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Archive for the ‘Red Dwarf’ Category

Shalom Auslander–Beware of God (2005)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, David Sedaris, Funny (ha ha), Gods, Humiliation, Marriage Trouble, Nazis, Neurotics, Peanuts, Red Dwarf, Religion, Shalom Auslander, Short Books, Short Story, Simon Rich, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, The Velvet Underground, Thin Lizzy, Threats, Woody Allen on May 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

bogSOUNDTRACK: BELLE AND SEBASTIAN-BBC Sessions & Live in Belfast 2001 (2008).

bsbbcVirtually every review of the BBC Sessions says the same thing: these tracks barely differ from the original recordings.  And, for better or worse, that is very true.  In fact, even the trumpets and other instruments sound so perfect, you tend to forget it’s a live recording.  Clearly this sends a positive message about their live playing.  But if that’s the case, why would you buy this?

Well, clearly Belle & Sebastian devotees will buy it even if there’s only marginal differences.  But really the selling point is the last 4 songs, all of which are brand new (at least to me). It’s also amazing to me how on the first batch of live songs from 1996, the band sounds so delicate it’s as if they would fall apart just by looking at them.  The opening songs are soft, and Stuart’s voice is barely a whisper.  And yet through all of that the choruses are still catchy, and the songs are amazing.

But really the main hook for this set is the Live in Belfast disc.  It comes from 2001, and is a surprisingly rollicking set.  I saw B&S several years ago at a small club in Manhattan. It turns out to be one of my worst concert experiences.  Not because of the band, but because it was so overcrowded (B&S were the “IT” band at the time) that I had to keep moving back to stop getting crushed.  I eventually spent time in the lobby trying in vain to hear the set.

So this is the next best thing for me.

The set is an interesting mix of covers (and surprising ones at that–“The Boys Are Back in Town!”) and B&S rarities (with a couple of popular songs like “The Boy with the Arab Strap” and “Legal Man” thrown in as well).  There’s also a fun rendition of The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” by a fan named Barry who requested the song and then came up on stage to sing it.  The band is loose, a little shambolic and apparently having a lot of fun.

It’s a remarkable collection of tracks for any fan of the band and certainly overcomes the similarities of tracks on the first disc.

[READ: May 24, 2009] Beware of God

I read this book exclusively because of my authority as a librarian. I received an email saying that the person who had put this book on hold no longer wanted it (her book club was last week and she had to buy the book…that’s a book club I want to be in, actually).  When I took it off the hold shelf, I saw who it was by, and since I have wanted to read his stuff (and this book was fairly small) I thought I’d take it home with me.  When we canceled the hold, I learned that someone else had a hold on it, so technically I couldn’t take it.  However, I broke a rule. Since it was Saturday and Memorial Day weekend this book wouldn’t be shipped out to the net person on line until Tuesday morning!  Surely I could read this in time with no one the wiser.  Well, imagine my surprise to have read it by Sunday night…it could have gone back even if it wasn’t a long weekend!  Huzzah!

I hope that doesn’t get me fired. (more…)

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What I learned…(13) [The British and WWII]

Posted in Black Adder, BritLit, Bruce Robinson, Digression, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Red Dwarf, Richard Thompson, The Young Ones on September 5, 2007| 2 Comments »

I’ve been a fan of British entertainment, especially comedy, since I was a little kid. The first time I saw Benny Hill on Channel 9 at a past-my-bedtime hour, I knew it was something special. Not because it was particularly funny (which at the time I thought it was), but because it was unlike anything that the U.S. was making. Then I discovered Paul Hogan (true, an Aussie, but still under the UK banner). Then came the Comedy Holy Grail of Monty Python’s Flying Circus . I couldn’t get enough of Monty Python and of course, Fawlty Towers. This led to more contemporary works like The Young Ones and Black Adder and Red Dwarf, and I’m still hooked.

One thing that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time is the Brits’ constant use of World War II in their entertainment. Comedians, writers and musicians of a certain age tend to use WWII as a component of their work. This came up again in Bruce Robinson’s book. It is a constant in Richard Thompson’s work. It is essential to latter Roger Waters work, both in and out of Pink Floyd. Monty Python plays around with it, and many other comedians do too.

I think Americans lazily think of the British as pretty much like us. And this has been even more prevalent with the recent Bush/Blair relationship. And despite my love of British entertainment, I am guilty of imagining the Brits to have similar shared experiences (common language can do that I suppose). So, it made me wonder why we in the U.S. don’t seem to have WWII so ingrained in our cultural entertainment. Sure, we have our swing bands, and the iconic photographs and even Saving Private Ryan. But it seems like we have a “Mission Accomplished (for Real)” checkmark next to it, and we’re happy it’s over and that’s that.  Even in my family, my dad was in WWII, and yet it wasn’t really a big deal when I was growing up, or even in his personal history.  Weird.

It was then that my wife reminded me that the British were bombed in the war, that it really hit home for them in a way that it never did here. Even though Pearl Harbor was American soil, and we did experience air raid drills and blackouts, we didn’t have the impending threat and fear as directly as the British did. All of this is of course common knowledge, and I feel foolish for not thinking about it before. And yet, somehow I never put these pieces together. Of course, British artists were impacted by WWII because it directly impacted their lives, their towns, their families.

There really isn’t a point to any of this other than to stop wondering how come there’s another British song/story/joke about WWII. I’ll just go back to enjoying it.

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