SOUNDTRACK: FRAGILE ROCK-Tiny Desk Concert #635 (July 14, 2017).
Fragile Rock are an emo band. But they are not your typical emo band because they are a band of puppets.
And for just 15 minutes on a glorious spring day in Washington, D.C., National Public Radio became National Puppet Radio.
It was the real-life breakup of band leader Brently Heilborn that led to the formation of the woefully woven band Fragile Rock. But these aren’t just any puppets — no. They are emo puppets, armed with drums and guitars and glum tales to tell, with songs like “Wake Up to the Breakup” and “I Am Sad (And So Am I)” that which draw from the spastic boogie of The B-52s and the laments of The Smiths. At one point, you’ll see Fragile Rock empty a bag of “bloodied” socks, tossing them into the crowd, before breaking into the song “Socks Are Murder,” a playful take on The Smiths’ thoughtful “Meat Is Murder.”
The band consists of seven puppets (handled by 8 performers) and three actual musicians (see below for the details). They play three punky songs. And I wish I liked the songs a little more. There’s something that doesn’t quite live up to the visual fun of the band.
“Wakeup To The Breakup” is a fast punk song, but the song isn’t quite as catchy as I’d like. But I do like the spirit of the song and the amusing “crowd surfing” of Milo S. I also enjoyed the amusing commentary afterward: “There’s so many sad breakup songs… but sometimes it’s a wonderful thing. So if anyone came here today with someone you don’t want to leave with… that song legally counts as your conversation.”
The second song is a lot more catchy (and a bit funnier). As an introduction, Milo says, “A lot of you don’t want us to get political on National Puppet Radio.” But they need to speak out that “Socks are Murder.” The lyrics are largely clever: “argyle is a lie / with every step a puppet dies.” I rather like the way the chorus starts with him dead panning “Socks Are….” “socks are murder!” When the song ends, he glowers: “We don’t appreciate your laughter.”
Before the final song, Milo says “We’re very happy to be here at the legendary Tiny Desk Concert. We’re assuming we set the bar so high this will be the last one. So we’d like to close out the series….” The backing puppets all look aghast: “It’s not funny!” The song is dedicated to everyone’s dark muse, “Fairuza Balk.” It’s the catchiest of the three with great backing vocals. I like at the end when the final line is “She was in The Craft” and the guitarist chimes in. “And The Waterboy. She was in The Waterboy, etc.”
And in the spirit of the day Fragile Rock managed to crowd surf a puppet bringing giggles to a crowd of reporters, editors and friends, while puppets depicting NPR hosts Susan Stamberg, Michel Martin and Robert Siegel (the latter actually received a playful kiss from none other than Nina Totenberg) — all created by NPR’s own puppet master Barry Gordemer — objectively observed.
As the video ends, you can see the puppets getting of the elevator and then sitting behind the NPR microphone.
It’s a very fun, make no mistake. I just don’t think I’d enjoy the songs without the visuals.
Musicians
Milo S. (lead vocals, handled by Brently Heilbron); Nic Hole (bass, handled by Megan Thornton); Kyle Danko (guitar, handled by Chadwick Smith); CoCo Bangs (drums; handled by Taylor Love and Luke Wallens); The Cocteau Triplets (back up vocals; handled by Emily Cawood, Kim Stacy, and Bryan Curry); Cindy Ward (bass); Ryan Hill (guitar); Jayme Ramsay (drums)
[READ: August 1, 2017] “Le Réveillon”
This excerpt comes from a 1977 untranslated novel called Livret de famille. It was translated by .
The piece begins as we learn of the death of Fats.
The narrator was 18 when he met Fats. He was introduced to the large man (the nickname was not ironic) by a cabaret girl, Claude. At midnight she would appear on stage wearing a mink coat and evening gown. She would perform a striptease while two white toy poodles capered around her and snatched her underthings as she removed them.
Fats was a regular presence at her shows and would leave notes for her afterwards. When she introduced Fats to the narrator, Fats laughed that the narrator had the same name as brand of cards in Italy, so he began calling him Poker. (more…)
I first discovered MST3K when I lived in Boston (on The Comedy Channel) in 1992 (just before it merged with Ha! and became Comedy Central).
I Just Read About That... 