SOUNDTRACK: THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES-Don’t Know How to Party (1993).
I’ve always had a thing for ska (although even I got sick of it when No Doubt took over the airwaves, thanks Gwen). When ska gets added to blistering metal, well, it’s hard to resist. And so we get Boston’s own Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
This was the first Bosstones’ record I’d heard and I fell for it immediately. I also really appreciated the aggressively green plaid that the band sported at the time (although they have since denounced the look).
A horn section can be a tricky thing in a rock band, with many using it to very poor effect. But the Bosstones used it wonderfully, complementing the heaviness and adding a cool skanking sound to the metal chops. And the songs are fantastic and fun. “Someday I Suppose” is just one of the great rocking anthems from the 90s. “Illegal Left” is wonderfully catchy and funny. And “Issachar” is just blistering punk. These three songs show the rocking and skanking range on the disc. All of this is wrapped around Dicky Barrett’s rough, growling, heavily-smoker-sounding voice.
The Bosstones would go on to write some hugely popular tunes after this disc (with each disc getting progressively more recognition and sales) but for me, this is what ska is all about.
[READ: Week of September 7, 2009] Infinite Jest (to page 876)
Infinite Tasks drew my attention to a new comment regarding the Joelle timeline that we’ve been concerned about. Greg Carlisle responded to it at Infinite Summer. And so Infinite Tasks updated an older post here. I’m willing to accept Carlisle’s word as he did write Elegant Complexity after all.
And yet there’s another interesting time line issue that I bring up below about a chapter heading and an electronic calendar that Hal looks at.
I’ve also decided that, since the story is steamrolling to an end, and since so many of the end days are coming along, I’m going to update my own calendar (but just the November info). I’m putting it at the end of the post to include this week’s information.
In general, I’m a little bummed to see so many people have completed the book early, tempting as it is to do so (although obviously that’s better than not finishing at all, right?). I’m nevertheless enjoying my routine and I think I’ll actually miss it when it’s over.
This week’s reading is almost entirely focused on Gately in St Elizabeth’s Trauma Wing. He is stuck staring at the ceiling which is breathing at him. It reminds him of a holiday in Beverly, Ma in which the beach house that they rented had a hole in the roof. The hole was covered by a plastic sheet which flapped and pulsed with the wind. His crib was placed under the hole and it freaked him out (although what is a 4 year old doing in a crib? Well, Gately’s mom is clearly not the best parent.) (more…)
I Just Read About That... 