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Archive for the ‘New Yorker’ Category

Woody Allen–“Will the Real Avatar Please Stand Up” (New Yorker, May 10, 2010)

Posted in Funny (ha ha), Jack Black, Meat Loaf, New Yorker, Sex, Tenacious D, The Pick of Destiny, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, Word usage on May 7, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: MEATLOAF with JACK BLACK-“Like A Rose” (2010).

My friend Matt is the biggest Meat Loaf fan I know.  He may be the only person in the United States who owns all of Meat Loaf’s CDs (yes, he has ones other than those two Bat Out of Hell discs).  So it came as no surprise to me when he sent me a link to a new Meat Loaf song.  What surprised me was that Jack Black is singing a duet with him!

The Meat Loaf/Jack Black connection is not new; Meat Loaf appeared in The Pick of Destiny.  And Meat Loaf and Jack Black are both waaaaay over the top.   So, really, the pairing makes a lot of sense.  And, when you put the two together, it’s amazing how well their voices work.

I’ve always loved Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, but I don’t have a lot of patience for the rest of his music.  He played a show at my college, and I left mid way through (mostly because the acoustics were godawful and he sounded terrible, although also because he didn’t play anything I knew–that is until after I left when he played like all of Bat Out of Hell).  But since then I have seen him in a Storytellers setting (also in Scranton) and he put on a hell of a show.

The song itself is pretty good.  It starts with a rocking acoustic guitar (not unlike Tenacious D) and then turns into a metal rocker (like Tenacious D).  Meat Loaf’s voice sounds a bit like a preacher (and to my ears, Jack is not loud enough in the mix).  Lyrically, it’s not that great (I can do without the “bitch” bit) but it’s a good rocker.

It’s available here.

[READ: May 5, 2010] “Will the Real Avatar Please Stand Up”

I think I’m missing something with this title.  Because I’m sure that you, like me, were expecting this to have something to do with the James Cameron film that is sweeping the nation.  And yet, this is actually about Warren Beatty and his claim that he has slept with some 12,000 women.  [Heh, heh, I just looked up the definition…very funny.  Sorry for my ignorance].

After an introduction (which may be in the persona of Allen himself–quite the rarity), the story follows a young woman as she looks to be next in line–number 12,989!

The story was quite amusing.  The character herself is not terribly well drawn (she’s hot and defiant and definitely not going to sleep with him).  But the story itself comes to life when we get into the Beatty mansion and learn that he has helpers to take care of so many of those pesky things that will keep his numbers down: foreplay, cuddling etc. (more…)

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Ben Loory–“The TV” (New Yorker, April 12, 2010)

Posted in Ben Loory, Boredom, Green Day, Infinity, Meta, New Yorker, Postmoderism, Short Story, Technology, Therapy?, Tom Waits on May 5, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THERAPY?-High Anxiety (2003).

I hadn’t listened to this disc in a long  time, and I was delighted by how much I remembered (and liked) it.  This was the last Therapy? album that received a release in the U.S.  And it is a solid collection of heavy alternative metal with some seriously catchy bits thrown in for good measure.

“If It Kills Me” could have been a huge hit with a killer chorus and amazing hooks.  As could “My Voodoo Doll” (an outrageously poppy song).  Even the penultimate song “Last Blast” starts out with a low rumbling bassline, but when the chorus comes in it’s warm and catchy (even if again it’s lyrically not warm).

But what’s amazing is how good the whole disc is.  Their previous disc was something of a muddle of styles and textures.  It was an interesting but not entirely successful experiment.  But High Anxiety returns to what Therapy? does best: raw, and noisy alt-metal with really catchy melodies.  Most of the time I don’t even care what Andy Cairns is singing about (it’s usually pretty dark) because regardless, it’s sure fun to sing along.

The final track is a 9 minute crazy mess.  It opens with Cairn’s Tom Waits-ian vocals and a pounding guitar line.  It stops after a few minutes and then picks up again with that pounding guitar line (repeating a little much, honestly, but it is a cool riff).  Then after 7 minutes there’s a new bonus track which is practically like Green Day, it’s so poppy.

This is definitely one of their best discs.

[READ: April 25, 2010] “The TV”

This (very) short story begins with a wonderful concept: a man wakes up one day and calls in sick from work.  He turns on the TV and sees himself, his actual self, finishing his actual job.

The man is transfixed, obviously.  I mean who wouldn’t be?  He tunes in the next day and watches himself drive to work, sit down and begin doing his job–more efficiently than he himself had been doing it!  The credits even indicate that yes, the man is the man.  Amazing. (more…)

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E.L. Doctorow–“Edgemont Drive” (New Yorker, April 26, 2010)

Posted in Boredom, Cars, Death, E.L. Doctorow, Metallica, New Yorker, Nostalgia, Set in New Jersey!, Short Story on May 1, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: METALLICA-Kill ‘Em All (1983).

Although I don’t think I remember exactly when this disc came out, I was pretty big into heavy metal (the heavier the better) back in 1983.  I can remember this was my freshman year of high school, and I’m fairly certain I bought this LP pretty soon after it came out (thanks to the awesome radio show mu-mu-mu-mu-mu-metal shop).

Kill ‘Em All has always been a touchstone for thrash metal.  And listening to it now, it’s hard to believe that the Metallica of 2010 is the same band.  Or, more to the point that this bunch of kids would have grown into this same bunch of adults.

Kill ‘Em All is raw. Really raw.  And yet it sounds (even at this stage) well mixed and very professional (no mean feat given the rather silly cover art).  The guitars, even though the distortion is cranked up, do not sound muddy.   The vocals are mixed perfectly so you can actually understand (most of) the growly lyrics (this is before James Hetfield learned how to sing).  The drums are really fast (possibly one of the fastest bpm at the time).  And of course, Cliff Burton kept wonderful rhythm while Kirk Hammett was soloing all over the place.  And while “Anesthesia–Pulling Teeth” is kind of a silly addition on a thrash album, it does showcase Cliff’s bass work.

The amazing thing is that this twenty-seven year old album still sounds relevant in the metal world.  And no doubt it will continue to influence young metal bands in the future.  And for a fantastic review of this disc (and an awesome selection of best-of-1983 releases), check out wallnernotweller.  This is what my site would look like if it were only about music.

[READ: April 22, 2010] “Edgemont Drive”

I haven’t read much E.L. Doctorow, but I’ve liked what I read.  And it was nice to read someone who writes so differently from the kind of things I’ve been reading lately (Bolaño etc).  It was especially nice because I was fairly certain where I the story was going to go and it didn’t go anywhere near where I expected. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–“Prefiguration of Lalo Curo” (New Yorker, April 19, 2010)

Posted in bolanobolano.com, Chris Andrews, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Infinite Zombies, New Yorker, Pornography, Roberto Bolaño, Sex, Short Story, The Space Negros, Translation on April 22, 2010| 7 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK:  THE SPACE NEGROS Do Generic Ethnic Muzak Versions of All Your Favorite Punk/Psychedelic Songs from the Sixties (1987).

I stumbled upon this CD again when I was looking for a Sparklehorse disc (alphabetical you see).  I originally discovered this album when I was a DJ in college and the absurdity of the title instantly grabbed me.

And never has a title so accurately described the music within (except for “the space negros” part which is just weird).  Anyhow, the disc is indeed a collection of generic ethnic muzak recordings.  But it predates that late 90’s “ironic” muzaky recordings of hipster songs.

Nevertheless, it is muzaky background versions of songs from the sixties (and a few originals).  The difference comes in the instrumentation: zithers, harpsichords, clarinets, autoharp, etc.  In other words, this isn’t a guy making cheesy Casio recordings of classic songs.  This is a collection of musicians reinterpreting songs for fun (and presumably to get high to?).

The most noteworthy songs for me are “Silas Stingy/Boris the Spider” medley and The Stooges’ “We Will Fall.”  In fact, I didn’t recognize any of the other songs on the disc (the 13th Floor Elevators and The Electric Prunes are the only bands that I recognize aside from The Who and The Stooges).

So, this is clearly a labor of love.  Whether or not you will love it depends on your tolerance for trippy muzaky renditions of songs that sound like they’re from an Indian restaurant/hash shop circa 1964 (that exists on the moon?).  The CD reissue includes thirty more minutes of tunes which are all just listed as More Generic Muzak (no covers here).   It’s strange that these more nebulous bonus tracks really tend to show off how good the rest of the disc is.  Sure in part that’s because the other tracks are actual songs, but it also shows how well the weird musical approach to these songs works when it is focused with a good starting point.

The Space Negros (headed by Erik Lindgren) made several discs, but it’s hard to find a lot of information about them online.  Even their own website is surprisingly devoid of information (although you can buy the disc!)

[READ: April 19, 2010] “Prefiguration of Lalo Curo”

Even when I try to stop reading Bolaño, the stories keep arriving in my mailbox.  This story (to be released in his forthcoming story collection The Return) looks at the history of Lalo Curo.  For those of us reading 2666, Lalo Curo figures prominently in The Part About the Crimes.  And in 2666 his history is given.  So this short story is a bit confusing within the canon of Bolaño.  2666

In this one, Lalo’s mother, rather than being raped and impregnated as a young girl (as had all of her mother’s mothers) was a porn star.  Lalo was born Olegario Cura (surname Cura (The Priest) because his father was a priest).  And, as with all my favorite Bolaño stories, there’s all kinds of fun questions regarding narrator and intended reader.  Lalo’s mother “Connie Sánchez was her name, and if you weren’t so young and innocent it would ring a bell” along with her sister and friend were all stars in a series of porn movies.  The man behind the movies was a German [another thing that recurs in Bolaño] named Helmut Bittrich.  Helmut treated them well, and the whole production company felt like a (weird, certainly) family.  In fact, Connie made films even when she was pregnant with Lalo (lacto-porn!).

Connie had tried legitimate theater (even Broadway!), but eventually, her career went towards porn.  The bulk of the story is given over to (graphic) descriptions of all of her films.  But the most interesting section is about Bittrich’s understanding of “the sadness of the phallus.”  After all those graphic scenes we get this remarkably poetic moment:

he’s naked from the waist down, his penis hangs flaccid and dripping. Behind the actor, a landscape unfolds: mountains, ravines, rivers, forests, towering clouds, a city, perhaps a volcano, a desert.

Pajarito Gómez is the male actor described above.  He is the primary male in all of the porn films.  He wasn’t well endowed, but he had a special kind of presence on screen.  As the story ends, Lalo goes in search of Gómez and finds him easily. They share a moment, watching movies and reconstructing the past.

It’s an interesting story, one that fully fits within the Bolaño landscape.  Bolaño is pretty obsessed with porn, and this story is obviously no exception.  It may not be the best introduction to Bolaño’s work, and yet in many ways, it’s pretty much Bolaño in a nutshell.

For ease of searching I include: Bolano, Sanchez, Gomez

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Junot Díaz–“The Pura Principle” (New Yorker, March 22, 2010)

Posted in Boredom, Cancer as plot device, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Drugs, Junot Díaz, Language, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Punks, Set in New Jersey!, Short Story, Smarty Pants, The Dead Milkmen, Violence, Word usage on April 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE DEAD MILKMEN-Big Lizard in My Backyard (1985).

My friend Alison said the other day that she had “Bitchin’ Camaro” stuck in her head.  And soon thereafter, so did I.  So Philadelphia’s Dead Milkmen are a bratty punk band.  They skewer all kinds of things: pop culture, racists,  right wing pigeons, junkies and, quite possibly, music itself.

This first record showcases quite a breadth of song styles.  Although they stay comfortably within the realm of two-minute punk, they plays “blues,” “jazz,” and even “surf.”  Interestingly, their guitars are quite treble-filled which is a bit unusual for a punk band (typically pretty bass heavy). And yet a song like “Swordfish” (“I believe in swordfish!”) has a pretty wild and creative bass line running through it.

But I think the Milkmen are most well-known for their lyrics.  So Big Lizard starts in right away with lyrics that could easily offend the wrong target: ‘Cause we hate blacks and we hate Jews/And we hate punks but we love the F.U.s.”  Of course, the chorus reveals the truth: This is a tiny town and we don’t want you hanging round.”

“V.F.W.” stands for veterans of a fucked up world.  “Beach Song” opens up like a beach song until you get the bratty, screamed lyrics: I don’t wanna be on the beach NO FUN!.”  Of course, “Violence Rules” tackles a real issue: “violence rules, guns are cool and we’ve got guns in our school.”  And there’s the twisted, “Takin’ Retards to the Zoo.”

We also get one of my favorite catchy lyrics (from “Nutrition”): “I’ve got nowhere to go/Just hang out on the street/My folks say I’ve got no ambition/ At least I give a shit/About the stuff I eat/Yeah! I care about nutrition.”

Only 6 of the 21 songs are over 2 minutes, so musical styles definitely come fast.  Rodney Anonymous’ vocals are snotty and funny (even when the lyrics aren’t especially funny, the delivery is).  We only get one song with Joe JAck Talcum singing (he’s the whiny guy).  It’s so hard to tell if his delivery is serious at all, and yet I find it very endearing (and he’ll get much more prominence on later discs).  So, this disc is fairly simple, but it works very well for what it is: in your fast, bratty music, that is quite often very funny.  It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good.

And it features “Bitchin’ Camaro.”  I’m going to go to a hardcore show and see F.O.D.

[READ: March 23, 2010] “The Pura Principle”

I have been intending to read Díaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for quite some time.  I just haven’t yet.  So I was pleased to get a chance to read one of his short stories to get a feel for his writing.

One thing I had been told about Oscar Wao was that it mixes English, Spanish, Spanglish and a kind of ghetto slang which makes the book shall we say, more difficult to read if you’re a suburban gringo like myself.  But hey it’s set in New Jersey, so at least I know the towns he’s talking about!

This story is like a short story version of that summary of the book.  The writing is indeed in English, Spanish and Spanglish (and when the second sentence–the crux of the story– is “No way of wrapping it pretty or pretending otherwise: Rada estaba jodido” you know this is not your typical English short story.  I still don’t have an exact translation for that sentence (and it took a while to realize that Rafa was a person’s name) but I got the gist, and I was delighted by how much I followed the story. (more…)

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Joyce Carol Oates–“I.D.” (New Yorker, March 29,2010)

Posted in Alex Lifeson, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Peart, New Yorker, Rush, Set in New Jersey!, Short Story on April 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-Hemispheres (1978).

Or maybe this is my favorite Rush album.

And what’s not to like?  A naked man on the cover, a 20 minute song (in 6 parts (which is a sequel to a previous song!)), and a 9 minute instrumental.  It’s prog rock heaven.

The “title” track is a continuation of a song from the last album (and so is called Cygnus X-1 Book II; Hemispheres)).  It’s a thoughtful look at balancing the two halves of the brain: love and reason.  In true epic style, the forces are represented by Apollo, bringer of Wisdom and Dionysus, bringer of Love.  Apollo teaches the people how to fend and care for themselves.  They’re thrilled and delighted with themselves until they feel kind of empty inside.

Dionysus arrives: he teaches them love and music, dancing and drinking.  And they embrace this wholeheartedly.  But this leads to cold and starvation.

And so, as is natural, the people were split with the two sides coming forth [hey this sounds familiar].  And of course, they fight each other.

It gets a little confusing from there when the spaceship from Part 1 arrives and after telling his story of going through the black hole it unites the fighting forces (You can also hear musical snippets from Part 1).  And yet, musically it works wonders.  The epilogue is a peaceful, well-written acoustic bit that sums up the themes of the song quite nicely.

The second side has three tracks: “circumstances,” a short, heavy rocker that I have always loved.  I think the main reason is because each time they enter the chorus, Neil plays either 1, 2 or 3 cymbal crashes depending on which verse they’re in (math geek!).

The next song, “The Trees,” is another classic.  Starting quietly, with a classical style acoustic guitar, we learn that there is trouble in the forest.  As the song rocks to an end, the trees are all keep equal by hatchet, axe and saw.  Over the years I’ve thought of many different explanations for this song.  And to me that’s the mark of a good story.

The final song is probably my favorite Rush song.  “La Villa Strangiato” is a 9 minute instrumental with a dozen sections and is subtitled “An Exercise in Self-Indulgence.” It is a tour de force showcasing all their skills.  I was delighted that they had started playing it live again on their more recent tours.  And, I was even more delighted to see that the middle section featured Alex telling a ranting, random, crazy story.  Alex has always been very silly, but it hasn’t come out all that much musically. So, this was a great opportunity for him to let loose.  I have no idea what he was rambling about in any of his bits, but the snippets I’ve heard have all ben quite funny.

This was definitely the heyday of prog rock, and yes, it is sadly missed.

[READ:  March 28, 2010] “I.D.”

It’s been a little while since I’ve seen a Joyce Carol Oates story anywhere.  For a time, it seemed like I read one every few days.  So it’s nice to have her and her gruesome stories back.

This story focuses on a young girl, Lizette.  As the story opens we learn that she is feeling the effects of a beer buzz and it is making her 7th grade math class drag on.  (We later learn that she had about a quarter of a can of beer, but that’s still too much at 13)!

She is currently concentrating very hard on getting a napkin with her lipstick print to classmate, J.C.  J.C. has been left back and he is baaaad.  Lizette is wearing lipstick because her mother didn’t come home last night.  In fact, Lizette is not sure when her mom last came home.  It’s been a few days at least. But then, her mom has left her alone before, so she’s not terribly concerned. (more…)

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David Means–“The Knocking” (New Yorker, March 15, 2010)

Posted in Blue Öyster Cult, David Means, New Yorker, Short Story, Unreliable narrator on March 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-The Revolution by Night (1987).

After the amazing Fire of Unknown Origin, BOC, returned (retreated?) into keyboard-fueled tracks.  And we know that where BOC is concerned, keyboards=crossover attempts.  Now I don’t know if it’s just my own preferences, but I feel like the lightweight pseudo-metal here is better than their earlier stabs at lightweight pseudo-metal (Mirrors, etc).  I assume it’s because I grew up listening to metal around this time, so even if it’s not terribly original, it’s at least comfortable.

It opens promisingly enough with the keyboard heavy but rocking “Take Me Away”  And the 7 minute “Shooting Shark” is kind of catchy (in that BOC ballady sort of way).  But by the time we get to “Veins” we’re in full-fledged keyboard heavy pop metal (has there ever been a poppier song about veins in my eyeballs and veins in my skull?).

“Shadow of California” has a cool sinister angle on the keyboards which leads to a good riff-heavy track.  It emphasizes the slick metal sound from Fire.  “Feel the Thunder” also sounds like a typical late 80s metal song (but there is something distinctly BOC about it). “Let Go” is definitely a child of the 80s, complete with chantings of B.O.C.!

This CD sold poorly, which explains that Columbia-dominant cover design.  It seemed like BOC’s star had faded.

[READ: March 9, 2010] “The Knocking”

By about the third paragraph of this story, you just know that there’s not going to be any kind of “ending” to this piece.  (It’s not even really a story, per se). (more…)

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Jennifer Egan–“Ask Me If I Care” (New Yorker, March 8, 2010)

Posted in American Music Club, Books about writers, Iggy Pop, Jennifer Egan, New Yorker, Punks, Sex, Unlikable main character, Unreliable narrator on March 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MARK EITZEL-Candy Ass (2005).

I’ve liked Mark Eitzel since my friend Lar played me “Johnny Mathis’ Feet” back in college.  I got some of his solo discs, but by around 2000, I’d more or less given up on him.  Someone donated a copy of this solo album to the library, and since we weren’t keeping it, I brought it home.

So I don’t know what he’s been up to since 2000, and this album came as something of a surprise.  The first song is quintessential Eitzel: downbeat mellow song with clever lyrics.  But after that, it seems like he got his hand on a drum machine and some electronica and just had a field day with it.

The one trend in electronica is to write long songs, and this holds true for Eitzel here.  There are a number of songs here that are predominantly simple drums and sound effects. The second song, in fact, has no words: it’s just a rudimentary drum machine which feels a lot longer than its 4:44 total time.

The few simple guitar songs (with electronic backing) sound good, but the thing is that Eitzel is an awesome songwriter, he’s just not such a great dancey songwriter.  The electronic experiments aren’t bad, they’re just not very inspired.  They may work as an introduction to that type of music for fans of his that never listened to electronica, but beyond that it’s just not that exciting.

Candy Ass is an interesting experiment, but it falls way short of his best work.

[READ: March 8, 2010] “Ask Me If I Care”

No, I really don’t.

I was really rather disappointed in this story.  It never really gripped me in an interesting way.  And even though the band practice stuff all probably happened, it just feel believable at all. (more…)

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Saïd Sayrafiezadeh–“Appetite” (New Yorker, March 1, 2010)

Posted in Blue Öyster Cult, Funny (strange), New Yorker, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Short Story, Work on March 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Mirrors (1979).

Lord only knows what happened to BOC on this disc.  It’s almost as if the mirror on the cover was indicating a weird backwards image of the band.  They had been flirting with pop tracks for a few albums now, but this one goes far over the edge.  Backing female vocalists!  Poppy ballads!  No weirdo titles!  And yet still no hits.

The title track is hopeless radio rock (but not even good radio rock). It’s hard to image them touring this album and incorporating these tracks with “Dominace and Submission” (or even imagining Eric Bloom decked out in his leather suit singing these songs).  And the less said about “Lonely Teardrops” the better.

That’s not to say that the album is a total wash.  The super sugary ballad “In Thee” is actually quite good, as ballads go (Allen Lanier has a knack for piano pop).  And “Moon Crazy” has an 80s rock feel mixed with some weird jazzy bits.  “The Vigil” and “I am the Storm” are also pretty good, but they may just stand out among the rest of the tracks.

It may be telling that when Columbia remastered and re-released all of their CDs, they didn’t bother with this one.  Hence, the rather embarrassing cover image above which is more about  Columbia music than Blue Öyster Cult.

[READ: March 1, 2010] “Appetite”

This is a strange little story about work frustration, grilled cheeses, and rain.

The main character is a cook.  He is planning to ask his boss for a raise, but when he goes into the boss’ office, the boss is distressed about the state of the restaurant, specifically the fact that several items were returned that evening.  How hard is it to make  grilled cheese after all?

When the story pulls back a bit the narrator muses about his graduation, where he was simply one of 500 being told about his future by the valedictorian (who clearly cribbed his speech from a book of speeches).   Some of you will go to college; some of you will go to the army; some of you will go straight to the workforce.  He was the latter.  And now, at 25, he can’t quite belive he’s still in the same place. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño –“William Burns” (New Yorker, February 8, 2010)

Posted in Adventure, Bob Mould, bolanobolano.com, Chris Andrews, Dromedary Records, Foreign Books, lions.chase.tigers, Mogwai, Mystery, New Yorker, Roberto Bolaño, Short Story, Sigur Rós, Translation, Violence on February 27, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: lions.chase.tigers: To Their Blood EP (2009).

I learned about lions.chase.tigers from the Dromedary compilation Make The Load Lighter.  When I looked them up online I found this site, where you can download their debut EP.  (Normally I’d encourage purchasing the CD to give the band some £, but it ships from the UK and would probably take weeks and cost a fortune in shipping.  So, download and spread the word).

lions.chase.tigers play a fascinating mix of noisy shoegazey guitar rock combined with very delicate quieter ballady bits.  There are only four guys in the band.  I was sure there were at least five maybe six.  They have  one guitar which plays beautiful picked guitar chords (high notes), and another which plays harmonized lower notes and sometimes big power chords.  The drums and bass complement perfectly.  And the vocals offer this great understated focus to these dramatic songs.  I imagine Sigur Rós jamming with Mogwai with vocals by Bob Mould.

All of their songs work to a dramatic climax; the tension builds like a mini epic.  The title track is the most dramatic (with that crazy screaming in the background!), and I think it’s the best track on the EP, but with each listen I hear more in the other songs to like, too.

I’m also delighted that one guy’s last name is the same as another guy’s first name: Fraser Sanaghan (guitar/vocals) and Seoridh Fraser (bass/vocals) [and no I can’t pronounce his first name but I love Gaelic names like that].  There’s also Iain Thomson (vocals/guitar), David Watson (drums).  There’s a live video on their myspace page, which shows that they sound amazing (possibly better?) live.

Scotland has been producing some amazing indie bands over the last few years, and lions.chase.tigers sis definitely a great one to add to that list.

[READ: February 5, 2010] “William Burns”

This was the first short story I’ve read since beginning 2666, (before I decided to find everything I could Bolaño).  I saved this story for last because it is the most recent release.  I initially noted: I’m in the midst of 2666, and lo, here’s a Bolaño story to read (and to hopefully not confuse matters).  It didn’t confuse matters, but I was a little concerned when I saw that it was set in the same town (Santa Theresa) as the bulk of the 2666 action.

One of the things I have grown to like about Bolaño is his multiple layers of removal from the action of the story.  So in this one, William Burns tells the story to a guy named Pancho Monge who tells the story to the narrator who tell it to us.

After that brief introduction, the rest of the story (in Burns’ own words, mind you) come in one long passage with no paragraph breaks.

Burns is living in Santa Theresa and is bored.  (Is there any other state of mind in Santa Theresa?).  He is living with two women and their dogs.  They asked him to stay with them for protection from a man who is coming to kill them.  (And, of course, they are each his lover as well). (more…)

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