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Robert Coover–“The War Between Sylvania and Freedonia” (Harper’s, July 2010)

Posted in Canadian Music, Duck Soup, Harper's, Marx Brothers, Rheostatics, Robert Coover, Short Story, War, tagged on August 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS–Bathurst Street Theatre Toronto ON October 7 1994 (1994).

I have been listening to a bunch of the Rheostatics live downloads as of late.

This is one of the first concerts they have available on the Rheostatics Live website (there’s a 1991 show as well).  But what’s especially nice about this one is that it was broadcast (and taped) on the radio, so the sound quality is quite good.

The show is from just before the release of Introducing Happiness, so the band is trying out some of those tracks.

I’ve never seen the band live (and of course, now I never will) but these recordings show how much fun they had live.  They were never afraid to experiment or to make jokes in their chatty sections (original drummer Dave Clark was also a lunatic–it often seemed like he wasn’t taking things seriously at all, and yet he never missed a beat).

The shows from 1996 & 1997 also showcase a lot of these songs too, but having the crisp recording of the radio (and the reasonably short set) makes this a good place to start if you want to hear some Rheostatics live.  Some of those other early shows are recorded in the audience, so the fidelity isn’t always 100%.

All of the shows are available at the Rhesoatics Live site (thanks all contributors).  This show is available here.

[READ: July 27, 2010] “The War Between Sylvania and Freedonia”

Your enjoyment of this story depend a lot on whether or not you have watched (and enjoyed) the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup.  The reason is that this is a retelling of Duck Soup–sort of from the perspective of the mayor of Sylvania and sort of from an impartial observer who is on the side of Sylvania, or more specifically, anti-Firefly.

What Coover does is simply present the audacity and insanity of Groucho’s character, Rufus T. Firefly, as if it were a historical account.  Any reasonable person could see what a terrible mayor he would make.  And this accounts for the amusement in the story. (more…)

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Heidi Julavits–“Multiples of Cohen”(Harper’s, August 2010)

Posted in Death, Funny (ha ha), Harper's, Heidi Julavits, Serena Maneesh, Sex, Short Story on July 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SERENA-MANEESH-Serena-Maneesh (2005).

The thing that surprises me most about this band is that they are Norwegian (although I’m not sure why that surprises me).  They have a convoluted past, and I’m still not sure what the name means, but I really like the CD.

So, as I was led to believe, this debut album is parts My Bloody Valentine, but it is much more than that. The opening, “Drain Cosmetics” is another quintessential shoegazery song with male and female vocals over waves of gentle distortion.

The third track “Un-duex” is another fairly gentle track (clocking in at under 2 minutes) with waves of layered distortion competing with each other.  “Candlelighted” is like the opposite of “Un Duex,” a 6-and-a-half minute noise-fest, conflicted guitars and over 3 minutes of instrumental introduction before the gentle wash of vocals come in.

“Beehiver II” continues the noise (and features the loudest vocals so far).  These darker songs certainly owe a debt to Sonic Youth (not that MBV doesn’t but MBV was more wash and less abrasive).  “Her Name is Suicide” slows things down considerably, almost spoiling the flow, but the song is weird enough to be interesting.

“Chorale Lick” returns to SY type noise with squealing guitars.  The final track is a 12-minute song that begins slowly with gentle washes (and vibes?).  By the seven minute mark all the instruments have been dragged out and it’s a noisy attack.  At about 9 minutes the song screeches to a feedback-fuelled halt, but it is quickly followed by a delicate piano coda.

I didn’t enjoy the album when I was listening to it quietly (I was trying to listen at work).  But when I was able to really turn it up it sounded less like a pile of noise and more like intricate uses of noise.  I’m curious to see now what else they have done in the last five years.

[READ: July 27, 2010] “Multiples of Cohen”

This is a fascinating story that begins surprisingly and ends even more surprisingly (and yet very satisfyingly).

It opens with this statement of purpose: “The important fact about Cohen: he did die.”

The story is written from the point of view of Cohen’s cardiologist. Cohen is a hairy-backed, middle-aged man who judges everyone on their fuckability (the first thing he says to his doctor’s wife: “nice rack”; while his nanny has “an okay ass”).  He also has a heart that will not quit.  He passes all of his tests with flying colors and has the stamina of a bull.

So why did he have a heart attack while making a joke about sleeping with someone’s sister?  How had the cardiologist failed him? (more…)

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Periodical: Smithsonian

Posted in Animals, Art, Bob Dylan, Books about writers, Christo, Essays, Gilmore Girls, Harper Lee, History, James Gurney, Mark Twain, Milton Glasser, Smithsonian on July 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Our family visited Washington DC and went to a few museums.  We talked about subscribing to Smithsonian magazine (and getting a membership to the museums), but we put it off.  Then I received an offer in the mail to subscribe to the magazine and get a membership all for $12.  So we did.  And I’m thrilled with the magazine.

I recall subscribing to this magazine many years ago (turns out it was about fifteen years ago) as I distinctly remember reading, savoring and the keeping the September 1995 issue which featured a cover about James Gurney’s Dinotopia.  The cover is still blazed in my memory (even if I can’t find a better picture than this online).

As with many things, I find that as an adult (and a dad) I enjoy this sort of magazine a lot more than I did as a recent college grad.  It was also fascinating to learn in the new 40th anniversary issue that the magazine started not long after I was born.  It’s like we grew up together (but I ignored it for years). (more…)

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Porter Fox–“The Last Stand of Free Town” (The Believer, June 2010)

Posted in Anarchy, Avi Buffalo, Band of Horses, Communists, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Fredy Perlman, Free Speech, Grant Lee Phillips, History, Insurgent Summer, Porter Fox, The Believer, The Shins on July 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: AVI BUFFALO-“What’s In It For” (2010).

I received an email from Amazon telling me that their top 50 CDs of the year (so far) were online.  The second disc was by Avi Buffalo.  I’d never heard of Avi Buffalo, but they were on Sub Pop, so that’s a good sign.

I was going to listen to a sample, but saw that they had a video for “What’s In It For” on the Avi Buffalo page.

Avi himself looks about 12, which is disconcerting.  But his voice is really angelic (he sounds like one of those high voiced singer like from The Shins or Band of Horses or, indeed like Grant Lee Phillips) In fact, this song could be a B0H outtake.   And as such, that’s a good thing.

I’m not sure just how original the band is, and I’m also not sure if they are tagging onto this high-voiced folkie bandwagon (he doesn’t have a beard at least, so that’s a relief; of course, he may not be old enough to grow one).

A sampling of the rest of the songs shows more diversity than the “single?” indicates.  And, indeed, this looks like a great, quirky summer release.

[READ: July 20, 2010] “The Last Stand of Free Town”

Even though I read all the articles in The Believer, I don’t often talk about them, mostly because they are non-fiction, and I don’t tend to talk about non-fiction articles for whatever reason.

But anyhow, I’m mentioning this because it ties pretty directly to the Insurgent Summer story Letters of Insurgents that I and others are reading.

This article is about the pacifist commune that has existed in Christianshavn (part of Copenhagen, Denmark) since 1971:

That year, a group of squatters overtook an abandoned army base east of Prinsessegade, barricaded the roads, outlawed cars and guns, and created a self-ruling micro-nation in the heart of Copenhagen. They called the eighty-five-acre district Christiania Free Town, drew up a constitution, printed their own currency, banished property ownership, legalized marijuana, and essentially seceded from Denmark. The traditionally liberal Danish government allowed the settlement at first, dubbing Christiania a “social experiment.” Then it spent the next three decades trying to reclaim the area. Thirty-nine years and a dozen eviction notices later, the nine hundred residents of Free Town represent one of the longest-lasting social experiments in modern history.

Note that Christiania was founded in 1971 and Letters is from 1976, so something must have been in the air. (more…)

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Tom Bissell–“Cinema Crudité: The mysterious appeal of the post-camp cult film” (Harper’s, August 2010)

Posted in David Cross, Entertainment Weekly, Essays, Eurovision, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Harper's, MST3K, Paul Rudd, Safura, Sex, The Room, Tom Bissell, Yuck! on July 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: SAFURA-“Drip Drop” (2010)

Azerbaijan came in 5th in this year’s Eurovision contest.  And they did it with this monstrosity of a song by Safura.  She sounds like so many pop chanteuses, pulling out all the stops on high notes, vibrato and even a fascinatingly accented English.

But just as I’m about to dismiss this song out of hand, she throws in this weird chorus of pizzicato “drip drops.”  Even they are not very compelling, but the juxtaposition of these two parts of the song are surprising enough to make the song interesting.

But I think that’s enough Eurovision for me.  And I didn’t even make it to the song by Latvia with the lines: “I’ve asked my Uncle Joe/But he can’t speak/Why does the wind still blow?/And blood still leaks?/So many questions now/With no reply/What for do people live until they die?/  Only Mr God knows why/But his phone today is out of range”

[READ: July 19, 2010] “Cinema Crudité”

This article is about cult films, although it focuses a lot on a film that I’ll never watch called The Room.  I had heard about the film in Entertainment Weekly a month or so ago.  They joked about its status as a midnight film that all manner of celebrities swear by: David Cross, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill etc.

This article goes into much greater depth than the EW piece did about what the film is actually like.  The author really points out all of its flaws and incongruities and everything else about the film that is awful.  And then he says that he’s watched it at least 20 times and couldn’t wait to interview the auteur behind it.

The article is great, by the way, Bissell did an excellent job. But I still don’t want to watch the film. (more…)

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Nora Ephron–“The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut” (New Yorker, July 5, 2010)

Posted in Adventure, Chanée & N'evergreen, Eurovision, Funny (ha ha), New Yorker, Technology on July 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CHANÉE & N’EVERGREEN-“In a Moment Like This” (2010).

Denmark’s entry into Eurovision is Chanée & N’evergreen.  This song is shockingly bland.  It doesn’t have any of the weird quirks of Romania, and isn’t inspired in anyway that I can see.  The song’s verses are way too disturbingly similar to “Every Breath You Take” which morphs into a chorus that sounds too disturbingly similar to Abba.

See it here.

[READ: July 17, 2010] “The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut”

I haven’t read any of Steig Larsson’s books, and I probably never will.  And as such I’m sure this parody would be even funnier if I had.  I don’t generally like Nora Ephron’s pieces, but I was kind of tickled by this one.

I assume that the characters are the ones in the book (and there must be some kind of history, right?).  But unlike the crazy excitement of the novels, in this one, Kalle needs his umlaut fixed on his Apple computer.  She demurs until he argues: (more…)

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Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum–“The Erlking” (New Yorker, July 5, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Eurovision, Fables, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), New Yorker, Paula Seling and Ovi, Sarah Shun-lein Bynum, Short Story, Supernatural, Toilets on July 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PAULA SELING & OVI-“Playing with Fire” (2010).

Now this is what I think of as a Eurovision song.  It’s Romania’s entry and it came in third!  The video is a live version (I assume).  And it is deliciously over the top right from the start.  Paula & Ovi face each other while the backing singers punctuate all of the lyrics.

Even the opening beat feels very Euro to me (whatever that means).  But when they start singing at each other, “Girl Girl Girl…” “Boy boy boy…” and they get to the chorus about burning the place down, the theatricality hits its peak.  I really don’t like this song, and yet after listening to it three times for this review, I find it maddeningly infectious.  Just like Eurovision.

And I would be remiss for not acknowledging the outrageous high not she hits in the middle.  I don’t think it’s particularly effective in the song, but it is impressive.

[READ: July 17, 2010] “The Erlking”

This was a fascinating story that went in two very different directions (and which feels like it’s part of a longer story).

There are two characters in the story Ondine–a young girl who only answers to “Ruthie”– and Kate, her mom. As the story opens, Ruthie’s mom is dragging her to the Elves’ Faire at the local Waldorf school.  Her mom feels bad that she never even considered sending Ruthie to the school (they had tried with the Jewish Montessori school, but were not accepted).  SHe had heard a story about a nine year old who knew the entire Mongol empire but still sucked his fingers.  She gets the awesome line: “Everybody has to go into a 7-Eleven at some point in life, operate in the ordinary universe.”

She figures that she can introduce Ruthie to some fun and imaginative things by bringing her here.  As the story continues, we learn a lot about Ruthie’s mother’s concerns and fears of inadequacy (some are common and relatable, some are over the top, and others are pretty unusual).

(more…)

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Nicole Krauss–“The Young Painters” (New Yorker, June 28, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Death, Eurovision, maNga, Nicole Krauss, Short Story, Wikipedia on July 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: maNga-“We Could be the Same” (2010).

I don’t know much about music from Turkey.  I also don’t know all that much about music from the Eurovision contest; however, I’m led to believe that the music is generally pretty poppy and treacly.  So I’m rather surprised that the second place winner is this alt metal rocker from Turkey (of course it was over 70 points behind Lena at number 1).  If this was 1983, this song would probably be riding up the American charts (of course, maNga throw in some turntable & hip hop scratches, so we know the song is at least circa 1993).  It’s got some pretty lite-metal guitar riffs and a big, loud chorus.

As with all Eurovision songs, it’s a plea for peace.  I think it’s a love song, too.  (Perhaps it’s a Romeo and Juliet deal).  Lyrically it’s suspect, but the video (with flags waving and men in balaclavas) is visually interesting.

The whole package is satisfying, and I’ delighted to see that they have two albums out already.

[READ: July 15, 2010] “The Young Painters”

The most interesting thing about this issue of the New Yorker (which is not to detract from the short story) is that there were 21 pages of ads for Canada.  I couldn’t get over how many maple leafs there were in here, especially since there was nothing in the issue itself (contentwise) that would suggest a Canadian connection.  Most of the ads were for doing business there.

Another interesting thing was the article about the Eurovision song contest, which took place a few weeks ago.  Since America’s not in it (hence Eurovision), we don’t pay any attention to it, but it’s a fun musical extravaganza, especially if you like ponderous songs sung in broken English (and who doesn’t?).

But on to the short story.  I found this story a little confusing to start with.  I think I was confused because the story begins with a woman saying that she is married to a man (named S.) and that they were invited to a party at a dancer’s house.  Then she describes her husband and then describes the apartment, all in a few sentences.   So at first I thought they were in their own house and I was confused that they had a painting she had never seen before.  Rereading the paragraph clarified things quickly, and it makes a lot more sense when you get the setting straight!

Otherwise, this was a fascinating story about a successful writer.  She and her husband went to the dancer’s house where they remarked on a painting.  The dancer reveals the fascinating story behind the painting to the entire dinner party.  The writer, being utterly transfixed by the story and feeling that it was not told in confidence, decided to write a short story about it. (more…)

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Ted Walker–“The Peaches” (New Yorker, October 12, 1968)

Posted in Donald Barthelme, Eurovision, Lena, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Ted Walker, Wikipedia on July 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LENA-“Satellite” (2010).

The 2010 Eurovision song winner is from Germany and her name is Lena.  I can’t say that I’ve listened to the contests much in the past, but this year, I enjoyed the raging discussion about these pop gems.

“Satellite” is really darn catchy.  Lena’s voice is totally fascinating.  She affects a very broad English accent (although I can’t decide from where) while singing this insanely catchy song.  The lyrics are, by default, silly.  But the couplet “I bought new underwear, they’re blue, and I wore them just the other day” is pretty darn cute.

And Lena herself is adorable.  I didn’t see any of the live show, but her video is quite fetching.  What happens to Eurovision winners anyhow?  Will we ever hear from Lena again?

[READ: June 30, 2010] “The Peaches”

I read this piece because when I printed out the Barthleme story, I printed extra pages just to be safe, and how about that, I got whole other story.  I’d never heard of Ted Walker before, although it appears that he was quite well regarded in his time.

The thing that strikes me most about this story is that it was published the year before I was born, and it’s shocking how different of a husband and father he is just 40-some years ago.

In many ways I was so distracted by his attitude towards his wife (and her reaction to their life) that I never really got involved in the story.  I will say that the peach tree metaphor throughout the story is quite good, but it is especially powerful as the story nears the end. (more…)

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Donald Barthelme–“Kierkegaard Unfair to Schlegel” (New Yorker, October 12, 1968)

Posted in Bison B.C., Canadian Music, Donald Barthelme, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Huh?, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, New Yorker, Søren Kierkegaard, Soren Kierkegaard on July 15, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BISON B.C.-“Two Days Booze” (2010).

Bison B.C. are a hardcore metal band from Vancouver.  I was surprised to hear them on CBC Radio 3, but that’s one of the great things about the online radio station: the diversity is amazing!

Bison B.C. is heavy with growling vocals that I didn’t understand at all.  In between bombastic notes, they had include some guitar riffs that broke the bombast.  The biggest surprise comes at around the 4 minute mark (quite a long song for the genre, although it seems that all of their songs are at least 5 minutes) when the song slows down to a few single notes (and a quiet bass). That’s when the choir (?) of male voices sings an Oh, oh section.

I listened to a few songs from their earlier discs, and it seems that they are going in a far darker direction with this new one.

[READ: June 30, 2010] “Kierkegaard Unfair to Schlegel”

Before I start let me say that this article was my first chance to plumb the depths fo the New Yorker online (subscriber back issues services) and it’s really awesome.  I printed out some great looking ads from the fifties and sixties!  I also enjoyed looking at the very first issues of the magazine.

This short story article was bandied about among David Foster Wallace fans as being a pioneer for Brief Interviews and other DFW stylings.

It opens with an answer to a question, which appears to be a therapy session. And it’s quite funny.  But from there, the story gets broken down into several sections. Each one is more Q&A (except the 4th one which is just a series of Qs. (more…)

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