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Archive for the ‘Canadian Content’ Category

Matt Lennox–“A Speaking Engagement” (The Walrus, November 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Drinking, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Marriage Trouble, Matt Lennox, Short Story, Stars, The Walrus, Violence, War on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: STARS-Live at the Triple Door, July 8, 2010 (2010).

KEXP broadcast this concert from the Triple Door in Seattle  (they have a free feed of all of these great concerts from the Triple Door).  Stars are a great Montreal alternapop band.  They sing songs that are kind of downbeat and sad lyrically and yet gorgeous and poppy musically.

This show takes place on the day that their 2010 release, The Five Ghosts, came out.  I really like Stars although I wasn’t that excited by this disc, so I never picked it up.  And yet most of this set is from this album and I think the set is great, so maybe it’s time to pick up the album after all.

Torquil and Amy sing beautiful harmonies (and Amy’s voice is gorgeous on th e song she sings solo).

What’s a little confusing about this set is that they play 7 songs.  So it’s a short set.  And yet the Triple Door is a rock club and they say they’re playing later on that night as well.  So, maybe this is a n album release party?  Or a KEXP show?  Whatever, it’s still a good set.

The band has a relaxed and chatty attitude onstage, with Torquil claiming that the DJs at KEXP having “Serious taste” for playing their music.  The two singers have a disagreement about which song they’re going to play (Oh, it isn’t called “Fixed”?).  And there’s a funny moment when Amy says she was thinking about George Jones and his career being over and Torquil saying “Does anyone know what Amy is talking about”).  And Torquil, who has the gentlest voice (and is the most polite front man ever) curses during the last segment and then says, “I just swore on public radio.  That’s okay, Republicans don’t listen to it anyway they’re too but filling their hearts with hatred.”

Love it.

[READ: October 8, 2009] “A Speaking Engagement”

This story was fascinating to me because it was about a Canadian military lieutenant on leave. I can’t think of too many stories about the Canadian military (I’m sure there are many, I’ve just haven’t encountered them).

Paulie is home for six weeks on leave.  As part of his time home he gives speaking engagements to high schools and (on this date) to a senior center.  He has a slide show in which he shows the audience what they were doing in overseas–in this case helping the citizens with infrastructure.  He says the high school students and seniors react mostly the same way (respectfully) and ask a lot of the same questions, although the seniors never ask if he killed anyone.

On his way to the senior center (in full uniform) he runs into Amy, a girl from his high school class.  He always felt she was out of his league, but she seem genuinely excited to see him.  They chat briefly in the convenience store and make plans for later.

They have dinner later that week and catch up.  Amy tells what she’s been up to since school–not going to med school, having a baby by herself (with her mom’s help), starting her own care business and generally running around like crazy.  Paul talks a little about the army experience, but defers what he actually did there for “another date.”

That other date doesn’t come though because they go back to Amy’s house (her daughter is at her mother’s) for a nightcap.  Which leads to Paul staying the night.   (more…)

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Michael Crummey–“The Small Hours” (The Walrus, October 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, Cancer as plot device, Death, Depression, Drinking, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Michael Crummey, Short Story, Tame Impala, The Walrus on October 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TAME IMPALA-Live at KEXP April 22, 2011 (2011).

Tame Impala play great swooping psychedelic tracks.  Their album is a wonder of retro modernism–sounding like you’ve heard it all before, but not quite.  I had no idea that they’d be able to duplicate that sounds so effortlessly in concert.  This small setting does nothing to diminish  their epic sound   “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind” is as soaring as ever.  They throw a little jam on the end of “Solitude is Bliss” which really changes the sound of the song and shows that they don’t only play fuzz.

The interview is amusing because he forgets to take the echo off his voice for the first few questions.  And we learn that the band plays barefoot.

“It’s Not Meant to Be” and “Desire Be Desire Go” are paced a bit slower and more ponderous than the record.  I don’t love it as much this way, but I imagine it works well live.    But overall, it’s a great set, check it out.

[READ: October 20, 2012] “The Small Hours”

This is the story of a writer losing his father.  Justin’s father suffers from Leukemia–there’s a very nasty description of what happens when you have cancer in your spine.  And he is not expected to live long.  Justin is walking around in a fog.

He goes out with his writer friends (one is very pushy, trying to get him laid and wondering when he’s going to write the book about his dying father–Justin wonders when she will write her book about Justin and his dying father.  They spend the small hours together trying to get through the ordeal.

There’s also a tender scene between Justin and his mother as they look through photos.

But overall, I feel like the story was both too long and too short.   (more…)

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Douglas Coupland–Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work! (2010)

Posted in Annie Hall, Biography, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 3, Consumerism, Death, Depression, Douglas Coupland, Extraordinary Canadians, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Marshall McLuhan, Short Books, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, Technology, The Future on October 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SILVERSUN PICKUPS-Live on KEXP, May 11, 2012 (2012).

Following the other day’s review of Silversun Pickups, I have this more recent show.  In this one, only two members of the band are here–singer/guitarist Brian Aubert and bassist Nikki Monninger for a stripped down acoustic show.

This set is much more enjoyable than the older set.  The songs are certainly stronger, especially “Bloody Mary” and “The Pit.”  But there’s also something refreshing about hearing this band who is usually so fuzzed out sounding clean and simple.  I wouldn’t want an entire acoustic album from these guys, but it’s so dynamic in this version.  You can really hear the construction of the songs in this simple setting.

And the rapport between Brian and DJ Cheryl Waters is relaxed (they are very funny) and engaging–I really want to like these guys.

It’s interesting that in the five years from the previous set the Billy Corganisms have not gone away at all, but I guess one can’t help what one’s voice sounds like.  It’s kind of hard to get past that, but it’s not impossible, and the songs are so good, you can overlook it.  This makes me want to check out their latest album.  You can hear it here.

And for  those who watch TV, Silversun Pickups were on Up All Night this week (in a very weird mash up of pop culture).  Is that how lesser known bands get publicity, or was that meant to be a draw for the show (I don’t know how popular they are–Sarah had never heard of them).

[READ: October 18, 2012] Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!

I had not heard of this book until I saw it in my local library.  I wasn’t prepared to read another biography of Marshall McLuhan, and indeed, this isn’t one.  This is the American edition of Extraordinary Canadians: Marshall McLuhan with a spiffy new title.  And it is virtually identical.

There are several things that were in the Canadian edition that were left out of the American edition (although they did leave in all of the “u”s in words like “colour”).

The things that were left out are: (more…)

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Douglas Coupland–Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)

Posted in Babies, Canadian Content, Cancer as plot device, Douglas Coupland, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, End of the World, Hospitals, Kurt Vonnegut, Sex, Supernatural, The Smiths, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), Yuck! on October 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE SMITHS-“Girlfriend in a Coma” (1987).

Big bouncy basslines open this poppy little ditty that belies its happy music by saying “I know it’s serious.”  The song is catchy and poppy and then there are some strings and martial drums and in 2 minutes it’s over.  What a strange and wonderful single from the Smith’s final album.

The single came with two B-Sides.  “Work is a Four Letter Word” which I never realized was a cover until reading about it now.  Of course it does seem very un-Smiths upon reflection.  And apparently Johnny Marr hated it.  “I Keep Mine Hidden” is the second B-Side.  I thought I had heard every Smiths song, but I don’t recognize this one at all.  It’s an okay song, not exactly a great hidden gem or anything.  If it were on the album, you;d say it should have been a B-side.  So, well done, lads.

The craziest thing about this whole single–three songs–is that it is under 7 minutes long in total.    Ah, I remember the 80s.

[READ: October 14, 2012] Girlfriend in a Coma

I’m glad I watched the short film Close Personal Friend just before reading  this because it really did put forth a lot of the ideas in this story.  The crazy thing is that I read  this book in 1998 but I didn’t remember very much of the story until the very end (which is surprising given how over the top some of the scenes are!).

And, let’s not overlook the Smiths connection.  Not only is the title a Smiths song, but there are dozens of instances where Coupland includes Smiths song titles and lyrics, sometimes in conversation.  In a short succession I saw: the queen is dead, oscillate wildly, bigmouth strikes again, hand in glove.  It’s like a scavenger hunt.

But on to the book. (more…)

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Douglas Coupland: Close Personal Friend (1996)

Posted in Canadian Content, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Douglas Coupland, Kurt Vonnegut, Meta, Reality Bites, Technology, The Future, Twin Peaks on October 12, 2012| 1 Comment »

[WATCHED: October 10, 2012] Close Personal Friend

While I was browsing Coupland’s bibliography on Wikipedia I saw this movie: Douglas Coupland: Close Personal Friend.  There is no information on Coupland’s site about it and there is precious little information about it anywhere else, frankly.  However, it has been uploaded to YouTube!

It’s a 24 minute film made for commercial TV.  It was made in 1996 and is very much of that time.  I’m not sure if Coupland was working on Girlfriend in a Coma at the time, but ideas in the film inform that book as well.

Basically it has Coupland, looking very clean-cut and smart–suit, skinny tie, hair parted hard–sitting in a white chair (a rounded chair that swivels–very “futuristic” looking).  He is sitting in front of  a white  background so his chair disappears from time to time (I’m willing to accept that that could just be the effect of a poor video transfer though).

There is an interviewer who asks him puffball questions, because it’s basically a chance for Coupland to talk about the his views of the late nineties and the future.  For instance: Do you consider yourself a citizen of the late 20th century?  (That’s just a weird question).  She asks him what the two dominant activities will be 20 years from now (which would be 2016).  His answer? Going shopping and going to jail.   Not too far off.

Coupland has always been concerned with the future (or more specifically, the millennium–I’m not sure how he has wrapped his head around the 21st century).  As I mentioned about his short story yesterday, he is very like-minded with Vonnegut about the state of humanity as we reach the millennium.   So he talks about lot of different topics including: individuality (and how we have lost it–he talks about a flock of birds seeing a group of people and finding them indistinguishable); the idea of not having a life–this was interesting, because as he points out even 20 years ago (1976), that expression would have been meaningless; consumerism; the uselessness of pop culture (how reading about Burt and Loni uses brain cells that could have been used to cure cancer).  And how technology can dehumanize us. (more…)

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Douglas Coupland–“Fire at the Ativan Factory” (Disco 2000) (1999)

Posted in Canadian Content, Corporate skewering, Decadence, Douglas Coupland, Drugs, Marriage Trouble, Short Story, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, U2 on October 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SILVERSUN PICKUPS-Live at KEXP October 27, 2006 (2006).

I liked Silversun Pickups’ album Swoon quite a bit.  True, the singer sounds uncannily like Billy Corgan, but the shoegazer swirls of music were so sonically interesting that I couldn’t resist.

The lead singer/frontman is very funny and very engaging–he has great patter, and it’s clear that they all feel comfortable at KEXP (who were major promoters of the band).  This set comes from their first album, which I don’t know at all.  And I found it a little samey.

The production–washes and layers of music kind of flattened it out a bit.  It’s true that the melodies are good and his voice is compelling in the way that Billy Corgan’s is, but this set just never sticks with me.  I don’t know if that’s to do with the songs from the first album or if maybe live they’re not that interesting, but I didn’t love this set as much as I wanted to.

You can hear it here and a bunch more sets from them here.

[READ: October, 10, 2012] “Fire at the Ativan Factory”

Now that I’ve finished with Vonnegut for a while, I was planning on turning my attention to some new books, and then I stumbled upon this short story by Douglas Coupland–another author whose oeuvre I plan to read (I’ve actually read most of his books already, but they were over a decade ago so I’m going to go through them again).

Douglas Coupland is not one for short stories.  As far as I can tell this is one of the few stories he has published.  (this is going by Wikipedia, because his own homepage, which one would assume would celebrate all things Coupland, leaves out quite a lot of things).  This short story was published in a U.K. released fin de siècle  compilation called Disco 2000.  I’ve never heard of the collection.  And I certainly wasn’t going to hunt too hard to track it down, even if there are a bunch of interesting writers in it (end of the century malaise is so twelve years ago).  But fortunately and somewhat inexplicably to me, Barcelona Review has a full text copy (in English and Spanish(!)) on their site. (more…)

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David Rakoff–Don’t Get Too Comfortable (2005)

Posted in A.J. Jacobs, Adventure, Airlines, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Consumerism, Culture Shock, David Rakoff, Death, Decadence, Deep Purple, Environmentalism, Essays, Food, Funny (ha ha), Harper's Bazaar, Humiliation, LGBTQ, Magicians, Models, Playboy, Political Humor, Sex, Smarty Pants, The Flaming Lips, This American Life, Travel on September 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-“Smoke on the Water” (2012).

There’s a new Deep Purple tribute album coming out shortly (is this the year of tributes?  what’s going on?).  Anyway, the lineup isn’t all that inspired, but I was curious to see what the Flaming Lips would do with that song

As with their recent reinterpretation of Dark Side of the Moon, this cover is respectful and utterly disrespectful.  Musically the song is pretty accurate. Well, the notes are the same.  But the style is very different, kind of wahwahed delicate chords–no heavy bass or anything.  But it’s the vocals that are the contentious point–he recites the entire song (which kind of works because it is a story) in a stilted, faux British accent.

The second verse has a very computerized voice singing an autotuned melody along with the recitation–sort of a harmony but not.  This voice continues through to the chorus (which the main vocals also simply recite).

I appreciate the Flaming Lips’ approaches to popular songs, but this version renders a big loud song kind of anemic.  Which is so weird because the last few Lips albums were so loud and bass-heavy.  I listened twice, I probably don’t need to listen again.

So, this is yet another tribute I won’t be buying.

[READ: August 22, 2012] Don’t Get Too Comfortable

I’m already making good on my promise to read more David Rakoff.  Indeed, as soon as I heard that he died, I put this book on hold at the library.  The strange thing about this book is that I feel like I read parts of it already.  I don’t feel like I read the whole book because some things were unfamiliar to me, and yet there was a strange feeling of déjà vu throughout the book.  But I looked in the front of the book to see where these essays had appeared and I don’t read any of the magazines where they initially showed up.  And while I like This American Life, I don’t really listen to it very often.  So either I read this book seven years ago or these pieces are inspirations for other pieces I have read (which is possible–two or three articles in here reminded me of things that A.J .Jacobs has since done).

So this collection of essays takes place during the early 2000s, George W. Bush’s first term (not the happiest time to be a gay Canadian living in New York).  But in addition to the first essay which is all about his quest for citizenship, it seems that Rakoff was now gainfully employed as a freelance writer.  Most of these essays seem to have been requested for magazines–like they sought him out to write them.  So his fame was clearly growing.  And, again, like A.J. Jacobs, he seems to have been picked as a guinea pig for certain pieces.   I don’t really know if this is a “genre” per se, I mean lots of un-knowledgeable people have gone into new experiences to write about them (insert inevitable David Foster Wallace reference here–but of course he wasn’t the first either).  But Rakoff’s subjects in the last couple essays seem to be closer to what Wikipedia calls Jacob’s “stunt” journalism. (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–“From the Pencil Zone” (Harper’s, May 2010)

Posted in Book Reviews, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Essays, Harper's, Neurotics, Rivka Galchen, Robert Walser, Short Books, Susan Bernofsky, Translation on August 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Alive III (1993).

Kiss put out Alive! after just three albums.  Alive II also came out after three albums.  Alive III has 14 albums between it and Alive II (if you count the solo albums as 4).  I guess poor sales and poorly attended concerts don’t really suggest live albums.  But Revenge revitalized them somewhat so it was time for a new one–their first with no makeup!  And it’s a pretty good one.

But it’s also like Kiss has forgotten all about being Kiss.  There’s no “You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the world…Kiss” (which would have been untrue at the time anyhow, but since when has that stopped Kiss?)  The tracklisting is pretty darn good though.  For Alive II, the band didn’t want to repeat any tracks from Alive! (that’s such an endearing thing to say about the band with 400 repackaged hits records).  Since there are tons of records since Alive II, you’d assume Alive III was all 80s songs.  But that’s not the case.  There are a few inevitable duplicates (how could there not be–all their biggest hits were from the 70s), but I’m surprised they didn’t throw more current stuff on the disc.

It opens with “Creatures of the Night” a great heavy version.  Then they go way back to “Deuce” which is a cool surprise.  Since this was the tour for Revenge, you’d think there might be more songs from it, but there’s only three: “I Just Wanna” “Unholy” and “Domino.”  “I Just Wanna” was perfectly crafted for Paul to banter with the audience and get them to sing “I just wanna fuck” (which was edited from the album I understand).  And in this live setting “Unholy” sounds great.

“Heaven’s on Fire” works well live, even if I don’t really like the song–but the band can really ham it up here.  The big surprise has got to be “Watching You,” a totally unexpected song form the past.  And even if it was on Alive!, this version is quite different (no Peter Criss cowbell).  I don’t think much of “Domino” anyhow (well, the music is great but the lyrics, ick), but in this version Gene just seems kind of bored.

Another surprise comes in “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”  true it’s one of Kiss; biggest hits but they often try to distance themselves from the “disco” era.  Nevertheless this version sounds revitalized.  And since there were no live albums in the 80s, there’s no official live recordings of it.  “I Still Love You” is another great chance for Paul to shine.  “I Love It Loud” sounds great (although the harmonies get a little sketchy at times.  But it’s weird to hear “Rock N Roll All Nite” in the middle of the set instead of at the end.  It’s also odd to start off this song with “It ain’t bullshit when you say rock and roll all nite and party every day.”   The intro to “Detroit Rock City” is also very strange “It doesn’t matter where you’re born ,it doesn’t matter where you come from, it matters where your head is at. This one;s called Detroit Rock City.”  Huh.

There’s not much you can do with a dreadful song like “Lick It Up,” and ad-libbing “I wanna lick you” doesn’t make it any better.  The disc ends with “God Gave Rock n Roll to You II,” which I don’t like, but which sounds good live, a lot of energy.  And it wraps up with a very odd thing–a guitar solo version of the Star Spangled Banner.  It doesn’t compare to Alive! or Alive II, but Alive III is a good live album from a good live band.

[READ: August 15, 2012] “From the Pencil Zone”

This is a review of the microscripts of Robert Walser, an author whom I have never heard of.  Walser was born in Switzerland in 1878 and he published several shorts and several novels (which were admired by Kafka!).

As the market for shorts dried up, so did his career, and he moved into smaller and smaller places.  Accordingly, his handwriting grew smaller and smaller, too.  Eventually he cheeked himself into a series of mental institutions.

Walser’s early novels dealt with everyday life, like the “young boyish man” who wants to become a bookshop proprietor in The Tanners.  The character (whose name we don’t learn for a long time) is effusive, praising the job to the heavens as a divine calling!  And lo he is given the job.  A week later he declares, “the entire book trade is nothing less than ghastly.”  Wasler himself had a multifaceted career: butler, inventor’s assistant, clerk, journalist.  But he was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and is responsible for this quotable quote: “I’m not here to write.  I’m here to be mad.”

After Walser died, people discovered a treasure trove of 526 pages of “microscripts.”  The writing was so small that these 526 pages, when written in book form came to six VOLUMES of books.  They were released as Aus dem Bleistifsebiet (From the Pencil Zone).  Galchen’s review here is for the short one volume New Directions collection called Robert Walser: Microscripts.  Interestingly, most of the stories have no title and some seem unfinished.  New Directions (and Harper’s) include images of this man’s microscopic writings (all done in pencil of course).  He wrote in Kurrent, a widely used script at the time which was a version of medieval shorthand and which dramatically reduced the number of strokes per character.  His letters were often one or two millimeters tall.  He was able to fit six stories on a postcard received from a newspaper editor. (more…)

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David Rakoff (November 27, 1964 – August 9, 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, David Rakoff, David Sedaris, Essays, Eulogy, Funny (ha ha), LGBTQ, This American Life on August 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

David Rakoff (1964-2012)

David Rakoff died Thursday from a resurgence of cancer.  For those unfamiliar with his work, think of darker, more cynical David Sedaris (did you think that was possible?).  The biggest difference between Rakoff and Sedaris is that Rakoff is Canadian.  And he is more of a world traveler.  I say this not really knowing anything about how much they actually traveled.  I mean, sure, Sedaris travels the world for book tours and such, but Rakoff actually lived in foreign lands.  Wait, you say, Sedaris lives in France.  Yes, but Rakoff lived in Tokyo (which automatically makes him more exotic).  And he actually knew Japanese (kind of) whereas Sedaris seems to have not learned any French in the years he has lived there–if his essays are to be believed.

All of this is by way of introduction to using Rakoff’s description of himself as a “New York writer” who also happened to be a “Canadian writer”, a “Jewish writer”, a “gay writer'” and an “East Asian Studies major who has forgotten most of his Japanese” writer.

I’ve only read one of Rakoff’s three books, Fraud.  And about that I said: (more…)

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Christian Lander–Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle’s Sweaters to Maine’s Microbrews (2010)

Posted in 30 Rock, Banksy, Barack Obama, Beer, Bob Marley, Books about writers, Boston, MA, Canadian Content, Christian Lander, Consumerism, Decadence, Dip-in Books, Drinking, Essays, Fears, Food, Funny (ha ha), Monty Python's Flying Circus, Native Americans, NPR/PRI/PBS, Portlandia, Punks, The Big Lebowski, The Office, Travel on July 29, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS-Legend (1984).

I’m white, so that means I own a copy of this CD (according to the book below).  And I do, because it’s mandatory in college that you play “Jammin'” at every party.

Now, I like ska (yup, still).  I know that ska came from reggae, but to me reggae is just boring ska.  I couldn’t agree more with Barney on How I Met Your Mother:

Ted: Oh, get this, she plays bass in a reggae band. They’re having a show this Friday. How cool is that?

Barney: Oh, does she know that one song? Mm-hm chaka, mm-hm chaka. What’s that song called? Oh, right, it’s called every reggae song.

Although in fairness, listening to this again, it is a rather nice album (I guess I know every song).  I have a personal aversion to some of the really overplayed songs, like “One Love” (because if you go to any Caribbean location they all act like it’s the official slogan of hot weather.  We even have a Christmas ornament from St. John that says “One Love”  WTF?  And I don’t think anyone needs a 7 minute version of “No Woman No Cry.”

But some of the lesser played its (“Could You Be Loved” and just about anything with The Wailers backing him are pretty great).  Although I’ve got to admit I can’t take more than a few songs.  I had to skip through some of the last songs (thank goodness I don’t have the 2 disc version).

[READ: July 26, 2012] Whiter Shades of Pale

Christian Lander created the blog Stuff White People Like.  It was very funny (it hasn’t been updated since Feb 2011, so let’s assume it has run its course).

Lander had released a first book of SWPL back in 2008.  I didn’t read it (blog to book deals were overwhelming in 2008), but I had seen enough of the site to assume it was funny.  One of the funnier jokes when the blog first came out was wondering if the creator was white or not.  (Well, the author photo gives that away, but I won’t).

We grabbed this book at a Borders going out of business sale (sorry Borders, you are missed).  This book continues where the first book left off (I gather).  I don’t know if every entry from the blog made it into the book (the thanks at the end of the book lead me to think not), but I have to assume most of them made it (and maybe there is new stuff in the book too?) (more…)

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