ha ha), Lucky Peach, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Metric, Play (Drama), Short Books, Theater on July 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: METRIC-Live It Out (2005).

I enjoyed Metric’s Fantasies album so much that I bought their previous album (an album that I had written down as worth checking out about 5 years ago).  At first I was a little disappointed–the album doesn’t have the glow (or perhaps sheen or polish) of Fantasies.  Normally I prefer raw to polished, but it’s surprising to go the other way sometimes.  And after a couple more listens I really started to appreciate this album’s rawness.

The guitars are loud and pushy.  There are keyboards that dominate some songs, but they never make the songs poppy.  And Emily Haines’ voice sounds great.  The opener “Empty” has a lot of quiet sections, but the guitars really just burst forth.  It’s 6 minutes long but that’s mostly through a long intro and outro.  The rest of the songs stick firmly in the 3-4 minute range.  “Glass Ceiling” has a cool stuttering riff and a kind of awkward bridge–these first two songs kind of resist admittance (the piano/guitar solo is certainly a weird combination–which I like now of course).  “Handshakes” shows their more commercial side–a slick kind of guitar riff with Haines’ more aggressive vocals.  True the siren sound may turn off some, but it’s certainly a signature.  “Too Little Too Late” is a slow sultry number, but even more sultry is the sleazy-feeling (no doubt because of the keyboards) “Poster of a Girl.”  In addition to a cool spoken word section in French (the whole song is bilingual), we get the English lines “Coming in your pants/For the off chance/With a…poster of a girl.”

“Monster Hospital” is a fun punk blast that is still a live favorite for the band.  “Patriarch on a Vespa” has another rough riff with some cool bass.  It also features some disconcerting singing (ahahs that sound more than a little spooky).  “The Police and the Private” is one of the cool songs with easily singable but easily confusable lyrics.  While “Ending Start” has some great guitar riffs near the end.   “Live It Out” ends the disc with a staccato punk number.  It’s a perfect summation of Metric before they got more commercial.  And it’s a great addition for fans of the band.

[READ: July 8, 2012] The Big Meal

This play came as a supplement with Lucky Peach issue #4.

I have often maintained that it is much better to see a play than to read one.  Not a daring opinion, by any stretch. I have taken that to something of an extreme however, which means that I pretty much never read plays.  This has severely limited by Shakespeare intact, naturally.  It also means that a lot of great works are lost to me.

I’m using that information by way of introduction, not because I think this play compares to Shakespeare, but because this is one of a few plays that I have read recently that I’ve really enjoyed.  So I’m retracting some of my earlier thoughts about reading plays.  True, some plays with multiple characters can be confusing to keep straight (since defining characteristics are not given).  But in shorter plays or plays with not too many characters, it’s not so hard to read them.  And in fact, it can be a quick and enjoyable read.

Although this play complicates things immensely because of its (very cool) setup.  The setup is described in the introduction to the play: “The actors play multiple generations of one family…as they glide through time.  As the characters age, their “essences” pass from younger to older actors.”  So, the story takes places over a few generations of time.  There are eight actors.  Each actor plays multiple roles.  These roles correspond to the characters at certain ages.  So, for example, the youngest actor plays Character A as a child; the adolescent actor plays Character A as an older child; the middle-aged actor plays Character A as a middle-aged person, etc.   So that’s a little confusing (although I’ll bet it makes sense seeing it live).  What I like though is that this “gimmick” is not so much a gimmick at all, but a real indication of how we turn into our parents and an indication of how quickly time passes in this play. (more…)

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Tony Abbott–The Secrets of Droon: Books 32-34 and SE#6 (2008-2009)

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Demons, End of the World, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Harry Potter, Magic, Mystery, Supernatural, Threats, Time Travel, Tony Abbott on July 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: グラスハープ　ハリーポッター HarryPotter [The Harry Potter theme played on wine glasses] (2011).

I have always been fascinated by musical wine glasses.  And it’s always fun to find a glass that you can play music on (it definitely won’t happen at the diner).   And if you can find a couple, it’s great fun to play different notes with different amounts of water.

I will never have at my disposal enough glasses to do this.  I think I could probably figure it out on glasses if I had enough time (and glassware).  But since that will never happen, I will just enjoy this.  It works especially well for the fantasy genre–some wonderfully spooky sounds.

Incidentally I included this song here because I have mentioned before that people accuse this series of ripping off Harry Potter.  You know, because there’s three protagonists and magic.  I’m not going to speak to that because it’s silly.  But I did want to mention that in one of these books (and I’ve now forgotten which one, which is driving me crazy), the kids say something about “You know who” and Eric’s mom says “Voldemort?”  That had me laughing out loud (although since Clark doesn’t know Harry Potter yet–you see, some books are meant for younger kids) he didn’t get the joke.

[READ: April 2012] The Secrets of Droon: Books 32-34 & SE#6

Droon grows more and more exciting with each book.  I have high hopes that we may finish this series before Clark’s school is over (sometimes it’s fun to set little goals for ourselves, even if they are meaningless).  [Since this is being published after he finished school, I know whether this came true or not, but you’ll have to wait to find out]. (more…)

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William Gaddis–[Week 3] JR [#OccupyGaddis pages 149-175] (1975)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Ayn Rand, Big Books, Books about music, Death, Ernest Hemingway, Huh?, James Joyce, Marriage Trouble, Religion, Rush, Sex, William Gaddis on July 9, 2012| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-“Something for Nothing” (1976).

This song comes from Rush’s 2112 album.  Since I’ve started reading JR, the refrain keeps popping into my head.  People talk of the influence of Ayn Rand on the band at this time and this song fits the bill.  When you think about the themes of most rock songs (carefree sex and partying) the lyrics to this song are totally conservative: “You don’t get something for nothing, you can’t have freedom for free.”  Rush has always been a hard working band, so this attitude makes sense.

And the song also resounds with the capitalists in this story–make your money (and other people’s money) work for you.  “Countless ways you pass the day.”

The song starts quietly but man it rocks hard with some really heavy guitars.  And the solo is intimidatingly noisy.

Oh and as for Rand, “What you own is your own kingdom.”

Of course, there is a little less capitalism as the song ends: “in your head is the answer, let it guide you along, let your heart be the anchor and the beat of your song.”  So, the message is not one of greed, but that to make your dreams come true you have to work for it.  Not bad advice, really.  Unless you were born into money of course.  In which case, never mind.

[READ: Week of July 2, 2012] JR Week 3

My JR posts are proving to be a day late (but not a… nope I won’t say it). It’s not the reading that’s hard it’s finding time to write these up.  So, apologies for those waiting with bated breath.

The week’s section opens with sex, specifically, Polaroids of sex.  Mr Angel, Stella’s husband, gets a call from Coen at the hospital (he got into an accident because of his broken glasses (ha–it was not reckless driving).  Then he starts talking with Terry about sprucing up the place–nice paneling, some plants–she thinks that’s a great idea (and actually buy a plant with her own money later).  They are interrupted by Mr Angel’s worker Leo who presents him with a stack of photos of the same Terry engaging in various graphic sexual positions (the boys in shipping had them).  With multiple men.  And although none of the men work in the office, the pictures are taken in this very office.  Mr Angel suggests that the photos could be doctored, to which Leo replies, “You’d have to have a picture of her eating a cucumber to paste onto this one, that’s some doctor” (151).   Childish but very funny.

Mr Angel goes off to Dayton to deal with some business and we see that quickest passage of time yet in the book.  Most of the book so far has been set in a day or two, but as we stay with the secretaries, several days pass in Mr Angel’ absence.  Terry and Myrna move their things into the same area so they can talk and listen to the radio while they work.  So there’s the gossip and the radio chatter vying for attention (the radio comes in Spanish as well as English) and the scene stays with them over a few days and through weekend.  Although this book doesn’t shy at all from potty humor, I enjoyed this little exchange before he leaves: Mr Angel say that she’s left the letter “s” off the word scrap on one of the documents.  She’s so embarrassed!

Terry also says she has something to tell Mr Angel about Leo…but that never gets said aloud, even when he returns and reminds her. (more…)

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Kimberly Louagie–“The Bonds He Did Not Break: Harry Houdini and Wisconsin” (The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Spring 2002)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Essays, Foster the People, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harry Houdini, Magic, Marriage (Happy), The Wisconsin Magazine of History on July 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I couldn’t find the right cover–this is the right year, wrong issue.

SOUNDTRACK: FOSTER THE PEOPLE-“Houdini” (2011).

My friend Anna was way ahead of the curve on these guys.  She liked them before “Pimped Up Kicks” went huge.  So I listened to the album and liked it but never would have guessed it would have been such a hit!

This song reminds me of a bunch of other bands, and I actually have no idea what the song is about (his vocals are really hard to understand).  But it’s catchy and has a great melody.

And it has a great video.   Whereas I used to look for cool new videos, I really don’t watch videos anymore, unless someone tells me about one.  I felt like bands didn’t make great concept videos anymore.  Well, this one is very cool, indeed.  I just can’t decide if the hidden people are actually how they did it or if it was a lot more high-tech than that.

[READ: July 5, 2012] “The Bonds He Did Not Break”

Everyone knows Houdini, but I didn’t know much about him.  This JSTOR article gives a really good profile of the man.

Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary.  After immigrating to the U.S. with his family, his name was changed to Erich Weiss (and for some reason, his birthday was changed from March 24 to April 6) and they settled in Wisconsin.  Wisconsin seems to have been home to many circuses, or at least the circuses always made a point of stopping there, so young Erich was always around fantastic people.  He even joined a circus as a contortionists (and called himself The Prince of the Air) when he was young.

At the age of 12 he left home look for work in the circus.  After a few months, when he heard that his family had moved to New York, he rejoined them there.  He started doing magic as “Eric the Great” and then, with Jacob Hyman, began performing as the Brothers Houdini–named after French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdini.  By 1891 the Brothers Houdini were a success.  They even performed the 1893 Worlds’ Fair.  The Brothers parted ways when Erich met Bess, his soon-to-be wife (he was 20 she was 18).  Erich was now calling himself Harry. (more…)

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Thurston Moore and Patti Smith–“Patti Smith” (BOMB, No 54, Winter 1996)

Posted in Bob Dylan, Books about music, Huh?, Marriage (Happy), Patti Smith, Poetry, Poets, Religion, Robert Mapplethorpe, Thurston Moore, William S. Burroughs on July 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THURSTON MOORE-“Patti Smith Math Scratch” (1995).

I couldn’t find any archives of Patti and Thurston playing together, so the next best thing is this song named after her.

For a band as dissonant as Sonic Youth and a guy who plays as chaotically as Thurston Moore, it’s amazing how he/they are able to recreate their studio noise live.  There are dozens of versions of this song available on YouTube and while they don’t sound identical, they all sound reasonably close to each other.  And they sound reasonably close to the original studio version.

This is a pretty straightforward song: a simple riff repeated.  It doesn’t have too many crazy guitar pyrotechnics although the solo is pretty awesome.  Especially live.  No idea what the lyrics are about–much like with Patti Smith.

[READ: July 3, 2012] “Patti Smith”

This article just solidified the coolness of my job.  I’ve always enjoyed the JSTOR articles that get passed around here.  Mostly they’re esoteric studies of unexpected topics.  But this one, from BOMB magazine–who even knew JSTOR saved BOMB magazine?–has just boosted JSTOR’s coolness cred by a magnum.

This is an interview with Patti Smith conducted by Thurston Moore.  Already that’s pretty awesome.  What’s even more awesome is that the interview is done in the car while they are driving back from a show in Massachusetts–it’s just Thurston and Patti talking (although obviously edited).

The opening of the article is an introduction by Thurston, which is interesting in and of itself.  He talks about how he got to know Patti’s music (he grabbed her ankle at a concert when he was a teenager) and then how he got to know her .  I didn’t know she was from South Jersey or that she was Robert Mapplethorpe’s lover.  I also never really put together that she married someone with the same last name as her.

First off, it’s very cool to be reading an interview from fifteen years ago in which both musicians are still alive and producing great work. (more…)

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Tessa Hadley–“An Abduction” (New Yorker, July 9 & 16, 2012)

Posted in Boredom, Humiliation, Latetia Sadler, Minnesota Public Radio, New Yorker, Sex, Shoplifting, Short Story, Stereolab, Summer, Tessa Hadley, The Current 89.3--Minneapolis / St.Paul, Minnesota on July 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LATETIA SADLER–“There’s a Price to Pay for Freedom (And It Isn’t Security)” (2012).

What a treat to see Latetia Sadler as the song of the day from The Current (Minnesota Public Radio).  Latetia Sadler is the voice of Stereolab.  She has a new album coming out called Silencio and this is the first single.

It’s hard to say whether or not the song “sounds” like Stereolab, because Stereolab sounds different all the time.  But this is definitely not your bubbly Stereolab.

The song opens with some dreamy slow synths which morph into some dreamy guitars.   There’s no vocals for over a minute (which makes it seem like it might be an instrumental.  When Latetia’s voice comes in (backed by a deep male voice (very un-Stereolab) the music pulls back almost entirely and Latetia’s peculiarly inflected words [ree-uh-li-TEE] come to the fore.  It’s hard to believe that such a dreamy song would be about what the title suggests it’s about.  But how about this for a stinging (if oblique) final line: “Happy to identify with a reflection in merchandise.”

I prefer Stereolab’s bubblier music to their more dreamy, languid songs.  This one is nice, and because of her voice, it’s intriguing.  But I’d need a beat more oomph to want to get a whole record.

[READ: July 6, 2012] “An Abduction”

Tessa Hadley is rapidly turning into one of my favorite authors.  I only know her from reading New Yorker stories and I really must expand beyond these glossy pages.

This story was really fantastic.  I loved how the title has one meaning–the obvious meaning, which is even stated in the story–at the beginning, but by the end, the meaning changes to something else.

And what a great opening to a story: “June Allsop was abducted when she was fifteen, and nobody noticed.”  Shocking!  Then Hadley contextualizes this oversight: “This happened a long time ago, in Surrey, in the nineteen-sixties, when parents were more careless.”  Hmm.

So Jane was home from boarding school–her older brother was studying for college, her younger sister was not yet in boarding school and still had friends locally.  So, yes, Jane was bored.  She tried her best to have fun, but was really stumped.  When her father drove down the driveway past her and she accidentally hit his car with the ball from her Jokari set (paddle ball), the only fun she was having was destroyed.  Her father drove off in a huff.

Driving past him on the road was a two-seater convertible with the top down and three long-haired boys driving.  Her dad scowled at them, but paid them no mind.  Which is a shame as they are the abductors of young Jane. (more…)

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