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Archive for the ‘Funny (strange)’ Category

Hilary Leichter–“In the Mist of Everything” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #16] (2019)

Posted in Canadian Content, Chanukah Album, Christmas, Coronavirus, Dave Grohl, Death, Elastica, End of the World, Funny (strange), Gardens, Greg Kurstin, Hilary Leichter, Hingston & Olsen, Quarantine, Sex, Short Story, Supernatural, The Hanukkah Sessions, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Connection” (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Six” December 15, 2020).

   Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.

“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”

The sixth night is a 90s rocker: a short, fun, stomper from Elastica.

From Brit Milot to Britpop…here’s one of the coolest tracks from the 90’s….sung by the very cool…and Jewish…Justine Frischmann…ELASTICA!

“Connection” was a 90’s juggernaut (even if they did have to give money to Wire).  Justine Frischmann was a perfect frontwoman–sexy and snarly at the same time.

Kurstin plays the keyboards and gets the sound pretty spot on, especially the higher notes.

Grohl plays drums and sings.  After providing those opening low voiced “uhhs,” he sings in a slightly higher register, and his harmonies (in a video insert) are perfect.

Midway through the song they add in circles with handclaps.  It amuses me that hey start with two circles and move up to sixteen or so.  Once again, one of my favorite songs in the set is super short (not even three minutes).

[READ: December 16, 2020] “In the Mist of Everything”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 16. Hilary Leichter, author of Temporary, is pretty sure she just felt a raindrop. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

It strikes me that this story was created because the phrase “in the midst of everything” was misheard as “mist.”

At first I didn’t care for the way the story was structured, but it only took a couple of paragraphs before I rather appreciated it. (more…)

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Kris Bertin–“The Game” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #15] (2013)

Posted in Bob Dylan, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Chanukah Album, Christmas, Coronavirus, Dave Grohl, Dice, Drinking, Funny (strange), Games (Non Video), Greg Kurstin, Hingston & Olsen, Quarantine, Sex, Short Story, Supernatural, Tarot, The Hanukkah Sessions, The Short Story Advent Calendar on December 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Rainy Day Women 12 & 35″ (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Five” December 14, 2020).

   Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.

“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”

The fifth night is a classic rock staple: a singalong from Bob Dylan.

So now everybody must get stoned (not in the Law of Moses sense) as we put some blood on this track: Rainy Day Women 12&35 by the immortal Bob Dylan!

Anyone who has listened to classic rock radio has heard this song a hundred times.  And if you heard it when you were younger, it made you chuckle because he says “everybody must get stoned.”  I have often wondered if there is any more depth to the song than that.  Also, why it is called “Rainy Day Women 12 & 35.”

Kurstin plays the piano on this one–a bouncy barroom piano rag.  He also adds harmonica.

Grohl plays drums and sings.  These drums are about the simplest thing that he’s ever played–a two beat snare and bass drum. He doesn’t try to sing like Dylan (that would be too obvious), although he definitely sings more like Dylan than himself.

It’s a straightforward song and both of them have a lot of fun with it.

[READ: December 15, 2020] “The Game”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 15. Kris Bertin, author of Use Your Imagination!, would like to buy a vowel. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

This story is about allowing fate to control your life.

The narrator and his friend Brad both work at a University.  They are both published authors although neither has written anything since they got the jobs.

Brad believed in “all that shit”–he got his fortune told,  did Tarot, I Ching, Ouija–he did it all. He believes that he is fucked on a cosmic level.  He is trying to bring his wife and child to where he is working, but he can’t afford to do so yet.

The narrator tries to convince him it’s all junk and says he’ll do a fortune for him right now.  But Brad knows that having any of that divination shit in your house is bad luck.  However, he does have a can of dice.

The dice are a large assortment of letters–from multiple Boggle games.  Brad tells him you roll the dice and you read what it says–not all the letters obviously, just what speaks to you.

The first roll produced

GOGET ON THE ROOF QIUCK

So they did.  The roof was beautiful–a lovely night, a lovely view, and a flat surface to keep rolling. (more…)

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Sabrina Orah Mark–“The Professor” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #14] (2019)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Chanukah Album, China, Christmas, Coronavirus, Dave Grohl, Death, Funny (strange), Geddy Lee, Greg Kurstin, Hingston & Olsen, Huh?, Old Age, Peaches, Quarantine, Sabrina Orah Mark, Sex, Shadows, Short Story, Surreal, The Hanukkah Sessions, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Trains, Work on December 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Fuck the Pain Away” (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Four” December 13, 2020).

   Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.

“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”

The fourth night is very family un-friendly, because it’s a song by Peaches.

Drake’s not the only musical Jew from Canada…tonight we feature a Canadian rock G-Dess…who coincidentally grew up around the corner from a Canadian Jewish rock G-D (G-ddy Lee). Straight out the mikvah, here’s Peaches!

I don’t know Peaches all that well, but I do know this song.

Kurstin plays the minimalist synth line, including the hand claps.

Grohl plays drums and sings.  There’s not much in the way of drums in this song (nor much in the way of lyrics either, actually).  There’s an inherent smile as Grohl sings “sucking on my titties.”

For such a hedonistic song, the pro-school verse is pretty surprising: IUD SIS, stay in school cause it’s the best.

The surprise in this one comes half way through the song when Peaches herself makes a remote appearance.  She sings the chorus with Dave (although they don’t acknowledge each other).

[READ: December 14, 2020] “The Professor”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 14. Sabrina Orah Mark, author of Wild Milk, regrets that she will be unable to attend office hours this week. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

This is the second story in a row that I found very confusing and not very enjoyable.  I really used to enjoy weird stories like this, but my tolerance for this style has thinned as I get older I guess.

It starts plainly enough.  A student, Penny, is waiting for her professor.  Although when the professor calls, “we step over five students I’ve never seen before.” (more…)

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Meng Jin–“Our Humans” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #13] (2018)

Posted in Canadian Content, Chanukah Album, China, Christmas, Coronavirus, Dave Grohl, Death, Funny (strange), Greg Kurstin, Hingston & Olsen, Huh?, Meng Jin, Mountain, Old Age, Quarantine, Shadows, Short Story, Surreal, The Hanukkah Sessions, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Trains, Work on December 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Mississippi Queen” (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Three” December 12, 2020).

   Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.

“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”

The third night is a rocking version of a Mountain song.

Talk about making a mountain out of a mohel … named Leslie Weinstein at his bris, the singer of our next band built a wailing wall of guitar as Leslie West. Check out our take on a track from Leslie’s monolithic band, MOUNTAIN.

Unlike yesterday’s song, I know “Mississippi Queen” very well. I’ve been a fan of Mountain and even saw them live thirty or so years ago.

Kurstin plays synth and the opening guitar line sounds perfect–he gets a really good guitar sound in this session.

Grohl plays drums and sings.  He’s singing in more of his screaming style for this song which works pretty well.

The joke in this one is that he is using a cup as a cowbell.  The cup is duct taped all over the place and as the song opens, Grohl says “I’m fucking this cup up real bad.”  Kurstin says it’s worth it.  And I agree.  This song rocks.

They play with split screen on this one–during the solo, there’s four shots of Kurstin’s hands.

The only bad thing about this song is that it’s so short!

[READ: December 13, 2020] “Our Humans”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 13. Meng Jin, author of Little Gods, always keeps carbon copies in triplicate. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

I found this story very confusing and not very enjoyable.

It is set in some kind of futuristic society, but hat doesn’t seem to matter all that much.  The narrator works at a job “in those day we still employed a number of humans.”

She was an unusual sight there–being (somewhat) young and (clearly) female.  Most people assumed she was a consultant.

Once she leaves work, the story changes entirely.

On the train she sees a little girl–unsupervised: “young people are rarely seen in the city these days.”

The train breaks down in the middle of nowhere.  The girl encourages the narrator to go with her.

Everyone in the story calls her jiejie (which means older sister).  She seems disconcerted by this.

As they walk through the dark, the little girl tells her that they have become their shadows.  They can’t walk through any unlit spaces, obviously.

She gets back to her apartment. It is pitch dark.  She feels she has lost herself but then she bumps into Duowen, a man from work.  Their mouths meet.

This story really lost me.  I was really interested in the futuristic society and the bots (and their gradual falling apart), but the whole thing with the shadows just didn’t seem very compelling.

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Kelly Luce–“Parade for the Dead and Dying” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #9] (2016)

Posted in Aaron Copland, Canadian Content, Christmas, Coronavirus, Death, Disneyland, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Hingston & Olsen, Kelly Luce, Michael Boriskin, Old Age, Parades, Quarantine, Short Story, Surreal, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on December 9, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: COPLAND HOUSE: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #110 (November 13, 2020).

Every Tiny Desk (Home) Concert is unique.  But this one seems extra special.

the desk – and the home setup – for this performance beats them all. The location is the home, and not so tiny writing desk, of Aaron Copland, America’s beloved composer.

Copland, who would have turned 120 on Nov. 14, gave us Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo, among many other works that helped define a singular American sound.

These pieces are familiar to anyone who has listened to any classical music anywhere (or Emerson, Lake & Palmer).  But these three pieces were ones I didn’t know at all.

The set begins with one of the composer’s earliest pieces in a jazzy vein.

The piece is called “Three Moods: III. Jazzy.”  It is an upbeat, yes, jazzy, bouncy piano piece.  That last all of 80 seconds.  It is indeed, as Michael Boriskin says, delectable.

Michael Boriskin plays Copland’s own piano. He’s the artistic and executive director of Copland House, located an hour north of New York City in the lower Hudson River Valley. What was once Copland’s home is now a creative center for American music.

Up next, Boriskin plays a duet with violinist Curtis Macomber.

The Violin Sonata that follows embodies America’s wide open spaces, filled with possibilities.

“Sonata for Violin and Piano: I. Andante semplice – Allegro” is the only major piece Copland wrote for violin. It is sombre and pretty, with a kind of back and forth violin and piano.  There’s lots of lengthy, slow, almost mournful violin parts.

Macomber departs and is replaced by flutist Carol Wincenc.  They play “Duo for flute and piano: II. Poetic, somewhat mournful; III. Lively, with bounce.”  Those descriptors are part of the title and also describe how the music is to be played.  This piece

 was actually written at the very desk seen in this video.

The first part is slow and sad, while the second one is much more fun and bouncy.  The middle of the second part has a a sow staccato dialogue between the flute and piano.  There’s a fun moment where the flute and piano play the exact same very high note and the sound is really unusual.

I found these pieces to be less engaging than his more famous pieces.  But maybe that’s just because I am much more familiar with them.

[READ: December 9, 2020] “Parade for the Dead and Dying”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 9.  Kelly Luce, author of Pull Me Under, can always pull a quick U-turn if she misses the exit. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

I love how this story started in a kind of surreal location and then did a U-Turn and wound up in an even more surreal place.

Palmsville, Florida, has decided to have a parade for the dead and dying.  The floats were from various hospitals.  County supplied four bodies from the morgue to ride on the back of one of the floats.  Mount Sinai putthree geriatrics (and their ventilators) in a convertible. (more…)

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Catherine Lacey–“Cut” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #7] (2019)

Posted in Black Lives Matter, Canadian Content, Catherine Lacey, Christmas, Coronavirus, Feminism, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Futility, Hingston & Olsen, Huh?, Humiliation, Mickey Guyton, New Yorker, Old Age, Quarantine, Racism, Sex, Sexism, Sexual Assault, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on December 7, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MICKEY GUYTON-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #108 (November 9, 2020).

Mickey Guyton is a country singer, which is probably why I have never heard of her.  And yet, when Guyton sang her first song, I never would have guessed she was a country singer.

Her first song “Black Like Me” is beautiful.

In June, after the killing of George Floyd, Guyton released “Black Like Me,” which tells her own story in a way that gently but resolutely calls for change.

Her desk holds the book that inspired it.  Her voice is powerful and there’s not a twang in sight.  The lyrics are sensational, with the excellent chorus:

if you think we live in the land of the free
you should try to be black like me.

The only problem I have with the song is that although the piano accompaniment from Lynette Williams is lovely, I feel that the song deserves a much bigger arrangement.

I love the arrangement of the next song “Salt.”  Soulful keyboards, the Afro-Caribbean instruments of percussionist Paul Allen, Jon Sosin’s acoustic guitar.  She sounds a lot more country music in her delivery (there’s an actual delivery style that you can hear as she sings, even without the twang).  I liked this song, and I think it’s clever, but after the resonance of the other two songs, this one–a warning to men about women–seems beneath her.  Although the lyrics are pretty clever.

In February, as protests against sexism intensified in the country world, she debuted “What Are You Gonna Tell Her” and it caused an instant sensation.

She sang the he song at the ACM awards and was the first African-American woman to sing an original song at the awards–in 2020!

It’s back to just piano again–maybe the more important songs are more spare?  For some reason, the music of this song makes me think it could fit into Hamilton.  And the lyrics, once again, are terrific.

She thinks life is fair and
God hears every prayer
And everyone gets their ever after
She thinks love is love and if
You work hard, that’s enough
Skin’s just skin and it doesn’t matter
And that her friend’s older brother’s gonna keep his hands to himself
And that somebody’s gon’ believe her when she tells
But what are you gonna tell her
When she’s wrong?

Wow.

[READ: December 7, 2020] “Cut”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 7. Catherine Lacey, author of Pew, presses every button in the elevator on her way out.  [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

I read this story back in April, when it was printed in the New Yorker.  It’s the only story in this collection that I’ve read before so far.  It was bizarre and I loved it.  I’m going to post a briefer version of my original post which you can read here.

This story started out is such an amusing way:

There’s no good way to say it–Peggy woke up most mornings oddly sore, sore in the general region of her asshole.

But it’s not an amusing scene at all.  It burns when she uses the toilet and she finds blood in her pajamas.

She could see a cut but only when using a hand mirror while she was crouched at the right angle.  But even so, her groin “was that of a middle-aged woman and not as strictly delineated as it once had been.”  Nevertheless, whenever she looked for it she always “paused to appreciate the inert drapery of her labia.”

The cut was there, but it seemed to migrate.   She tried to look it up online, but only found porn.  Adding Web MD brought back porn in doctor’s offices.  And adding Mayo Clinic introduced her to people with a fetish for mayonnaise. (more…)

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George Saunders–“Ghoul” (New Yorker, November 9, 2020)

Posted in Bebel Gilberto, Coronavirus, Death, Domestic Violence, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Huh?, Humiliation, João Gilberto, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Quarantine, Short Story, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on November 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BEBEL GILBERTO-Tiny Desk Concert #96 (October 15, 2020).

Typically, I don’t know the international performers that Tiny Desk brings out.  Of course I’ve heard of Bebel Gilberto, although I don’t know all that much about her music.

Bebel Gilberto is, of course, the daughter of one of the creators of bossa nova, João Gilberto.

And while her music is lovely, as the blurb says, I’m more blown away by her view!

When we invited Brazilian vocalist Bebel Gilberto to do a Tiny Desk (home) concert, we had no idea her home would have a spectacular view of speed boats gliding across the lagoon in the heart of the picturesque Leblon neighborhood overlooking the iconic Dois Irmãos mountain in Rio de Janeiro.

Her first song, “Cliché,” is mellow and smooth.  There a ton of music going on behind her, but she only has one other player with her, Chico Brown.  Is it all samples?  What’s going on there?

During this concert, she is accompanied by Chico Brown, the son of famed musician Carlinhos Brown and grandson of the legendary Chico Buarque.

Between songs she sits with Ella her tiny dog and talks about her new album–her first in six years.

“Na Cara” opens with a very cool deep bass line.  Brown plays the keytar and sings backing vocals.

You can feel the presence of all of that Brazilian musical royalty in one of Bebel Gilberto’s most popular songs, the closing “Aganjú.”

“Aganjú” was written by Chico’s father and is her most popular song.  Chico plays the acoustic guitar.  The song has a slow beginning but a much bigger sexier chorus.

[READ: November 23, 2020] “Ghoul”

This George Saunders story reminded me a lot of another George Saunders story, “Pastoralia.”

In that story a man and a woman work as “cavemen” in a living diorama.  They are watched all the time and must alway be “acting” when there are visitors.

In this story, everyone seems to be working in a living diorama.  In fact, their entire world seems to be a theme park or museum and everyone must perform for the visitors.

This story takes the premise of the first story further in almost every way–their entire world s underground with only one way in.  Everything has been turned into this amusement area.  They eat at Vat of Lunch, and every area of their universe has a clever name like Beneath Our Mother the Sea and Wild Day Out West.  The people in each of these scenes act as their are name implies.

The main character, Brian, is a Squatting Ghoul.  He and his fellow Squatting Ghouls are with Feeding Ghouls and Li’l Demons.  It’s not clear exactly what Brian does, but it doesn’t sound pleasant. (more…)

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Jorge Quiroga and Cristina Pérez Navarra–Nano (2009)

Posted in Coronavirus, Cristina Pérez Navarra, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Huh?, Jorge Quiroga, Max, Ozuna, Puerto Rico, Quarantine, Surreal, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on November 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

  SOUNDTRACK: OZUNA-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #97 (October 16, 2020).

Ozuna is described as a global superstar and is one of the most watched and listened-to artists on earth. [That link takes you to a Guiness Records page where he is recognized for how much he has been listened to].

Of course, I’ve never heard of him.

Ozuna is a crown jewel in the global crest of Latin pop, a movement whose modern success in reggaeton and Latin trap is indebted to the Caribbean genres Ozuna heard growing up in Puerto Rico, sounds like old-school reggaeton and reggae en español, dembow, dancehall and more.

This Home Concert apparently brings Ozuna’s sound to a more quiet place.

For someone whose work often operates at galactic proportions, this performance of five songs makes room for Ozuna’s sweet tenor to take center-desk in a love letter to the global communities that supported and streamed him to god tier status.

The Puerto Rican singer kicks it off with a breezy rendition of “Caramelo.”

Breezy is a great word for it.  It feels tropical with a reggae rhythm from Freddie “YoFred” Lugo on bass and Elí Bonilla on drums.  The two guitarists (Carlos Mercader and Benson Pagán) play reggae chords and some lead licks.

that leads into a solo version of the sun-drenched “Del Mar” from ENOC, his fourth album that he’s deemed a return to his roots.

It opens with a cool guitar lick and some pleasant keys (Edgardo Santiago).  But Ozuna’s delivery is much faster than the chill music.    I really like the way the backing singer José Aponte matches his voice so perfectly.

Dancing around in the back is the DJ Erick “Yonell” Pachecho.  I’m not really sure what he’s doing back there but he seems very busy.

This pared-down performance makes good on that promise, reworking star-studded collaborations, like the ballad “Despeinada,” as they should be sung: languorously and with intimacy.

“Despeinada” is a quiet ballad.  You can hear Hector Meléndez on the piano playing pretty fills as the rest of the band grooves.  It segues into the banger “Taki Taki” (which I can’t help but imagine is about those purple-bagged chips that I see at the Wawa).

Even the pop smash “Taki Taki” sounds brand new, buoyed by his alchemical flow and energy.

This is my favorite song of the set, from the bouncing rhythm, to the loopy keyboard melody to the fun of singing “taki taki.”  This song is quite short, so it’s clearly just an excerpt. The same is true for “Mamacita” which is barely 2 minutes.  But the flow of this song is great.

I guess the world is right about him.

[READ: November 24, 2020] Nano

I found this book in the hold of our library.  It’s from 2009, although I believe that we received it in 2012.  This means that it has been sitting in our storage area for 8 years and nobody has asked to see it.

This isn’t the only book in this situation–we have many, many books that are unlikely to be read–but most of them are nonfiction and not really timely anymore.  This book, however, is a cute little (40 page) book of cartoons.  And, best yet, they have no words.

There is an introduction (in Spanish) from Máximo, who I assume is the cartoonist Max.  I assume this because Máximo doesn’t come up in searches and because the introduction talks about how Nano is the tiny everyman.  So Máximo is a funny twist on a tiny person.  Or so I think. (more…)

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Sergio De La Pava–Personae (2011)

Posted in Arlo Parks, Coronavirus, Death, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Futility, Glenn Gould, Huh?, Humiliation, Jean-Paul Sartre, Johann Sebastian Bach, Play (Drama), Poetry, Quarantine, Science Faction, Sergio De La Pava, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on September 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ARLO PARKS-Tiny Desk Concert #80 (September 15, 2020).

I had never heard of Arlo Parks before this set and then today Spotify recommended her album to me.  How about that.

Arlo Parks was born Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho in London.

She began writing poetry and songs because (according to her short bio) she spent her high school days “feeling like that Black kid in school who couldn’t dance for s***, listening to too much emo music and crushing on the girl in Spanish class.”

Accompanied by a guitar from her home in London, Parks opens with her latest single, “Hurt”, followed by the three songs that introduced her to the world and remind us that we really aren’t alone.

All of her songs sound similar in style–very gentle guitar and her soft, eloquent vocals.

“Hurt” is filled with nice details like

Charlie melts into his mattress
Watching Twin Peaks on his ones
Then his fingers find a bottle
When he starts to miss his mum

There’s a nice spoken word part–she has a lovely singing voice, but I enjoyed hearing her speaking voice as well.

It’s funny to hear a 19 year-old talk about introspection and reading through her “old journals.”  Especially since the next song, “Cola” is the first song she ever put out–way back in November 2018.

Playing “Cola” makes her reflect on the journey she;s had and what’s next to come.  It’s another pretty, gentle song with lots of specific details.

“Eugene” explores blurring the lines between romance and friendship.  It’s one of her favorite songs that she’s written.  It’s got a simple but really engaging guitar melody.

I had a dream we kissed
And it was all amethyst
The underpart of your eyes was violet
You hung a cigarette between your purple lips
We’ve been best buds since thirteen
I hold head back when you’re too lean
I hold the Taco Bell and you cried over Eugene

“Black Dog” is one of the most emotional songs she’s written.  It’s about mental health and has gotten a very string response from people.  Her voice is so tender, so delicate.  It’s quite lovely.

[READ: September 30, 2019] Personae

I really enjoyed De La Pava’s first and third books but somehow I missed this one, which is quite unlike the other two.  It is several hundred pages shorter and has far less of a narrative.  While the other books are chock full of details, this one feels like he was deliberately leaving things out.

Part 1 is called Our Heroine and begins with Detective Helen Tame.  She is the author of this report: “this Department is obsessed with reports and I am not; if I had to cop to any obsession it would be with the Truth.”

She is amusingly no nonsense.  When addressing a police officer on the case she says:

“You can go now,” I add, but he hesitates.  “That means leave in Etiquette.”

She is writing this report because she has found a dead body–a bloody dead body.  “He is more than century old; was.”  The victim an 111-year-old Colombian writer named Antonio Arce. (more…)

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Jessica Pan–Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes (2019)

Posted in Benevento/Russo Duo, Comedians, Drinking, Drugs, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Harry Potter, Introverts, Jessica Pan, Joe Russo, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Marco Benevento, Non-fiction, Portugal, Shyness, The Flaming Lips, Vacation on September 6, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BENEVENTO/RUSSO DUO-Play Pause Stop (2006).

This is the final release (so far) by the Benevento/Russo Duo.  There were two earlier ones that have not be reissued yet.  This follows in a similar style to the previous one, with great drumming and a wonderfully full sound from Benevento’s keys.

This album featured 9 songs and this reissue includes five live bonus tracks.  There’s a few shorter songs (under three minutes), but most are longer.  Like the title track, “Play Pause Stop” which is almost 8 minutes long.  It starts as a slow pretty melody with a lots of distortion on the keys.  There’s vocals on this track, but it still counts as an instrumental because the only words are whoa whoa–a happy inclusion for the chorus.

“Echo Park” is one of the shorter songs. It starts with simple piano melody and distorted washes of sound.  It turns into a super catchy, bouncy song.  Similarly, “Soba” starts slow and moody and turns into a rocking rager.

“Best Reason To Buy The Sun” features a lot of wild drumming.  It’s bookeneded by a pretty keyboard.  “Powder” opens with a pretty, staccato guitar melody.  The credits online don’t say who is playing the guitar.  The melody is looped as backwards solos are added.  It’s one of the trippier songs on the record until “Hate Frame” later on.

“Something For Rockets” opens like a Flaming Lips song with soaring chords.  It shifts to a singsong melody on the keys and then returns to the soaring melody.   The best title on the record is clearly “Walking, Running, Viking.”  It’s only 3 minutes long–a simple melody with a catchy solo near the end.

“Hate Frame: is 8 minutes long. It’s centered around a pulsing that sounds like an alarm followed by a rumbling bass.  By the middle of the song the music has turns utterly trippy, shooting off in all directions until it comes crashing back down with some fast frenetic drums.  The disc ends with “Memphis,” a slow loping song that sounds like it would work for a Western.

The bonus tracks are live versions of “Echo Park,” “Soba,” Walking, Running, Viking,” and “Something for Rockets” which all sound like jamming versions of the original.  The biggest change comes in the live version of “Play Pause Stop.”  It runs to nearly eleven minutes and stars with several minutes of noise and nonsense.  It’s surprising how long the noise goes on–they must have been having a blast.

[READ: August 31. 2020] Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come

I bought this book for my son on a whim.  It was his birthday and the title made me laugh.  Now, he’s not much of a reader these days and it’s pretty unlikely that he would read a book like this, anyhow.  I knew when I bought it that if he didn’t read it I would certainly give it a go.

I thought that this book was going to be a funny look at an introvert going out and having a hilariously awkward time at various events.  I assumed it was comic essays.  Boy was I wrong.  This is, as the subtitle says, a book about Jessica Pan’s decision to start doing things.  This may not sound that compelling and when I first realized what the book was, I was a little disappointed–I wanted funny essays.  But then I read on about the things she actually said “yes” to and the book became inspiring (even if I’ll never do the things she did).

Pan starts out by saying that she doesn’t think anyone needs to be “cured” (introvert extrovert or otherwise).  But that she was unhappy and wanted to make a change.

Then she divides people in to two categories–those who would happily go to the Glastonbury festival and those who watch it on TV as if it was a horror show.  Obviously, as a painfully shy introvert she would not be going to Glastonbury.

Nearly one third of the population identify as introverts–people who gain their energy from being alone.  Meanwhile, extroverts get their energy from being around other people.   But there are two other parameters: shy and outgoing.  Some introverts can be confident in groups or when giving a presentation–they just can’t take the stimulation of large crwds for extended periods of time.  Then there are other like her who are shy as well–this is what she felt was making her miss out on things. (more…)

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