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Archive for the ‘First Second :01’ Category

Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan and Pascal Dizin–City of Spies (2010)

Posted in C., First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Laurence Klavan, Nazis, Pascal Dizin, Phox, Susan Kim, Tiny Desk Concert on April 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

cityspiesSOUNDTRACK: PHOX-Tiny Desk Concert #423 (March 2, 2015).

phoxtinyPhox play pretty, quiet music (quiet for a six piece anyhow). There’s a 12 string guitar, banjo, bass drums and piano al held together by the lead vocals of Monica Martin.  Her dusky voice is quite lovely (as are the high backing vocals of the piano player).

“Kingfisher” is bright and chipper and that little trill at the end of the verses (and the song) is really catchy.

It’s always fun when artists are nervous about being in a small room–closely scrutinized.  Monica notes, “It’s so bright in here.”

“1936” is chock full of great harmonies (both backing vocals and when the whole group sings together).  It has an olde quality, especially when they start doing the “bum bum bum” in lovely harmony.

The final song is also lovely—the harmonies again, and the delightful times when the music drops out and its’ just piano or glockenspiel are really dynamic.  There’s even whistling!  I wonder if this is what the band sounds like live or if they are usually more rollicking.

This was a very (to quote Monica) “dreamy” show.  Watch it here.

[READ: December 24, 2014] City of Spies

I have dozens of posts about books I’ve read over the last few months that have been pushed back because of other things that I wanted to write.  So I’m going to start publishing these older posts–most of which are about comic books!

I had also decided to read all of the First Second Graphic Novels. There are a lot, and I got a whole bunch from the library all at one time.  I kind of burnt out on them so I haven’t read too many lately.  But now its time to see what I’ve been reading.

I had literally no idea what it would be about (spies, obviously).  So imagine my surprise to find out that it was also about the Nazis infiltrating America in the 1940s.  C. had read it a few days before me, and he said he liked it but after reading it myself, I have to find out just how much he understood.

It’s a clever book in which two kids (who are drawn rather simply–like Sunday funnies kids, which I liked)  try to bring down a secret Nazi spy ring in Manhattan in 1942. (more…)

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Ariel Cohn & Aron Nels Steinke–The Zoo Box (2014)

Posted in Animals, Ariel Cohn, Aron Nels Steinke, Children's Books, First Second :01, Funny (strange), The Not-Its!, Zoos on April 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

zooboxSOUNDTRACK: THE NOT-ITS-“Nose in a Book” (2014).

notitsIs it okay for parents to enjoy children’s music?   Like, even if your kids don’t really care about it?  I heard this song on the radio the other day and I thought it was so much fun.  My kids weren’t even in the room but I sang along anyway.

The song starts out with an interesting bass riff and feedback!  The guitar is nicely fuzzy–this is not a typical kids song.

Then the lyrics start–“Dad told me to turn out the light, but I just wanna read a couple more pages.”  The music in the verses is cool and even a little dark.  The chorus, on the other hand, is very poppy and fun to sing along with.

The bridge is a chant of Chapters 1-8, and the end of the song really rocks out.  It’s a totally great song, and clearly, I can relate.

Check it out at their bandcamp site.

[READ: March 26, 2015] The Zoo Box

As part of my decision to read all of the First Second publications (which I have been doing I just haven’t had a chance to post many of them recently), I knew that I wanted to read this book.  But I was delighted to see that Sarah brought it home to read to the kids.  And it seems like a good book to talk about for Easter.

The Zoo Box opens with two parents going out for the night.  They leave their older daughter in charge of their younger son.  There’s no fighting–the daughter is happy to be in charge, but the son isn’t upset by it.  And if they promise to be asleep when the parents get back, they will go to the zoo the next day.

As soon as the parents leave, the daughter suggests they play dress up in the attic.  I love that this is the idea she has and that he is excited by it.  And I love even more that dress up consists of full sized tiger and ape costumes.  It’s fantastic.  The kids growl and play (the attic is locked, but it seems very nice with a bed and plenty of space) and then they discover a box that says Do No Open. (more…)

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Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space 2 (2001) [translated 2006]

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Joann Sfar, Kevin Hearn, Outer Space, Pirates, Rheostatics, Sasha Watson, Superheroes, The Beatles, Translation, tagged on March 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sardineSOUNDTRACK: CENTENNIAL SECONDARY SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATRE-The Story of Harmelodia (2000).

Cover-CSSMT-HarmelodiaAs mentioned in yesterday’s post.  The Centennial Secondary School and Choir released their version of The Story of Harmelodia. This CD (which to the best of my knowledge is no longer available for purchase anywhere) is newly available from the Rheostaticslive website.  While the (very cool) cover is there, there’s no information about the musicians.

The disc is about 35 minutes long and it recreates most of the music from the original CD.  For reasons which I’m sure have to do with rights, they do not include “Monkeybird” (everyone’s favorite song) and the songs about the Wingophone.  Those songs were all written by Kevin Hearn. I’d be very surprised if Hearn didn’t give them the rights to the songs, so there must be something else at play.

They also do not include the narration.  This of course makes the story a lot less clear–although at this point I feel like the songs are just fun and sweet, even if they story is lost.

The school’s version is quite good.  The band sounds great (with a whole host of instruments).  While the opening music on the first track sounds a bit high school bandish (perhaps because it so spare) as soon as the choir kicks in it really ratchets up the quality of the music.  And it stays high throughout.

The choir is outstanding, and the variety of instruments (I can hear all the brass, an autoharp, synths (there’s some fun spacey keyboard sounds on “I am Drummstein”) and some electric guitars) makes for a really compelling collection of songs.

One of the biggest difference is that many of the songs have horns playing the main melodies. “Invisible Stairs” has a flute as the lead instrument.  It’s very pretty and I like that it plays the “twinkle twinkle” melody as a counterpoint to the proper melody. It’s a very pretty version.  I also love the way “The Music Room” came out.  And the mostly instrumental “The Sky Dreamed” sounds really lovely.

I don’t know how many lead singers there are (or what their names are, although judging by the concert, I assume it is the same kids).  The female lead as featured on “Home Again” is great.  I like the male lead a little less.  He sounds a but too stiff to me.  Although I do like that on many songs he gives his own reading of the material.

The final song, “Song of the Garden,” sounds terrific.  I love the way the two singers harmonize and the way they place a cool horns section (which reminds me of The Beatles) as the song trails out.

I am of course curious why the couldn’t release those missing songs.  But I’m more impressed that the school (presumably with different people) performed a stage version of the show in 2004 which was played live in several places.

[READ: December 5, 2014] Sardine in Outer Space 2

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.

This time the inner flap says “No Grownups Allowed (Unless they’re pirates or space adventurers),” and I found that I enjoyed book 2 quite a bit more than book 1. Perhaps the jokes just appealed to me a bit more–there were a number that I thought were very funny.

I enjoyed the double cross (well they pretty much all have a double cross) in The Brainwashing Machine.  But I really got a kick out of The Cha-Cha Fly.  When the fly bites you, you get stupid dance songs stuck in your head.  Nice premise–even funnier that the flies are named Britney, Christina, Justin and Clay. (more…)

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Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan & Faith Erin Hicks–Brain Camp (2010)

Posted in Faith Erin Hicks, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Laurence Klavan, Leslie and the LY's, Leslie Hall, Supernatural, Susan Kim on February 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

brain campSOUNDTRACK: LESLIE HALL-“Tight Pants/Body Roll” (2010).

lesliehallA friend of mine posted this video on Facebook and I had no idea what it was.  Another friend filled me in that the singer is Leslie Hall (check out her site, which is full of wonderfully gaudy design).  I think her band is called Leslie and the LY’s (or some variation) and they are from Ames, Iowa.

There’s something absolutely wonderful about not knowing a thing about them when you watch this video as it is so out there.  She does have a wikipedia page in addition to her website, so if you need to fill in unanswered questions, you can do that there.

In the meantime, just enjoy:

[READ: January 8, 2015] Brain Camp

Camp Fielding is a place for losers–people who can’t get into any other camp.  They often go in because they are stupid and yet after just a few months they come out like geniuses.  It is the perfect place for a couple of misfits like Jenna, a girl who is lost in her own imagination (while her 14 year old sister just got accepted into Harvard.  Heck, even her younger sister is embarrassed by her).  Or like Lucas, a boy who we first see breaking into cars and whose mother has basically given up on him.

Neither one is terribly excited to go and neither one is pleased about the other one (they share a ride together).  But once they get to camp and the boys are bullies, the girls are worse and the food is so disgusting as to be deemed completely inedible, they form a reluctant bond (with a dorky boy who is the butt of everyone’s jokes).

The weirder think about the camp is that they don’t actually teach anything–they just put kids in a classes and talk at them assuming they’ll just pick it up.  And they seem to. (more…)

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Derek Kirk Kim–Tune Book 2: Still Life (2013)

Posted in Alternate Reality, Art, Christmas Album, Derek Kirk Kim, Fears, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Les McClaine, Loreena McKennitt, Short Books, YA Books on December 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

stilllife SOUNDTRACK: LOREENA McKENNITT-A Winter Garden (1995).

mckenneitLoreena McKennitt has a beautiful voice.  This EP is a beautiful holiday selection (not really Christmas exactly, so that’s fine).  There’s five songs, one of them is from one of her albums as well.

“Coventry Carol” has an excellent full sound–McKennitt’s beautiful voice fits this olde song quite nicely.  “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” opens with Indian sounding drums and a cool fretless bass.  When the fiddles come in it retains a vaguely middle Eastern sound.  It’s a bit long, but very cool.

“Good King Wenceslas” has flutes and cello and nice percussion.  It’s a lovely version.  “Snow” opens with a pretty flute (that has since been co-opted by Titanic).  It’s a pleasant song if bordering on a wee bit too much.  “Seeds of Love” is a pretty song, but it doesn’t feel very seasonal to me.

Overall this is a nice winter record.  It’s not so much Christmasey as pagan.  It’s very pretty and the traditional instruments sound great.  The fact that it’s only 22 minutes is also nice.

[READ: December 19, 2014] Tune: Still Life

So I didn’t spoil the first book, but I can now safely reveal that Andy Go has signed up to be a human living in an alien zoo. He gets $250,000 for his year of service and he gets to go home for the weekends.  Not bad.  He is bummed that he didn’t get to tell Yumi that he loved her, but he can always go tell her this weekend, right?

In the meantime, he gets to enjoy that everything has been perfectly re-created to his specifications.  In fact, the aliens downloaded his memory and replicated everything exactly as he remembered it–his favorite foods, his favorite TV shows, even the magazines under his bed (wow).  Now he just has to learn to pee in front of gawkers and it will be the best job ever.

It even turns out that his bosses are nice.  Well, the one boss is.  She is young (and, yes, sexy even is she has no facial features) and pleasant to him.  She is also amazed by his art.  Sadly, her father is a mean ballbuster.  He hates his art.  In fact, he hates all art.  Their version of reality has done away with art and has ensured that no one has any creativity of any kind.  They even have news feeds piped into their heads 24 hours a day (or however long their day lasts).

Andy also learns that he has a neighbor–Mo.  He and Mo communicate through the air vents.  Mo is an amusing, teasing guy who gives Andy a hard time.  He also tells Andy two things that change Andy’s perception of his job.  The first is that they will send him a female eventually and the second is that the contract he signed stipulates that he will be in the zoo for life, not for a year.  Thud. (more…)

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Derek Kirk Kim–Tune Book 1: Vanishing Point (2012)

Posted in Alternate Reality, Art, Christmas Album, Derek Kirk Kim, Fears, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Short Books, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, YA Books on December 21, 2014| 1 Comment »

tune1 SOUNDTRACK: STUCK IN THE CHIMNEY (2000).

StuckinthechimneyThis is the second Parasol records Christmas sampler.  I was more excited about this one, but it turns out to be similarly mid-tempo and kind of dull.  Even the band I was excited about The Soundtrack of Our Lives created an uninspired song that I’d never listen to more than once.

THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES-“Jingle Hell (Stuck in the Chimney)” Done to the basic music of “Blister in the Sun” (but slightly different and on keyboard)—a punk blast which then gets really silly full of nonsense.  If this had been an indicator of the rest of the album, I may have enjoyed it more.  THE GREEN PAJAMAS-“O Holy Night” Guitar based, pretty if a little slow.  WHITE TOWN-“December” Nice harmonies a pretty song (even if the lyrics are rather dark).  NEILSON HUBBARD-“Merry Christmas (Whereever You May Be)”  I love that it opens with a toy piano (always fun) but then it slows down way too much.  ABSINTHE BLIND-“Silent Night” Guitar version (which is a nice change).  This is a quiet song with lots of singers—pretty but not sappy.  FONDA-“Last Christmas” I don’t generally like this song (what a weird sentiment) but this version’s simple strummed guitar is cool.  SUKILOVE-“X-Mas for Aliens” Slide guitar and a blues riff propel this slow, funny song.  GEORGE USHER GROUP-“Christmas in the Lion’s Den” Rocking guitar with a heavyish riff.  JENNIFER JACKSON-“Blue Christmas” Slow sad version of the song on simple guitar and vocals.  ERIK VOEKS-“Cruel Tide” A slow minor key riff lets you know this song is not a happy one.  DOLEFUL LIONS-“Jesus Christ” A slow song (I mean jeez look at their name) about Jesus’ birth.  VITESSE-“Ice & Ribbons” a new wave sound, but rather mopey.  FRIENDS OF SOUND-“I Don’t Want Presents” Cool guitar notes and interesting sounds but slow drawly female vocals.  JOHN HOEFFLEUR AND REBECCA RURY AND STEVE UCHEREK-“Christmas @ Friedrich’s” With his deep voice folkie guitar (sounds a bit like Mike Doughty) this song (which is kind of funny) is probably the catchiest song on both discs.  TOOTHPASTE 2000-“7-ELEVEN CHRISTMAS” I enjoyed Toothpaste 2000 on the other disc too.  This one is weird sounding fun and of course it being about 7-11 is also amusing. Then a rocking guitar comes in, and it’s even better.  JOE ALGERI-“Computer Xmas” Light song about getting cool stuff for Christmas.

Overall this disc is better than the first one.  But it’s not something I want to put on a lot.

[READ: December 15, 2014] Tune: Vanishing Point

I love everything Derek Kirk Kim does.  But this series may be the best one yet.  It is funny, it has great art and it is ever surprising.

Andy Go, an art student wakes up to find himself in, a replica of his house being watched by a whole bunch of aliens.  What the heck?

We flash back to see Andy and his two art school friends congratulating themselves on finishing yet another year of school.  They bemoan their lack of coolness until Yumi, the girl who Andy has a massive crush on, comes over.  She celebrates with them and they all wonder what they will do next year.  Until Andy says that he is dropping out of school.  He says he doesn’t need a piece of paper to say that he is an artist.  He has applied for jobs all over the place and they should just come pouring in.  You know what that means. (more…)

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Vera Brosgot–Anya’s Ghost (2011)

Posted in Christmas Album, Death, Сырники, First Second :01, Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Russia, Set at School, Short Books, Supernatural, They Might Be Giants, Vera Brosgot, Violence, YA Books on December 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

anyaSOUNDTRACK: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS-Holidayland (2001).

tmbg This was one of the first Christmas albums I bought, and i would have bought it regardless because it is They Might Be Giants.  As far as Christmas records goes, it’s pretty short: 5 songs in 11 minutes.

“Santa Claus” has a funky bass line and a snotty attitude. There’s loud guitars, a honking horn and plenty of NOTHING!  “Santa’s Beard” is an old super fun song, classic TMBG.
“Feast of Lights” is a simple song on toy piano and real piano, a Hanukkah-based kinda sad song with a bit of hope in the end.  “Careless Santa” is an upbeat song about Santa spoiling Christmas for him (cops are involved!). It has some loopy synth sounds and wild drumming at the end.

“O Tannenbaum” The only traditional song, this is a slow version.  It opens with horns in the vocal melody for the first minute and then John F’ sings in German for the final minute.

I’ve always enjoyed this admittedly slight holiday record.

[READ: December 18, 2014] Anya’s Ghost

Sarah was surprised to see that I’d brought this home because she read it for her YA contest this year.  She also liked it quite a lot.

Brosgol wrote and drew the book and I love her illustration style.  It is simple but very effective.  She draws a normal looking girl quite effectively (and the embarrassing underwear shot is quite funny).  But she also knows how to draw the skinny, “hot” girl and make her look sweet as well.  And lets not forget how well she conveys the ghost in the story, too.

Anya is in a private high school (which her mother can barely afford).  Anya’s family moved to America (from Russia) when she was little.  She learned to speak English and does not have an accent.  But she is nervous about being seen as a FOB (fresh off the boat).  And as such she avoids Dima, a new to America Russian boy who studies hard and is a real dork (and suffers accordingly).

As the book opens, Anya’s mother is making Сырники (Syrniki–fried quark (a dairy product) pancakes, garnished with sour cream, jam, honey, or apple sauce–YUM!).  But Anya is upset that she’s making yet another fattening food.  Now that she’s in America she’s not interested in her mother’s claims that “in Russia being fat meant you were a rich man.”

She takes a bag but throws it out on her way to school (travesty).  Then she meets her (only) friend Siobhan.  Siobhan is kind of bitter and a little nasty (but funny).  She is drawn very angrily though–she’s the one character I don’t like the look of.  When Anya doesn’t let Siobhan bum a cigarette, Siobhan gets mad and stomps off.  Anya goes off in the other direction and…falls into a hole. (more…)

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Joann Sfar & Emmanuel Guibert–The Professor’s Daughter (1997) [translated 2007]

Posted in Adventure, Alexis Siegel, Christmas Album, Egyptology, Elvis Presley, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Joann Sfar, Romance, The Blue Hawaiians, Translation, YA Books on December 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

profSOUNDTRACK: THE BLUE HAWAIIANS-Christmas on Big Island (1995).

blue ha I was to get this disc used because I already knew one of their songs and I thought that a surfing Christmas album would be fun.

So I was pleased to add this to our collection.  But upon listening to it, I learned that while I enjoy surf guitar instrumentals, I do not enjoy the Hawaiian style of music popularized by Elvis.  This album features both of these types of songs.

The songs that I like include these instrumental surf guitar renditions: “Christmas Time is Here” (the Peanuts song); “White Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” (the guitar is a little too untamed for my liking in this version).  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a good instrumental, but there’s a very lengthy middle section that makes the song too long.  “We Four Kings (Little Drummer Boy)” is my favorite track on the album and the one that made me look into more from them.  It’s a great surf guitar rendition of “We Three Kings” with some excellent tribal drumming as a segue into a surf version of “Little Drummer Boy.”

The vocal songs are fine, they’re just not my style.  “Jingle Jangle” and “Blue Christmas” are just way too Elvis-y for my liking (we actually just watched some of Blue Hawaii so it’s in my head).  “Big Island” stars with Hawaiian style drums which I like, then it turns into a kind of blues song.  “Mele Kalikamak” is my favorite song with vocals, probably because of its nontraditional nature (to me).  It ends with about 20 seconds of waves breaking.

“Enchanted Xmas” ends the disc with some Western sounding guitars and some cool wordless backing vocals.  It gives the whole thing an eerier (or enchanted) feel.  Pretty cool.

So something of a mixed bag, but a great album to select tracks for a fun Christmas mix.

[READ: December 15, 2014] The Professor’s Daughter

From the team who brought us Sardine comes this very different kind of story.  Interestingly, in this book, it is Sfar who wrote it and Guibert who drew it.  And I have to say I like it a lot more than the Sardine books (both in content and drawing style).

The story is quite unexpected.  As it opens, a young lady (in Victorian times) is seen stepping out with, well, with a mummy.  It turns out that he is Imhotep IV and she has taken him from his holding spot and is going about town with him.  (And no, it isn’t all a dream.  At least I don’t think it is).

They go out for tea (which makes him tipsy).  He causes all manner of mayhem, including offending someone who slaps his face and challenges him to a duel.  Later when the police come, the professor’s daughter takes matters into her own hands (which only makes the situation worse!).  A man is killed and the mummy is the suspect (which leads to a few very funny scenes). (more…)

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Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space (2000) [translated 2006]

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Joann Sfar, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Outer Space, Pirates, Sasha Watson, Sufjan Stevens, Superheroes, Translation on December 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

sardineSOUNDTRACK: SUFJAN STEVENS and HIS UNWITTING COHORTS present I am Santa’s Helper even more songs for Christmas Vol. 7 (2007).

sufjan 7This is the first of Sufjan’s Christmas albums to really deviate from the style of the first six.  First off, there are 24 songs on the disc and second, it is 42 minutes long.  Most of the songs are between 1 and 2 minutes, although there are a couple of longer ones too.  There are a large number of songs that are traditional sounding and which have a beautiful chorale of voices supporting it.  But interspersed with these are some nonsensical tracks that sound mostly like goofy kids songs–out of tune, hastily created, sloppy and a lot of fun (I imagine he recorded these songs with the adults’ children while they were in between takes).  It’s surprising that the songs are interspersed like they are since the serious one are so pretty and the weird ones are so weird.

 It’s a ramshackle collection with some real highlights.

“Christ The Lord Is Born” pretty piano instrumental under a minute long.
“Christmas Woman” a big song with lots of orchestration (and clocking in at over 5 minuets).  With lots of backing vocals and a crazy sloppy guitar solo. I love it.
“Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light” 1 minute of piano and chorus: traditional and pretty (this is a Bach song).
“Happy Family Christmas” piano and slightly wonky guitar and after the first verse a bunch distorted chaotic nonsense (with someone “singing” a guitar solo).  The first really weirdo song on a Christmas release of his.
“Jingle Bells” Continuing with the weird style, the “dashing through the snow” part is done with a very off guitar melody and kids laughing during the “laughing all the way” part. It’s silly and funny.
“Mysteries Of The Christmas Mist” 2 minutes of piano and other noises (this is one of many short Sufjan originals).
“Lift Up Your Heads Ye Mighty Gates” another pretty choral piece with many voices.
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas” crazy nonsense of sloppy silly singing and crazy out of tune guitars.
“Ah Holy Jesus” a slow pretty piano song with chorus
“Behold! The Birth Of Man, The Face Of Glory” a slow piano number, also pretty.
“Ding-a-ling-a-ring-a-ling” raucous and wild, with crazy guitars.  It’s 2 minutes of silly nonsense. It ends with someone saying “let’s do a real song”
“How Shall I Fitly Meet Thee?” pretty piano instrumental with voices.
“Mr. Frosty Man” sloppy guitars and nonsense.
“Make Haste To See The Baby” accordion and piano in a slow sombre song.
“Ah Holy Jesus” (reed organ version) this is the second version of this song.
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” straightforward and pretty with some over-orchestration later in the song
“Morning” pipe organ and flute in a nice instrumental.
“Idumea” the vocal chorale comes back on this sad song.  It is over 3 minutes long and is rather disturbing.
“Eternal Happiness Or Woe” a creepy kind of song with ringing bells and sounds of, well, woe.
“Ah Holy Jesus” [a cappella] the prettiest version on the disc.
“I Am Santa’s Helper” this is a funny song in which the only words are “I am Santa’s helper, you are Santa’s slave.”
“‘Maoz Tzur’ (Rock Of Ages)” a 42 second traditional Jewish hymn done on piano.
“Even The Earth Will Perish And The Universe Give Way” a low bass organ opens this final track on this long and often times weird Christmas disc.

But this is not the weirdest of Sufjan’s Christmas EPs.

[READ: December 5, 2014] Sardine in Outer Space

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.  And I fear that this is one series that I’m really not very interested in finishing.

The inner flap says No Grownups Allowed, so I imagined that the story would be funny and a little naughty.

But really it’s just kind of uninspired.  Sardine is a young girl who works with (or lives with anyhow) the pirate Yellow Shoulder (who is apparently her uncle?) on his outer space pirate ship.  They spend nearly every story (each story is about ten pages) battling the evil (and suitably stupid) Supermuscleman and his evil henchman Doc Krok (a weird orange creature who looks like a walking sweet potato).  There’s also Little Louise, a boy who is Yellow’s..henchman? and may not be all that bright and a cat creature who doesn’t really do much. (more…)

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Box Brown-Andre the Giant: Life and Legend (2014)

Posted in Andre the Giant, Biography, Box Brown, Christmas Album, Drinking, First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Jealousy, Violence, Wrestling on December 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

andreSOUNDTRACK: STOCKINGS BY THE FIRE (2007).

stockThis is a Starbucks compilation (Starbucks is pretty good for Christmas compilations).  But I find that the overall vibe of this disc is too mellow for my liking.  Most of the songs are quite pretty, but it feels like a Christmas Party for one by your lonesome rather than a party proper.  Of course, the picture on the cover suggests a romantic night in, so maybe that’s the vibe they’re going for (it’s still kind of sad though).

RAY CHARLES & BETTY CARTER-“Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”  There’s are dozens of versions of this song.  I like this one fine, but it’s not one of my faves (although Ray has some good turns of phrase).  But I think Betty’s voice may be too squeaky for me.
SARAH McLACHLAN-“I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” McLachlan has a beautiful voice, but I like her earlier more robust singing than her latter day TV Commercial songs.  So this winds up being very pretty but a little mopey.  It’s also way too long.
FRANK SINATRA-“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is also a little slower than I remember.  But I have to assume that if Frank did it this way, this is the tempo it’s meant to be.
HEM-“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has quiet, whispered version. It’s pretty, if rather stripped down (just piano and chimes).
ELLA FITZGERALD-“Sleigh Ride” is a great version, full of high spirits and fun.  Ella is awesome.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT-“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” is also a slow version.  Perhaps this song is slower than I realize.  It’s a very Wainwright-sounding version with his wonderful warble.
HERBIE HANCOCK-“River” is pretty–Corinne Bailey Rae’s voice is lovely, although I don’t care for the jazzy accompaniment.

The next few songs are the highlight of the disc to me:
JACK JOHNSON-“Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” is a great version.  Johnson’ voice suits this very well an I love that he added an extra verse about being nice to Rudolph.
THE BIRD AND THE BEE-“Carol of the Bells” has a wonderful trippy quality.  I found out last year that The Bird and the Bee do my favorite version of the 12 Days of Christmas, which is sadly unavailable on record anywhere.  But this version of “Carol of the Bells” has the same qualities that I love in the 12 days.  Love this version.
A FINE FRENZY-“Let It Snow” there’s something wonderfully breathy about this version that I like a lot.  It works very well with The Bird and the Bee song.
NAT KING COLE-“The Christmas Song” is one of my favorite Christmas songs ever.
DEAN MARTIN-“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” is another classic version of this track.

Those few tracks are the big highlight for me.
DIANA KRALL-“Winter Wonderland” I don’t care for the way she sings this although the musical accompaniment is cool. And I do like “frolic and play the Canadian way.”
MAHALIA JACKSON-“Do You Hear What I Hear?” I feel like I am supposed to really like this version, but I really do not like it at all. It is way too melodramatic
JOHN LEGEND-“It Don’t Have to Change” not my style of music at all, I’d skip this if it came up on shuffle.  It’s also not really a Christmas song even though it does mention Christmas.
AIMEE MANN-“White Christmas” Aimee tends to write beautiful downer songs.  And you can tell by the opening thuds of the rums that this is not going to be an uptempo thriller.  But Mann has a great voice and a great sense of arrangement and this song ends this quiet disc quite nicely.

[READ: December 4, 2014] Andre the Giant

I really enjoyed this biography of wrestler and actor Andre the Giant (released by our friends at First Second).  I’ve always been a fan of him, but I really didn’t know that much about him.  And, honestly I would never have wanted to read a whole biography about him.  So this was a perfect bite-sized chunk of information about the legend.

Brown opens the book with a discussion of the “fakeness” of wrestling.  It’s a great summary of the “controversy” and how it has been dealt with, especially now that Vince McMahon is running WWE.

And then we move on to Andre. (more…)

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