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Archive for the ‘Death’ Category

Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky–“The Gamblers” (Harper’s, July 2020)

Posted in Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus, Death, Gambling, Harper's, Joanne Turnbull, Luck, Moses Sumney, Quarantine, Racism, Short Story, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on August 10, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MOSES SUMNEY-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #61 (August 10, 2020).

Moses Somney has an otherworldly voice–it soars to unfathomable heights. He has a couple of albums and EPs out although I haven’t really explored them very closely.

He starts with “Bless Me” which starts with some washes of chords before he starts his amazing singing.  I love the addition of the guitar chords, which add a heavy grounding to this song.  When he loops his voice at the end of the song, it sounds just fantastic.

I am just so taken with his voice.  And in an interview about the album he said:

“With this album, I was like yo, I could die any minute so let me sing all the high notes but also all the low notes and also, also, also.”

His camera work is fascinating for this show.  There’s constant glitches and lines that make it look like it was recorded on a VHS.  Are these effects added afterward top make the footage look older, or is he possibly using old technology?

For the second song, “Me in 20 Years” the camera angle changes back and forth between a left and right view of him sitting at the keyboard.  But it seems to be random and you can’t even see the cameras.

The song is beautiful–more conventional than the soaring of “Bless Me” but focusing on some great songwriting.

Much of Somney’s latest album, græ, foreshadowed current events in ways he couldn’t even imagine, but his sense of humor about it is intact. “I’m performing songs off of my new album which I released in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, so that was fun,” he says, “but all of the songs are about loneliness and isolation so, who’s laughing now?”

“Polly” is played on guitar.  I love that the guitar work is simple and pretty but his voice floats all around the melody, soaring to the ether.  The song is quite long and tends to meander–it no doubt takes a few listens to really latch on to the melody.

For his Tiny Desk (home) concert, he recreates three songs from græ and closes with 2018’s “Rank and File,” yet another song all too relevant in 2020.  He introduces the song by saying that as he records this “The nation is ablaze with anti-police brutality protests.  This song is is dedicated to the protesters and the rioters and to black lives …  which matter”

“Rank and File” is my favorite song by far.  The song has a powerful message and the music is fascination.  In this case the music is created on the fly with looping.

He crates a beat by thumping his microphone.  He adds a “Hey” and some scratchy sounds on the mic.  He makes a melody with a cool vocal sound which he loops and shifts the pitch of.  Snapped fingers add a percussive element and he sets up the later refrain of “Hey 23456.”

He sings the powerful lyrics over all of this–which he judiciously adds and removes as needed.  He occasionally sings some really high notes.  The end of the song allows him to loop his soaring vocals as he improvises with the samples and some scatting.

Fantastic stuff.

[READ: August 10, 2020] “The Gamblers”

Two men, a bookkeeper and a poet are alone in a shack.  From morning until night they plated stuss.  Between them they had one pair of boots and no money.  They would forage for crusts of bread and kindling.

Then the poet had a stretch of good luck.  He won many hands, including winning the pair of boots back.

It was, thus, his turn to go out and forage.

The bookkeeper stayed inside.  Then he heard machine gun fire.  He stayed alone in the room all night long.

The next day the bookkeeper woke to a commotion outside.  Several women were surrounding a dead body.

The end adds a couple of surprising moments.

This is not, apparently, an excerpt.  It feels very Russian.  It was translated Joanne Turnbull.

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T. Coraghessan Boyle–“My Widow” (New Yorker, February 12, 2001)

Posted in Cats, Death, Kacey Musgraves, Liars, Lies, New Yorker, Short Story, T. Coraghessan Boyle, T.C. Boyle, The Flaming Lips, Violence, Yuck! on August 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-“Flowers of Neptune 6” (2020).

After a series of much harsher, darker albums, The Flaming Lips’ new record, American Head (due out next month) promises a much brighter, warmer experience.  Perhaps one indication of the change is that the guest singer on this song is Kacey Musgraves.  Sadly, she is barely audible at all and doesn’t really add any of her own flare to the song.

“Flowers of Neptune 6” opens with a quiet piano melody.  There’s slow (albeit loud) drums and acoustic guitars–it’s a Flaming Lips ballad.  This one feels almost sixties-like with the echoing voices and the primary melody.  Not to mention the content:

doing acid and watching the light bugs glow -oh oh oh
like tiny spaceships in a row-oh oh oh

The chorus is slow but catchy and the end of the song is a minute of instrumental fade out with slide guitars, choruses of voices of a moment for Kacey to hum a solo.

[READ: August 1, 2020] “My Widow”

This story is broken into shorter sections as the dead narrator relates a story about his living widow.

First we learn that his widow is a cat person.  Or, perhaps more correctly, a crazy cat lady.  She has about thirty.  She feeds them and cares for them, but really doesn’t care about anything else.  So when the roof develops a leak, she ignores it and allows the water to drip right onto her bed.

It doesn’t seem like much is going to happen in this story. She ignores the roof until she can’t any longer and then calls a roofer in to repair it. But nothing much happens with that.

The scene shifts to shopping.  “In her day, my widow was a champion shopper.”  She has a collection of antique jewelry, glassware, china figures and the like” which the deceased says would be truly valuable if she took care of the house. (more…)

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Shirley Jackson–“The Lottery” (New Yorker, July 27, 2020)

Posted in Anti-war, Antiracism, Black Lives Matter, Calvin Trillin, Coronavirus, Death, Essays, History, Lottery, Lucinda Williams, Luck, Martin Luther King, New Yorker, Quarantine, Racism, Shirley Jackson, Short Story, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on July 31, 2020| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: LUCINDA WILLIAMS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #55 (July 27, 2020).

I don’t really like Lucinda Williams.  Her voice really bugs me. I don’t know if she always sang like this but this sort of drunken drawl just hurts my head.

I know that she’s a legend and everyone loves her, but I have a hard time getting through her songs.  And that’s a shame because her lyrics are great.  Well, maybe not her lyrics, but her sentiments.

Because the lyrics to “Bad News Blues” are not great.  It’s a pretty standard blues song in which she lists all of the bad news that she has around her.

Bad news on my left
Bad news on my right
Bad news in the morning
Bad news at night

The only thing interesting about this song really is the bluesy lead guitar work from Stuart Mathis.  Otherwise, it’s a blues song.

“Big Black Train” is a slower bluesy song about not wanting to get on board the train that’s barreling towards us.  Wow, her singing the chorus really hurts my ears.

“You Can’t Rule Me” is on the radio a lot and I’ve been turning it off when it comes on.  It’s obviously a song of empowerment but I can’t stand the drawl of her voice.  Although once again Stuart’s lead is pretty tasty.  In fact the guitar work from both of them is great throughout.

The set ends with “Man Without A Soul” and this is the song that made me think more highly of her.  Musically the song isn’t much.  In fact, it sounds pretty close to “Bog Black Train” in the chorus.  But its’ the words that are impactful.

It’s pretty clear who this song is about:

You’re a man without truth
A man of greed, a man of hate
A man of envy and doubt
You’re a man without a soul
All the money in the world
Will never fill that hole
You’re a man bought and sold
You’re a man without a soul
You bring nothing good to this world
Beyond a web of cheating and stealing
You hide behind your wall of lies
But it’s coming down
Yeah, it’s coming down
You’re a man without shame
Without dignity and grace
No way to save face
You’re a man without a soul

She says she wrote this to shake people up and wake people up.  I don’t know if it will do either, but I hope some people’s minds are changed by it.

[READ: July 31, 2020] “The Lottery”

This issue of the New Yorker is an Archival Issue.  It’s weird to me that at a time of unprecedented everything, the magazine would choose to have virtually no new content.

Except that the articles in it are strangely timely.

Calvin Trillin (he was writing in 1964?) was on a flight that Martin Luther King, Jr. was on and he overheard a white preppy-looking post-college boy who disagreed with King (believing that King was advocating violence and was therefore unChristian).  It was a remarkably peaceful conversation even if the boy never saw King’s point of view.

The second article is about Black Lives Matter with the subtitle “A new kind of movement found its moment.” What will its future be?”  But this article was written in 2016 and it ends “Black Lives Matter may never have more influence than it has now.”  How wrong that was?

And then there is the Shirley Jackson story, originally written in 1948.

I read this story in sixth or seventh grade and it has stuck with me all of these years.  I remember being rather blown away by it in school, thinking it was one thing and then realizing it was something else entirely.

I have not read it since. I felt that I didn’t really have to read it because it stuck with me so much.  But I’m glad I did re-read it, because although some details were still there, I had forgotten some pretty intense stuff.

(more…)

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Richard Ford–“Calling” (New Yorker, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001)

Posted in Coronavirus, Culture Shock, Death, Drinking, Ducks, Hunting, Joel Culpepper, LGBTQ, Marriage Trouble, New Orleans, LA, New Yorker, Parenting, Quarantine, Richard Ford, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Yussef Dayes on July 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOM MISCH AND YUSSEF DAYES-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #49 (July 13, 2020).

mishTom Misch and Yussef Dayes play a light jazz with lots of interesting elements floating around the songs.  The blurb says the music “evokes a dreamy utopia, blending live electronica, psychedelia and avant-garde jazz.”

I didn’t realize that Misch was British until the chorus–the way he sings “the dash.”  Actually I first realized when he spoke after the song, but then it was obvious when he sang.

Producer/guitarist Tom Misch and drummer Yussef Dayes released a surprising and stunning collaborative album earlier this year called What Kinda Music,. This Tiny Desk (home) concert — recorded across six different musicians’ homes — features two songs from that album, “Nightrider” and “Tidal Wave.”

“Nightrider” has cool echoing slow guitars and fantastically complex drumming.  But the focus of this song seems to be the wonderfully busy five string bass from Tom Driessler.  Jordan Rakei provides backing vocals and

special guest John Mayer provides a closing solo, just as he did at last year’s Crossroads Guitar Festival.

It’s weird the way Mayer stares at the camera at the end though.

“Tidal Wave” has a different cast.  It features Rocco Palladino on bass, which is not as complex.  Although Yussef’s drumming is fantastic once again.

There’s a nice lead guitar line before the vocals kick in.  I almost wish the song were an instrumental until Joel Culpepper adds his wonderful high backing vocals.

This is some good chill out music.

[READ: July 10, 2020] “Calling”

I know I’ve read Richard Ford stories before, but this stories was so fascinating to me–it felt very different from so many other stories that I read.

Set around Christmas in 1961, the narrator’s father has left him and his mother in New Orleans while he has moved to St. Louis to be with a male doctor.

His mother, meanwhile, had begun a singing career, which essentially meant that she was sleeping with her African American singing coach.

What’s fascinating about the story (aside from how trasnsgressive his parents seem in 1961) is that the narrator is telling the story from the present:

They are all dead now.  My father.  My mother.  Dr. Carter. The black accompanist, Dubinion.

These interjections of the present allow for some reflections on this tumultuous period in his life.  (more…)

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Amy Tan–“Immortal Heart” (New Yorker, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001)

Posted in Amy Tan, Arranged Marriage, China, Coronavirus, Culture Shock, Death, Fears, Fortune Telling, Gangsters, Jacob Collier, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Parenting, Quarantine, Travel, Violence on July 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JACOB COLLIER-Tiny Desk Concert #48 (July 9, 2020).

collierI had never heard of Jacob Collier until his recent Tiny Desk Concert.  He was an impressive fellow to be sure.  He has an amazing vocal range and he can play just about any instrument you can think of.

So it should come as no surprise that Collier’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert is over the top as well.

But even knowing all of that, it is a still mind-blowing.  Because he has seamlessly spliced four videos of himself together.  So you have four Jacobs in four outfits playing everything in a room that is full of instruments.

The set starts with “All I Need.”  Lead singer Jacob is sitting on the floor in front of a steel drum.  This Jacob also plays the melodica solo.  On the left is keyboardist Jacob who plays the organ and, of course, mid song switches to piano and back again.  On the right is bassist Jacob who plays some excellent bass–including a nice solo at the end.  Way in back is Jacob on drums.  You can’t see him all that well, but you can hear his contribution perfectly.

Polymath musician Jacob Collier has been championing this style of one-man-band music videos since 2012, singing every note and playing every instrument. His cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing”earned him a devout YouTube following at the age of 19, and he hasn’t slowed down since. The London wunderkind owns four Grammy Awards already, including two at the age of 22 in 2017…. Now 25, and with nearly a decade of experience producing every aspect of his own music from his home, Collier is uniquely positioned to crank out his best work from quarantine. In this video, each of the four parts was recorded in a single take. Pay close attention ; it’s easy to get tripped up inside Jacob’s head as he arranges this Rubik’s Cube of a video production, which feels both like a magic trick and a no-strings-attached bedroom session.

Introducing the next song, one of the Jacobs (they fight over who is the actual Jacob), says that “Time Alone With You” is a little funky–hope you don’t mind.  It’s groovy bass line and smart snapping drums.   The end of this song is a wonderful musical freakout with a vocal section that leads to a series of four fast drum hits (including Jacob banging on the piano and some bass rumblings as well).  There’s even a jazzy breakdown (real jazzy bass lines) which allows one of them to whisper “jazz.”  Because even though he is super talented and a very serious musician, he’s also goofy (look at his clothes).

He’s in the middle of releasing his ambitious four-volume record, Djesse. The last song in this video is the premiere of his new single “He Won’t Hold You,” which will appear on Vol. 3, due out later this year.

When piano Jacob changes the mutes in the piano bassist Jacob talks about the record.  “He Won’t Hold You” song starts a cappella in four part harmony (with himself). He can ht some really deep notes and the harmonies are super.

The only problem for me is I don’t really like his style of music.  Which is a shame because he’s so talented, I want to watch him all day.  It’s just not my musical scene.

[READ: July 10, 2020] “Immortal Heart”

This is a lengthy, somewhat complicated and ultimately devastating story.

The story is quite long and it revolves around a woman and her Precious Auntie living in the Western Hills south of Peking.  Their village is called Immortal Heart and The Liu clan (her family) has lived there for six centuries.  They were ink stick makers. They had expanded to a shop in Peking–a sign of great success.

Precious Auntie was born across the ravine in a town called Mouth of the Mountains.  The village was known for dragon bones, which poor men collected from the Monkey’s Jaw cave.  Precious Auntie’s father was a renowned bonesetter and he used these dragon bones as part of his work.

Precious Auntie could not speak.  She communicated with the narrator. Lu Ling, through sign language which only the two of them knew.  Precious Auntie was rather naughty and their silent language allowed her to speak her mind freely (she disapproved of bound feet for instance). (more…)

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Aleksander Hemon–“The Book of My Life” (New Yorker, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001)

Posted in Aleksandar Hemon, Books about writers, Death, Fears, Genocide, Influences, Los Bitchos, New Yorker, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Suicide, Violence on July 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LOS BITCHOS-“Tripping Party/FFF” (2018).

fff

 Los Bitchos are a London-based quintet who play “tequila cumbia instrumentals.”

Although they reside in London the band has an international base, with members hailing from Perth, Montevideo, Stockholm and Croydon.  The band is made up of Serra Petale on lead guitar, Carolina Faruolo (guitar), Augustina Ruiz (keytar), Josefine Jonsson (bass), and Nic Crawshaw (drums/percussion).

The band has been around for two years but only have eight songs on bandcamp (spread over five releases).  This is their first single.  Both songs are terrific evocative instrumentals.

“Tripping Party” has a great Western swing sound, but with a rock foundation.  After about a minute the guitars take on a kind of ska vibe with a slinky lead guitar solo.  A lower guitar solo comes in after the first one–adding a new dimension to the sound.  By the end of the song, the swinging sound returns and ends with a great vibe.

“FFF” is a slower, some what more Middle Eastern sounding song.  There’s some great percussion throughout as the Middle Eastern soloing vibe runs throughout.

This is a great introduction to the band whose newer songs are even better.

[READ: July 14, 2020] “The Book of My Life”

This issue of the New Yorker has a series of essays called Influences.  Since I have read most of these authors and since I like to hear the story behind the story, I figured I’d read these pieces as well.

This essay is surprisingly dark.

Hemon grew up in Sarajevo and studied under Professor Nikola Koljevic.  The course was in Poetry and Criticism and Hemon learned the New Critical method.  When he graduated he phoned his professor to thank him.  This was unusual, but Koljevic was flattered and invited him for a walk to discuss literature.

Soon after, Hemon began working for an independent Sarajevo magazine and Koljevic gained a high position in the Serbian Democratic Party run by Radovan Karadzic, “a psychiatrist and talentless poet.”  He would soon become the most wanted war criminal in the world.

Whenever Karadzic gave a speech on TV, Koljevic was there beside him. (more…)

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Donald Antrim–“Black Mountain, 1977” (New Yorker, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001)

Posted in Alcoholism, Books about writers, Darlingside, Death, Donald Antrim, Fears, Influences, New Yorker, Parenting, Suicide, Violence on July 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DARLINGSIDE-“Ocean Bed” (2020).

oceanToday, Darlingside announced the release of a new song–a wonderful surprise–and an upcoming new album.

The basic sound of Darlingside doesn’t change (thank goodness), but on their last album, they mixed things up by throwing in some electronic sounds.

There’s no electronic sounds on this song (which doesn’t mean there are non on the album) but there is a lot more percussion than usual.

It opens up with some thumping drums.  Is there a drummer?  It’s more than the kick drum they usually use.  Then comes the mandolin and some clapping.  A smooth grooving bass slides in and then, as the voices come in, everything settles down into pure Darlingside.

The verses are individual voice but the bridges are gorgeous harmonies.  The song moves swiftly with a percussion backing as the lead voices sing.

Then the surprise–the middle is practically a drum solo–with rumbling percussion and some kind of low pulsing note (is that secret electronics after all) that adds almost a sinister feel. But that segue leads right back to the mandolin.

I love that this song can sound so much like Darlingside and yet also shows them changing things up. In some ways it’s a step back since their first album had a drummer and their later ones did not.  But this drumming and percussion is a very different sound.  very exciting–how will they do it live?

[READ: July 10, 2020] “Black Mountain, 1977”

This issue of the New Yorker has a series of essays called Influences.  Since I have read most of these authors and since I like to hear the story behind the story, I figured I’d read these pieces as well.

Donald Antrim’s essay is considerably shorter and much more harrowing than the previous one.

Antrim tells of the horrible situation that his mother grew up in.  His mother’s mother was a cruel parent, carrying out “an aggressive campaign against her daughter’s body, even going so far as to advocate unnecessary surgeries for her only child,”

His mother’s father was a meek and cowed alcoholic who never stood up to his wife. (more…)

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John Le Carré–“The Constant Muse” (New Yorker, December 25, 2000 & January 1, 2001)

Posted in Africa, Culture Shock, Death, Fears, Gangsters, John Le Carré, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, New Yorker, Travel, Violence on July 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-“Honey” (2020).

honeyA new King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard song is never a surprise (few bands are as prolific) but it is always a delight.

After the seriously heavy metal of their last album and accompanying live records (I do wish they’d release a live show that’s not so heavy metal-dominated since they have such a wonderfully diverse catalog), this song drifts back to their more psychedelic sound.

Stu Mackenzie says he wrote it a few years ago.  It starts out with a middle eastern microtonal acoustic guitar (I’ve never seen an acoustic microtonal guitar).  It’s lovely melody, fluid and open.  After about a minute, the bass comes in and rumbles the song along adding a complex texture to this mostly mellow song.

Stu’s guitar is simple but has some tasty bending notes.  But since nothing is simple, there some wild drum fills and unexpected falsetto vocals.

The third part shifts gears a little with what I think is a (processed?) flute solo.  and because no KGATLW can be traditional, there’s another part in the middle that’s almost  a bass solo with a few sitar-like strummings.

It’s always exciting to get more music from KGATLW and this promises some great new stuff in the near future.

[READ: July 10, 2020] “The Constant Muse”

This issue of the New Yorker has a series of essays called Influences.  Since I have read most of these authors and since I like to hear the story behind the story, I figured I’d read these pieces as well.

Although I have never read anything by John Le Carré.  I don’t even really know what he writes–spy novels?

Anyhow, as I started this I recognized the name of his novel The Constant Gardener, although as I say I don’t know anything about it.  He says the novel follows a British diplomat as he searches for the people who killed his wife, Tessa.  The story opens with Tessa dying on the shores of Lake Tukana in northern Kenya.

When he finishes a novel, John asks where the ideas came from–a stupid question, but one he likes to ask himself.  He says he got the initial idea for this story twenty years earlier when he saw a man come into the restaurant where he was eating and begin handing out flowers to everyone–refusing to accept any money.  The proprietress gave him a glass of wine and a kiss. She told John that they call him the mad gardener.  He had suffered a great loss and he felt better handing out the flowers from his large garden. (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (1999)

Posted in Coronavirus, Death, Funny (ha ha), Futility, Gangsters, Kurt Vonnegut, Language, Magazines, Military, Poland, Quarantine, Racism, Set at School, Sexism, Short Story, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Trupa Trupa, World War II on July 6, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TRUPA TRUPA-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #44 (July 3, 3030).

Trupa Trupa is a band from Poland who play some really great indie rock.  They were supposed to be touring the U.S. and doing a Tiny Desk, but instead they are home.

In a little dirty rehearsal room basement in Gdańsk, we find Poland’s great rock band Trupa Trupa on lockdown. Had it not been for COVID-19, this band would have been behind my desk this week, but as it is, they’ve settled into their rehearsal space.

Their songs are pretty intense, but this Home Tiny Desk features lighter versions of the songs.

They open their set with “Another Day,” from the 2019 record Of The Sun.  It has a great throbbing bassline Wojciech Juchniewicz while singer Grzegorz Kwiatkowski plays acuostic guitar.  He says its the first time he’s played the acoustic guitar in a really long time.

There’s a cool theremin-type sound that is coming from Rafał Wojczal.  The credits say the instrument is called an ondes Martenot, but this is a homemade device–and it sounds pretty cool.

I’ve seen them perform this; it’s always had an apocalyptic feel, but now the words “another day, waiting for another,” prompts Grzegorz to mention how this has turned into a quarantine song.  Grzegorz tells us that life in Poland has been difficult in this young democracy, but they are staying optimistic and playing music.  There’s darkness in the basement, yet their music is a bright beacon.

“Dream About” starts with a snappy drum from Tomasz Pawluczuk.  Kwiatkowski plays as scratchy rhythm on the guitar before  Juchniewicz plays a great rolling bassline that runs throughout the song until it abruptly stops for a some single notes.  Then it resumes again.  Wojczal adds some guitar before bringing that Martenot back.

“None of Us” is slow and deep basslines.  Initial vocals come from Juchniewicz who has switched to guitar.  The acoustic guitar is more prominent on this song.  And Juchniewicz’  fuzzy electric guitar sound is deep and menacing.

Their U.S. Tour was cancelled, but they weren’t going to play near me.  Maybe when they come back they can squeeze in a Philadelphia date.

[READ: June 20, 2020] Bagombo Snuff Box

This is a short story collection that I read when it came out.  When I read all of Vonnegut’s books a few years ago, I decided to re-read this collection.  It has only taken me several years to get to it.

But what a great bunch of short stories.

The Preface explains that these stories were written in the 1940s and printed in magazines before he had written his first big novels.  After the War, there were many magazines that featured fiction, so Kurt was able to make some good money on the side while he worked at General Electric.  He left the company in 1950.

Vonnegut has an introduction as well.  He talks about the beneficial effect short stories can have on a person.  He also says he generally feels good about these stories although he feels a bit badly for the way some (many) of the women are treated–not that Vonnegut specifically treated them badly, but that was sort of the way it was then. (more…)

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Scholastique Mukasonga–“Grief” (New Yorker, June 22, 2020)

Posted in Africa, Coronavirus, Death, Genocide, M. Ward, Murder, New Yorker, Priests, Quarantine, Racism, Religion, Sandro Perri, Scholastique Mukasonga, Short Story, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on July 1, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: M. WARD-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #39 (June 25, 2020).

I don’t really know all that much about M. Ward. I was supposed to see him live on many occasions that never panned out (I think at least three shows were either cancelled or I couldn’t go).  But then I did get to see him live at the She & Him Christmas show.  I was really impressed with his guitar playing in that set.  And I’m even more impressed in this set.

He opens here with two beautiful finger-picked songs.  The first is “just” an “Instrumental Intro.”  I don’t know if it’s an actual song or just an improv, but it’s terrific (with nice harmonics).  It segues seamlessly into “Duet for Guitars #3.”  I’m not sure how you play a duet with just one guitar but it, too, sounds wonderful.

His tuning is nonstandard for all of these songs, which somehow makes them more chill and pretty.  His playing is effortless and really fun to watch.

For me, M. Ward would be the perfect artist to sit next to while he played his songs, perhaps on a couch in a small room. And that’s pretty much what you get with this Tiny Desk (home) concert. We see M. Ward in the lounge of BOCCE, a recording studio in Vancouver, Wash.

I didn’t really know his singing voice, but the blurb sums it up nicely:

That tender wispy-rasp in his voice and flowing acoustic guitar make M. Ward a musician I’d want to hear up close.

He explains that he took requests from various social media for this set.  He plays four requests and one new song.

Ward’s delivery reminds me of Sandro Perri, although a little more conventional.  “Chinese Translation” and “Requiem” are softly strummed songs and his vocals are mostly deeper with an occasional high note added in.

In between the requests he plays a new song.

Those songs fit so well with music on his new record, Migration Stories, from which he plays “Coyote Mary’s Traveling Show.”

This song sounds a little different in style–a more traditional bluesy style, I guess.  Then it’s on to

 comforting and memorable older tunes like “Poison Cup” (2006)

for which he switches to a different guitar–this one smaller (and presumably tuned differently).

Then it’s back to the first guitar for “Voice at the End of the Line” (2003). There’s some really lovely guitar work in this song.  I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to see him live but maybe one of these opening gigs will actually happen someday.

[READ: June 22, 2020] “Grief”

This story is about genocide and how to cope with it–especially if you are far away from when it happened to your family.

The narrator found it worse that no one would say the word genocide, just wry observations like “weird stuff goes on in your country.”  She had not given up hope that he mother, father, brother, sisters, her whole family back in Rwanda might still be alive.

In her homeland, the word was

gutsembatsemba, a verb, used when talking about parasites or mad dogs, things that had to be eradicated, and about Tutsis, also known as inyenzi—cockroaches—something else to be wiped out.

A Hutu classmate once told her he  had asked his mother who those Tutsi people were that he’d heard about and his mother said, they were nothing–just stories.

The narrator tried to get in touch with her family but heard nothing.

Finally, she called her older brother in Canada.  He told her that he was now the head of the family.  She received a formal letter in June confirming the deaths.  Why didn’t she have a photo of any of them? (more…)

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