I love the audacity of coming back from a five-year hiatus and opening your disc with an 8 minute song that has lots and lots of instrumentals and solo sections. And man is “Goin’ Against Your Mind” a good song (the band opened with this when I saw them and it awesome). At around 5 minutes the songs slows down for a quieter section and then it builds back up again. I particularly love the roaring guitars in the back of the song (which I think are from Brett Netson—it is confusing that the band has a Brett Nelson and a Brett Netson in its line up).
“Traces” slows things down. It has a simple but really catchy riff. “Liar” is a bouncy, rather fun song with some pretty guitar work (two guitars in the middle) and a super catchy vocal melody. “Saturday” is a slowish ballad that is only 2:24.
“Wherever You Go” has a kid of Neil Young stomp to it, but it’s “Conventional Wisdom” that really opens up the beginning of the second half with a great riff and a fun chorus. The dual guitar solo that starts around 3 minutes in is fantastic.
I also love the guitar riffs in “Gone” and how at 3 minutes it turns into something else entirely with a big organ sound. “Mess with Time,” which they played live, has a great staccato riff and a really interesting (to my ear Middle Easternish) guitar riff. I also like the way it sounds like perhaps a circular saw blade is being used as percussion. And how at 3:15 it turns into an entirely new song—an almost ska song riff with great bass lines. “Just a Habit” is a mellow song with soaring electric guitar lines. The disc ends with “The Wait,” a slower song that I don’t usually love. But they played it live and in the live setting it took on a new vitality was really enjoyable.
This is an album I can put on an enjoy from start to finish.
[READ: August 7, 2015] Chancers
Chancers is a short three-act play set in Dublin after the collapse of the Irish economy.
There are four characters: Aiden and Dee who own a small shoppe; Gertie, an older lady who comes in regularly and never has a nice word for anyone and JP, Aiden’s mate.
In the first scene, we see that Dee is getting dressed up for a job interview. She doesn’t imagine she’ll get the job, but they desperately need the money. Aiden reveals that they have stopped offering certain services because they weren’t profitable enough. When Gertie comes in, she mocks the two of them for trying, and for overreaching. Gertie is nasty, undermining everything that Dee or Aiden says.
In the second scene, JP and Aiden are talking about a lottery ticket. It seems that Gertie has bought a ticket that has won a huge windfall. But when she brought the ticket in for him to check, Aiden instinctively told her it was a loser. JP says that the first step has been taken now all they need to do is get that ticket for themselves so they can cash it in. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-Ancient Melodies of the Future (2001).
After their live album, Built to Spill returned with Ancient Melodies of the Future. For many fans, this album concluded their first trilogy of great records. The album is similar in style to Keep It Like a Secret, but there are some new elements added. Sam Coombs, who supplied keyboards on one song on the previous album is back on this one with prominent keyboards on three tracks (which adds a rather different vibe to the Built to Spill sound).
“Strange” is yet another stellar leadoff track. It’s got an interesting riff with some great lyrics and what evolves into a stupendously catchy chorus. It features Sam Coombs on Rocksichord, which has a rather unique sound.
“The Host” has strings, which is quite a departure. The song is mellow with a simply great vocal line for the verse. “In Your Mind” has an interesting acoustic guitar line with some wild backwards guitar effects over the top. I really like the way the vocal line gets loud and high when he gets to the “in your mind” part.
“Alarmed” slows things down with bigger, louder strings. There’s a lengthy crazy keyboard solo from Sam Coombs
“Trimmed and Burning” gets a little heavier sounding “Happiness” has a slide guitar—a very unusual sound for BTS. The song picks up pretty quickly and rumbles along. “Dont Try” comes in with a much louder fuller guitar sound (Brett Netson contributes guitars to this and 3 other songs).
“You Are” is probably my least favorite BtS song, it doesn’t really do anything. But it’s followed by the up beat and wonderful “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” which has really fun guitar solo and is just so catchy.
The disc ends with the acoustic guitar ballad “The Weather.” It builds to a slightly bigger sound by the end of the song, with interesting effects on the guitars.
I tend to overlook this disc somewhat when I think back to my favorite BtS music, but there are some real gems here. It might be a little more mellow and introspective than some of the other discs, but it’s still great.
[READ:June 1, 2015] Flunked
I brought this book home because I thought Sarah would like it. She never got around to reading it, but I decided it might be fun so I read it pretty quickly. Calonita has written a number of YA books but this is her first series for younger readers (so says the blurb at the back, under her strangely unflattering author photo. This is a new series (unclear how many books, but the next one is due out next year).
It’s another book that twists around the ideas of fairy tales (which I like). The premise behind this series is that Cinderella’s stepmother Flora is really, really sorry for what she did to Cinderella (now Princess Ella). And in order to make it up to the land of Enchantasia (nice) she decided to convert her old castle into Fairy Tale Reform School. The school is designed to teach bad kids, villains and delinquents the ways of righteousness. Some teachers include the Big Bad Wolf (Xavier Wolfington), the Sea Witch (Madame Cleo) and the Evil Queen (Professor Harlow). More than five hundred gnomes, trolls, dwarfs, elves, mer-folks and other fairly tale students have been admitted in the past five years and there is much praise for the school. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK:BUILT TO SPILL-Keep It Like a Secret (1999).
This was the first Built to Spill album I ever bought and from the opening notes of the “The Plan” I was immediately hooked on the song, the album and the band. Doug’s voice is high and strong and it has a great ringing guitar riff and big chords to open the song. Then comes the excellent third section that seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the song but which sounds great. And then it’s capped off with the crazy guitar solo that is wild noises and seemingly out of tune notes that all gels together.
Like many Built to Spill albums, the whole disc works like this. The sound is a bit more open and ringing, dare I say orchestral than the previous album (which always felt a bit claustrophobic sounding to me). And most of the songs have multiple distinct parts. But also unlike the previous record, the songs are mostly much shorter (with “Center of the Universe”) turning in at under 3 minutes even.
“Carry the Zero” was the first song I heard by them, and it was the real impetus for me becoming a huge fan (I have put this song on so many mix tapes/CDs). “Sidewalk” continues with another fantastic, surprisingly catchy song.
“Time Trap” stars off with wild and crazy guitars and then mellows out for the verses. And I love that the super catchy chorus comes more than 3 minutes into the 5 minute song. I have about 6 or 7 favorite songs on this record, although “You Were Wrong” tops them all, with its lyrics of clichés from other songs: “You were right when you said all that glitters isn’t gold; you were right when you said all we are is dust in the wind.” Hilarious, but also right on (and amazing musically too)
“Broken Chairs” is the only long song on the disc running almost 9 minutes long. It even includes a section with a whistle solo. It’s cool that on a relatively poppy album full of super catchy songs, Doug wasn’t afraid to jam out a little bit (the song is amazing live).
[READ: October 1, 2015] Lumberjanes
I love the premise behind Lumberjanes. The Lumberjanes are a kind of Girl Scout/Wilderness Adventure group. They have been around for a long time and the Janes must follow the manual to achieve their various badges. I love the way the book is set up around an “actual” field manual from 1984 (tenth edition) which has been
Prepared for the Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for [written in] HARDCORE LADY-TYPES.
This graphic novel has received glowing reviews so I was pretty excited to read it. And for the most part I really enjoyed it. The story was funny and adventurous. And, of course it’s cool that all the lead characters are girls. My daughter (age 7) loved the book and couldn’t wait to show me the last page and wondered when the next book was out. Since she loved it I guess my opinion is irrelevant, but I didn’t love it as much as that. There were some quibbles I had with the book, but that’s mostly because I wanted it to be awesome!
The first one came on the first page. The book feels like you’ve missed a whole bunch of pages. I know all about starting in medias res and all that but it never really catches us up to the action. There’s not really a fair introduction to the story. And while you don’t really need an introduction necessarily, I feel like a great opportunity was lost in not having one. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-Perfect from Now On (1997).
Built to Spill moved to the major labels and everything changed. No that’s not true. The band (well, Doug mostly) just sounds more serious about their music. What’s impressive is that there are no obvious singles since each song is over 5 minutes long (except for one).
This is considered a classic 90s album but fans of the band and others. And while I like it, it’s not my favorite. A few of the songs are a little too drifty and anticlimactic. But at he same time there’s some really amazing stuff here.
It opens with “Randy Describing Eternity” a cool song with a great riff and an interesting lyrics. My favorite song (most days) on this record is “I would Hurt a Fly.” It has a fairly quiet intro with more intriguing lyrics: “I can’t get that sound you make out of my head/ I can’t even figure out what’s making it.” The song waxes and wanes and even adds some cello. And then at 4 minutes, the song shifts gears entirely, stopping to add a brand new fast section with some great guitar work and wild noisy soloing.
“Stop the Show” is another favorite. It opens with a slow meandering guitar section and then jumps to a great, frenetic set of verses. After about 5 and a half minutes the song turns into a crazy noisy fest and then switches to an amazingly catchy guitar instrumental solo outro, which could frankly go for five more hours. “Made Up Dreams” has several different elements in it. And even though it’s only 4:52, it still packs in a lot of music.
“Velvet Waltz” is over 8 minutes long. It has slow parts, and a lengthy middle section with strings (in waltz time of course). It builds slowly adding some cool guitar sections and a great long solo at the end. “Out of Site” is one of the shorter songs on the disc. It has an immediate, fast section that is very catchy. It then mellows out to a slow cello-filled section. “Kicked it in the Sun” is kind of trippy. At four and a half minutes a noisy section overtakes the music, but behind the noise is a beautiful, pretty guitar/keyboard melody. Then it shifts out of the noise into a more rocking catchy section.
The final song is the nearly 9 minute “Untrustable/Part 2.” It begins loud with great lyrics “You can’t trust anyone because you’re untrustable.” Like the other songs it has several parts. Around 4 minutes it turns into another song altogether. This continues for a bit and then at 7 minutes it shifts gears entirely into a keyboard dominated romp.
There’s so many interesting melodies and changes in this album, and it clear that it was completely influential on late 90s indie rock. But I think what’s even more impressive is that each album get a little bit better.
[READ: September 29, 2015] The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956
Moving on to volume 3 of the Complete Peanuts. Stylistically things are advancing towards the Peanuts characters we know now. Yet they haven’t quite gotten there. I think the kids’ faces (not their heads, just features) are still much smaller. And Snoopy still looks like a real dog, although his nose grows year by year.
In the beginning of the year, there’s a funny line from Lucy, attacking commericalism. Charlie is reading her a book. He says “Once upon a time they lived happily ever after. The end” And Lucy says “What’s on the rest of these pages, Advertising?” Much later there a joke in which Lucy asks Schroeder how much a musician makes, and he relies “Money? Who cares about money? This is art. You Blockhead.” It is ironic of course that Schulz went on to become so staggeringly wealthy–but maybe that just shows what good art can achieve.
Another one of my favorite sophisticated jokes comes when Lucy is flying a kite. The joke is all about perspective. It’s hilarious. (more…)
Cœur de Pirate is the band name of Béatrice Martin, a Québécois singer and piano prodigy. She was 19 when she released this album (and was accepted into conservatory school in Montreal when she was nine).
Given her musical background, one might expect more elaborately created music–more chamber pop, perhaps. But this debut album is delightfully sweet and spare indie pop. It is primarily simple piano songs with occasional extra accompaniment.
Most of the songs are simple, with unfussy arrangements and Martin’s beautiful voice. The songs verge from charming piano melody to simple waltz to piano instrumental and a few upbeat almost dancey songs. There’s even a guitar based song that adds a folk feel to the album.
There are 12 songs and the album runs only to 30 minutes. It is charming and delightful. The only thing I didn’t like so much was when Jimmy Hunt duets with her on “Pour un infidèle.” It’s not that I disliked his voice (which I did grow to appreciate after a few listens) it’s that his voice removes you from the insular little world that Martin has created. When I am in it I don’t want any distractions.
The album definitely has a Francophone feel to it (her songs were described as “bringing la chanson française to a whole new generation of Quebec youth”) although she does remind me a bit of Regina Spektor’s later songs, too.
She also had a fluke hit with “Ensemble” when it was used with a funny baby based YouTube video that went viral (I’ve posted that at the bottom of the page).
You can listen to the whole album below
[READ: September 17, 2015] The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954
Moving on to volume 2 of the Complete Peanuts. As 1953 opened, the characters remained in that older style–Snoopy still looks a lot like a dog, and Charlie’s head is still much bigger (or actually I guess his face is still smaller). By the end of the book, they have morphed a little closer to the Peanuts most of us are familiar with, but they still look “different.”
I enjoy the way the Schulz celebrates the holidays with a simple but nice sentiment (Schroeder playing his piano with the music staff reading “Happy New Year”). Indeed, Schulz celebrates most holidays. Valentine’s Day, Income Tax Day (!) and of course, he has lots of fun with Hallowen (no great pumpkin yet though).
This volume seems to be a lot about Lucy (which may be why she is on the cover). In the first few strips she gets expelled from nursery school. Later on she quits nursery school because they didn’t teach how to be a nurse. Lucy also tends to have a regular punchline, with regard to Schroeder of “I’ll probably never get married.” Lucy also begins in earnest her counting career–trying to count all the stars (and getting exhausted) or all the raindrops, or the amount she jumps rope. And she is still a fussbudget, with a joke at the end of 1954 having Schroeder compose the “Fuddbudget Sonata” for her.
Linus, who is still a baby, has taken to “shooting” people with his finger (he struggles to crawl for a ball only to have Snoopy walk up and take it away, so he looks at Snoopy and says “bang”). He is still crawling and toddling for much of the year, although by the end he seems to be growing up. Nevertheless, Lucy is still giving him a hard time–constantly shouting at him when he is not looking and then commenting that “he’s awfully nervous.”
There’s a lot of baseball jokes as they move into spring (how did he keep coming up with original baseball jokes after all those years?) inducing jokes about sponsorship. And then Lucy starts taking up golf (and is very good at it).
Schroeder continues to play beautifully (and to get upset by everyone who bothers him, especially Lucy and Snoopy. He has a crisis of conscience when he says “sometimes I thin I like Brahms even better than Beethoven.”
Schulz included some occasionally topical material. So there’s a joke about the popularity of “Doggie in the Window” (It went to number 1 in April of 1953 and stayed there for 8 weeks). Snoopy has been listening to it all day.
And of course there is a ton about Snoopy too. he still looks like a dog and still does a lot of doggie things (and Schulz is always spot on with them). I really like the joke where Snoopy eats a moth and then coughs up the dryness. Or when he falls asleep under a tree and wakes up covered in leaves. There are even a few jokes in which Snoopy hates being patted on the head. And of course, Snoopy just loves zooming around (especially through croquet hoops). This is mostly like Snoopy giving everyone a hard time, especially Charlie Brown (with the constant refrain of “You drive me crazy”).
One thing that I like about these early strips is that even though Charlie Brown has a lot of angst, he also has a great deal of self-confidence. Like when he is mad at Violet and the punch line is “but I know you don’t think I’m Perfect) There’s even a funny joke (or series of jokes) about graffiti on a fence (!). In one, it says “Charlie Brown loves all the girls” (in another it says “Charlie Brown loves Charlie Brown”).
The TV jokes continue (I especially like the one with Shermy watching and the screen clears up to say Why Aren’t You in School?). Most of them are variations on people sitting on front of each other. and blocking the view.
In June of 1954, Schulz uses the word security to refer to Linus’ blanket (evidently coining the phrase “security blanket”), which continues in one form or another throughout the book. Linus starts to become really smart–outwitting Charlie Brown at houses of cards and magic tricks and the wonderful punchline of him blowing up a square balloon.
The biggest change comes in July 1954 with the addition of Pig Pen or ‘Pig Pen’ as he was first called. He doesn’t do a lot but it leads to a lot of jokes about being dirty.
And in December 1954, a new short-lived character named Charlotte Braun (or Good Ol’ Charlotte Braun) enters the strip. She has wild curly hair and talks very loudly. She is something of a foil to Charlie, but she is never really developed.
The book has a Foreword by Walter Cronkite. He says that he was supposed to interview Schulz, but on the day they were scheduled, he took ill. So Cronkite never got to meet with Schulz. This is shame although I have to say that Schulz and Cronkite were such huge figures that they certainly should have met many times over the years.
Cronkite reveals a bit more about the Schulz’ Sparky nickname–that he was given the nickname by an uncle who was referencing the horse Spark Plug in the Barney Google strip. I like Cronkite’ summary:
Now here you have a confluence of coincidences that would never be accepted even by the producers of a Hollywood pot-boiler. A baby nicknamed after a cartoon characters growing up to be one of the greatest and most popular cartoonist of all time!
Cronkite also praises Schulz’ economy of dialogue and illustration and likewise keeps his own foreword brief as well.
I’m really excited about continuing through the years with these books.
For ease of searching I include Coeur de Pirate, Beatrice Martin, Quebecois, francaise
And here’s that (very funny) viral video that used the Cœur de pirate song:
Frazey Ford used to be in the Be Good Tanyas. Here she is touring her debut solo album Obadiah. She is quite a character, wearing a leopard print outfit.
But her music is really complex and interesting. On the opener, “Firecracker” she plays the guitar with unusual chord progressions but it’s her voice that is so arresting. She use atypical phrasings and pronunciations that belie her origins (I could never guess where she was from). Strangely, I get a kind of Cat Stevens vibe from the way she says words, but also another inexplicable emphasis: the way she pronounces exploding as explohdun.
She talks briefly about her new record while apologizing for having to tune her guitar. “Lost Together” slower, pretty song.
“If You Gonna Go” is a breakup song which she messes up and then apologizes for, saying she’s nervous and very tired. And she mocks herself for wearing a ridiculous cheetah outfit. She says she bought it in London where everyone was dressed like this. Stephen Thompson chimes in that if it was cooler they’d all be dressed like that.
She asks if they want one more and she ends with “The Gospel Song.”
It’s a really good introduction to an unusual voice.
[READ: September 10, 2015] The Complete Peanuts 1950-1952
After reading the Sunday Peanuts books, I had to go back and start the series from the beginning. Holy cow, Peanuts started in October 1950 and ran into the 21st century! That’ amazing. It’s also amazing to see how different everyone looked back then. It’s very disconcerting. The only thing more disconcerting is to immerse yourself in the old comics, start to really appreciate them, and then see a contemporary version and wonder why he changed them so much.
When the strip first started there were just three of them: Good Ol’ Charlie Brown, Shermy and Patty (not Peppermint Patty) and they are all four years old. Those first comics are really really different–the kids are practically stick figures. (Although Charlie always had that little wisp of hair). The kids all have huge heads and tiny bodies and are very minimal in their expressions. Snoopy is there too and he looks very much like a real dog. As it turns out I like this version of snoopy better than the current one. He looks much more like a dog and he acts alike a dog–Schulz gets some great jokes out of doggie behavior. Things like Snoopy hearing and smelling food and running over to beg started almost from the beginning. As did they ways that Snoopy interacts and often drives the other characters crazy.
What’s mostly different about the early ones is that the kids are all mean to each other and CB sometimes wins in the verbal sparring. He’s as much of a buster as the others. It’s really fun and funny. (more…)
Mavis Staples is a legend. She has been singing for decades. And her voice still sounds amazing.
For this Tiny Desk Concert, it’s just her singing and Rick Holmstrom playing guitar. Staples sings two songs from her then new album (recorded at Wilco’s studio). In fact, the first song she sings “Only the Lord Knows” was written by Jeff Tweedy. It’s a great bluesy number. And Staples hits notes all over the place–it’s great.
Before the second song, she calls Rick Holmstrom “Pops Jr.” and he says “I wish.”
Next she plays “You’re Not Alone.” There’s a funny moment after the first verse where she forgets the words–she shouts “don’t tell nobody.” She says she was busy looking at all the friendly faces and got lost. But she comes back and knocks the song out.
For a brief encore she does a few verses and a chorus of “I’ll Take You There.” And you can hear the disappointment in the audience when she sings, “And that’s all for today” after a chorus. She is happy and claps and does apologize saying “you all will make me hurt myself.”
It’s amazing how good Mavis sounds after all these years, and how she wins over the crowd in an instant.
[READ: July 15, 2015] Ayoade on Ayoade
Richard Ayoade is best known by me as Moss on The It Crowd. Probably the most frequently asked question by me about him is how the Rhell you say his last name. The book does not help with that, although online searches reveal eye-oo-WAH-dee to be pretty accurate.
Ayoade cracks me up whenever I see him. And he even starts the funny before you open the cover of the book. The cover sticker notes: “Once in every generation, a man writes a book. This is that book. I am a man.”
I knew that Ayoade had recently released The Double (I read the screenplay), but I wasn’t aware of his previous film, Submarine. (I have subsequently watched it and enjoyed it very much–it’s an unusually dark comedy about young love). And these facts, along with maybe one or two others are what I gleaned from this book. The rest is pure nonsense–a right silly lark, full of Ayoade’s outrageously self-deprecating wit and scathing comments about his own writing, acting and directing skills. (more…)
Fredrik are a Swedish band. They were a duo, then a sextet and then a duo again. In this concert, they are in that duo state–Fredrik Hultin on vocals and guitar and Ola Lindfelt on electronics and percussion.
Their then new release was a dark album called Trilogi and was just the two of them. They play two songs from that album and one form their debut.
“Ner” is quite dark, with the whispery vocals and the minor chord progression. The simple thudding drum beat also keeps the song somewhat ominous. Speaking of the drummer, he is using a microphone (into which he later whistles) as a drumstick (he hits the cymbal with it later). But his main “drumstick” is a maraca.
“Locked in the Basement” is a bit louder but with the same percussion set up. It maintains that ominousness (just see the title of song). Although in the middle it quiets down to just a thumping drums and gentle guitar noises with Ola’s backing oohs.
“Black Fur” is a bit more upbeat (in the blurb Robin says it is a soaring song on their debut). It is stripped down here and it quite catchy–almost upbeat and positive. It’s quite different from the other two songs. You can hear their recorded version of it (when they were a sextet) here.
I enjoyed these songs, and wonder if Fredrik has continued as a duo in the last five years.
[READ: September 7, 2015] You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)
Like most geeky folks, I love Felicia Day. The Guild was an awesome show and her creativity behind it is really masterful. And she was in Dr Horrible, which is how I found out that she was one of the slayers in the final seasons of Buffy.
So Felicia has the geek cred. But I didn’t know anything about her. And I wasn’t sure that I cared all that much. I mean, Felicia is the bomb but do I need to know how she got to be that way? Nevertheless, I was curious to see what she would put into this book.
If you’re looking for salacious stories about working on Buffy, you won’t get them. Aside from an intro by Joss Whedon, there’s very little information about her time on Buffy. Rather, she talks about her childhood (which is fascinating) and her Guild making days and her post-Guild success. And there’s a rather dark turn near the end.
But really, this book is all about empowerment (as the title hints at)–all about embracing your inner loves and following what you want to do. In the book, which is chock full of pictures, she calls these coffee mug moment sand Photoshops her aphorisms onto mugs for our edification. There’s also a lot of very funny pictures of herself from throughout her life. (more…)
Villagers is the work of Conor O’Brien. On their debut album he played all the instruments and created the cover art. Live, he has a full band, but in this Tiny Desk show it’s just him and his guitar.
He looks incredibly young (that haircut), but when he sings, he sounds sophisticated and mature. And his guitar playing is equally sophisticated (with some really interesting chords on the high notes of his strings).
His playing is crisp and clean and his voice is really lovely. He doesn’t do anything fancy, he just sings and plays, but he has a lot of power and honesty in what he does.
And lyrically, he is quite clever. He surpasses many singer-songwriters.
His three songs “Ship of Promises,” “Becoming a Jackal” and “Twenty Seven Strangers” are all on his debut album Becoming a Jackal. He hits an amazing series of high notes in “Ship of Promises,” and the way the song takes some unexpected (albeit brief) pauses is quite dramatic.
I like the way he slowly and confidently states the title “Becoming a Jackal.” This song is a bt faster and more dramatic, especially the quiet ending.
“Twenty Seven Strangers” is a story song about taking the bus. It is an unexpected perspective and quite an interesting look at a mundane event.
[READ: August 2, 2015] Peas & Queues
I was disappointed with the previous etiquette book, which was supposed to be funny and I think wasn’t all that serious. But this one, which is indeed serious, was also really funny, and was a real delight to read.
According to her bio on the book, Sandi Toksvig is “a well-known broadcaster for both television and radio.” But I’d never heard of her. It seems that she is big in Britain, but I believe is unknown here. Nevertheless she has written over twenty books, including fiction, non-fiction and children’s. So maybe I’m just out of touch.
Anyhow, I grabbed this book because it sounded interesting (and I liked the jokey spelling of the title).
Toksvig explains in her introduction that in 1520 when Erasmus wrote his book on manners it was dedicated to an 11 year old boy (a son of a prince). This book is dedicated to “a delightful child in my life” called Mary who is currently 8. But it is not a book for children, it is meant for Mary as she grows up. And you can tell right from the start that Sandi is pretty funny as she says “I hope it will prove useful to anyone not planning to live as a hermit. [Unlike Erasmus] I have made it easier for her (and you) by not using Latin (very much).”
And then Toksvig explores good manners from birth through death. She even starts with “Why do we need good manners” (a question my kids currently ask). The first thing to say is that basic manners apply no matter where you are or what you are doing. They are even a good idea when no one is watching. Having a code of behaviour will help you know how to react to the unexpected.
But it’s also important to know that rules about manners are not laws or rules, they are suggestions–propositions for behaviour to help grease the wheel of the great social machine. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: THE MYNABIRDS-Tiny Desk Concert #64 (June 21, 2010).
I wish I liked The Mynabirds a bit more than I do, especially after hearing the origin story of the band’s name. Laura Burhenn says she wanted to create a band that was sort of like Neil Young playing Motown. She toyed with the name Myna and came up with The Mynabirds and then found out that in the 1960s Neil Young and Rick James had made music together for Motown under the name The Mynah Birds. Cool.
Burnhenn has a sultry kind of voice, which is nice. But I don’t really like Motown, so the “ooh la la” in the verses and the whole sound of the chorus of “Numbers Don’t Lie” is not my thing.
I prefer the second song “Let the Record Go” which is a bit faster and more rocking (and I like the oh’s at the end of each verse much more). The final song is by request from Bob. It’s the lead off track from the album “What We Gained in the Fire.” It’s a slow broody opener with interesting lyrics. It has a R&B feel and is a fine song.
It’s possible that I am confusing them with someone else, but I thought the band was more folky, so this was a little disappointing to me (although they are clearly very good).
[READ: June 19, 2015] Manners for Millionaires
I saw this book at work and thought it sounded really funny. A 1900 British book about millionaires? With that obvious pseudonym?
The opening prefatory note says that “the coloured plates specially prepared for this volume had at the last moment to be omitted owing to the unfortunate indisposition of the Academician employed, but rather than disappoint the Public we have inserted instead a few specimen woodcuts from a forthcoming treatise on British Fishes.”
Great, so, silly, nonsensical fun, right?
Well, the problem for me with this book is that it supposes you know a lot about wealth and the aristocracy of England circa 1900. Gah. I’m not even exactly sure who the intended audience was for this book. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-You in Reverse (2006).
I love the audacity of coming back from a five-year hiatus and opening your disc with an 8 minute song that has lots and lots of instrumentals and solo sections. And man is “Goin’ Against Your Mind” a good song (the band opened with this when I saw them and it awesome). At around 5 minutes the songs slows down for a quieter section and then it builds back up again. I particularly love the roaring guitars in the back of the song (which I think are from Brett Netson—it is confusing that the band has a Brett Nelson and a Brett Netson in its line up).
I Just Read About That... 