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McSweeney’s #13 (2006)

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Africa, Alex Robinson, Alison Bechdel, All Songs Considered, Anarchy, Ander Nilson, Archer Prewitt, Art Spiegelman, Ben Katchor, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Bud Fischer, Bust, Canadian Content, Charles Burns, Charles Schulz, Chester Brown, Chip Kidd, Chris Ware, Collecting, Comic Strips, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Daniel Clowes, David Collier, David Heatley, David Lasky, Death, Debbie Dreschler, Depression, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Esther Pearl Watson, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gary Panter, Ghosts, Gilbert Hernandez, Gilbert Shelton, Glen David Gold, Graphic Novel, History, HOB, Huh?, Ira Glass, Ivan Brunetti, Jaime Hernandez, Jeffrey Brown, Jesse Reklaw, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, Joel Priddy, John McLenan, John Porcellino, John Updike, John Woodring, Jonathan Bennett, Julie Doucet, Justin Hall, Kaz, Kim Deitch, Kurt Wolfgang, LGBTQ, Lilli Carré, Lloyd Dangle, Louis Reil, Lynda Barry, Malachi B. Cohen, Mark Beyer, Mark Newgarden, Marriage Trouble, Masturbation, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Michael Chabon, Military, Milt Gross, Oddities, Olivia Schanzer, Parts & Labor, Philip Guston, R. Crumb, Rebecca Dart, Richard McGuire, Richard Sala, Rodolphe Töpffer, Ron Rege, S. Kierkegaard, Seth Tobocman, Sex, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Surreal, Tim Samuelson, Tom Hart, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, William Faulkner, World Cafe Live on January 29, 2013| 1 Comment »

13SOUNDTRACK: PARTS & LABOR-Stay Afraid (2006).

partslaborParts & Labor have changed t heir style over the years going from noisemakers who have a melody to being melodious noisemakers.  This album is one of their earlier releases when noise dominated.  Right from the opening you know the album is going to be a challenge.  The first song has pounding drums (electronics that sound like bagpipes) and heavy distorted shouty vocals.  By the end of the songs there is squealing feedback, punk speed drums and screaming distorted vocals (complete with space sound effects).  It’s an aggressive opening for sure.  Song two opens with a long low rumbling and then “Drastic Measures” proves to be another fast-paced song.

“A Pleasant Stay” is 5 minutes long (most of the rest of the album’s songs are about 3 minutes).  It continues in this fast framework, although it has a bit more open moments of just drums or just vocals.  The way the band plays with feedback in the last minute or so of the song  very cool.

“New Buildings” has a hardcore beat with a guitar part that sounds sped up.  “Death” is a thumping song (the drums are very loud on this disc), while “Timeline” is two minutes of squealing guitars.  “Stay Afraid” has a false start (although who knows why–how do these guys know if the feedback sounds are what  they wanted anyhow?).  The song ends with 30 seconds of sheer noise).  The album ends with the 5 minute “Changing of the Guard” a song not unlike the rest of the album–noisy with loud drumming and more noise.

The album is certainly challenging, it’s abrasive and off putting, but there;s surprising pleasures and melodies amidst the chaos.   Indeed, after a listen or two you start to really look forward to the hooks.  If you like this sort of thing, this album s a joy.  It’s also quite brief, so it never overstays its welcome.

[READ: April 15, 2011] McSweeney’s #13

I have been looking forward to reading this issue for quite some time.  Indeed, as soon as I received it I wanted to put aside time for it.  It only took eight years.  For this is the fabled comics issue.  Or as the cover puts it: Included with this paper: a free 264 page hardcover.  Because the cover is a fold-out poster–a gorgeous broadside done by Chris Ware called “God.”  And as with all Chris Ware stories, this is about life, the universe and everything.  On the flip side of the (seriously, really beautiful with gold foil and everything) Ware comic are the contributors’ list and a large drawing that is credited to LHOOQ which is the name of Marcel Duchamp’s art piece in which he put a mustache on the Mona Lisa.  It’s a kind of composite of the history of famous faces in art all done in a series of concentric squares.  It’s quite cool.

So, yes, this issue is all about comics.  There are a couple of essays, a couple of biographical sketches by Ware of artists that I assume many people don’t know and there’s a few unpublished pieces by famous mainstream artists.  But the bulk of the book is comprised of underground (and some who are not so underground anymore) artists showing of their goods.  It’s amazing how divergent the styles are for subject matter that is (for the most part) pretty similar: woe is me!  Angst fills these pages.  Whether it is the biographical angst of famous artists by Brunetti or the angst of not getting the girl (most of the others) or the angst of life (the remaining ones), there’s not a lot of joy here. Although there is a lot of humor.  A couple of these comics made it into the Best American Comics 2006.

There’s no letters this issue, which makes sense as the whole thing is Chris Ware’s baby.  But there are two special tiny books that fit nearly into the fold that the oversized cover makes.  There’s also two introductions.  One by Ira Glass (and yes I’d rather hear him say it but what can you do).  And the other by Ware.  Ware has advocated for underground comics forever and it’s cool that he has a forum for his ideas here.  I’m not sure I’ve ever read prose from him before. (more…)

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Tessa Hadley–“Experience” (New Yorker, January 21, 2013)

Posted in Ben Folds, Boredom, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Regina Spektor, Sex, Short Story, Tessa Hadley on January 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_01_21_13Blitt.inddSOUNDTRACK: REGINA SPEKTOR-What We Saw from the Cheap Seats (2012).

spektorRegina Spektor’s latest album has gotten rave reviews this past year and deservedly so.  It’s catchy and more than a little weird.  The songs could be huge but they don’t have the gloss that makes for big sellers.  Which is fine, because Spektor’s niche is perfect with her in it.

Amidst the quirk, there are some wonderful piano pop songs with unexpected lyrics.  There’s a great phrase in the opener “Small Town Moon,” “Today we’re younger than we’re ever gonna be.”  But after the pretty piano intro, Regina’s full band kicks in for some rocking verses.  “Firewood” is a gorgeous piano ballad dealing with a common theme in her songs: death (but with jaunty piano lines and a beautiful instrumental section).  And “Open” falls into this category as well–achingly beautiful (and a touch Ben Foldsy in the piano).  Although there’s some really crazy sounds on “Open” too, like Spektor dramatically gasping for breath after lines of verse.

The album is full of electronic “drum” sounds that are what I assume is really Spektor going “doo doo” and then electronically manipulated.  You can hear them on one of the weirder songs, “Oh Marcello” which has Spektor singing in a crazy Italian accent and has a chorus of “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good”–but not in the manner in which it was originally sung).  This drum sound is really prevalent of “All the Rowboats” a fascinating song that seems to offer pity for paintings in museums.

“How” is also filled with theatricality–and Spektor’s gorgeous soaring voice.  “The Party” is another big blockbuster number–lots of instruments and a big soaring vocal.  Wonderful.

“Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)” has one of the catchiest choruses that I have no idea what is being said (because it’s in French).  It also has great orchestration giving it a very worldly feel.  “Patron Saint” is another pretty song, with lovely strings.  The disc ends with an acoustic guitar/piano tune.  A simple song to “Jessica.”  This album is gorgeous and deserves a wider audience.

[READ: January 16, 2013] “Experience”

Tessa Hadley had a story in the New Yorker back in June (she seems to be a favorite of theirs.  I liked that one, and I like this one as well.  Hadley creates interesting scenarios for her stories, scenarios that I can’t really imagine happening (unless things are different in England).  But I feel like that scenario’s set up is neither here nor there for the point of the story.  So in this one, a woman who has very recently divorced from her husband is looking for a place to stay.   A friend of a friend who is going to America for a few months agrees to let her live in her house rent-free.  Now I’m not saying that that kind of thing can’t happen, indeed there is a lot of fiction based on the idea of staying in someone’s house while they are away, but I’ve never heard of it happening in real life.  And despite my saying this, I don’t have a problem with it.  I’m willing to believe it happens all the time.

So the narrator, Laura,  makes herself at home in Hana’s house.   She doesn’t have a ton of money so she is more or less subsisting on what’s around the house until she has to get a job.  She checks out all the rooms and enjoys the comforts of Hana’s well-off lifestyle.  Then one day she finds a key to a locked attic room.  She decides to explore the room and see what kinds of secrets it hides.  It contains largely the ephemera of a successful woman: porn videos, a wetsuit, coffee table books and a number of paintings (Laura believes Hana made her money in the art world).  But then she finds a box that contains more personal effects.  Including a diary.

The diary reveals that Hana had been having an affair with a man named Julian.  Hana describes Julian, who is married, as rough and as someone who hurts her, but that the s*x is great.  I found it charming that Hana wouldn’t curse in her own diary  writing “f****d in the shower” and “Then X and you know what.”  The last words in the diary were “He makes me so happy.”

Reading this makes Laura feel despondent–she has never had any experience like that–she married young, was dutiful and is now divorced.  Her husband was smart and gentle and rather boring–even when they split up it was reasonable.  This causes Laura to mope around a bit.  Until one day Julian knocks on the door. (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–“The Lost Order” (New Yorker, January 7, 2013)

Posted in Boredom, Holly Herndon, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Oddities, Rivka Galchen, Sexism, Short Story on January 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

2013_01_07_p139SOUNDTRACK: HOLLY HERNDON-“Breathe” (2012).

herndonI love when Viking (Lars Gottrich) publishes his year’s best lists on NPR.  Between his Metal and his Outer Sound categories, there’s always something weird and cool to listen to that I would not have heard elsewhere.  This year he may have outdone himself with one of the weirdest “songs” I’ve heard.  In one sense there’s nothing weird about it–it’s very natural–but the fact that Holly recorded it, manipulated it, tinkered with it and released it on an album is fascinating.

It begins with Herndon (presumably) inhaling (a gasping, disturbing inhale) and then silence.  A long silence.  Which I believe is Herndon holding her breath.  Then she exhales.  And the process begins again.  The ins-and exs-are manipulated a little bit, making them sound mechanical and somehow even more desperate.  Nearing the end, the breath has been manipulated beyond all recognition as a human sound.  And then it comes back, sounding more male than female.  It’s staggering.

This should absolutely be used for some kind of soundtrack for something.  It’s utterly unique and utterly fascinating.  And, best of all, there’s a youtube clip for it–no video, just the album cover, which means you can just focus on the sound.

 

[READ: May 26, 2012] “The Lost Order”

I was delighted to see that Galchen had a new short story in the New Yorker.

The story concerns a woman who has lost a lot recently.  She is standing in the kitchen not making spaghetti (an arresting opening if ever there was one).  She is concerned that she needs to lose weight, so she is trying not to eat.  She has also recently lost her job–she tendered her resignation (she likes that word, tender).  Her husband has recently lost his wedding ring (it doesn’t “mean” anything–they don’t care for symbols).  And she has just taken a phone call from a belligerent man who orders Chinese food from her.  She listens to the entire order and even frets about making it. But of course, she doesn’t.

I loved the idea of the her taking the man’s order and promising 30 minutes.  This actually happened to me once.  I mis-dialed and the person on the other end took my order, but when I went to the (Chinese) restaurant to pick it up they had no idea what I was talking about.  I did not, as this caller does, call back 50 minutes later and call the person a cunt.  I just waited for my food with a new order.  Because of my personal association with that part I would have liked more of that angle of the story, but it proves just to be one part of a disarming collection of happenings for the narrator.   (more…)

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J. Torres & J. Bone–The Collected Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures 1 (2002)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, Children's Books, Christine Lavin, Egyptology, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, J. Bone, J. Torres, Marriage Trouble, Nazis, Oni Press, Short Books on January 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

alsion1SOUNDTRACK: CHRISTINE LAVIN AND THE MISTLETONES-A Christmas / Kwanzaa / Solstice / Chanukah / Ramadan / Boxing Day Song” (2006).

lavinI’ve always liked Christine Lavin, but she has fallen off my radar in recent years.  I’m delighted that she’s still making cool (and funny) folk music. We quickly added this to our holiday playlist.

It’s an a Capella track done in a round.  It opens with Christine wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a happy new year (to an original melody). And then a male voice wishes you a happy Kwannza, a hip hop happy Kwanzaa (if you celebrate Kwanzaa).  A third voice sings the same melody wishing happiness to all who celebrate Solstice.  A second male voice now wishes you a happy Chanukah.

Then, in perfect harmony, third female and then male voices throw in Ramadan and, amusingly, Boxing Day.  It’s a light-hearted take on multiculturalism, all wrapped up in a pretty melody.

[READ: January 1, 2013] Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures

I recalled the Alison Dare comics from when I used to be an Oni Press fanboy (I still love Oni Press but I can’t keep track of comics anymore).  Anyhow, Alison Dare is an all ages comic, so I brought a copy home for Clark from the library.  But he didn’t like it.  I wondered if it was because the main character was a girl, but i think it’s because the comic is black and white–he really only likes color comics.  Huh.  I also found that it may have been a little confusing for him–the writing was style was really engaging but not exactly straightforward.  Maybe in a year or so he’d enjoy it.

But I enjoyed it.

This book collects the first three Alison Dare stories: (more…)

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McSweeney’s #12 [Unpublished, Unknown &\Or Unbelievable] (2003)

Posted in Aimee Bender, Aleksandar Hemon, Alicia Erian, All Songs Considered, Andrea Deszo, Andy Lamey, Ann Cummins, Ashley Warlick, Ben Ehrenreich, Boredom, Chad Simpson, Darin Strauss, David Ebershoff, Dean Wareham, Death, Douglas Coupland, Drinking, Drugs, Emma Forrest, Essays, Excerpt, Frank Ocean, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gabe Hudson, Glen David Gold, Henry Bean, History, J. Malcolm Garcia, J. Robert Lennon, James Boice, Jennifer Egan, Jess Walter, Jessica Francis Kane, Jill Bialosky, John Henry Fleming, Jonathan Lethem, Judy Budnitz, Julie Orringer, Katie Roiphe, Laird Hunt, Letters, Marc Nesbitt, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Myla Goldberg, Native Americans, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, Peter Orner, Prince, Rachel Sherman, Racism, Rene Nuijens, Rhett Miller, Rick Moody, Robots, Roddy Doyle, Ryan Boudinot, Salvador Plascencia, Sarah Raymont, Set at School, Sex, Shann Ray, Short Story, Sibylla Brodzinsky, Stacey Richter, Steve Almond, Steve Stiefel, Steven Millhauser, Tara June Winch, Travel, Valerie Sutton, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, Wythe Marschall on December 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

12SOUNDTRACK: FRANK OCEAN-“Bad Religion” (2012).

frankoI didn’t know anything about Frank Ocean until I started looking at all of the  Best Albums of 2012 lists.  He was on everyone’s list and was pretty near the top of all of them.  So it was time to check him out.

It  turns out that he’s affiliated with the Odd Future collective, whom I’ve talked about in the past.  But he’s also been on a lot of big name records.  Channel Orange is his debut album (that’s not a mixtape) and the big surprise seems to be that this song (which he sang live on Jimmy Fallon) is about a male lover.  And I guess that’s progress.

So Ocean sings a slow R&B style, and I have to say his voice reminds me of Prince a lot.  Which is a good thing.  I really like this song.    It has gospelly keyboards (but in that Purple Rain kinda way).  And a really aching vocal line.  It’s really effective and it’s really simple.  And I think that’s what I liked best about this song and others that I’ve heard–he’s really understated.  Crazy, I know.

Now I do not like R&B, it’s one of the few genres that I just don;t get.  And yet there’s something about this album (the tracks I’ve listened to) that is really compelling.  It’s not awash in over the top R&B trappings, and it doesn’t try too hard.  It’s just Frank  (not his real name) and his voice over some simple beats.  A friend of mine recently said that all of a sudden she “got” this album, and  I think I may have to get it as well.

[READ: December 30, 2012] McSweeney’s #12

At the beginning of 2012, I said I’d read all of my old McSweeney’s issues this year.  I didn’t.  Indeed, I put it off for quite a while for no especial reason.  Now as the year draws to an end, I’m annoyed that I didn’t read them all, but it’s not like I read nothing.  Nevertheless, I managed to read a few in the last month and am delighted that I finished this one just under the wire.  For those keeping track, the only issues left are 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 10, 38, (which I misplaced but have found again) and 42, which just arrived today.  My new plan in to have those first four read by Easter.  We’ll see.

So Issue #12 returns to a number of different fun ideas.  The cover:  It’s a paperback, but you can manipulate the front and back covers to make a very cool 3-D effect (by looking through two eyeholes) with a hippo.  The colophon/editor’s note is also back.  Someone had complained that he missed the small print ramble in the beginning of the book and so it is back, with the writer (Eggers? Horowitz?) sitting in Wales, in a B&B, and hating it.  It’s very funny and a welcome return.

As the title suggests, all of the stories here are from unpublished authors.  They debate about what exactly unpublished means, and come down on the side of not well known.  And so that’s what we have here, first time (for the mos part) stories.  And Roddy Doyle.

There are some other interesting things in this issue.  The pages come in four colors–each for a different section.  The Letters/Intro page [white], the main stories [pink], the Roddy Doyle piece (he’s not unpublished after all so he gets his own section) [gray] and the twenty minute stories [yellow].  There’s also photographs (with captions) of Yuri Gagarin.  And a series of drawing that introduce each story called “Dancewriting”–a stick figure on a five-lined staff.  They’re interesting but hard to fathom fully.

LETTERS (more…)

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Great Expectations (BBC drama) (2011)

Posted in 19th Century, Big Books, Charles Dickens, Culture Shock, Death, Decadence, Marriage Trouble, Violence on December 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: Summer 2012] Great Expectations

300px-Great_expectations_titlecardSometime after I read Great Expectations, PBS aired this BBC production.  I don’t know if it’s a movie or a mini series and I don;t really care, so I’m calling it a movie.  So I thought I’ll just wait until after I watch the movie and then write my post about both.  And now here were are, several months later.  Sigh.

Anyhow, this movie version of the book was outstanding.  One of the main criticisms leveled at movie versions of books is that your own imagination makes things far “more” than any film could.  For instance  monsters in your head are far more scary than any special effects could make them.  But the opposite was true here.  I never would have guessed that the people in the book could be so horrible, that the squalor could be so extreme and that the atmosphere could be so stifling–I assume years of good breeding made me forget just how bad things used to be

Part of the fault also belongs to Dickens–he was writing for a contemporary audience–for people who didn’t need to be told, for instance, how old Pip was (they would just know) or how old he would need to be to receive his inheritance.  The story was serialized in a magazine, so it was very current.  And so those of us with a great remove from daily life in 1850 don’t always get the details we need.  This is not to say that Dickens himself was not a master writer or an evocative picture creator.  He often includes lots of details they are very helpful, but some things are left out.  So the movie filled in gaps and details that I didn’t know, and they brought the book to life in a way that reading it alone didn’t.  Again, no disrespect to the book–it’s the same way that seeing Shakespeare is better than reading him).   (more…)

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Charles Dickens–Great Expectations (1861)

Posted in 19th Century, Charles Dickens, Death, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Figgy Pudding, Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, Phineas and Ferb, Prison, Violence on December 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

greatSOUNDTRACK: PHINEAS AND FERB-“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (2010).

pfholidayThis song takes the music of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and modifies it to fit the show.  Several characters get a verse, with my favorite coming from Isabella:

Oh, come tell me what’cha doin’ / All my relatives just flew in /From Mexico and Jerusalem / For the holidays
Both Christmas trees and menorahs / It can be confusing for us  / When we break into a chorus / Of “olé” (¡Olé!) and “oy vey” (¡Oy vey!)

Although I usually find Doofensmirtz’ lines to be the best, I don’t care for his verse–it is forced and not terribly funny.  But that is more than made up for with the end as it revisited the beloved figgy pudding:

All: We wish your every endeavor
Makes this the best Christmas ever
And we’re all so glad that we will never
Mention figgy pudding…

Dr. Doofenshmirtz: Oh, great. Well now we’ve mentioned it.
Major Monogram: You know, no one would have noticed if you’d have just kept your mouth shut.

We recently added the entire Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites album to our Christmas music collection.  Thanks, Swampy.

[READ: end of 2011-beginning of 2012] Great Expectations

I started this book over a year ago–Christmastime 2011 and I finished it in January of this year.  And I imagined writing a grand, eloquent post about the book, so I bided my time, and have now delayed for almost a year and have basically forgotten everything significant I thought about saying about it.  Never put anything off in the hopes that genius will strike.

So I read this book because my former coworker Stephanie talked about how much she liked it.  I had never read any Dickens before (possibly Tale of Two Cities but that would have been in High School and doesn’t count).  And Nick Hornby raves about Dickens in the pages of The Believer, so it seemed like a time to try him out.  Back when I was in college I joined a book club and received The Oxford Illustrated Dickens–30-some volumes of all of Dickens’ work in beautiful hardcover editions.  And I have lugged them with me to all my homes.  And now I have finally read one.

I was as surprised by how surprised I was by the story.  I knew the very basic outline and character names (thanks South Park), and from what I knew of Dickens, I thought I had the whole story figured out pretty early on.  But no, there was more afoot than I would have ever guessed.

So, the story: Phillip ‘Pip’ Pirrip is a blaksmith’s apprentice.  He was orphaned as a young babe and is currently living with his (terribly mean) older sister and her husband, a kindly blacksmith named Joe Gargery.  One dark and spooky night (as only existed in 19th century England), Pip is out in the swampy foggy graveyard visiting his parents’ graves when he hears a fight.  Two convicts have escaped from a prison ship and are fighting amidst the marshes.  The “winner,” spies Pip and threatens him–unless he brings a nail file and food, he will kill the young boy.  Pip is freaked and runs home to steal one of Joe’s files and a piece of pie that his sister has baked.  The next day the police capture the criminals, and the one whom Pip helped gives Pip a long look and says that he stole the pie, which lets Pip off the hook from his sister’s wrath.

Meanwhile, up the road a piece, there’s an old dilapidated house with an old dilapidated woman living in it.  She is Miss Havisham.  The delightful thing about Dickens is that Miss Havisham is crazily over the top and yet, because of the time it was written, she is totally believable.  (She may indeed have been based on someone Dickens knew).  No one like Miss Havisham could exist now–she would be institutionalized in a heartbeat, but back then, this woman could be head of a household and have servants and simply be spoken of as a bit odd.  For odd she is. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #11 bonus DVD (2003)

Posted in Books about writers, Daphne Beal, Dave Eggers, David Means, Denis Johnson, Doug Dorst, Dow Mossman, Environmentalism, Essays, Excerpt, Fears, Jonathan Ames, Joyce Carol Oates, Marcel Dzama, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Military, Political Humor, Russia, Samantha Hunt, Sean Warren, Short Story, Stephen Elliott, T.C. Boyle, Threats, Tom Bissell, Violence, Yuck! on December 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: December 16, 2012] McSweeney’s #11

11

THE DVD that came with Issue #11 was listed as a “Deleted Scenes” bonus feature for this issue.  The colophon of the book explains in great detail what they wanted to do and how they went about doing it all.  And that’s all quite amusing in itself.

Now, of course, there are no “deleted scenes” up front.  The DVD is, at first glance, authors reading from the works in the book.  But as you scroll down the menu, there are some deleted scenes, as well as behind the scenes features and audio commentary.  All in all there’s about two hours worth of stuff crammed in here and some of it is quite interesting.

DELETED SCENES

This is where the authors read from their works.  They each read between 3 and 6 minutes, with some of them reading different sections (Samantha Hunt), but most of them reading a chunk.   (more…)

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McSweeney’s #11 [It Can Be Free/We Are as Surprised as You Are/Bring Light/…And [x] is free] (2003)

Posted in A.G. Pasquella, Alison Smith, All Songs Considered, Antlers, Ben Greenman, Benjamin Lytal, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Books about writers, Brent Hoff, Culture Shock, Daphne Beal, David Means, Death, Decadence, Demons, Denis Johnson, Doug Dorst, Dow Mossman, Emilio Oliveira, Environmentalism, Essays, Excerpt, Fears, Ian McDonnell, Jeffrey Rotter, Joyce Carol Oates, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Military, Political Humor, Politicians, Robert Olmstead, Russia, Samantha Hunt, Sean Warren, Short Story, Stephen Elliott, T.C. Boyle, Threats, Tom Bissell, Trevor Koski, Violence, Yuck! on December 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

11SOUNDTRACK: THE ANTLERS-Live at the Black Cat, Washington DC, May 11, 2009 (2009).

antlersI mentioned that I was uncertain about my appreciation of this band.  And I wondered how they would hold up to a longer show.  The answer is surprisingly well.  The sound quality of this set isn’t great–the levels seem way too loud (not sure if that’s the band or the recording) and I really can’t understand the words, but the music is very moody and evocative and I like it quite a lot.

This set comes from the album Hospice, which is a concept album about a person dying of bone cancer (with lyrics like “they told me that there was no saving you” and song titles like “Kettering”).  Earlier descriptions made me think the album was a major drag to listen to– I mean the subject alone is exhausting–but musically it’s a different story.  There’s lush strings and interesting guitars.  And, at least live, the band can make a holy racket.

I’m a little surprised by the number of keyboard errors in “Atrophy.”  I mean an occasional bum note is fine, but there’s a bunch in that track.  It’s very weird.  But that is made up for by the vocals which are angsty and impassioned, especially on the final song “Cold War.”  The NPR site has three tracks available for viewing and I must say that watching the band is more exciting than just listening to them.  But I have really gained an appreciation for The Antlers.

Check out the show here.

[READ: December 16, 2012] McSweeney’s #11

This crazy title for this Issue/Post comes because the cover and spine of the book are all text.  Indeed, the book is gorgeously bound in black leather(ish) with shiny gold print.  Each author gets a summary of his or her work and a note that he or she is free (see each story below).

I did not read Issue #10 yet because it came out as a thrilling paperback, and I’ve been putting it off for a reason even I can’t quite fathom.  I anticipate reading that one last.  Again, no idea why.  In some ways, Issue #11 picks up where Issue #9 left off.  There’s lots of text on the cover, there’s letters and everything else that makes it look like McSweeney’s.  But as I said this one seems more somehow.  It’s the hardcover.  And, it’s also the DVD that accompanies the book.  I have a hard time believing I’ve owned this book for almost ten years and never watched the DVD but I finally got around to it.  More on that soon.

This issue contains letters, fiction, non-fiction and a play that picks up from Issue #9 (more…)

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McSweeney’s #41 (2012)

Posted in Aimee Bender, All Songs Considered, Boredom, Cassandra C. Jones, Chris Flynn, Death, Deb Olin Unferth, Drinking, Drugs, Eileen Van Neerven-Currie, Essays, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gracia Lam, Henry Bean, History, J. Malcolm Garcia, Jess Walter, Jesus Christ Superstar, John Brandon, Jowhor Ile, Kelsey Dake, Letters, Marriage Trouble, Matt Rota, Max Shoening, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Native Americans, Racism, Robots, Ryan Boudinot, Sex, Short Story, Sibylla Brodzinsky, Steven Millhauser, Swans, Tara June Winch, Thomas McGuane, Tony Birch, Track, Violence, Viveca Mellegard, War on December 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

41

SOUNDTRACK: SWANS-Live at All Tomorrow’s Parties, October 2, 2011 (2011).

swansatpBefore Swans released this year’s amazing The Seer, they toured supporting their previous album (with a number of songs from The Seer included). This set has two songs from The Seer, “The Apostate” and “The Seer, Pt 1” together they comprise 50 minutes of the nearly two hour show.  The set also includes “No Words No Thoughts” (24 minutes) and “Jim” (a teeny 6 minutes) from 2010’s My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky.  The final track is an eleven minute version of “I Crawled” which goes all the way back to 1984’s Young God EP.

I would never have thought of Swans as a jam band, and yet here they are, with 5 songs in 2 hours.  Although unlike jam bands, they aren’t showing off their musical chops or noodling solos, they are created expressive and moody soundscapes–not as scary as in days of old, but very intense nonetheless.

The set sounds great, although I imagine this would be more enjoyable to watch than to listen to (there a great swaths of music where there’ s not a lot happening).  I wonder what Gira is doing during these stretches.  My friend Phil (or Phillipe Puleo as Gira calls him here) plays drums on the album and on this tour, and I have to say he must be exhausted–man he hits the drums hard.

I listened to this show before I heard The Seer, but it didn’t prepare me for what the album would contain.  Now having heard that album, I appreciate this live show even more–they really master these long songs.  I am going to have to try to see them the next time they swing by.  I admit I used to be afraid at the thought of seeing them because their early music was so intense, but this seems to be a different Swans now, one that an old man like myself could even handle.

The set is no longer available on NPR.

[READ: December 10, 2012] McSweeney’s #41

The cover of this issue has a series of overlapping photographs of lightning.  I didn’t really look at it that closely at first and thought it was an interesting collage.  Indeed, Sarah said it looked like a science textbook of some kind.  But when I read the colophon, I learned that Cassandra C. Jones finds photographs of lightning and (without manipulating them digitally) places them together so that the lightning bolts create shapes.  And indeed, that is what is going on.  And it’s amazing!

The cover’s pictures create a greyhound running (front and back covers show different stages of the run).  There’s also circles and a rabbit running.  It’s incredibly creative and very cool.  You can see some of her work at her site.

The feature of this issue is that there are four stories from Australian Aboriginal Writers, a group that I can honestly say I have never read anything from before.  There’s also beautiful art work accompanying most of the longer stories, three gritty non-fiction pieces and some letters, most of which aren’t very silly at all.

LETTERS (more…)

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