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Archive for the ‘Authors’ Category

David Sedaris–“Loggerheads” (New Yorker, December 7, 2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Collecting, David Sedaris, Death, John Darnielle, New Yorker, Ozzy Osbourne, Short Story, The Mountain Goats, Tony Iommi, Travel, Unlikable main character on December 5, 2009| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Master of Reality (1971).

This album seems to have directly inspired more bands than any other Sabbath record.  There’s the band Masters of Reality (who I’ve never heard) and there’s the 1,000 Homo DJ’s EP and blistering cover for “Supernaut.”

This is one of my favorite Sabbath discs, even though, or maybe because there aren’t as many hits on it.  The story goes that since Tony Iommi had his fingertips cut off (!) he had to downtune his guitar so the strings would be looser and therefore less painful to play.  As such, this disc introduces a sort of “classic” Sabbath sludgy sound.  But even though this album doesn’t get a the airplay of Paranoid any metal fan knows a few of these songs.  “Sweet Leaf,” for instance, is quite well known.  It also makes me laugh because it is so clearly pro-drug (after all those anti-drug songs on the first two discs).  And of course, it opens with that great echoing cough (which I now assume is from someone toking up).

“After Forever” is one of those great Sabbath songs where Geezer Butler’s bass fills stand out throughout the bridges.  It also features one of Tony Iommi’s strangely “happy” sounding opening chords  The song itself is pretty dark but the chords are so upbeat!  The song has a lyric that I found shocking as a kid: “would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope, do you think he’s a fool?”  And of course, the guitar solo flies wildly around your head from one speaker to the other.

“Embryo” is a strange middle eastern sounding 30 second instrumental that segues into the awesome “Children of the Grave.”  It’s one of those Sabbath songs that sounds menacing all the way through.  There’s a weird clicking sound in the verses that I assume is Geezer Butler’s de-tuned, incredibly loose bass strings slapping the fretboard.  And, of course, it ends with a wonderfully warped ghostly guitar feedback sounds and the whispered “Ch ch ch ch children.”

The second half of the disc is quite different from the first.  “Orchid” is a delightful 90 second acoustic guitar workout.  And it segues into “Lord of This World” a real rock and roll sounding song (featuring some great Ozzy screaming).  “Solitude” is like “Planet Caravan” from Paranoid, in that it’s a slow, trippy psychedelic sense (is it possible that Sabbath didn’t know that they were a metal band?).

Finally comes “Into the Void.”  This was one of the first songs I’d ever learned on guitar.  My guitar teacher liked the down-tuned low E string aspect of it, and I still enjoy playing it today.

As my friend Andrew pointed out the other day, John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats has written a 33 1/3 book about Master of Reality.  While I haven’t read it yet, Darnielle is pretty cool, so I assume it’s a great read if you like this disc.

[READ: November 30, 2009] “Loggerheads”

Not every David Sedaris piece is funny.  We know he’s not a comedian, per se, although he is certainly a humorous writer.  We also know that some Sedaris pieces are kind of disgusting.  He tends to delight in the grotesque.  However, in this piece he combines the disgusting with the non-humorous to create a very unsatisfying piece. (more…)

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Kate Clanchy–“The Not-Dead and the Saved” (Prospect, December 2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Boredom, Cancer as plot device, Death, Kate Clanchy, Ozzy Osbourne, Prospect, Short Story, Suicide, Tony Iommi, V.S. Pritchett on December 4, 2009| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Paranoid (1970).

Black Sabbath’s second album is certainly their most famous.  I mean, it features “Iron Man,” the first song everyone learns to play on the guitar.

But the whole first side of the disc is pretty famous.  “War Pigs” is a wonderful anti-war song.  “Paranoid” was their first big hit, and I read recently that it was a last minute addition to the album.  And it’s really short, too!

The next track, “Planet Caravan” is, in context, insane.  It is an incredibly slow, meandering track.  Back in the day, we used to skip this track all the time.  But since then I’ve grown to appreciate this trippy psychedelic song.  It feels a bit long, especially when you want to rock out, but it’s still pretty interesting.

And then there’s “Iron Man,” and, well, there’s nothing much to say about it that hasn’t been said elsewhere.   Except of course that it rocks!

Side Two was pretty unlistened to before CDs made it all one side.  “Electric Funeral” is a major downer about nuclear war, but it has an amazing opening riff with a wonderfully wah-wahed guitar.  “Hand of Doom” begins slowly with what’s more or less just bass and vocals.  And then guitars blare forth like sirens leading to some cool heavy sections.  About half way through it turns into this fast rocking song and becomes yet another anti-drug song.  This anti-drug stance is rather surprising given what lies in store in the not too distant future.

“Rat Salad” is a short instrumental.  It’s one half extended guitar solo with the second half comprising a drum solo.  Despite that, the riff of the song is pretty awesome.  The final track is the wonderfully named “Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots.”  The opening is another cool riff with lots of drums that melds in to a wonderfully heavy, bad-assed song (“a fairy with boots dancing with a dwarf”).  It ends the album very well.

For a record that’s nearly 40 years old, it’s still remarkably heavy and it set a great standard for heavy metal.

[READ: November 29, 2009] “The Not-Dead and the Saved”

This was a sad story about a woman with a dying child.  The child is older (late teens) and he has been coping with this issue for all of his life.  Consequently, he is cynical and more than a little bitter.

It’s hard for me to be critical of the story seeing as how it won the VS Pritchett Memorial Prize.  However, I didn’t find the story all that compelling. I think it was the completely detached narrator (third person distant, I would say) or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, I just couldn’t connect to it.

[UPDATE:  December 15, 2009.  The story also just won the National Short Story Award.  Maybe I need to re-read it]. (more…)

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Don DeLillo–“Midnight in Dostoevsky” (New Yorker, November 30, 2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Contests, Don DeLillo, Mystery, New Yorker, Set at School, Short Story, Universities on December 3, 2009| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Black Sabbath (1970).

I’ve talked about Black Sabbath quite a bit, so why not take a look at their records directly?

One of the fun surprises about their first disc is the stereo mix (although it was 1970, so maybe one shouldn’t be surprised).  Guitar in one ear, bass in the other and sometimes only a guitar solo in one ear with nothing else going on!  The other surprise is that even though Tony Iommi’s guitar is on fire and he has huge lengthy guitar solos (the one in “Warning” is like 8 minutes long), the other members, especially the drums, really come to the fore.

What can one says about the title track?  The opening thunderstorm (with creepy bell tolling) sets the mood perfectly and then the killer riff kicks in and Ozzy Osbourne’s weird, loud, somewhat whiny and frighteningly frightened voice asks “What is this that stands before me?”  It’s a slow song, especially for one that spawned a genre of fast heavy metal, but it sense of ominousness is tangible.

“The Wizard” undermines everything you think you know about heavy metal since it begins with a harmonica.  However, it is a pretty creepy harmonica, and the melody is certainly spooky.  What’s so fascinating about the song is the drums.  While the whole band plays the somewhat odd riff, the drums have a huge place of prominence in the song, with little snare drum solos after each line (and a prominent cowbell at one point).  There are some wild guitar solos, but you wouldn’t be crazy thinking that this was the  drummer’s band.

The next song is listed as four songs: “Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.”  “Wasp” is a short, fairly upbeat instrumental, but “Behind the Wall of Sleep” is where the words kick in.  It’s a pretty explicitly anti-drug song (“turns your body to a corpse”).  And I’m fairly certain there are two vocal tracks, one in each ear.  “Bassically” is the wild bass solo (again, taking away the dominance from the lead guitar). Which leads to “N.I.B”., one of the great, classic Sabbath songs.  An awesome bass riff that propels the song to its climax of “My name is Lucifer please take my hand.”  Although it also features a strangely plaintive refrain of “Your love for me has just got to be real.”

“Wicked World” comes in a little preachy and kind of out of place.  But mostly because it’s got a strangely jazzy feel. It’s not out of the ordinary in concept, it’s just a little less subtle than some of the other tracks.

“A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning” is the ending trio of tracks (14 minutes in all) that are really hard to distinguish.  “A Bit of Finger” is a very short acoustic guitar solo (I assume, I mean, the “Sleeping Village” lyrics kick in pretty quickly). But I love that there’s a Jew’s harp in the background.  Then there’s a crazily long guitar solo.  Or, should I say there are two guitar solos: a different one in each ear.  I think that the solo is part of “Warning” (it’s the same melody after all) but who can tell.  “Warning” is another fantastic Sabbath song.  The bass line is great and Ozzy sings one of his oddly plaintive songs of loss: (“the feelings were a little bit too strong”).  But the middle section is an astonishingly long guitar solo, or should I say solos. This solo even stops at one point and he comes out with a whole new melody/solo after that.  And then another solo.  Most of the soloing is in the right ear, which leaves the left ear struggling in vain to hear what’s going on (it’s fun to listen with just the left ear phone in).  With about a minute to go, the song proper returns.  It’s pretty bizarre.  And maybe that’s when Tony Iommi’s ego was placated.

Despite this being one of the first really heavy albums, it still retains a bluesy/jam feel to it.  The songs are long, there’s wild freewheeling guitar solos, and the sound itself isn’t a constant bludgeoning (like later heavy metal), it comes in bursts, which somehow makes it more ominous!

It’s really tremendous.

[READ: November 27, 2009] “Midnight in Dostoevsky”

Although I don’t know where this story is set exactly, I can totally picture the scene.  And I am superimposing it directly onto a location from where I went to college.  I realize that’s totally wrong, but I couldn’t resist.  This story had very weird overtones to me and actually inspired me to want to write a story that has apparently been percolating in my head for years.  We’ll see about that.

Anyhow, as for the story itself, I confirmed my suspicion that DeLillo doesn’t write short stories too often.  According to his Wikipedia site, he wrote one short story in 2002, another in 2007 and then this one.

DeLillo is a postmodern master, which leads one to think that his stories will be convoluted and difficult.  But this story is pretty straightforward.  Two college kids, walking around on a cold winter day spot an old man walking toward them.  They create a backstory for the man and, in the end, attempt to confirm or deny what they have concocted.  Fairly straightforward.

But as with any great story, the real action happens in the characters’ heads, or in this case, in the narrator’s mind and his spoken dialogue with his compatriot. (more…)

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Donald Barthelme–“The Balloon” from Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts (1968)

Posted in Consumerism, Donald Barthelme, Funny (strange), Romance, Short Story on December 2, 2009| 3 Comments »

actsMy original post for this story is largely correct (aside from the fact that the first version I read was lacking the final four paragraphs!)  And so I’m posting it here, but I’ll make changes as necessary:

In the story, a man inflates a huge irregularly shaped balloon in Manhattan.  It takes up several city blocks and, in places, it rests against the skyscrapers.

And that’s it.

Well, not exactly.  The story is about people’s reactions to this enormous thing that takes up the entire sky but about which there is no explanation.  The narrator states that people might have felt better about it if it had an ad or a “message” on the side, but no, his balloon is just soothing earth tone colors.

The story doesn’t end, exactly.  It just sort of stops. [THAT WOULD BE WRONG!]  But the discussion of people and their attitudes and reactions is certainly interesting and says as much about the author as it does about the narrator.  Most critics agree that the story is something of a metaphor for his own art, and that is pretty obvious to see.

Okay, so as I noted, a man inflates a balloon in New York City.  He does it in the middle of the night so when people wake up the balloon is just there, with no explanation.  And it is a large balloon, taking up many many streets.  It reaches up to building tops and kids play on and under the balloon.  But mostly people seem to wonder about it.

One thing I enjoyed about the story is the absolutely innocent nature of it.  I was trying to imagine such a thing as this story happening in 2009, and realizing that you could never do it.  You could never even propose a balloon aloft in the city with no explanation.  Security would be way too intense, and people simply wouldn’t stand for the mystery.

But in 1968, this premise (even if absurd) is delightful.

Now that I have actually finished the story (and yes, I’m still annoyed that this version online was incomplete but somehow passed off as a complete story) my opinion of the ending is radically different.  It doesn’t “just stop.”  In fact, we (the readers) learn why the balloon was inflated (although the citizens of New York do not).  The narrator inflated the balloon for twenty-two days because his beloved was away.  And such a charming and surprisingly sentimental reason is delightful given the analytical nature of the bulk of the story.

This now being my third reading of the story, I find it very engaging.  And I can easily see why it is considered one of his best.

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Donald Barthelme–Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts (1968)

Posted in Books about writers, Boredom, Demons, Donald Barthelme, Funny (strange), Harper's, History, Kate Bush, Language, Marriage Trouble, Military, Neurotics, Political Humor, Short Story, Smarty Pants, War on December 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-Aerial (2005).

This was Kate’s first release in 12 years!  There’s a part of me that would expect unparalleled genius to emerge from a 12 year hiatus, but realistically, what we get is a more mature and confident singer, and songs that sound very much like Kate Bush songs. There’s not a lot of experimentation, although there is a song cycle (two in fact) to hold the disc together.

The first disc (for there are two, totaling about 80 minutes) is listed as “A Sea of Honey”

It opens with “King of the Mountain” a great upbeat single.  Next is “Pi” a fascinating song in which Kate sings out the decimal places of Pi (3.14…).  It’s airy and ethereal, and pretty neat.  “Bertie” is an adorable ode to what I assume is her son. It’s a very sweet love song to a child.

“Mrs Bartolozzi” opens with a piano sequence that sounds very uncomfortably close to a Phil Collins.  And, later in the sings she sings a “sloshy sloshy” part which is pretty odd.  But despite all of this, the song is closest to the Kate of old.

“How to be Invisible” has some really cool choral effects (and is a very neat concept lyrically).  It also features a very nice guitar line that sneaks out of the musical tapestry from time to time.  “Joanni” rocks in Kate’s inimitable way (and it’s about Joan of Arc).  It has also got some fun and funny parts the reflect the Kate of old (screaming vocals way down in the mix and “Mmm Hmms” that are kind of silly).  The disc ends with the gorgeous ballad “A Coral Room.”

The second disc “A Sky of Honey” is more of a complete song cycle (It starts with a Prelude AND a Prologue).  There’s a couple of short songs (90 seconds each) thrown in the middle.  My favorite is the final track, “Aerial” which has a cool dance rhythm (that seems so unlike Kate) which propels the song almost magically.

Overall, this disc doesn’t overwhelm me as much as say Hounds of Love, but it’s a really solid disc and I’ve found myself listening to and enjoying it a lot over the last few weeks.  It’s nice to have Kate back.  I wonder how long it will be for her next disc.

[READ: November 27, 2009] Unspeakable Practices Unnatural Acts

After reading (the incomplete) “The Balloon” (see the post), I decided to give the entire collection a spin.  I didn’t really enjoy the short stories I had read in Harper’s, but I did enjoy “The Balloon,” so I thought it would be worth investigating Barthleme (a little) further.

This collection is a mix of utterly absurdist stories (many of which seem to have multiple vantage points that I found rather difficult to keep track of ).  One of the most noteworthy things about the collection is that it seems to me to be very topical circa 1968.  And I think I’m missing a lot of what is happening in the stories.   I’ll cite examples below, but oftentimes I assume that I’m just not getting something that I should be getting (more…)

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Steven Millhauser–“Mermaid Fever” (Harper’s, December 2009)

Posted in Harper's, Short Story, Steven Millhauser, Supernatural, The Cardigans on November 30, 2009| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE CARDIGANS-Best of (2008).

I’ve been a huge fan of the Cardigans since their first U.S. single “Carnival”.  I was living in Boston and I vividly remember the first time I heard it on the radio.  It was bubbly and treacly and then about halfway through it turned into something fantastic.

And that’s how I’ve felt about them ever since.  They obviously hit the big time with “Lovefool” and then became something of a one hit wonder band (in the US, although not in Europe).  Which is a shame because they’ve written some amazing songs.

I just learned about this Best of (not released in the US). It’s got 22 tracks on disc one including all of their international hits and a few surprises.  Disc Two features a ton of B-sides and other fun things.  I have a lot of these tracks from when I was a singles collector, but it’s a lot more fun to have them in one place.  And, I stopped collecting singles quite a few years ago, so it’s nice to have these newer B-side too.

But perhaps the most fun part of this collection is the liner notes.  You get a band’s eye view of all of the songs–where they recorded them, what worked and what didn’t and even what it’s like to have unexpected enormous success (for a short period of time).

I’ve seen the Cardigans live about three times.  Their live shows bring out a whole new layer that is not apparent on their discs (except for their Black Sabbath covers).  They can be a pretty heavy, rocking band.  On the last tour I saw, Nina came out in leather pants and they opened with a cover of “Iron Man.”  It was pretty intense.  Don’t judge by their adorable looks, they’re a solid band, and this is a great place to delve into more than the hit.

[READ: November 30, 2009] “Mermaid Fever”

This story has a fairly simple premise: a mermaid washes up dead on a beach.  The town where she was found claims her as their own.  They display her in a museum and everyone from miles around comes to see her.  Mermaid fever sweeps the town.

What was interesting about the story, beyond the supernatural premise, was the amount of detail Millhauser threw in.  Everyone is familiar with when some kind of fever sweeps a town, but with the mermaid, it took on far more unrealistic proportions.  Perfect for humor but also for the underlying message.  So, it was fun to see the way everyone started dressing like a mermaid: bathing suits that taper down like a tail. But it was also interesting to hear people complaining about how dehumanizing this new trend became. (more…)

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William Alexander Taylor–Intermere (1901-1902)

Posted in Adventure, Concept Albums, Fantasy, Hollow Earth, John Cleves Symmes, Lou Reed, R.E.M., Racism, Red Dwarf, Set in New Jersey!, Short Books, Supernatural, The Feelies, Utopia, William Alexander Taylor on November 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FEELIES-Only Life (1988).

The Feelies were based out of Haledon, NJ, a town not more than fifteen minutes from my house.  I’ve always felt this weird association to them.  One day a coworker drove me past one of the band members’ houses when I worked in North Haledon (in retrospect this was probably bullshit).

It was this album that introduced me to them.  Prior to the internet, it wasn’t always easy to find out how many albums a band had out, so I assumed this was their first.  I’d assumed that we were close in age and that I could have run into them at any local club or hangout.  Well, it turned out that this was their third and their first came out in 1980.  When I was 11.  So, clearly  there is absolutely no way we were peers.

Somehow, when I first heard The Feelies, I had not been exposed to The Velvet Underground (what?).  So, when I heard them, it didn’t occur to me to say, “Hey that guy sounds just like Lou Reed.”  And he does.  Almost uncannily so on “It’s Only Life”.

But hey, get past that and you’ve got a really great jangly alterna-pop record from the late 80s.   While R.E.M. is sort of the master of the jangly pop song, there’s no real comparison here (okay, actually “Deep Fascination” could be mistaken for R.E.M. until the vocals kick in).  The biggest difference is tempo. The Feelies just kind of meander along at a calm and relaxed pace.  Not slow enough to be, god forbid, dull, but not exactly peppy either.

One thing I like about the band is that the bass and drums are always out in front.  The bass, in particular seems to really propel the songs (especially “Too Much”) which provides a great rhythmic feels and allows the guitars ample room to roam.

And the guitars do roam.  There are two guitars and they share soloing duties.  This soloing bit is rather a departure for college radio bands in the late 80s.  So, it definitely set them apart (as did the fact that there are like 30 words in each song).

The gorgeously simple yet very compelling “Higher Ground” is certainly a high point for the disc.  As is their cover of the Velvet’s “What Goes On.”

When I was a DJ in college, I randomly selected “Away” to play during a show (the first Feelies song I’d heard).  Even after twenty-one years it’s still as fresh and interesting.  It’s also rather different from the rest of the album.  It’s uptempo for one thing.  But it also starts with a cool slow guitar opening.  The song builds faster and faster and has a great sing along chorus.   The drums also sound wonderfully abrasive.  It’s really a great song and a great introduction to an underappreciated band.

[READ: November 22, 2009] Intermere

Following hot on the heels of Symzonia, I received Intermere through Inter Library Loan.  Intermere is even shorter (at 150 pages)!

What I liked about the story is that it removes all pretense as to the setting up of and the getting to the inner earth location.  As the story opens, our narrator, Giles Anderton, is pretty much immediately in massive trouble.  The boat he is on is about to sink and he is soon plunged headlong into the ocean.  (What an exciting opening!)

When he wakes up a short time later, he is on an island and is warmly greeted by a group of very short but very beautiful (ie, very pale) people. (more…)

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Captain Adam Seaborn [pseudonym of John Cleves Symmes]–Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery (1820)

Posted in 19th Century, Adventure, Chef, Consumerism, Hollow Earth, Humiliation, John Cleves Symmes, John Uri Lloyd, Kate Bush, Lenny Henry, McSweeney's, Short Books, Supernatural, Technology, Travel, Unlikable main character, Utopia on November 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-The Red Shoes (1993).

The Red Shoes is something of a disappointment. While I enjoyed The Sensual World, it was definitely moving in a more adult contemporary vein.  The Red Shoes proceeds even further in this direction.  Since Kate is getting older, it makes sense that her music would change as well.

But there are some really fun tracks on here as well.  And Kate’s initial experiments with world music (the Bulgarian Choir) has really expanded into a more global palette (the island feel of “Eat the Music,” for instance).

The first four songs of the disc are really great.  They show an amazing diversity.  The first single “Rubberband Girl” is quite fun and bouncey.  It has a rather silly middle section where she makes rubberband-like sounds.   “And So is Love” sounds like classic Kate, with some wonderful vocals.  “Eat the Music” is a crazy, up beat horn fueled island track (with wonderfully suggestive lyrics).  And  “Moments of Pleasure” is a delightfully romantic song.

However, beginning with “Song of Salomon” with its awkward chorus of “don’t want no bullshit, just want your sexuality” the album trails off a little bit.  The rest of the songs feel kind of hurried and unspecific; there’s nothing really grabby about them.  They’re not bad, but they’re not all that memorable.  In fact, “Constellation of the Heart” is one of those rare aspects of a Kate disc: a song that sounds really dated.

The one exception to this decline is “Top of the City,” a really nice ballad that features some classic Kate vocals.

Of the remainder, “Big Stripey Lie” has some cool sound effects and lots of weirdness floating around it (and I do quite like it) although it’s really not as substantial as her previous experimental pieces.

Probably the most controversial song on the disc is “Why Should I Love You?” a duet with Prince.  While the main chorus is pretty cool (and uncannily Prince-like) the rest of the track sounds (again) very dated.  The track also features the great comedian Lenny Henry on vocals.  However, since Henry is responsible for what may be the worst sitcom theme song ever in the history of music (it may actually make you want to not watch the rather funny Chef, it is so awful) his inclusion isn’t really all that wonderful.  The disc ends with “You’re the One” a weird (in a good way) track that features The Bulgarian Chorus again.  They seem to do a great job of keeping Kate’s songs focused, so the disc ends on a high note.

This disc is pretty soundly dismissed by even diehard Kate fans.  And it is definitely her least satisfying overall. But if you look deeper into the disc, there are some unfairly overlooked gems.

[READ: November 20, 2009] Symzonia

After reading Etidorhpa, I started looking around at other Hollow Earth books.  And thankfully, someone has done most of the work already. So, for an absurdly long list of Hollow Earth books, check out this link.  I was delighted to see that so many of them are quite short!

When I saw this book, and realized that it was about the world mentioned in “Symmes Hole” (from McSweeney‘s) and that it was very likely written by Symmes himself (there is still debate, but it is convincing that he wrote it) I decided to check it out.

Sadly, this book was considerably duller than Etidorhpa.  It was 250 pages and the first 100 were details of his journey to the South Pole.  Which would be fine except that since the author is a sailor he gives excruciating details about not only sailing, but even shipbuilding (including how smart he was for making the ship as strong as he did,) and the directions of the wind and speculation about longitude and all that great seafaring stuff.  That’s not my thing, so I found it rather tedious. (more…)

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Periodical: McSweeney’s

Posted in A.M. Homes, Art, Books about music, Books about writers, BritLit, Consumerism, Contests, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Essays, Fables, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Graustarkian Romance, Hollow Earth, Irish Writer, Joyce Carol Oates, Language, Legendary Saga, McSweeney's, Meta, Michael Chabon, Music, Postmoderism, Roddy Doyle, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Socratic Dialogue, Stephen King, Suicide, The Believer, The Collins Library, They Might Be Giants, Wholphin, Whore Dialogue, Word usage on November 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

17Many many years ago, I discovered Might magazine.  It was a funny, silly magazine that spoofed everything (but had a serious backbone, too).  (You can order back issues here).  And so, I subscribed around issue 13.  When the magazine folded (with issue 16–and you can read a little bit about that in the intro to Shiny Adidas Track Suits) it somehow morphed into McSweeney‘s, and much of the creative team behind Might went with them.

The early volumes (1-5 are reviewed in these pages, and the rest will come one of these days) are a more literary enterprise than Might was.  There’s still a lot of the same humor (and a lot of silliness), but there are also lengthy non-fiction pieces.  The big difference is that McSweeney’s was bound as a softcover book rather than as a magazine. And, I guess technically it is called Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern as opposed to Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. (more…)

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Steven Heighton–“Noughts and Crosses: An unsent reply” (The Walrus, November 2009)

Posted in Canadian Content, Kate Bush, Language, Marriage Trouble, Meta, Romance, Short Story, Steven Heighton, The Walrus on November 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:KATE BUSH-The Sensual World (2009).

It was three years between The Dreaming and Hounds of Love.  And this time it took four years for The Sensual World to come out.  This was the first Kate disc that I bought as it came out.  And I was such a huge fan of Hounds, that I was really quite excited about this release.

Kate has always been fairly forthcoming about sex/sensuality on her songs (even if it was metaphorical, the metaphors weren’t really labored).  So, the fact that she’s putting it all out there is not much of a surprise.  And yet, to me this seems like a much more explicit work than her earlier ones  (an older songwriter perhaps?).

The other thing that strikes me about the album is just how accessible it is.  Unlike her previous discs which featured flourishes and howls, headphone tricks and other show offy tactics (which I totally love), this disc comes across as a songwriter who is more confident in her songs so she doesn’t have to put frills on them.

I have a fndeness for this disc because it was the first one I bought as a fan, but I don’t listen to it all that much.  When I played it again, I had forgotten how much I liked it.  And, yes, I miss all the tricks and cool studio fun on this disc, but the songwriting makes up for it.

The opener “The Sensual World” is, yes, a very sensual song (with the “Mmmmmyessses” every line or so).  The second track, “Love and Anger” is a great, freewheeling Kate track.  The younger Kate would have had crazy wild fun with it, but the more mature Kate plays it fairly straight.  And it really showcases what a great song it is.

As “The Fog” opens, she says, “I’m all grown up now” (and there’s no headphone tricks accompanying it).  That seems to be a statement about the disc itself.  But, just so you know it’s npt a totally safe disc, “The Fog” has a wonderful otherworldly violin running through it.

The one thing that stand out on the disc, though is how rocking it is (relative to Kate, of course).   The guitars on about half of the songs quite loud and raucous.  And Kate is clearly having a lot of fun with the songs.

But there are some mellow songs as well.  “Reaching Out” begins as a delicate piano ballad (although it is full of some wild ethereal backing vocals) but it also builds to a louder chorus and finish.  “Deeper Understanding” is an interesting song in which she sings about a computer (which I thought would sound really dated twenty years later but which doesn’t).

“Never BE Mine” sounds like Kate of old (ah, fretless bass).  While “Rocket’s Tail” showcases the gorgeous sounds of the Bulgarian Choir, who would assist her on many future tracks as well.  The choir seems to take on a lot of the strange vocals that Kate herself used to perform. But they have an oddness of inflection that makes it sound otherworldly.  It also has the unmistakable sounds of a David Gilmour guitar solo.

The highlight has to be “This Woman’s Work.”  When all is said and done, Kate’s voice is what any fan comes back for.  This song is a simple piano based ballad.  Kate’s voice is clean and pure and rather magical.  And the emotional release as the song nears its end is phenomenal.

The Sensual World is an overlooked disc (its regular price on Amazon is $7).  And while it doesn’t have all of the flair and magic of Kate at her wildest records, the stripped down version of Kate is pretty wonderful too.

[READ: November 15, 2009] “Noughts and Crosses”

It took me a few paragraphs to realize what was going on in this story and then I liked it even more.

The story opens with an email.  Several of the words are in bold.  The email, from j to n, is a break-up letter.  It’s sort of generic and doesn’t really reveal all that much.  But the rest of the story is a reply to each of the bolded words of the email.

As n replies (presumably in her head, although it could also be written even if it is never sent) we learn more and more about the two of them and their relationship. The parties involved, the promises told and the little giveaways that show that the relationship was over long before this email (a breakup by email!) was sent. (more…)

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