Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘New Yorker’ Category

Miranda July–“Free Everything” (New Yorker, October 10, 2011)

Posted in Biography, Essays, Kiss, Miranda July, New Yorker, Peter Criss, Shoplifting on October 19, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Peter Criss (1978).

After Alive II, Kiss shocked the world by announcing that they would be releasing 4 solo albums at the same time.  The band WAS NOT breaking up; rather, all four members wanted to express themselves in their own way–four Kiss albums on the same day!  Holy cow.  Unheard of!  And as it turns out, this was probably the first step their money-making schemes.  [I assume that Gene is behind all of the money-inhaling schemes, but I feel like he may not have been savvy enough to think of this one back then.  Am I not giving him enough credit?]

So since you never bought four albums on the same day, that meant that you bought your favorite Kiss guy’s record first, right?  Well, my favorite Kiss guy was Peter Criss.  He was a cat after all.  And as the charts reflect, I chose poorly. 

Peter was the least rocking of the group (despite his great vocal turns in some really great Kiss rockers).  Appropriately, his solo album is a mix of old school rock and roll, ballads and a brief excursion into disco.  Because at the time I loved everything Kiss did, I didn’t discern that I hated these songs.  In fact, I listened to them and I still know all of them quite well.  But as an adult I can see what a crazy release this is from Kiss.  True, Kiss’ other records flirted with old school rock n roll (“Tomorrow and Tonight”), and Peter had had a hit with “Beth.”  But wow, who knew he would go this far?  I mean, “Don’t You Let me Down” is a very delicate weepy ball and “Kiss the Girl Goodbye” is a falsetto’d folk ballad.  My heavens.   And for pity’s sake, “You Matter to Me” out-discos even Kiss’ attempt at disco on Dynasty.  (That keyboard, zoinks!).

My friend Matt and I have always liked a few of these songs more for personal in-jokes than for the songs themselves.  “That’s the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes” is one (and actually of all the songs on the disc, this one has the best groove).  And I’ve always like “Hooked on Rock n Roll’s” preposterous lyric “I was/vaccinated by a Victrola needle” because it not only is antiquated and weird, it doesn’t even fit the rhythm of the chorus (who tries to fit the word “vaccinated” into a two-syllable space?). 

The funny thing is that the album is pretty solid rock n roll.  “I’m Gonna Love You” is an old school rock n’ roll song.  “Tossin’ and Turnin'” is standard old rocker, complete with backing vocals and horns.  It could come straight out of Grease.

But I can’t imagine anyone who likes this kind of music buying this album with the Kiss connection or with him in makeup on the cover.  It may have introduced Kiss fans to doo wop, but I think mostly it just collects dust.

My mom liked this album best of all the Kiss albums, but I distinctly remember she did not like “I Can’t Stop the Rain” because despite the pretty melody (and strings) he said “Goddamn” in the song and she didn’t approve of that sort of thing.  Kiss fans didn’t like this album, and moms didn’t like it either.  Poor Peter.

[READ: October 8, 2011] “Free Everything”

There were four one-page pieces in this week’s New Yorker under the heading “Sticky Fingers.”  Each one was about theft in some way (this being the money issue, that ‘s a nice connection).

Miranda July’s piece was all about herself.  She talks about how she first started shoplifting when she was little.  The first time she got caught was for slipping Neosporin in her sock.  But then she got more clever.

She talks about how the shoplifting really became a part of her life.  I’m fascinated that the majority of shoplifters seem to be women and I wonder why (she doesn’t address this issue).  July talks about all the places from which she stole and she speaks of it passively, with little room for regret (even when she stole from the Salvation Army where she worked).  [Let’s hope the statute of limitations is up for her]. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Mindy Kaling–“Flick Chicks” (New Yorker, October 3, 2011)

Posted in Battleship: The Movie, Funny (ha ha), How I Met Your Mother, Kiss, Mindy Kaling, New Yorker, The Office on October 14, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Alive II (1978).

There’s not too many million-selling albums that have a man covered in blood on the cover.  And yet here is one.  (I’ve always been confused why Paul and Ace both look like they are not wearing the white makeup in these photos).  I must have listened to this 4 sided LP a thousand times as a kid (my poor mother–what did she do while I monopolized the only stereo in the house and made her listen to Paul Stanley rambling on and on? 

“Detroit Rock City” and “King of the Night Time World” open the concert just like they open Destroyer.  But unlike on Destroyer, the next songs keep up the fast pace with “Ladies Room” and “Makin’ Love.”  All four of these songs are a bit faster, a bit louder a but more intense than the album versions (especially the Destroyer tracks, which have all of the bombast removed).  This first side ends with an energy-packed “Love Gun.”  I mean, holy cow, what an opening, it’s all nonstop heavy rock.  Even though I like, nay, love the originals, these version have so much energy, so much presence (they would have it even without the crazed fans screaming–which is practically like static it is so continuous) that they blow away the studio versions.

“Calling Dr. Love” is a much faster tempo (with a wonderful intro about “rock and roll pneumonia”) and “Christine Sixteen” loses the piano (which I admit I liked, but it works great without it), and it’s far creepier here.  “Shock Me” picks up some rock from the studio version, but more importantly, it picks up a crazy guitar solo (which is yes, much better seen than heard).  “Hard Luck Woman” to me sounds funny in this setting.  Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it’s hard to imagine them playing it amidst all the chaos of the rest of the show.  And then “Tomorrow and Tonight” is fine in this context, but you can kind of feel the fans wishing for “Rock and Roll All Nite.” 

Side three opens with “I Stole Your Love” which rocks equally as hard live.  It’s followed by “Beth” perhaps the strangest thing on a live album.  From what I’ve seen, Peter comes down from behind the drums, sits in the front of the stage and sings his mega-hit to piped-in piano music.  I guess it was something of a break for the rest of the band.  It’s followed by a truly intense version of “God of Thunder”–faster and heavier than the original and very cool.  The only surprise is that it contains a drum solo–the solo is not the surprise (it is the 70s after all), the surprise is that “God of Thunder” is so obviously Gene’s song, it seems odd that they would break it up with a drum solo (although if memory serves, he uses the time to clean off all the blood from his face and guitar).  “I Want You” sounds really great in this version (the guitars are wicked) and it gives Paul a chance to show some vocal acrobatics.

The LP version featured this awesome gatefold inner photo which I have to say may have really set the bar high for other bands in terms of concert awesomeness.  My vinyl copy has pencil lines etched into the cardboard from the number of times I traced the picture.  (Thanks to Porcelain Theology, a blog I am enjoying very much, for this picture).  The live portion of the show ends with “Shout It out Loud” which works as a very solid anthem to end the concert.

The fourth side of the LP always confused me.  When I was young and didn’t really understand how to read credits, I assumed that whoever’s name was after the song was the person who sang it (generally true, but not always).  So, when side four featured covers and songs written by people not in the band, it blew my mind.  I also didn’t understand why there were five non-live, indeed, brand new songs on this live album (they didn’t want to release any songs that were also on Alive!–perhaps the last time they didn’t reissue music).  I respect this decision, but at the same time, how much cooler would this concert be with “100,000 Years” or “Deuce” included? 

The five songs actually aren’t bad, but they don’t really have all that much excitement to them.  “All American Man” is a surprisingly gritty song from Paul and “Larger Than Life” is pretty interesting musically (and I just realized that love means penis in this song too and that it’s actually a pretty funny brag song).  “Rocket Ride” is probably the best song on this side.  Ace didn’t contribute to any of the other songs on this side, but he goes out with a blaze!  The chorus is a little cheesy but the verses are really cool, and the solo rocks. 

How I miss the excess of the 70s.

[READ: October 1, 2011] “Flick Chicks”

Mindy Kaling is a writer for and actor on The Office.  She is very funny.  I’m not sure if she has written for the New Yorker before, but I like her and wanted to include her here (just to get some of her magic mojo to appear on my blog).  This piece is labelled an “L.A. Postcard” and it is more or less broken into two parts. 

The introduction shows Mindy sitting down to pitch a new movie.  She claims that all TV writers want to write for movies because “At the Oscars, the most famous person there is, like, Angelina Jolie.  At the Emmys the huge, exciting celebrity is Bethenny Frankel.”  [I actually don’t even know if Bethenny Frankel is a real person, so I guess that proves the point].  Although this year there has been a lot of chatter about the movies stars who are now on TV shows–see the New Yorker event Bravura Television.  William H. Macy and Jeremy Irons  may not be Angelina Jolie, but they’re still pretty awesome.

Anyhow, the joke of her movie pitch is that she wants to write a romantic comedy, but the studio is now focusing solely on making movies based on board games (see the existence of Battleship: The Movie).  Pretty darn funny. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Thomas McGuane–“The House on Sand Creek” (New Yorker, October 3, 2011)

Posted in Culture Shock, James Brown, Kiss, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Racism, Thomas McGuane on October 13, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Love Gun (1977).

This was the first Kiss album I’d ever heard.  I’ll never forget my cousin bringing it to Long Beach Island in the summer of 1977.  I loved “Christine Sixteen” (of course, I was 8 and had no idea what it was about, I just loved singing it).  And the album has always held a magical mystique for me.

And even now I think the opening guitars of “I Stole you Love” are fantastic–fast and furious.  And the processing (or is that harmonizing) on Paul’s vocals make this song so urgent it’s really amazing.  I also got a kick out of the “guitar!” comment before the solo–certainly not the first band to do it, but surely the first I’d ever heard (they may be the first to say “Listen” at the end of a solo, though).  “Christine Sixteen” is a preposterously poppy song (listen to the bouncy, happy piano!), how could an 8-year-old not love it.  It is, of course, utterly creepy when Gene sings it now, (actually, my calculations show that he was 27 when he wrote the song–still pretty fricking creepy–and in some places, illegal).

The choppiness of “Got Love for Sale” makes the song different from many other Kiss songs, which were all about flow.  The guitars are choppy, the drums are choppy: t’s pretty cool. It’s all hard and heavy (except for the doo wopping “got love for sale” backing vocals).  Ace Frehley finally gets a lead vocal turn on the awesome “Shock Me.”  This has always been one of my favorite Kiss songs although listening to it now it sounds a little weak on this album (really uninspired backing vocals, eh?) but the solo is ripping–and the live versions are much more intense.

My first version of Love Gun had a skip at the beginning of “Tomorrow and Tonight” which made me not like the song very much.  Now I just think of it as a piece of filler–it sounds like it could come from Paul’s solo album (what’s up with the backing singers?).  I assume that they were trying to dip into the anthemic power pop well one too many times with this one.    But all is forgiven with the next song, “Love Gun.”  Yep, sex metaphors abound in Kiss, but this one is pretty awesome.  Beyond that, the sound of the guitars is great: the powerful power chords and the amazingly full chorus are also great.   And the staccato drums (and blistering solo) obviously make the song genius.

The rest of “Side two” is pretty interesting.  “Hooligan” is an odd little number.  It’s Peter’s song and it swings–Peter was always more into older rock than anything else, and this song, if it was stripped of its rougher edges (and cool solo) would fit pretty well on any of Peter’s (not very rocking) solo albums.  Although “dropped out of school when I was 22” is a pretty great line.  “Almost Human” is a weird song with some crazy guitars.  The solo is absolutely insane–I’d love to have seen the recording of it–just noises upon noises, very cool.  And the music itself has an odd eastern feel.  There’s great vocals and effects and all kinds of interesting things going on.  It’s an overlooked gem from this disc. 

Then there’s “Plaster Caster” the song about the woman who makes plaster casts from rock singer’s penises.  I still laugh at the euphemism of “if you want to see my love, just ask her”.   I’ve always loved this song even though listening to it now, it sounds kind of anemic (of course, the guitars were sampled in Tone Loc’s “Funky Cold Medina” so that’s got to mean something, right?) 

The album ends with a cover of “Then She Kissed Me.”  Even though Kiss likes that kind of music, I never did, so this song has always been my least favorite song of all of the first six Kiss albums.  But hey, the album runs 32 minutes in total–without those three minutes, you’re under half an hour.  That’s why I assume it was included.  The solo is nice though.

The album is pretty heavy overall and has some great guitar solos from Ace.  They’re not as anthemic and pretty as on Destroyer but they really show off his guitar skills.  And even though I tend to like Destroyer, Love Gun might be #1 for me on any given day.

[READ: October 4, 2011] “The House on Sand Creek”

This short story was on the surface very funny even though underneath there was exceptional sadness.  The events that set the story in motion are pretty unlikely–a couple rents out a property sight unseen (as if–especially since he is a realtor) and it turns out to hold so much karmic malfeasance that it quickly makes the wife, Monika, flee the god forsaken countryside and fly back to Bosnia. 

The narrator falls into a rhythm with his neighbor Bob (this part of the story reminded me of parts of Wells Towers’ stories–two men, out in the middle of nowhere, bonding despite obvious differences).  But the story quickly moves back out of Tower territory when the narrator gets a call from Monika (about two years after she left).

Her new marriage in Bosnia didn’t work out and she’s moving back in with him and bringing her new son as well.  (Again, it seems unlikely that this could just happen–that she would just call and say she was moving back in with him after two years, but whatever, it moves the plot).  And so, the narrator and his ex-wife move back in together with Monika’s son, Karel.  Karel is the son of an African man and Monika hopes he will grow into a Mandingo (this seems unlikely since the boy’s father is actually a short neurosurgeon from Yoruba–a West African village). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Vladimir Nabokov–“The Russian Professor” [Letters to his wife] (New Yorker, June 13 & 20, 2011)

Posted in Boredom, Brian Boyd, Butterflies, Dmitri Nabokov, Kiss, Letters, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Racism, South, Trains, Vladimir Nabokov on October 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Destroyer (1976).

Although this is not the first Kiss album I heard (that would be Love Gun) it was probably the one I listened to most (it had “Beth” on it after all).  It is also full of some of the most over the top theatrical music of any heavy metal band at the time (is it any wonder that I also enjoy Meat Loaf and other over the top bands if I was raised on this?)  Kiss has always been about theater, and how much more theatrical do you need? (How about a cartoon of the band standing on a pile of ruins?).  But this album is such a classic, it’s hard to even think critically of it

“Detroit Rock City” is, well, it’s “Detroit Rock City.”  An amazing, iconic (albeit simple) guitar solo, great effects in the beginning (with Paul (I always assumed) singing along to other Kiss hits on the radio) and an awesome crash at the end.  Fill it out with an amazing riff and great work from the whole band.  What more need be said?  How about the way it leads perfectly into “King of the Night Time World.”  This song is overlooked despite its greatness.  It opens so loud and full then the verses get awesomely tinny until the galloping chorus kicks back in (Petter Criss plays drum rolls mid-song like no one else).  It also has great riffs and a memorable solo.  Oh and then a little song called “God of Thunder.”  Awesome bombast, creepy kids’ voices (I remember some kind of rumors about who the kids were and how they were held captive by the band or something).  It’s a wonderfully memorable song.

“Great Expectations” slows things down but adds the bombast.  I’ve always enjoyed this egocentric song, even as a kid singing along in a mirror.  Although the extra musical notes (keyboards and such) are kind of wimpy.  But it’s followed by the electrifying “Flaming Youth,” a hard-edged guitar song that is pretty simple, but pretty potent.  Again, the keyboard bits undermine the heaviness, but the repeated “higher and higher and higher” is pretty bad ass.

“Sweet Pain” is a great dark Gene-sung song (evidently about S&M, although I never knew that quite so specifically–I never understood the first two lines until I looked them up just now: “My leathers fit tight around me/My whip is always beside me”).  “Shout It Out Loud” is one of the great Kiss anthems.  I actually prefer it to “Rock and Roll All Nite” although that could be just because of the over exposure of “RaRAN.”  Of course, “Beth” is next and it is impossible for any Kiss fan to say anything about “Beth”.  This was the first song I ever memorized the lyrics to, and I sang it to my no doubt confused grandmother when I was 9 years old–my first and only live performance until college.

I always liked “Do You Love Me” (I think these Kiss fantasy songs were pretty big for me).  I was always confused by the tinny voice in the final verse of the song.  It was very strange to my young mind, but it really stands out in the song–as does Paul’s ending rant.  The overall sentiment of the song  is kind of funny coming from the guys who would soon be singing “Love Em Leave Em” but it is nice that they feel insecure once in a while too.

My LP of this album (or maybe it was an 8 track?) did not have the “bonus” track, which is just 90 seconds of a crazily processed version of “Great Expectations” with some lifted vocals of Paul in concert.  Apparently even though it is untitled, it is called “Rock and Roll Party” by most fans.  It appears to be a joke about all of the backwards masking that was supposedly on Kiss records.  Huh.

This is still one of my favorite albums of all time.

[READ: September 30, 2011] “The Russian professor”

Nabokov did not secure the teaching position at Wellesley where he had been creative writing professor the year before (Lolita would not come out for a nother 13 years, so he was working via his Russian book reputation).  So instead, he went on a several-month speaking tour of Unites States colleges, many of them in the South.  These (excerpts from) letters to his wife detail some of the indignities that he suffered and reiterate his love for her and his son.

On his way to Coker University in South Carolina, his train car was double booked, his taxi didn’t show up and he wound up going to the wrong hotel.  When he finally was picked up: “Feeling that I wouldn’t have time to shave before the lecture…I went in search of a barber” [what kind of time management is that??].  Nabokov writes of the shave:

He shaved me horribly, leaving my Adam’s apple all bristly, and since in the next chair a wildly screaming five-year-old child was grappling with the barber who was trying to touch up the back of his head with the clippers, the old man shaving me was nervous, hushed the child, and finally cut me slightly under the nose.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Wells Tower–Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (2009)

Posted in Anachronisms, Cheerwine, Circus, Death, Harper's, Hellbender, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Metallica, New Yorker, Short Story, South, The Blues Brothers, Violence, Wells Tower on October 10, 2011| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: HELLBENDER-Hellbender (1993).

Hellbender is a band that Wells Tower was in before he became a professional writer.  He played guitar and sang backing vocals (and wrote some lyrics, but not on this album).  The drummer, Harrison Hayes is now the drummer for Les Savy Fav and the bassist and singer Al Burian is most notable for his zine Burn Collector (for a time he was the most famous former Hellbender, although I’d never heard of him).  They were always pretty small time, although their third album did receive some attention.

This first album is pretty rough–quickly made and cheaply mastered and yet there are good dynamics, cool breaks and a whole lot of punk.  Al Burian’s voice is in shouty punk mode (lyrics are not all decipherable) and although his voice works it’s a bit samey throughout the disc.  The drums don’t always sound great, but there are often cool drum breaks.  And the guitars are quite assured.  Despite the punk attitude, it’s not all flat out speed.

There are some dynamic breaks, like in the second track “Housebroken,” which has some cool moments when the drums highlight an unexpected tempo changed.  “Clocked Out” was the single they released prior to the CD and it has some real production values (and a very funny intro from a local DJ).  The guitar highlights the trebly end in a kind of ska riff which is quite different from the rest; there’s also some discernable bass lines and a cool bass/guitar solo (punk, yes, but branching out a bit).  It’s a great track.

“Two Twenty Two” made it onto a couple of local compilations.  It has a slightly less heavy feel, with some interesting guitar lines.  “Aisle Ten” has verses that end with some really heavy (reminding me of Metallica) riffs that really punctuate the vocals.  “Peeling” has some cool backing vocal chanting (as well as what sounds like an answering machine message) that sets it apart from the other songs.  “Clarence” has a really long instrumental opening (1 minute out of a 2 and a half-minute song) that shows of more of Burian’s bass lines.

“Couch” was the B-side to “Two Twenty Two” and it has better production values as well–and lots more dynamic parts.  The final song, Retread” is a sorta political song, “Do you remember when we were young–revolution seemed like fun.  I thought I could get things done by yelling at the top of my lungs.”  Not mind-blowing lyrically but a good sentiment nonetheless.

The band is very tight–their breaks and starts and stops are right on–many of their songs end suddenly and the band pulls it off very well.  When I first listened to the album, I thought it was kind of pedestrian, but after really listening, I realized this is a very well-formed debut. It’s an interesting addition to any punk fan’s collection and an interesting footnote for any fan of Wells Tower.  You can find a copy of the disc at Metro/Sea.

[READ: September 30, 2011] Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

After talking about Wells Tower for a while and reading all of his uncollected stories and nonfiction, I finally got around to reading his short story collection.  And I think I have an interesting perspective on the book because at least two of the stories were totally reworked from their original release.  Not simply updating a thing or two, but totally revamped.  In my experience, aside from the David Foster Wallace essays that were truncated in their original form, this is the only book I know where the stories inside were totally rewritten for the compilation.

There are nine stories in the collection.  And I have to say as an overview to this book, I can’t get over how much I enjoyed them.  I mean, I knew I liked Tower from what I had read before, but I didn’t expect to enjoy this book quite so much because Tower writes a very manly kind of story.  He usually writes about tough guys and men who have a hard time interacting with their fathers and other situations that are out of my ken.  But Tower upends many conventions in his stories and his prose is tight and succinct and his stories are very quick to read and really enjoyable. (more…)

Read Full Post »

William H. Gass–4 books reviewed (Harper’s, October 2011)

Posted in Ben Folds, Book Reviews, Elizabeth Bishop, Harper's, New Yorker, Phish, Poets, William H. Gass on October 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Phish Downloads 07.06.98 Lucerna Theatre, Prague Czech Republic (2008).

This live release is fascinating to me because there’s some major mistakes during the show.  It’s interesting to me that when I read other people talking about this show, they rarely speak of the mistakes.  I know that any band that plays as often and for as long as Phish does is bound to make mistakes, and of course, mistakes are part of the live experience.  Nevertheless, they are often jarring. 

And there are three pretty big ones in this show.  The first comes in “AC/DC Bag.”  This one is particularly noticeable because it comes after a brief pause in the song.  The band comes back in after the break and whonk–wrong chord.  A similar thing happens in their cover of “Cities,” it’s a staggered musical section and whonk–they’ve missed it.  But by far the most egregious is in one of my favorite songs, “Golgi Apparatus.”  There’s a really wonderful musical interlude in the middle of the song.  And in this version, holy cow.  Trey misses the notes to start the instrumental and he just cannot find them again, so the wrongness continues for almost a full minute.  It’s incredible.  Trey is a pretty mellow guy, I’d love to see his reaction during all of that.

But aside from these errors, the set is otherwise really good.  They come to a dead halt in the middle of a jamming, really blistering guitar solo section of “Maze” to thank the audience for coming and to apologize for not thanking them last night.  It’s a weird, quirky thing to do, but it’s amazing that they then pick up the song right where they left off, blistering away to the end. 

The version of “Ghost” is really fantastic with an amazing solo in the jam.  There’s a funny interlude near the end of “Makisupa Policeman” in which there are John Fishman, the drummer takes a solo audience is invited to whistle when the solo has gone on too long.  Amusingly, the solo is very simply a high hat and snare–no indulgences at all.  The crowd starts whistling and the song ends.  But the two highlights for me are the amazing 20 minute version of “Piper” with, again, an absolutely ripping guitar solo and “David Bowie, ” another great song with a cool guitar riff.

When live albums used to come out, they were polished and perfect–sometimes fixed up, or entirely recorded in the studio.  In these days when bands release full concerts all the time, it’s more common to hear mistakes.  But this was an offical release, one of but a handful of CD live releases, and I applaud Phish for not shying a way from a concert with some incredible highs and some major lows.   

[READ: September 25, 2011] 4 books reviewed

I’m including this other book review because I like William H. Gass and I labor under the mistaken belief that I will read all of his books some day.  In the case of this review I was totally fascinated by its construct and its length (Gass is not afraid to be long-winded).  The subject is Elizabeth Bishop, an author whom I know nothing about.  He talks about four books by or about her, her two collections: Prose and Poems, as well as Elizabeth Bishop and the New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence and Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.

The review opens with Gass’ serious criticism of one of Bishop’s poems (he really seems to be laying into it).  He proceeds to say that back in the day (when Wallace Shawn was editor and earlier) that the New Yorker was quite different about the kind of things it accepted (wonderful examples include them not wanting to publish a poem at a certain time of year because it didn’t fit the season (!) or that the editors were uneasy about printing a poem that contained a clause about dirty underpants (!!–they published the poem but removed the clause).  The prissy nature of the rejections is hilarious, especially given the kind of explicit stuff they publish now. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Justin Torres–“Starve A Rat” (Harper’s, October 2011)

Posted in Harper's, Justin Torres, LGBTQ, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Tom Waits on October 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Blue Valentine (1978).

Waits begins to morph into his later stage persona with this album,  although you wouldn’t know it from the opener, “Somewhere,” yes from West Side Story.   It’s a pretty straightforward Louis Armstrong-style cover, and I wonder what people thought of it.  “Red Shoes by the Drugstore” on the other hand foreshadows some of his crazier songs from later on–it’s kind of a like his beatniky work, but it’s a bit scarier and has less of a jazz feel.  Of course, he hasn’t completed eschewed melody and songwriting with the wonderful “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis”–a slow piano ballad.

There’s also the amazing “Romeo is Bleeding” (the inspiration for the title of the movie).  There’s some more wild bluesy songs like “$29.00.”  In fact, Waits seems a bit looser overall (if that’s possible)–his voice is less clipped and beatniky, he’s more wild and perhaps even off beat

“Wrong Side of the Road” merges into later territory although he’s got enough scat style vocals to keep it sounding cool instead of crazy.  “Whistling Past the Graveyard” is one of his most uptempo bluesy songs;  it’s fun and a little crazy.

And yet for all of these forays into the unusual, he still stays firmly footed in what you expect from 1970s Waits: “A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun” and “Blue Valentines” are jazzy, smoky, lounge songs, keeping us on solid Waits ground.  He hasn’t stepped far enough away from his original style to alienate listeners yet, but he’s definitely pushing the boundaries of what might be comfortable.

[READ: September 25, 2011] “Starve a Rat”

This story is a sad and lonesome tale (not unlike Torres’ other story that was recently published in the New Yorker–it’s like these two magazines are linked by some kind of fictional umbilicus).

In this one, a 19-year-old boy hooks up with an older man.  The man asks the boy to wear a diaper on their first encounter.  The boy doesn’t but rather, he tries to satisfy him in other ways.  This pickup becomes something more when the man, who initially asked the boy to leave, relents and talks with him through the night.  The boy finds himself being more honest with the man than with anyone else ever.

The leads to some flashbacks about the boy’s history.  Back when he had a girlfriend, what his girlfriend’s parents were like (her mother knew that he was gay) and how much he loved the girl, even though he always knew she was just a beard.

The strange thing about this story is that I couldn’t decide when it was set.  It has a kind of dark tone that makes me think it is a 1970s story, although there is talk of clinics, so maybe it’s the 80s?  He mentions something about albums being not so out of date that they’d be making a statement–so that could be early 90s? (more…)

Read Full Post »

Callan Wink–“Dog Run Moon” (New Yorker, September 26, 2011)

Posted in Callan Wink, Consumerism, Dogs, Futility, Ironweed, Marriage Trouble, MST3K, New Yorker, Poetry, Short Story, Threats, Tom Waits, Violence, William Kennedy on October 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Small Change (1976).

Half-naked woman on the cover and all (Wikipedia say that this might be Elvira, before she was “Elvira”), this is what people thing of when they think Tom Waits: That gravelly voice is in full form here, with poetic rants and bluesy, drunken musings.

The opening track, “Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four sheets to the wind in Copenhagen)” (I love that many of these titles have parenthetical additions) features the repeated chorus from “waltzing Matilda” which is kind of cheating, but which certainly makes this song potent and memorable.  “Step Right Up” is a skit and scat sales pitch for a miracle product.  It’s a wonderful piece of snark aimed at hucksters (this actually makes sense given that nearly 40 years later he still hates advertising (according to this interview on NPR)).

“Jitterbug Boy” is a mournful piano ballad.  It makes me think of William Kennedy’s Ironweed (of course, Waits was in the film of Ironweed, so maybe that’s got something to do with it).  “I Wish I was in New Orleans (In the Ninth Ward)” has a very Louis Armstrong feel to it (I never noticed how close this early style is to Armstrong until I started playing “What a Wonderful World” for my kids (no Tom for them yet). And of course, the Ninth Ward was really devastated by Hurricane Katrina, so maybe they should have used this as their anthem.

“The Piano’s Been Drinking” is forever etched in my mind from Mystery Science Theater 3000–Tom Servo does a wonderful Tom Waits impersonation.  Incidentally, Waits himself had been drinking, quite heavily at the time.  The track “Pasties and G String” is a scat-fueled description of the lady on the cover, more or less.  It’s accompanied by simply drums and a cymbal and is not too dissimilar from “Step Right Up.”  “Bad Liver and a Broken Heart” begins and ends with the melody of “As Time Goes By” and ends with a confession to drinking too much.

A song like “The One That Got Away” is Waits rambling around with his poetry in his gravelly, slurry followed by a sultry saxophone.  It sets a mood faster than anything I know.  Of course, if you don’t want that mood, you won’t want this album.

Of his first four albums, this one is my favorite (just ahead of Closing Time).  I’m not a huge fan of his early work, and I don’t listen to it all that often, but it’s a perfect treat when the mood strikes.  Waits also was beginning to get into something of a rut.  Despite his varied styles per album, all of the albums were beginning to blend a little.   There are still some great songs coming, but it would take until Swordfishtrombones before he went really far afield from this comfort zone.

[READ: September 21 2011] “Dog Run Moon”

This is one of those stories that seems so pointless that you can’t stop reading.  The good thing is that it was so well-written and engaging that its pointlessness is part of its charm.

As the story opens, Sid is running stark naked through a desert landscape–his feet are bleeding, he is covered in the red dust from the ground and there is a white Spaniel running alongside him.

Essentially, the entire story is that Sid has stolen this dog from Montana Bob and his friend Charlie Chaplin.  They caught him and he ran away with the dog through the desert.  As I say, it’s kind of pointless because he’s running naked and barefoot and they are chasing him on ATVs–he’s obviously not going to escape.  But what makes the story worth reading is the way the plot is irrelevant (except that it tells you a lot about Sid), because it’s really the impetus for his actions that comprises the story. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Ann Beattie-“Starlight” (New Yorker, September 19, 2011)

Posted in Ann Beattie, History, Marriage (Happy), Memoirs, New Yorker, Political Humor, Richard Nixon, Short Story, Tom Waits on October 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Nighthawks at the Diner (1975).

This is Waits’ third album, a live recording (!) which was actually recorded live in the studio. But not the way most bands record live in the studio. The producers brought in tables and chairs and created a bar-like atmosphere into the (evidently rather large) studio.  Then they invited fans in to watch the performance. Wild, man.

Just as wild is the bebopping and scatting that Waits does here. The opening “Emotional Weather Report” is all kinds of comical phrasing and silliness about himself.  It’s funny and quite enjoyable.  And it makes it feel like a nightclub.  He also introduces mos of his sings with a story, and for most of the songs, the introductions are almost longer than the song.  The two-minute intro to “On a Foggy Night” is full of Tom’s storytelling–but in a much more improv jazzy style.  Indeed, it’s not entirely clear when the intro ends and the song begins.

The intro to “Eggs and Sausage” has the very funny conceit that the food he has eaten in some greasy spoon is pretty frightening.  The veal came down to beat the shit out of his coffee, but the coffee wasnt strong enough to defend itself.  Nice.  “Better Off Without a Wife” he talks about having an evening just to yourself, you know, for pleasure.  We all do it, he says, but I’m not weird about it; I don’t tie myself up or anything.

Overall, this is a fun album.  It’s loose, the crowd is at ease and so is Tom.  It’s long album–about 70 minutes, which might be a little too long, but you get the whole vibe of a night out–good stories and good music.

[READ: September 21, 2011] “Starlight”

This story is four short pieces.  The titles should tell you everything you need to know about the content: “Mrs. Nixon Joins the Final Official Photograph,” “Mrs. Nixon reacts to RN: The memoirs of Richard Nixon,” “Brownie,” and “Mrs. Nixon’s Thoughts, Late-Night Walk, San Clemente”

So, clearly these are four short pieces that delve into the mind of Richard Nixon’s wife, Pat.  I don’t know a lot about her or about Nixon himself, really (I know all the highlights or low lights but I haven’t really ever looked into the man aside from what the sitcoms say about him).

So when I was reading the first excerpt I just couldn’t get into it.  I didn’t know who the people were for sure.  I assumed Ollie was Ollie North, but who knows.  I almost didn’t read any more, I was so uninspired by the first one.  But the next day I decided to try again.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Yi Mun-Yol–“An Anonymous Island” (New Yorker, September 12, 2011)

Posted in Culture Shock, Foreign Books, Heinz Insu Fenkl, Marriage Trouble, Monty Python's Flying Circus, New Yorker, Poetry, Sex, Short Story, The Eagles, Tom Waits, Translation, Yi Mun-Yol on October 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS–The Heart of Saturday Night (1974).

What would be more shocking–hearing this and then going to Bone Machine, or listening to Bone Machine and then hearing this. Holy cow. Tom’s voice is so NOT Tom Waits on this record. It kept me thinking of The Eagles or something. The tone, the pacing, I kept expecting him to bust out “Desperado.”  He also has some crazy beat-inspired poetry (what the kids today call spoken-word pieces)  Indeed, these spoken pieces would stay with him in one form or another for his whole career.  But seriously, how much a man can change in thirty years!

Like Closing Time, this album has several different styles.  Primarily, it has a sloppy, bar sound, the sound that Closing Time‘s cover conveyed.  And that sound is all over “New Coat of Paint.”   But there’s also piano ballads.  And those ballads, combined with Waits’ non-gravelly voice, give “San Diego Serenade” and “Shiver Me Timbers” that Eagles’ ballady sound.  And then “Semi Suite” brings back that muted trumpet. 

“Diamonds on My Windshield” is a beat poem set to a walking bass.  It’s clichéd, except that no one actually does it as well as Waits.  And although I don’t really like the blues in general, I enjoyed “Fumblin’ with Blues” quite a bit.  There’s something about Waits’ sloppy (but not) style  that makes the song interesting.  Even though this is considered a classic, this album is just not really my style and it’s one I listen to quite infrequently.

[READ: September 21, 2011] “An Anonymous Island”

This story is translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl.  

I felt like the heart of this story was completely unoriginal in content; and yet I can’t tell if it is a common story, if it is a kind of folklorish story, if it’s sort of a story from ancient writings or if it’s just something that happens.

The beginning of the story shows a woman listening to her husband.  He is watching the television,bemoaning the fact that anyone can be anonymous these days (this struck me as a funny sentiment given how much everyone in America bemoans the lack of privacy or the fact that everyone is on the internet).  You can get off at one bus stop past your own and no one knows you.  Back when he was a kid everyone knew everyone else, a village was a family.  And as the woman listens, she flashes back.

The flashback is to when she was a teacher in a small village.  A village where everyone is related.  Everyone treats each other with respect and deference.  Except for one man, Ggaecheol.  Ggaecheol is a bum–he has no job, he has no home.  The village tolerates him because he is an idiot and he is impotent.  But whenever he wants a meal, he simply walks into someone’s house and sits down and says, feed me.  Which they do.  Typically he sleeps outside, but when it’s cold, he walks into someone’s house and sits at the foot of their bed.  He says he wants to keep the woman warm, so the men, amused by his impotence, allow this.

There’s an old Monty Python skit in which the town idiot, despite being mocked by all, does great with women.  The punch line, showing the idiot with a couple of hot girls in bed with him: “I may be an idiot, but I’m no fool.”  And so it is with this story.  The bum is sleeping with everyone in town.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »