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Nicholson Baker–The Mezzanine (1986)

Posted in A House, Consumerism, Digression, Nicholson Baker, Short Books, Smarty Pants, Word usage on August 24, 2010| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: A HOUSE: On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round (1988).

I first heard of A House when “Call Me Blue” came on a Sire records sampler (Just Say Yo).  This was a good sampler of college rock music circa 1987, and “Call Me Blue” stood out for me.

I had kind of forgotten about them until I Am the Greatest came out, which I enjoyed very much.  I have since gone back and bought their back catalog.  This first album sounds so very much like college music circa 1987.   It’s not anywhere near as weird as I Am the Greatest.  In fact, it’s almost quaint in its college (or Modern as they called it back then) rock sound.

I think that if I had gotten it back then, it would have been a favorite of mine.  Listening to it today, it brought back memories of that era, even though this album wasn’t part of that era for me–it just evokes that time so perfectly.

“Call Me Blue” is still a great track.

[READ: August 20, 2010] The Mezzanine

I learned about this book from my friend Rich.  He raved about the minimalism of it. (1)

(1. My copy is dated from 1994.  Clearly back then I thought it was a great idea to sign and date all of the books I bought.  Since then, while working at a library, I find the practice kind of foolish.  However, I do appreciate the fact that I know when I bought it.  In some ways I wish that I had put a post it note with the date of purchase on all of my books).

I read it back in 1994 and enjoyed it. And since I am in the middle of Ulysses, I thought it would be a nice chaser. (2)

(2. In the comments for Ulysses here, the other readers mention that they are reading other books, too.  And I like the idea of the word “chaser” in describing it).

The reason I thought it would make a good chaser is that it is only 135 pages long.  And as I remembered, the action of the book takes place entirely on an escalator ride from the ground floor to the mezzanine of the narrator’s office. (3).

(3. Although that is literally true, the narrator reflects back upon many many events in his life, and almost all of them have taken place some time in the past–going back as far as to when he was a kid). (more…)

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James Joyce–[Week 7] Ulysses (1922) [Eumaeus, Ithaca]

Posted in Big Books, Demons, Digression, Dreams, Fears, Infinite Zombies, Irish Writer, James Joyce, The Flaming Lips, Tindersticks on August 23, 2010| 7 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: A HOUSE-I am the Greatest (1991).

A House were a Dublin band that released a number of great songs and a few good albums from the mid 1980’s until the late 1990s.  I loved A House (but never knew whether to file them under A or H).  They were a smart, often sarcastic, occasionally poppy college rock band who played dissonant songs more often than not and wrote lyrics which could be off-putting more often than not, but which, in the right mind frame, were simply, as the album says, the greatest.

It opens with a nice jangly guitar which is quickly interrupted by a strange feedback sound and Dave Couse’s somewhat unsettling voice.  And he gives a litany of things about which he does not care, but mostly because nobody else does.  It’s followed by the sweet tender ballad “Too Young.”  The next track was the single, of all things.  “Endless Art” a simple riff which name checks dozens of dead artists that bridges with Beethoven’s Fifth.  It gets tedious after about 200 listens, but since I haven’t heard it in a while, I found myself really grooving to it again.

In keeping with the “let ’em guess” attitude of the disc, the next song is a plaintive moan of longing called “When I First Saw You.”  I’m fairly certain he’s singing out of tune for the whole track.

“Take It Easy on Me” opens with a great wah-wah’d guitar sound that should have been a left-field hit like The Flaming Lips had.  But it’s their simple acoustic songs that pack the most punch like “I am Afraid.”  It’s followed by what sounds like a Tindersticks song, until Couse’s voice kicks in, and we get a great questioning song about religion called “Blind Faith”.

He seems back to his old tricks on “I Lied” (“When I said that I loved you, I lied.”) Then the full band kicks in (with great harmonies) “When I said, when I vowed, I don’t love you anymore, I lied.  I adore you!”

The rest of the songs play with this formula: off kilter yet poppy, harmonies on top of dissonant leads.  The pace never slackens, and the albums stays strong through the brilliant final track, “I am the Greatest” (a spoken word folk track that is all smackdown which devolves into a bunch of blokes shouting “I am!”).

Check out the fantastic stop motion video for “Endless Art” on YouTube, and let me know if you can find a version that’s better than this one.

[READ: Week of August 23, 2010] Ulysses: Episodes 16-17

Nearing the end of the book, still recuperating from the insanity of the Circe episode, we get two episodes that are considerably mellower.  I enjoyed the beginning of Episode 16, but felt a little at sea when it was hijacked by the sailor.  Episode 17 on the other hand is definitely my favorite.  Even though I love the surrealism of Circe, there’s something about the catechism of Episode 17, with its question and answer format–its own sort of surrealism–that I find fascinating, funny and surprisingly informative.  It fills in a ton of details that were left out of the beginning (or that were hidden) and yet still retains a bizarre stream of consciousness. It also offers incredible insight into the man who is Leopold Bloom. (more…)

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Benjamin Percy–“The Complaint: Roberto Bolaño” (Esquire, September 2010)

Posted in Benjamin Percy, bolanobolano.com, Esquire, Roberto Bolaño on August 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK:  grouse

Since this article is a complaint, what better soundtrack than a grouse.

Although for cool grouse movies I prefer this one.

[READ: August 18, 2010] “The Complaint: Roberto Bolaño”

In a few short paragraphs, Benjamin Percy tries to undermine the literary value of Roberto Bolaño.  He complains about yet another posthumous release from him.  [Now, of course, anyone doing just a few minutes of research would know that these “posthumous” works are actually not posthumous, just posthumously translated, so it’s not like they’re pulling these works out of drawers of unpublished stories].

Percy is entitled to his opinion.  He doesn’t like Bolaño.  And that’s fine.  He finds him “affected and exhausting.”  (In a previous Esquire, Percy lauds Stephen King, so perhaps he just doesn’t like difficult books).  In fact, he cements his feelings with the argument that Bolaño’s stories are “weighed down with intellectual references.”  Oh no, not intellectual references!  Heaven fordbid his stories aren’t all about killing people, like Percy’s (oh wait, most of them are they are). (more…)

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Benjamin Percy–“Keep Doing What You Are Doing, James Franco” (Esquire, September, 2010)

Posted in Benjamin Percy, Esquire, James Franco, Keiji Haino, Pan Sonic, Short Story, Technology on August 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PAN SONIC & KEIJI HAINO @ Volksbühne Berlin 15.11.2007 (2007).

My friend Lar wrote an awesome review of the Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino live album (with the greatest title ever) Should I Download a Black Hole and Offer It To You? Read it here.

In the post he embedded the clip that is the soundtrack (which you can see here).  I don’t really know either of these artists, but I know they play extreme music (a new genre, I am told).  This is a wonderfully noisy track.  Keiji Haino plays a squalling noisy feedback filled whirl of a guitar solo.  After a few minutes the noisemakers Pan Sonic seem to manipulate the noise that Keiji was making, adding all manner of more noise to it.  (And a very large green square behind them).

The biggest surprise is how in tune his guitar is at the end of the track.

I can’t even imagine how intense of a live show this must’ve been.  And I think I’m afraid to listen to Black Hole.  Although I am very curious to hear Track 8.

[READ: August 19, 2010] “Keep Doing What You Are Doing, James Franco”

This issue of Esquire features James Franco on the cover.  There are five ways of viewing Franco presented in the feature story (online there are 8).  The trange thing is that the interview with him is actually quite short, with these other things taking up a lot more real estate.

I have not enjoyed Percy’s stories in the past, but I like Franco so I of course read this one.  It starts out amusingly enough with Franco watching himself on TV (a not unreasonable assumption).

Percy pushes the story to its illogical extreme in which everyone in the world is James Franco.  And that’s pretty much it.  (Thankfully it is short). (more…)

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Fredy Perlman–[Week 11] Letters of Insurgents (1976)

Posted in Anarchy, Anthrax, Big Books, Comedy Album, Fears, Fredy Perlman, Huh?, Humiliation, Insurgent Summer, Punks, Racism, Suicide, Unlikable main character, Violence, War, Yuck! on August 20, 2010| 6 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH-Speak English or Die (1985).

S.O.D. was a side project of Anthrax.  It was an over the top (and hilariously un-PC) collection of super fast (and super short) punk songs.  A lot of the “mosh” sound that Anthrax was experimenting with around this time is in place here (“Milano Mosh” for instance).  So it’s an interesting mix of speed metal and punk.

The lyrics were, as they say, designed to piss everyone off.  And they do.  Song titles like “Speak English or Die,” “Pre-Menstrual Princess Blues,” “Pussy Whipped,” “Fuck the Middle East” and “Douche Crew” pretty much give you a taste of the music.

And yet, Anthrax are silly.  So you know that the band is a parody (even if people took them seriously).  And the best way to tell about the serious intentions of the band are by other songs (and their duration): “Anti-Procrastination Song” – 0:06, “Hey Gordy!” – 0:07, “Ballad of Jimi Hendrix” – 0:05 (entire lyrics: “He’s dead”) and of course “Diamonds and Rust” (Extended Version) – 0:05.  There’s also a song about “Milk” which laments the fact that all of the milk in the fridge has been drunk.

My favorite track is “What’s That Noise.”  The band plays the opening chords of a song and this static crackles in.  Billy Milano slowly goes absolutely insane screaming about the noise, yelling at the band to stop playing.  It still makes me laugh, 25 years later.

[READ: Week of August 20, 2010] Letters of Insurgents [Last Letters]

Yarostan’s final letter is a long one, but it is justifiably long. And in some ways it makes up for all the weird incest stuff that I had to read.   Although really nothing could make up for that.

The beginning of the letter is taken up with Mirna and Yara’s “prank” at Jasna & Titus’ engagement party. There so many details to include that I’m just going to summarize. (more…)

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John Barth–Lost in the Funhouse: Fiction for Print, Tape, Live Voice (1968)

Posted in Anachronisms, Books about writers, David Foster Wallace, Funny (strange), Gods, Huh?, John Barth, Language, Meta, Postmoderism, Short Story, Therapy?, Unfinished, War on August 19, 2010| 6 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THERAPY?: Music Through a Cheap Transistor: The BBC Sessions (2007).

I enjoy the title of this disc quite a bit.  Fortunately, I also enjoy the music quite a bit.  This is a collection of BBC recordings from Therapy?

It’s a strange collection in that they recorded songs on five separate occasions and yet there is a lot of duplication of tracks (the liner notes deal with this issue).

John Peel Sessions (and there’s much made in the liner notes about the fact that they thought they’d be meeting Peel himself when they went in, when in fact it was just a random engineer) are essentially live recordings done in the studio.  They tend to be slightly more experimental (done after a band has toured and messed around with the songs some) and for some bands (like Therapy?) they tend to be more raucous.

This collection was recorded from 1991-1995 with a final show in 1998.  Obviously the band isn’t thinking about the future CD release of the sessions when they recorded these sessions, so it probably didn’t seem strange to record “Totally Random Man” 3 times.  But it does seem strange to listen to it like that.

The songs are definitely rawer than the studio versions.  Even their more poppy tracks from 1998 are a bit harsher.  However, their first EPs were really raw, so these songs sound much better (much cleaner).  They also include a lot of fun/weird unreleased tracks and covers.

My only complaint is that neither version of  “Teethgrinder” features that awesome drum sound that is my favorite part of the track.  Otherwise, it’s a great collection.

[READ: June 1, 2010] Lost in the Funhouse

I checked out this book so I could read the title story.  I enjoyed that one quite a bit so I decided to read the whole collection.  The Author’s Note says, “while some of these pieces were composed expressly for print, others were not. For instance: “‘Glossolalia” will make no sense unless heard in live or recorded voices, male and female, or read as if so heard.”  Um, yeah.

The first story: “Frame-Tale” consists entirely of this: “Cut on dotted line, twist end once and fasten AB to ab, CD to cd.” The cut part is a strip of paper that reads: “Once Upon a Time There/Was a Story That Began.”  It’s cute.

The next story, “Night-Sea Journey” is a proper story of a night sea journey. The secret to the story is gradually revealed, and is rather amusing. (more…)

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Felicia Day–The Guild (Books 1-3 of 3)

Posted in Fantasy, Felicia Day, Felicia Day (author), Graphic Novel, Supernatural, The Guild on August 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE GUILD “Game On!” A Bollywood Musical (2010)

There’s an awesomely wonderful Bollywood-esque musical promotion video thingy for The Guild.  It’s really great.  The production looks like it cost more to make than the entire series of the web-show.

It’s full-on Bollywood with lots of extras, a crazy sequence with Vork as Vishnu, and a nice Real-Life fight.  The music is infectious with lots of Indian trills and frills.

It’s a great set piece and a terrific promotion for the show.  Well done.

Read all about it here.

And watch it now.

[READ: July 25, 2010] “The Guild”

I love the web-show The Guild.  Felicia Day is brilliant. I was even more delighted to hear that it was being done as a comic book–the perfect medium for her quirky and funny style.

Imagine how much more excited I was to find out that the timeline is BEFORE the Guild members met!  It’s a prequel! (more…)

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Amy Hempel–“The Orphan Lamb” (Harper’s, September 2010)

Posted in Amy Hempel, Arcade Fire, Flash Fiction, Harper's, The Daily Show, Yuck! on August 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ARCADE FIRE on THE DAILY SHOW: “Ready to Start” & “Month of May” (2010).

My friend Lar recent wrote a scathing review of Arcade Fire’s new album.  I haven’t heard it at all, so I can’t talk about it.  However, these two songs are from the new disc.

I have to say on first listen neither one wowed me the way their earlier tracks did.  However, as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, their live show is really incredibly energetic and fun (even confined to the small set of The Daily Show).

This was especially evident with the second song, which opens with a megaphone and features lots of screaming.  The live set up includes two drummers and two violins. They are truly a band to behold onstage.

We’ll just have to see about The Suburbs though.

[READ: August 15, 2010] “The Orphan Lamb”

I was pretty turned off by the opening paragraph of this story (a rather over-the-top gruesome account of bloodletting).  But since the whole story is only three paragraphs, I decided to proceed.

And I’m glad I did.  The second paragraph gives a nice twist to the bloodletting of the first, adding a huge dose of humanity. (more…)

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James Joyce–[Week 6] Ulysses (1922) [Circe]

Posted in Aerosmith, Big Books, Death, Drinking, Dublin, Ireland, Fears, History, Irish Writer, James Joyce, Marianne Faithfull, Masturbation, Political Humor, Prostitution, Run D.M.C, Sex, Sinéad O'Connor, The Chieftains, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Unreliable narrator, Violence on August 16, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THE CHIEFTAINS-The Long Black Veil

Like the Dubliners, The Chieftains are a bunch of old men who play traditional Irish music.  Unlike the Dubliners, they have gained a fan base beyond the trad scene.  This album in particular features a great deal of crossover material.

Guest singers include: Sting (singing in Irish!), The Rolling Stones, Sinéad O’ Connor, Marianne Faithfull,Van Morrison and Tom Jones (!)

The Sinéad tracks are really great, as she uses her voice wonderfully on the spare musical tracks. “The Foggy Dew” is particularly powerful, and “He Moved Through the Fair” isn’t too shabby either).

Sting’s track is very Sting (with trad accompaniment); Mick Jagger sings the title track, but it doesn’t do a lot for me.  Van Morrison is Van Morrison, regardless of who he’s playing with.  And Tom Jones is so over the top on “Tennessee Waltz” that it’s hard not to laugh with him.

The song with no guests, “Changing Your Demeanor” is a cute Oirishy song with deedly-ee-ayes.

It’s the final song, “The Rocky Road to Dublin” (which I’ve already said is a favorite by other artists) that fares the worst here.  About midway through the song, The Stones seem to burst in (think Run DMC & Aerosmith but a lot older) and play a really sloppy version of “Satisfaction” while The Chieftains are playing their trad song.  Nobody fares well in this version and it’s a shame to have included it on an otherwise good disc.

This is not really a good place to hear the Chieftains as a trad outfit.  It’s certainly more of a showcase album.  But it might work as a crossover introduction to some of these songs.  And yes, the album is very adult contemporary…there’s not a lot of rocking going on here.

[READ: Week of August 16, 2010] Ulysses: Episode 15 [Circe]

This is the Episode I remember most from my previous reads.  I didn’t remember the details, mind you, just the absolute insanity of it.  This is also the place where you can look if you’ve ever wondered why this book was brought up on obscenity charges.  Those first few chapters, with the outhouse and the impure thoughts are mild; even Bloom’s masturbation, while controversial doesn’t hold a candle to all of the insanity that is contained within this Episode.

It was also the only week where we read just one Episode.  And that’s because it is loooooong.  True, it is written in play form (ie, lots of white space), but it is still about 4 times longer than any other Episode.  And man is it a doozy.

I’ve already read that Daryl was just going to write WTF about this Episode.  Of course, that’s sort of what I felt about the previous one, so I guess it’s no surprise that I did enjoy the nonsense of this one.  I’ve always had a great appreciation for the absurd, so this is right up my alley.  This is not in any way to suggest that I understood it, even a little.  But there were parts that I laughed at and parts that I smiled at and parts that I practically blushed at.  Good fun!

Of course, the big question in this chapter is (aside from what the hell is going on and why is it so long) what’s real and what’s Bloom’s fever dream.  This is preceded by the big question of why Bloom is having these fever dreams (or whatever they are).  I’ve been under the impression that he is drunk (but my tenuous following of the previous chapter makes me a little unsure just how drunk he was or if he drank at all.)

In a nutshell what happens is that Stephen (and Lynch) go to the red light district.  Bloom follows behind.  Bloom had a massive memory flashback/acid trip/freak out, and then he “rescues” Stephen (and his money) from the brothel.  He can’t save Stephen from getting punched in the face by a soldier, but he is able to keep him from getting arrested (with Corny Kelleher’s invaluable help).  Bloom, despite his inaction, then offers to take Stephen home.   (more…)

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Dinaw Mengestu–“An Honest Exit” (New Yorker, July 12 & 19, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Dinaw Mengestu, New Yorker, Racism, Short Story on August 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SARAH HARMER-“Captive” (2010).

Sarah Harmer has a new disc out.  Recently my wife Sarah has discovered her in our CD collection and has been listening to her a lot.  I’ve enjoyed her for years, and I always look forward to her new albums.

Somehow I missed that this one came out, but this track is currently #3 on the CBC Radio 3 chart.  Or you could listen to it on her page there.

This song is uptempo and catchy and could easily be a big hit. Her last album was more country/bluegrassey, but this song is pure rock (pop rock, but rock nonetheless).

The bridge of the song is a mysterious affair which adds a lot of personality to this bubbly track (with a fun chorus).  I’m glad that Sarah has more songs out and that my Sarah will soon have more music to listen to.

[READ: August 4, 2010] “An Honest Exit”

Dinaw Mengestu is another of the New Yorker‘s 20 Under 40.  This is the story of a University teacher.  His father recently passed away and he feels compelled to talk about it to his class.  So when class begins, he almost-accidentally tells them his father’s story.

Initially I was a little disappointed in the piece because, while his father’s life is horrifying and interesting, it seemed to fit squarly into my limited knowledge of what I knew about the situation: He was an engineer in Ethiopia but was reduced to nothing after attending a political rally.  He walked across the country to Sudan in hopes of escape.

When he arrived in Sudan he was starving, desperate to find any kind of work.  Finally, a man named Abrahim took pity on him and found him a job delivering hot tea to workers.  Abrahim was like a benevolent dictator to him, helping him and plotting his escape to London; however, all the while the narrator’s father was very distrustful of him, always assuming the worst (and why shouldn’t he?). (more…)

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