SOUNDTRACK: FLEET FOXES-Live at The Black Cat, Washington, DC, July 7, 2008 (2008).
I still love the Fleet Foxes debut album, and I listen to it quite often. One of the most impressive aspects of the band is their amazing harmonies. So how does a band that is so vocal-centric perform live?
In an interview included with the concert, Bob Boilen asks that question. They explain that the bigger venues are a bit harder because they have to crank up their monitors. They also try to stay close to each other to be able to hear the harmonies clearly. Well, they did something right because the harmonies sound very impressive here.
The main problem comes because lead singer Robin Pecknold is sick. As in, just getting over a major cold, sick. As in, he admits that their last few shows were something of a rip off for the attendees. Tonight’s show, he says is half a ripoff. And that is most evident in my favorite Fleet Foxes song, “Mykonos” in which Pecknold’s voice cracks with abandon. I would feel bad for the audience if the band wasn’t so personable and friendly and generally cool. They make the best of a rough situation, and again, the backing vocals sound fantastic.
There are also a ton of delays in this show. Most of them seem technical, although there seems to be a lot of tending to Pecknold’s voice, too. But as I said, the band is engaged with the audience, telling stories (someone in the band is from DC and he asks if anyone went to high school there), and generally keeping everyone entertained. It’s probably not their best show ever, but it still sounds great. You can listen and download at NPR.
[READ: March 27, 2011] Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Quirk Books, publishers of mash-ups like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (as well as many other, well, quirky, titles) has published this fantastically exciting novel.
The cover depicts a creepy girl who is hovering off the ground. But the girl herself is SO creepy that I didn’t even notice the hovering part. She is just one of the peculiar children within the book. And this picture is one of 50 included within the book (I’m only bummed that two pictures were not available in my copy).
So the story opens with Jacob Portman talking about his grandfather. His grandfather (Abe) was a young boy in Poland during the 1940s. When the Nazi’s invaded, his family was killed and he was sent to Wales, to the titular Miss Peregrine’s Orphanage (not widely known as a home for peculiar children). But as details emerge from his grandfather’s version of the tale, things seem not right.
Abe talks about the monsters that chased him out of Poland–but he wasn’t describing Nazis, he was describing actual monsters, with multiple tongues and horrifying faces. They followed him to Wales and were actually chasing him to that very day, in America. And when he talked about Miss Peregrine’s house, he talked about the special kids who live there: the girl who could call forth fire out of thin air, the girl who could levitate, and the boy who had bees living inside of him.
Of course, that was all nonsense, just post traumatic stress from being attacked by Nazis, right?
That explanation works until the night that Abe is murdered. He calls Jacob for help (they think he is going senile). When Jacob gets to his house, he finds the screen door torn open and Abe missing. The follow a trail and find Abe, bleeding in the woods. Jacob thinks he can see the same kind of monster that Abe had always described lurking right nearby in the woods. Although Jacob’s friend (who drove them to Abe’s house), didn’t see anything.
And now, Jacob’s dreams are plagued by scary monsters. And he can’t get his grandfather’s cryptic last words out of his head. Time to see a therapist, obviously. (more…)
Mental Floss
Next comes the ubiquitous letters. This also contains the occasional feature of Readers and Their Famous Friends, which shows pictures of readers celebrities (pretty much the only celebrities they ever talk about). This is followed by the letter from the editor. Neely Harris (I have yet to determine if Neely is a boy or a girl and I’m not going to look it up either, somehow it’s more fun trying to imagine) is very funny and always sets a good tone for the magazine. 
SOUNDTRACK: WEEZER-Weezer (Red Album) (2008).
I Just Read About That... 