SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Frustrated” (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Seventh” December 16, 2020).
Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.
“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”
The seventh night is a song from a band who, to most people’s knowledge only ever released one song. I know I have certainly never heard this song from The Knack before.
Tonight we’re featuring 4 nice Jewish boys whose biggest hit was a song about a nice Jewish girl… “My Shalom-a” or something like that… We’re huge fans of New Wave (as well as the “old wave” that came after Moses parted the Red Sea)…so we were psyched to get to cover one of our favorites…The Knack!
The Knack put out three albums from 1979-1981, then three more in the late 90s-2000s. And yet the only song they ever released is “My Sharona,” right?
“Frustrated” is a pretty simple late 70s new wave song. Catchy (but not super catchy). Kurstin plays the keyboards and it sounds pretty new wavey. He also rips a pretty good solo.
Grohl plays drums and sings. The drums are pretty simple although I like that the verses alternate between snare and tom dominance. I don’t know how close he comes to the original voice but the (inserted video) harmony vocal i quite lovely.
It’s nice that they chose something other than the obvious hit, although the obvious hit is a hit for a reason.
[READ: December 17, 2020] “Ersatz Panda”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
It’s December 17. Lucy Ives, author of Loudermilk, has a nickname for every cat she’s ever met. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
I really enjoyed the way this seven-part story began. In a store there is a cat. It is black and white. Its name is Panda. The narrator sends videos of Panda being cute to her feed.
Then one day the woman goes to the store and Panda has been replaced by another cat. It’s also black and white but looks nothing like Panda. This one is also loud and hairy. The owner says that someone took Panda and replaced her with this cat. A friend calls it “Ersatz Panda.” The narrator decides she can’t go back to that store.
She goes to a new store. They also have a cat. This one is orange. It’s name is K.C. for Kitty Cat. K.C disappeared for a while, but she came back.
But then Part 2 shifts gears. It comments on what we have just read: “narration is the act of organizing discrete events into a series.” The narrator defines ersatz and says that ersatz is a beautiful word. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 