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Archive for the ‘Harper’s’ Category

Rebecca Evanhoe–“They Were Awake” (Harper’s, September 2014)

Posted in Diego el Cigala, Dreams, Harper's, Rebecca Evanhoe, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on May 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harp septSOUNDTRACK: DIEGO EL CIGALA-Tiny Desk Concert #437 (May 1, 2015).

diegoDiego El Cigala has a beautiful voice which sounds to my ear like the strained/aching style of the Gipsy Kings’ singer.  It is just him and his accompanist (Jaime Calabuch) on piano–which sounds very clear and pretty.

It amuses me that through the whole show he keeps playing with his long beard—an almost nonchalant reaction for someone who seems to be singing so passionately.

In the write up Felix Contreras says that El Cigala (Spanish for ‘Norway Lobster’),  is a game changer in the world of flamenco music.  I have literally no experience with this and can’t comment on it.  But Contreras says that he uses his voice for boleros, copla, tangos, jazz and combinations of the above.  I can hear all that in the music he has chosen, I just can’t comment on why it’s a game changer.

The three songs he sings are “Soledad,” “Vete de Mi” and ”Voda Loca.”  And they all sound really beautiful.

[READ: April 15, 2015] “They Were Awake”

This brief story is an interesting one.  Nothing actually happens in it–a group of ladies eat a potluk and share their dreams (actual dreams, not pie in the sky dreams).  Then they head home.

Nothing’s worse than hearing someone else’s dreams, but since this is a story, the dreams are interesting.  And indeed, they are quite telling.

They each talk about how their dreams have been anxious as of late.

Becca says she dreamed she owed money to the gas company.

Emma says she dreamed her ex-lover demanded that she appraise his art and he locked her in his flat until she did so.  When they ask if she was raped, she says, “Of course not.” (more…)

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Ben Lerner–“The Weight” (Harper’s, September 2014)

Posted in 99%, Ben Lerner, Excerpt, Harper's, José González, Tiny Desk Concert on May 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harp septSOUNDTRACK: JOSÉ GONZÁLEZ-Tiny Desk Concert #436 (April 29, 2015).

joseI really like José González.  The Swedish singer is one of the most soft-spoken singers I know.  His guitar playing is gentle and quiet (although more complex than it seems at first) and most of his songs sound, well, kind of the same.  But it’s more of a “I know what I’m getting” from him rather than an ”all his songs sound the same” vibe.

It’s fun watching his sing these songs because he barely moves, he barely even seems to raise his voice.  He is so mellow.

For the first song, “Open Book” he is accompanied on (lovely) backing harmonies by just one fellow (sometimes NPR forgets to include the band members in the credits).

On the second song, “With The Ink Of A Ghost,” three more guys come in and add more beautiful harmonies and a xylophone and a clarinet solo.

The final song, “Every Age” features the percussion of a tambourine and the clarinet player slapping his thigh and snapping his fingers…that’s the kind of raucousness you get from José González.

It’s a delight.

[READ: April 16, 2015] “The Weight”

This is an excerpt from 10:04 Lerner’s latest novel.

As with many excerpts, it’s not clear if the entire novel is about what the excerpt is about or if there’s a lot more going on.

This excerpt focuses on the narrator (in first person) as he welcomes an Occupy Wall Street protester into his house. The protestor has been in Zucotti park for a few weeks.  We learn that “civilians” have been offering protestors showers and food via Craigslist.  The protester took the narrator up on his offer.

The story stays in the apartment.  It begins in the kitchen with the narrator musing that he has never actually made food for another human being before (he’s making the guy some tofu and veg stir fry as a warm meal).  He realizes that people have made him food a lot, but he has never reciprocated. He gets mixed feeling about his–not helping people in the past but doing something good now (even if it is nothing compared to what this guy is doing). (more…)

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Isaac Bashevis Singer–“The Cafeteria” (New Yorker, December 28, 1968)

Posted in Bob Dylan, David Albahari, Dorothy Straus, Gord Downie, Harper's, Holocaust, Isaac Bashevis Singer, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Sean Cullen, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, Translation, tagged on May 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

1968_12_28-200SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON (November 08, 2001).

horsetavThis is the final show for 2001 at the Rheostatics Live website.  This show is the second of eleven (11!) straight shows at The Horseshoe.  Since it was part of their Green Sprouts “week,” it is chock full of guests.

Kevin Hearn is playing this night (and a few others), but there’s also guest vocals from Sean Cullen and Gord Downie!

The recording is not quite two hours which I assume means that parts were cut off.  I mean, a Rheos show that’s under two hours during Green Sprouts week?  Unheard of.  Earlier that evening Bob Dylan was playing in town, so it seems like the early parts of the show were a bit quieter than usual.

The show stars with “Fat” which sounds like it may have been coming in from something else or that’s the intro music–hard to say exactly.  Then they play two new songs–“The Fire” (with a funny joke about someone’s folk apparatus (a harmonica)) and “We Went West.”  Then comes their first guest, Canadian comedian and songwriter Sean Cullen.  They play his Stompin’ Tom tribute/parody “I’ve Been Beaten All Over This Land.”

I love the version of “Junction Foil Ball” with th every amusing comment that a Globe and Mail reviewer described one part of the song as “a hippo jumping into a giant puddle of mud.”

There’s a very cool section that’s a Kevin special.  Songs from Group of 7 and Harmelodia: Boxcar Song, Landscape And Sky, The Blue Hysteria, Yellow Days Under A Lemon Sun, Easy To Be With You, Loving Arms and I Am Drumstein.

Then Gord Downie comes out–sadly his introduction is cut off, so we don’t get to hear what they say about him (or the fan reaction).  They start in the middle of his song “Chancellor” from Coke Machine Glow.  Then they play “Canada Geese.” And then Dave asks if they can sing one of the Rheos’ songs (“sure thing, Tim, uh, Dave”).  Ha.  And Gord sings “Take Me in Your Hand.”

There’s a great version of “Stolen Car” and they end the show with three songs from the then new album: “P.I.N.,” “Mumbletypeg” and “Satan is the Whistler.” It’s the best live version of “Satan” that I’ve heard so far–perfect whistling, and they don’t mess up the fast part at the end.

I’m sure the other ten nights were equally great.  But this is all we have to close out 2001.

[READ: May 12, 2015] “The Cafeteria”

I read this story because it was alluded to in David Albahari’s “Hitler in Chicago.”  In Albahari’s story, a character on a plane is reading Singer’s book and the person next to him asks if he knows Singer’s story about a woman seeing Hitler in New York.

Indeed, in this story, there is a woman who sees Hitler in New York, so it was a nice full circle, and I applaud Albahari for playing around with an extant story like that.

This story, translated from the Yiddish by Singer and Dorothy Straus, is set in Manhattan.  The narrator, Aaron, has lived there for nearly 30 years–about as long as he lived in Poland.  He has many friends who he meets up with in the cafeteria.  They speak Yiddish and talk about the Holocaust or the state of Israel.  He looks forward to talking with them but he is a busy many (writing novels or articles) so he can’t stay too long.

Most of the people he meets with are men, but one day a woman, who looked younger than the rest of them, appeared.  She spoke Polish, Russian and some Yiddish.  She had been in a prison camp in Russia.  The men hovered around her, listening to her every word–she was surprisingly upbeat. (more…)

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David Albahari–“Hitler in Chicago” (Harper’s, October 2014)

Posted in David Albahari, Ellen Elias-Bursać, Excerpt, Harper's, Isaac Bashevis Singer, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Short Story, Stompin' Tom Connors, tagged on May 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harperioctSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Icehouse, Victoria, BC (July 18 2001).

ice-house-oyster-bar-tofinoAfter playing the free show earlier that afternoon, the Rheos played a show at The Icehouse that evening.  And it seems like quite a number of people showed up.  And they were not disappointed.  They also got to see Michael Phillip Wojewoda on drums.

Although the show begins with some slightly sketchy sound quality, it clears up pretty quickly.  This show starts with a bunch of great older material “King of the Past,” “Fat,” “Northern Wish.”  There’s an amazing guitar solo in “Christopher.” And “Fat” is one of the best live versions I’ve heard.

When they play “Four Little Songs” it gives MPW a chance to sing his bit.  But when someone requests “Guns” Dave says that MPW doesn’t do poetry.  At what I believe is a fan’s request, the play “The Pooby Song,” and then joke that they are going to play the entire Nightlines Sessions. 

Then they talk about Stompin’ Tom Connors and how they met a 65-year-old man who scares the Canadian into you.  This is an intro to “The Ballad of Wendel Clark” which includes two Stompin’ Tom fragments “Gumboot Clogeroo” and “The Ketchup Song.”  The seven minute version of “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” ends with a crazy riff and noisy drums–a rare jam section.  There’s more great drums on “Song of Flight” and excellent harmonies on “California Dreamline.”

This is a really fantastic show–one of their best.  And as Lucky notes the “Dopefiends -> California Dreamline -> Song of Flight -> Self-Serve -> Winter Comes Reprise” is killer.  The end of the show tacks on an amazing version of “Horses.”  But it doesn’t seem like it’s from this show.  The sound is a little different, and it seems pretty certain that the night ended after “Record Body Count.”  But who knows.

[READ: April 19, 2015] “Hitler in Chicago”

This short story, from the book Learning Cyrillic, is fascinating in the way it begins as one thing and then turns into something else entirely.  David Albahari is a Serbian novelist and the story was translated by Ellen Elias-Bursać.

As the story opens, the narrator talks about how afraid he is of flying on planes.  He would much rather ride by carriage.  Why is everyone in such a hurry, anyway?  But he needs to fly and so he does.  He pays careful attention to the stewardesses and then tries as quickly as possible to fall asleep.

On this flight to North America, he falls asleep pretty well, but when the book he was reading falls off his lap, it wakes him up.  His seat mate picks up the book and smiles.  The book is by Isaac Bashevis Singer and is called Enemies, A Love Story (a real book).  The woman says that knows Singer and asks if he has read the story where Singer met Hitler in New York.  He has.

Then she says,

“I spent a night with him.”
“Hitler?”
“No, she said, I would never have allowed myself such a thing.  I meant Singer.”

(more…)

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Robert Boswell–“The House on Bony Lake” (Harper’s, October 2014)

Posted in Death, Harper's, Rheostatics, Robert Boswell, Sex, Short Story, tagged on May 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harperioctSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Centennial Square, Victoria, BC (July 18 2001).

victoriaThis concert was a free outdoor show outside of City Hall in Victoria.  It was in the afternoon and the band also played a paid show later that night.  How interesting.  They even joke at the end wondering if anyone will be coming to their show that night.  Someone asks if it will be the same songs and Dave says yes, and same sweat too.  They have a good rapport with the audience (the fact that it is outside makes the crowd sound really tiny although I imagine it wasn’t).

It’s also the first show (online anyhow) to feature Michael Phillip Wojewoda on drums.

The sound is a little odd here, even though it is a soundboard recording.  Maybe it’s because of the outdoor atmosphere of the location–perhaps they mixed it differently?  I have no idea.

They play most of the songs from, NotSS, but there’s also a few classics like “Stolen Car” and “Saskatchewan.”  They even play a great rendition of “Junction Foil Ball” which Dave says reveals was on their Nightlines record but that they re-recorded for the new one (which was not out yet).  Martin explains that the origin of the story is about a guy who collects the tin foil from cigarette wrappers and makes a ball out of them.

In “CCYPA” there’s along part with no singing—it seems as if something went wrong.  The volume also rises and falls a bit which is weird.  There’s a similar pause in “I Fab Thee” where Martin resumes singing ooh ooh ooh.  He explains that “P.I.N.” is played on a tenor guitar.  And then later they joke that they were going to name their album Kid, Eh?

This may be the first time they’ve played “In It Now” at least that I know of.  I love when they play “Satan is the Whistler” but they never seem to get the end right—this one is no exception.

The end, “Saskatchewan” is amazing—a very slow dramatic rendition.  It’s a nice show and as Lucky says in the notes, “Always a treat to see the Rheos twice in one day!”

[READ: April 15, 2015] “The House on Bony Lake”

Boswell crams a novel’s worth of information into this long short story.  It begins as Paul wakes in his Airstream. He is next to Melinda and they are talking about old TV.  She is naked and asks if he wants to have sex again.  He says he’s too sleepy.

Then we get some back story.   Paul’s marriage is over and since that happened he has slept with several women in the area–none of them resemble his wife.

And then we go further back–“In the whole of the twentieth century, the Iris clan floated just two offspring to the shores of adulthood.”  And floated is a good choice of words, because the family, all those generations had lived near Bony Lake the whole time.

His grandfather was Colman Sheelin Iris (there’s an amusing story about their last name).  He built the house that Paul grew up in but he refused any changes to it–no electricity, no upgrades–during his life time.  And during his lifetime his wife bore four children.  Only one, Sean, survived to adulthood. (more…)

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Jess Walter–“To the Corner” (Harper’s, July 2014)

Posted in Adele, Fears, Guns, Harper's, Jess Walter, Jesse Boykins III, Jessie Ware, Racism, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Tracey Ullman on May 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: JESSIE WARE-Tiny Desk Concert #434 (April 20, 2015).

jessieI don’t know Jessie Ware.  She is one of those singers who has a beautiful singing voice which totally masks the fact that her speaking voice has a hugely pronounced British accent (have you heard Adele speak?).  Ware’s speaking voice sounds a bit like Tracey Ullman, which I find charming.

She sings three songs.  They feature her and an electric guitar (played by Joe Newman) and they are soulful and pretty.  On the first song “Say You Love Me,” she is accompanied by her opening act Jesse Boykins III (meaning that this post features a Jess, a Jessie and a Jesse).

The other two songs are “Wildest Moments” and “Champagne Kisses.”

The blurb says that her shows are usually pretty big nightclub dramatic events (which is hard to imagine given how sweet she is).  I can see her really belting out these songs.  She sounds very good in this subdued setting, although it’s not my kind of music at all.

You can watch Jesse and Jessie here.

[READ: April 13, 2015] “To the Corner”

I didn’t really enjoy the other two items in this month’s Harper’s and I was a little disappointed with the way this story started out.  Interestingly, I checked and I didn’t like the way the last story of Walter’s that I wrote about started either.

This story starts with a bunch of kids–shirtless, pants hanging low, standing on a street corner. They are being tough, watching as the girl from their bus walks by.  And I just thought–yawn.

But after a few paragraphs, the perspective shifts to an old man who is watching the kids.  The man has lived in this house for nigh on fifty years.  He has been through boom and bust and bust and bust.  His siblings have all moved away and their houses are worth a fortune, but he remained, and his neighborhood has gotten worse.  He looks at the boys and their whole attitude offends him.  He, Leonard, worked hard all of his life: Korea, G.I. Bill, Junior College, marriage, kids.  And his kids are successes (even the one who listens to right-wing talk radio).  But look at these layabouts. (more…)

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Diane Cook–“Bounty” (Harper’s, August 2014)

Posted in Diane Cook, Drinking, Edmar Casteneda, End of the World, Harper's, Short Story, The Last Man on Earth, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on May 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

augustSOUNDTRACK: EDMAR CASTANEDA-Tiny Desk Concert #46 (February 8, 2010).

edmarOne thing that’s awesome about the Tiny Desk Concerts is that they give me an intimate look at a band I love.  The second awesome thing is when you get to see an artist who is truly amazing, but whom you realistically would never encounter anywhere else.

Edmar Casteneda plays the Colombian harp.  And he plays the harp like no one else I have ever heard.  His genre is Latin jazz He uses the bass strings for rhythm and the high strings like a guitar.  And most interestingly is the way he uses his hands like a percussive addition on the strings.  I’ve never seen anyone else play the harp (usually an ethereal instrument) so aggressively before.  He sounds like several people playing at once.

Between songs he explains traditional Colombian harp playing and improvisation.  He demonstrates the way his version is different from the traditional way of playing.  And then he explains the fretboard on the harp which allows him to create sharps (which is pretty cool).

He only plays two songs, but the set is 15 minutes, so these are long songs.  And they are really gorgeous.  I prefer the first song, “Entre Cuerdas” to the slightly more new agey sounds of “Jesus de Nazareth,” although they are both mesmerizing.  At around 10 minutes, his hands are simply a blur–how does he know what strings he is hitting?

It’s kind of a shame that the dominant camera angle is face on because you really can’t see what he’s doing all that well, and his hands are really marvelous.  But it’s a small quibble with such an enjoyable performance.

Without a doubt check this out.

[READ: April 4, 2015] “Bounty”

This story begins with a flood and a dead body.  And very few other people left alive.

We have been watching The Last Man on Earth on Fox and this idea of the last person on earth is being explored on that show.  Interestingly, in this story, things are different. The owner of the house isn’t the last man on earth.  In fact, while he is safe on his mountain top house (while water levels are rising), people keep coming to his door asking for food or water.  And he is pissed about it.  He slams the door in their faces and yells at them to get lost.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a story about the end times in which someone was so unpleasant.

There’s a house on another hill not far from him.  And that house is absolutely full of refugees.  This is the main character’s neighbor–and they don’t like each other.  This generosity gives the protagonist even more reason not to like his neighbor. (more…)

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Silvina Ocampo–“The Basement” (Harper’s, August 2014)

Posted in Daniel Balderston, Dave Rawlings Machine, Excerpt, Gillian Welch, Harper's, Silvina Ocampo, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation on May 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

august SOUNDTRACK: DAVE RAWLINGS MACHINE & GILLIAN WELCH-Tiny Desk Concert #45 (February 1, 2010).

daveI had never heard of Dave Rawlings (although I have heard of Gillian Welch). He is evidently a producer and session musician.  And the recording of this Tiny Desk Concert is timed with the release of his first album.

Rawlings and Welch (who sang on a number of tracks on the album) play a mix of country and alt-country/folk.  And while their voices work great together, I think it’s Rawlings’ guitar playing that really sets this Concert apart.

They play four songs, and if the blurb is correct, the first was a warm up that sounded great so they kept it.  That first song is Bill Monroe’s “I’m on My Way Back to the Old Home” a rollicking whirlwind of guitar fun with heavy country flavors.  The second song they play is the lead track on the album.  “Ruby” is a mellow ballad which reminds me of two other songs (see if you think the same).

The third song they introduce as “a depressing song.”  It is minor key and slow.  The melody is surprisingly catchy.  Although when it shifts to Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer,” it’s not because the songs sound alike but because they have the same spirit.  Rawlings’ voice doesn’t sound like Young’s at all, but he sounds great with this great song (and Welch’s harmonies are perfect).

The final song “Sweet Tooth” is a very country (sill country) song.  What I like about it is that Rawlings puts his capo on the 10th fret!  It’s no a song I’d listen to, but it’s cool to know they can play it.

Check it out here.

[READ: April 4, 2015] “The Basement”

Ocampo was an Argentinian poet and short story writer.  This is a short story from Ocampo’s Thus Were Their Faces. which was translated by Daniel Balderston.

I didn’t really get this story.  It is essentially about a woman living in a basement apartment.  She says it is very cold in winter but an Eden in the hot summer months. She has very few things with her and no electricity or running water, but she is very clean.  And she doesn’t have to pay rent.  The lady upstairs feeds her (and she has candy, as well).

This entire excerpt is one very long paragraph and as the paragraph moves along she beings talking about the mice who share her place with her (they are preferable to the flies that are so prevalent in Buenos Aires). (more…)

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Benjamin Kunkel–“As Flies to Wanton Boys” (Harper’s, July 2014)

Posted in Benjamin Kunkel, Excerpt, Harper's, Play (Drama), Rosa Díaz, Tiny Desk Concert on May 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: ROSA DíAZ-Tiny Desk Concert #433 (April 17, 2015).

rossaI find Díaz’ voice a little unsettling. This surprises me because I usually like voices that are unconventional.   But I find her singing to be perhaps too vibrato filled?  Too emphatic maybe? It is especially harsh when set off against the beautiful backing vocal of cellist Daniel de Jesús.

I like the sentiments in Díaz’ songs, like “Beware Of Men Who Don’t Remember Their Dreams” but I don’t like the way she sings it–especially the end.  The second song is sung in Spanish.  “Lloronsito” is a term of endearment usually used for women, but says she dedicates it to the male crybaby.  I prefer this song, perhaps because it feels more natural in Spanish?

“Daddy Said” has a more bouncy melody.  Again there’s some great lyrics, but Díaz really lets loose.  The notes say that she is passionate and that’s clear, although I fear that she kind of goes overboard.  Maybe it would sound better if there were more musicians to really get into it with her?  But it’s not like her voice is bad.  At a few points she and Daniel harmonize beautifully.

I just didn’t love this set.

[READ: April 11, 2015] “As Flies to Wanton Boys”

This is an excerpt from Kunkel’s play Buzz.

In the excerpt there are three characters: a college girl (who is conducting an interview), Tom (the playwright being interviewed) and Tom’s wife who we hear on the answering machine.

The college girl wants Tom to talk about his thoughts about the state of American drama. But she notices that he seems preoccupied.  And he is.  He is very upset about the flies in his house (his wife called the exterminator and she will be mad that there are still so many in the house).  Well, actually she is not legally his wife.

He says he’s not a fascinating subject today.  She keeps trying to drag information out of him.  He wants to know why people will listen to long boring interviews on the radio but not plays. Even the girl says she doesn’t go to plays. (more…)

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Christina Nichol–“Democracy in Batumi” (Harper’s, July 2014)

Posted in Africa, Cat Stevens, Chadwick Stokes, Dispatch, Excerpt, Harper's, Hillary Clinton, State Radio, Tiny Desk Concert, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on May 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: CHADWICK STOKES-Tiny Desk Concert #432 (April 13, 2015).

chadI had recently been hearing about Chadwick Stokes on WXPN.  But I didn’t really know anything about him.  I just looked him up and found that he has been making music for almost twenty years, with the bands Dispatch and State Radio (under the name Chad Urmston) and now as a solo artist.  He apparently is a big time activist as well, and his accolades ring high.

The three songs he plays her are wonderful.  He has a great voice that reminds me in some ways of Cat Stevens (even though Stokes is from Boston and certainly rocks harder than the Cat).  Although he even mentions Stevens in the third song.

I love the way the first song, “Pine Needle Tea” starts out slowly (with Stokes on the guitar) and a delicate xylophone playing along.  Then half way through, both accompanists start playing floor toms–one with stuff on it to deaden the sound and one (Will’s) with no deadening to really pound away.

I love the faster parts in the second song “Horse Comanche” and also how in the slower parts both guys sing lovely high harmonies.  It makes me laugh that the fellow who plays the melodica solo stands almost ramrod still while waiting for his time.  (He is actually Stoke’s brother, Will).  I have grown to really enjoy the melodica lately.  I love how the end of the song has the repeated refrain with great harmonies and the melodica all playing together.

Chad jokes after the song that “Comanche” has a dropped D E string and he always forgets to retune it live (and his brother says he forgets to remind him to re tune it) so half way through the next song “it goes Wah.”

The final song is called “I Want You Like a Seatbelt” which gets a laugh.  It is a funny title but it proves to be a great simile.  I love the vocal melody of this song.  And when it really gets going it is infectious.  It’s just way too short.

I need to dig into his back catalog.  And here’s a link to this great Tiny Desk.

[READ: April 10, 2015] “Democracy in Batumi”

Sometimes an excerpt from a novel (Waiting for the Electricity) piques my interest. In this case, however, it really didn’t.

In this excerpt, Slims Achmed Makasvili is from Batumi on the Black Sea.  He is writing to Hillary Clinton (we’re not told why to her specifically).  He says that Batumi is not very well-known.  The local dictator is tearing down old buildings, but Slims wants Clinton to know that Batumi is a natural port for petroleum deliveries.  He says that there are great business opportunities available for America here. Then he asks if she knows the movie Jesus Christ Superstar.

The next letter (they are undated so it is unclear how far apart they were written) talks about how Clinton’s version of democracy and his are quite different.  The Batumi Center for Democracy has expanded and even has an air conditioning unit. (more…)

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