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Archive for the ‘McSweeney’s’ Category

Geoffrey Pyke–To Ruhleben and Back (1916) [THE COLLINS LIBRARY No. 2 (2003)]

Posted in Adventure, Geoffrey Pyke, History, McSweeney's, Military, Mogwai, Paul Collins, Prison, Short Books, The Collins Library, Threats, War on March 20, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Young Team (1997).

When Mogwai released Young Team there was quite a bit of buzz around them.  I remember when I bought the album, that I had no idea where they were from.

With the Asian-looking characters on the cover and a picture of Fuji Bank (and no band members names listed) I assumed they were Japanese.  Of course, a closer listen reveals a lot of Scottish voices quietly chatting away during some of the songs (which doesn’t necessarily mean they are Scottish…but indeed, they are).

Young Team is a great debut and Mogwai shows a lot of versatility.  It opens with a spoken word bit about Mogwai (If the stars had a sound it would sound like this).  It’s a slow instrumental, actually quite pretty, with picked guitar and continual bass and even harmonics.   It gets loud by the end, yet even that is restrained.  But just when you think that Mogwai is going to be another post rock instrumental chill out band, they hit you with “Like Herod.”

“Like Herod” is one of the more amazing songs in instrumental rock.  It plays with loud and soft dynamics like nobody’s business.  Opening with a slow rumbling bass, the guitars pick out intricate melodies.  Then at 3 minutes, all hell breaks loose in the form of big guitar chords and screaming guitar notes.  Things slow to a crawl about 6 minutes into the song. But we’re only half way done.  And those quiet notes are once again blown away by those same chords and screaming notes.

You could pretty much end the disc right there and call it a success.  But “Katrien” shows off another side of the band: a spoken word side.  Behind some gorgeous melodies there’s something of a rant.  It’s followed by “Radar Maker,” a 90 second piano-based instrumental.  It’s quite delicate and it leads right into “Tracy” a beautiful 7 minute song with a pretty melody and lovely washes of sound.

The middle of the album has two shot songs: “Summer [Priority Version]” is a condensed version of that quiet/loud dynamic that Mogwai does so well.  And “With Portfolio” plays havoc with a pretty piano song by throwing in washes of noise and sound effects which completely take over by the end.

The unfortunately titled “R U Still In 2 It” belies its bad name with some beautiful quiet guitar work played behind a vocal turn by Aidan Moffat.  There’s even a sung chorus!

“A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters” is a two-minute sort of intro to the final track on the disc, the amazing “Mogwai Fear Satan.”  A 16 minute instrumental that is quite beautiful as it opens: distorted chords that don’t overpower the melody.  They bolster it as it builds and builds until it reaches a moment of silence which is filled by…a flute (!).  The song continues to build with a gorgeous repeating motif.  Then it slows down again to let the flute really sync with the song until it reaches its beautiful end.

It’s a great debut, deserving all of the praise that was heaped on it.

[READ: March 3, 2011] To Ruhleben and Back

This is a true account of one man’s escape from Ruhleben prison in Germany during WWI.  I admit that I had never heard of Ruhleben before (and frankly I’m really surprised I never have, as roughly 4,000 British citizens were interned there from 1914-1918).

This story was published in 1916 as one man’s account of his escape from the prison.  And then it quietly went out of print. McSweeneys’ Collins Library has now (well, in 2002), seen fit to get it reissued once again.

The introduction explains the historical veracity of the book, and also promises a rather ripping yarn.  And indeed, Pyke does not disappoint.

Well, maybe a little in the beginning.  The early parts of the book are a little slow.  It explains who he was and how he wound up in Germany during the war.  The short version is that he was a journalist who was frustrated that he wasn’t hearing proper news from the war, so he volunteered to go to Germany (even though at this point all English men and women were being incarcerated).  He moved there and since he spoke fluent German, he was able to blend in.  Until he was caught. (more…)

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John Brandon–Arkansas (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, Death, Drugs, Gangsters, John Brandon, McSweeney's, Short Books, Unlikable main character, Violence, Wavves on March 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WAVVES-“Post Acid” (2010).

Wavves’ King of the Beach CD made many Top Ten of 2010 lists.  I listened to a track somewhere and wasn’t all that impressed.  Right now there’s a live show on NPR, which I listened to a bit (and which made me investigate them further).

They have a few songs on their My Space page and I really like this one.  It is short and fuzzy and catchy and cool.  It’s a fast blast of punk nonsense.  I have no idea what it’s about (and I rather like the weird break in the song where the singer can barely get words out).

I’m not sure if I’d listen to a whole record of them (although I love their hair).  But this was sure a fun track.

[READ: February 17, 2011] Arkansas

John Brandon did a pretty amazing thing with this book.  He took two rather unlikable characters and made them sympathetic and, eventually, compelling.  The unlikability may have come from the detached style of their introduction.  Each of the main characters is introduced separately with a brief anecdote that seems to end abruptly.  In fact, I wondered if it was going to be a series of brief character sketches and nothing more.  I’m thankful that that wasn’t the case since, each character’s “section” could have been a complete (but very unsatisfying) story.  When I saw more of Swin, I was pleased, even though I didn’t really “like” him.

First we meet Swin Ruiz, a very intelligent guy who makes it to college.  While in college a foolish mistake (resubmitting an essay to a teacher) costs him his scholarship, which essentially means he’s out of school.  He scams some money from the rich students and then takes off, leaving his family and his beloved younger sisters with their jerk of a stepfather.  From there, he drifts aimlessly until he meets a bartender who sets him up with someone to help “break the laws of the land.”

Kyle Ribb is the other main character. He’s a harder man, something of a bastard.  He tries to go legit by working in a bike store.  When that doesn’t pan out (the story of that is pretty funny) he reverts back to his “no boss” ways.  He eventually meets a guy who introduces him to Colin, a man with criminal connections.

The third character we meet differs from these two.  First, a date is given as an introduction (1974).  Second, the whole section is written in second person (“You are Ken Hovan”).  We learn about his life and his background and how, eventually, he took the nickname Frog and became a shop owner, a dealer of unusual merchandise (which begins with bootleg tapes and, naturally, transforms into drugs).

The story of Frog’s life from 1974 to the present intersperses the main story (which is really about Swin and Kyle).  And each time frame jump ties together some of the mysteries of the book (Frog, being the boss, ties the thread together).  And there are many mysteries.

Kyle and Swin move up the ranks of the ne’er-do-well scale, until they land a job in an underused state park in Little Rock, Ark.  They get a “legit” job manning the booth, checking visitors in and out, and cleaning up the brush, but their “real” job is to deliver packages to random locations in different states.  They drive a car to a parking lot, wait for a person to get in and then drive off in a different car with a package for the other end.  And that’s pretty much it. It’s obvious they’re doing illegal work, but they don’t ask questions and don’t know too many details.

Their boss at the park is Bright, a man who seems to really enjoy the park and genuinely likes to take care of it.  He is a middleman for Frog, but a rather benevolent one.  There are some other characters as well.  The first is Her, (that’s the only name she gives out), she gives Bright the details about the packages.  Bright’s boss at the park is Wendy, she knows what they do and receives a cut.  She only wears pink and wishes to be a painter.  She recites a quotes from a different painter before she leaves. (more…)

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Millard Kaufman–Misadventure (2010)

Posted in Death, Drugs, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Millard Kaufman, Sex, Short Books, Threats, Violence, Virginity (Loss of) on March 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PJ HARVEY-Dry (1992).

This first PJ Harvey album was a revelation in 1992.  It was angry and loud and awfully disconcerting. And, perhaps most importantly, it showed a strong woman, unafraid to point fingers at foolishness around her. (Yes, I miss the 90s).

It was also raw and abrasive and, at times, scary.  The opening track featured discordant music and vocals that were more than a little uncomfortable.  “O Stella” has more uncomfortable vocals with super cool and slightly off harmonies.  The guitar is a great distorted mass and the bass is low and heavy.  A great track.

“Dress” is one of the least abrasive tracks musically, which really lets the lyrics come to the fore. And her lyrics are wonderful throughout the disc–she attacks conventions of femininity and flips expectations.  And although “Dress” has a very simple chorus–just the line “If you put it on”–it is catchy as anything.

But it’s not all loud songs, either.  The wonderfully titled “Happy and Bleeding” features some intriguing quiet guitar work and whispered verses.  It grows in strength but never wails like the other songs.  For real wailing, “Sheela-na-Gig” is your song. Terrifically rocking and obscene, it’s a funny, clever awesome alt rock song.

Harvey experiments with falsetto (although nothing like she will on Let England Shake) on “Hair,” a cool twist on the Samson and Delilah story.  “Plants and Rags” makes exquisite use of a creepy violin to bring some extra sounds to an already cool song.

It’s a stunning debut and showed that Harvey was a fearless singer.

[READ: February 27, 2011] Misadventure

This is Millard Kaufman’s final novel (after the very cool Bowl of Cherries).  The Afterword (written by Kaufman’s son) seems to suggest that Millard actually wrote this back in the 60s.  There are elements of this book that make me thing that he did write it in the sixties (and then obviously updated particulars to make it contemporary).  It just feels circa the 60s and it feels like the book of a younger man (Kaufman was 92 when he died).

The story opens with a dead body and a real estate agent.  And it quickly develops into a tidy noir fiction with double-crossing and undermining and all kinds of interesting twists.  I don’t read noir or “mysteries” as a rule, so this is kind of a novel novel to me.  Accordingly, I can’t compare it to the genre. (more…)

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Lawrence Krauser–Lemon (2000)

Posted in Depression, Drinking, Funny (strange), Huh?, Humiliation, Lawrence Krauser, McSweeney's, PJ Harvey, Unreliable narrator, Yuck! on March 1, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PJ HARVEY-“Let England Shake” [Live on the Andrew Marr Show] (2011).

PJ Harvey has a new album out.  I’ve listened to it free on NPR, and in the introduction, they mention this live version on the Andrew Carr show.  Harvey (solo) plays an autoharp, and the melody is provided by a sample of the original version of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”  (done by The Four Lads).

The album version doesn’t use the sample, although the melody is the same.

I loved PJ Harvey back on her first few albums, but I didn’t even get White Chalk.  Harvey has undergone a bizarre transmogrification, where not only is she no longer a rocking guitar woman, her voice has lost its growling edge and his been replaced by an amazing falsetto.

This version also differs from the official release in that this one is shorter (probably time constraints on the show) and has fewer verses.  It also has Harvey singing the “Istanbul” chorus which isn’t on the disc.  So, this is a unique interpretation of the song, one that likely won’t be available anywhere else.

I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did.  It’s not the PJ I know, but this new PJ is certainly interesting.

[READ: January 31, 2010] Lemon

Krauser hand-scribbled the covers of all 10,000 extant copies of this book.  So if nothing else, the covers are all unique!  (Click here for a larger scan).

This is one of the first half-dozen or so books that McSweeney’s published and to me it speaks volumes about the kind of absurdist books that they initially released.  Those early titles were weird and possibly ironic and maybe post modern and were kind of interesting but not necessarily enjoyable.  Thankfully, they have since published very very readable books, but everyone has growing pains, right?

That sounds like I didn’t like this book, which is not exactly true.  I was bemused by it, but mostly I kept thinking I can’t believe that this guy did this much research about lemons, he was practically as obsessed about lemons as his main character.  For indeed, that is what this book is about: a man’s obsession with lemons.  Or, specifically, one lemon. (more…)

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Javier Marías–Voyage Along the Horizon (1972) [translated 2006]

Posted in Books about writers, Death, Javier Marias, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Kristina Cordero, Los Campesinos!, McSweeney's, Meta, Short Books, Translation, Travel, Unreliable narrator, Violence on January 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LOS CAMPESINOS! Live in studio at WEXP, July 31, 2008 (2008).

For this brief in studio performance Los Campesinos! play four songs from their debut album Hold on Now, Youngster.  The band sounds great in this setting.  I don’t have this album, so I don’t know if they deviate at all from the originals, but the live versions are tight and very effective.

The interviews are informative and rather gushing (I’ve never heard a DJ kiss the ass of a performer in such a nice way before…and the band seems really flattered by it…it’s all very sweet).  The DJ also has a funny conversation about their tendency to scream in their songs.  (It’s cathartic).

What I didn’t notice so much on Romance is Boring was how many different lead singers the band has.  With these four songs, there are enough lead vocalists to show a lot of diversity (and a lot of screaming, too–“don’t read Jane Eyre!”).  And, as one might expect if you know their later disc, the lyrics are smart, funny and wicked.

The difference between Romance and Hold On, seems to be that the band were much punkier on this early disc, and that all comes out in these live tracks.  And the songs are all short: 3 minutes and under.  They really pack a lot in here.

[READ: January 13, 2011] Voyage Along the Horizon

Most of Javier Marías’ books are translated and released through New Directions. But for reasons I’m unclear about, this book, Marías’ 2nd novel, was published by Believer Books (an imprint of McSweeney’s).   I haven’t read any of Marías’ other novels, so I have no idea if this is similar to any of the others (there’s a Q&A at the back of the book which suggests that this is typical of his earlier novels), but it absolutely makes me want to read more by him.

What I loved about this story first off was the sense of distance we received from the main story itself.  (Marías is Spanish, but this is a technique employed by Roberto Bolaño (Chilean) extensively…. Obviously, others do this as well).

The set up of the story is this:  1) An unnamed narrator has a party at his house.  At this party, two individuals, Miss Bunnage and Mr Branshaw (or is it Bragshawe?–he never learns) discuss author Victor Arledge.  Miss Bunnage is a scholar of Arledge and Mr Branshaw has in his house an unpublished novel that investigates the disappearance of Arledge and why he stopped writing.  And so, Branshaw invites Bunnage and the narrator to his house the next day to have the novel (called Voyage Along the Horizon) read to them.

2) So, the next morning, the two go to Branshaw’s house where he does not let them see the book, preferring rather to read the novel aloud (which gives us essentially 3 levels of remove from the action of the story).  That’s a long way to go before you even get to the meat of the book. (more…)

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Paul Poissel/Paul La Farge–The Facts of Winter (2005)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Anachronisms, Dreams, Funny (strange), Huh?, Kakyoung Lee, Los Campesinos!, McSweeney's, Paul La Farge, Paul Poissel, Research, Scholarship, Translation, Unreliable narrator on January 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LOS CAMPESINOS! Live in studio at KEXP, July 31, 2008 (2008).

For this brief in-studio performance Los Campesinos! play four songs from their debut album Hold on Now, Youngster.  The band sounds great in this setting.  I don’t have this album, so I don’t know if they deviate at all from the originals, but the live versions are tight and very effective.

The interviews are informative and rather gushing (I’ve never heard a DJ kiss the ass of a performer in such a nice way before–and the band seems really flattered by it–it’s all very sweet).  There’s also some fun comments about their screaming tendencies.

What I didn’t notice so much on Romance is Boring was how many different lead singers the band has.  With these four songs, there are enough lead vocalists to show a lot of diversity (and a lot of screaming, too–“don’t read Jane Eyre!”).  And, as one might expect from the later disc, their earlier lyrics are smart, funny and wicked, too.

The difference between Romance and Hold On, seems to be that the band were much punkier on the early disc, and that all comes out in these live tracks.  And the songs are all short: 3 minutes and under.  They really pack a lot in here.

[READ: January 6, 2011] The Facts of Winter

This book is, apparently, an elaborate joke.  It is set up as a book written by French author Paul Poissel.  But unlike the other things that Poissel wrote (his most famous and lasting works were written after this book), this is a collection of dreams.  Specifically, it’s a collection of dreams from random unnamed people in France, circa 1841.

The book is laid out with the original French story on the left page and the translation on the facing page.  I don’t know French, but my minimal French comprehension leads me to think that the translations are accurate.

So, each entry (most about a half a page, some stretch to two pages) is a recounted dream. I didn’t count how many dreams there were, but there’s more or less one a day from January to March.  None of them are outlandishly crazy or dirty or anything like that, but they are amusing to read.  There is a preponderance of canoes in the dreams.

After the dreams we get a lengthy Afterword (which all told, may be longer than all of the dreams combined).  The Afterword details La Farge’s work while translating and learning more about Poissel.  It is rather funny and goes into all kinds of personal details about La Farge and his ex-girlfriend as well as the friend he met in the city of Aix who takes him to all kinds of old ruins. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #36

Posted in Adam Levin, Adventure, All Songs Considered, Anachronisms, Andrew Kennedy Hutchinson Boyd, Bicycle Built for Two, Bob Boilen, Buke and Gass, Carrie Brownstein, Colm Tóibín, Corporate skewering, Death, Deerhunter, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Gregg Turkington, Ian Huebert, Ismael Reed, Ismet Prcic, Jack Pendarvis, Jónsi, Jesse Eisenberg a, John Brandon, Jules de Balincourt, Kanye West, Leon Krier, Lower Dens, Ma Su Mon, Marriage Trouble, Mary Miller, Matt Furie, McSweeney's, Michael Chabon, Paul Collins, Ricardo Nuila, Royal Baths, Set at School, Short Story, Sigur Rós, Sleater-Kinney, Sophia Cara Frydman, Steve Delahoyde, Sufjan Stevens, Suicide, Tame Impala, The Capstan Shafts, The Collins Library, The Head and the Heart, The National, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, Tim Heidecker, Travel, Unlikable main character on January 1, 2011| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: All Songs Considered Year End Music Roundup (2010).

Every year, I like to check various sources to see if there were any albums that I missed.  My definition of good resources: allmusic, amazon, pitchfork.  (There’s another fascinating list available here at Best Albums Ever, a site I’ve never seen before, and I have a large portion of the Top 50 albums.  I didn’t buy a lot of music this year, but evidently I chose wisely!).  I don’t necessarily agree with these lists, but if I see the same album on a few lists, I know it’s worth at least listening to.

This year, since I spent so much time on All Songs Considered, I thought I’d see their Best of Lists.  What’s awesome about the site is that you can hear not only selected songs in their entirety, you can also download the audio of the original show…where the DJs talk about their selections and play excerpts from them.   There are many different lists to investigate.

The most obvious one to star with is 50 Favorite Albums of 2010.  This shows the staff’s 50 favorite albums in all genres.  I admit that there’s going to be a lot on this list that I won’t bother exploring (I’m not really that interested in new classical or jazz and I’m not too excited by most pop music, although I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Kanye West songs here).

But some albums did stand out that I hadn’t heard, and I will investigate them further in 2011:

Buke And Gass, ‘Riposte’
Deerhunter, ‘Halcyon Digest’ (I know, this is on many best of lists)
The National, ‘High Violet’ (This is also on everyone’s list)

Bob Boilen, All Songs Considered’s most awesome host, picks his Top 9 of the year.  I’m on board with about 1/2 of his list (haven’t heard the other half).  Sufjan Stevens is his #1.

Robin Hilton, Boilen’s partner in crime, has a Top Ten which is remarkably similar to Boilen’s.  It has most of the same albums just appearing in a slightly different order.  Lower Dens is #1. (I’ve never heard of them).

Carrie Brownstein (of beloved Sleater-Kinney and now evidently a permanent member of the NPR team) has a Top Ten (Plus One)–funny that she liked more than ten when Boilen liked less than ten.  I’m really surprised by her selection of albums because her own music is so punk and abrasive, but her top ten features R&B and some folky bands.  Her top album is by Royal Baths, a band I’ve never heard of.

Stephen Thompson also picked his Top Ten.  He has an interesting mix of alt rock and jazz.  His number one is by Jonsi from Sigur Rós. (A great album).

Perhaps the best list comes from 5 Artists You Should Have Known in 2010.  I didn’t know any of the 5.  Sarah bought me two CDs for Christmas (and she was pleased to have gotten me good music that I hadn’t heard of!).  The Head and the Heart hasn’t arrived yet, but The Capstan Shafts is great.  I’m also really excited by Tame Impala.

Another great list is Viking’s Choice: Best Metal and Outer Sound (stay tuned for much more from this list).  It is dominated by black metal, but there are a few surprises in there as well.

Even the All Songs Considered Top 25 Listener’s List was great.  I had most of the list (except for The Black Keys who I simply cannot get into).

Although I enjoyed a lot of new music this year, it’s always nice to see that there is some new (to me) stuff to investigate.  Who knows maybe some day I’ll even have listened to enough new music in a year to make my own Top Ten.

[READ: December 31, 2010] McSweeney’s #36

With McSweeney’s #36, it’s like they made my conceptual ideal.  Its weird packaging is fantastic and the contents are simply wonderful.  But let’s start with the obvious: this issue comes in a box.  And the box is drawn to look like a head.  You open up the man’s head to get to the contents.  Brilliant.  The head is drawn by Matt Furie (with interior from Jules de Balincourt’s Power Flower.

Inside the box are eleven items.  The largest are smallish books (postcard sized) running between 32 and 144 pages.  The smaller items are a 12 page comic strip, a nineteenth century mediation (8 pages) and 4 postcards that create a whole picture.  The final item is a scroll of fortune cookie papers.   The scroll is forty inches long with cut lines for inserting them into your own fortunes (I wonder if they will sell this item separately?)

Aside from the bizarre head/box gimmick (and the fact that there is ample room in the box for more items), the contents are really top-notch.  For while many of the books included are individual titles, there is also an actual “issue” of McSweeney’s (with letter column and shorter stories) as well.  So let’s begin there

ISSUE #36: New Stories and Letters.  The resurrected letters page continues with more nonsense.  I’ve often wondered if these are really written like letters or if they are just short pieces that have no other place to reside.  (Oh, and the back of this booklet contains the bios for everyone in here as well as assorted other folks who don’t have room for a bio on their items).

LETTERS (more…)

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Lauren Hall (editor)–I Live Real Close to Where You Used to Live: Kids’ Letters to Michelle Obama (and to Sasha, Malia, and Bo) (2010)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Barack Obama, Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Heather Woods Broderick, Holidays, Lauren Hall, McSweeney's, Michele Obama, Political Humor, Sharon Van Etten, Short Books, Tiny Desk Concert on December 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SHARON VAN ETTEN-Tiny Desk Concert #91 (November 14, 2010).

I was introduced to Sharon Van Etten via NPR’s All Songs Considered, so it’s no surprise that they would have her on a Tiny Desk Concert as well.  I loved her song, “Save Yourself” more than I could imagine.  There was something about the way the intensity built and built that really blew me away.  The rest of her album is really enjoyable, but it has less intensity. It’s almost like an acoustic album.

So it’s funny that I find her Tiny Desk show mildly disappointing because it is also an acoustic set. In fact, it is just her and her guitar (and her singing partner who sings wonderful harmonies).

Okay, I shouldn’t really say disappointed because the set is quote good.  Her guitar laying is fine and her voice, he unique and slightly unsettling voice is in fine form here.  There’s just something about the stripped down nature that takes away that extra sparkle that I really love about the disc.  I imagine that if I hadn’t heard the whole CD first, I would have been blown away by this live recording.

The four songs (“Peace Signs,” “Save Yourself,” “One Day,” “For You”) are all from Epic, and they’re all really good.  It’s a nice accompaniment to the album, but I think the album is a bit better.

[READ: December 13, 2010] I Live Real Close to Where You Used to Live

Back in early 2009, McSweeney’s published Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama as a friendly kick off to the President’s new term. We’re now at the end of the second year of that term and the “Have Fun” part seems to be rather unlikely.  But just in time for the rise of Boehner, McSweeney’s has published this companion piece, letters to the rest of the Obama family.  And it is just as sweet, clever and at times odd as the first.

The kids from 826 National in several cities were asked to write letters to the first family.  It’s interesting to see how the different regions ask different questions, but perhaps more interesting is how some things seem to resonate no matter where the kids are from.  Two kids ask about Pokémon Black and White (this must be the hot new game).  Several kids ask how many rooms there are in the White House.  Naturally, several ask about her garden (what she has in it or what kind of fruits and veggies she likes).

But the most fun is the advice the kids give.  My favorite is the girl who says that her aunt thinks Mrs Obama should have one more child (but only if she wants to).

Sadder are the children who are clearly having a rough time.  One child talks about her parents’ separation, and another’s entire letter is: “Can you help my family? We’re about to lose our house. Make the world a better place. What is your favorite food?”  It must be tough to be a prominent person who clearly wants to help yet who is for the most part, impotent to do anything.

And for me that has to be the hardest part about writing to the first lady.  She has no clear “role.”  She’s a public figure and she advocates for good, but she can’t really “do” anything.  And that has to be hard to grasp.  Although judging by what the kids say, maybe they have no problem with it. (more…)

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More Things Like This: 289 Drawings with Funny Words Also on the Same Drawing (2009)

Posted in Amy Jean Porter, Andy Warhol, Art, Big Books, Dada, Dave Eggers, Edward Gorey, Frank Zappa, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Jean-Michel Basquiat, Man Ray, McSweeney's, Peter Saul, Raymond Pettibon, René Magritte, Salvador Dali, Shel Silverstein on December 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FRANK ZAPPA-Does Humor Belong in Music? (1995).

Frank Zappa made money and found fame by writing dirty, funny songs.  Yet he was really a great guitarist and a serious composer.  But hey, when you need the money to make your studio, you write songs about “Penguins in Bondage.”  When I was in high school my friend Al introduced me to Shiek Yerbouti, and I was hooked.  I’d never heard songs that were so intentionally funny.

So, this live collection is kind of an odd assortment, given the title.  I mean the first song is an instrumental (ie. not funny at all except for the title “Zoot Allures”).  “Tinseltown Rebellion” however is pretty darn funny.  The mockery that goes on (and the call-outs range from The Scorpions to Culture Club and The Tonight Show) is nasty and offensive, but never really wrong.  And this is when you find out how good a Zappa stage show was.  The band was tight, they could play all kinds of crazy things and, as in this song, they were always in sync even when improvising.

This disc is a collection of songs from a 1984 tour.  I rather like this incarnation of the Zappa band (Ike Willis is pretty amazing at any time).  And they play tracks from across Zappa’s output.  Although there’s times when the disc sounds really abrasive (some of the solos–like on “Bondage”–are really piercing and not very smooth, and the drums can be very electronic sounding).

Of course, that’s the kind of music that Zappa wrote (“What’s new in Baltimore” is very electronic sounding–beautiful but mechanical–which is why it’s so amazing to hear it live–even if it doesn’t sound human, exactly).

And just so you know it’s not only Zappa showing off (although he kind of is since he hired all the musicians) in “Let’s Move to Cleveland,” everyone gets a solo…keybaords, drums…everyone.  And the final track “Whipping Post” sees his son Dweezil taking the lead guitar solo (which feels really human and rocks the dickens off the place).

For many of Zappa’s later “live” records, he compiled songs from all over the place (a very common practice for live records).  On some of the collections he even mixed a tour from the 70s with one from the 80s.   Now the thing that I just recently realized (even though it’s spelled out in the liner notes) is that these songs are cribbed together from different songs (!) (on “Cleveland” the piano solo is from St. Petersburg, the drum solo is from Vancouver, and the guitar solo is from Amherst College…weird, eh?  And what about the backing music, where does that come from while the solos are spliced in?)).  So, they’re not really live, except they kind of are.  And, heck that’s kind of funny too.  If you care about things like that it kind of ruins the “authenticity” of the recording.   But if you don’t, they sound pretty darn good anyway.

So this is not his funniest stuff, but it’s still an interesting live collection.

[READ: November 12, 2010] More Things Like This

I don’t know where I learned about this book, but I recently found it used for about $4 and I was pretty psyched to both find it and to pay a pittance for it.

As the subtitle indicates, this book is a collection of drawings that have words on them and are funny (but which are not “cartoons” (although some kind of are)).  The impetus for the book was a show at apexart of exactly this sort of thing.  The book expands on the show and includes many artists who were not in the show (including several very famous artists).

The Foreword by Dave Eggers offer the rationale behind the show & the book: Image + Text (usually referring to the image) + Humor = Good enough for us.  And it also asks pertinent questions: Why is it that so many of these artists can’t spell?  And why is it that when they screw up a word, instead of starting over, they just cross the word out and write it again?  Why is it important to some of the artists that the drawings appear casual, even sloppy?

And more. (more…)

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Dave Eggers–It is Right to Draw Their Fur (2010)

Posted in Animals, Arrested Development, Big Books, Corporate skewering, Dave Eggers, David Cross, Drugs, Funny (ha ha), McSweeney's, Mr Show, Religion, Running Wilde, Yuck! on December 12, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DAVID CROSS-Bigger and Blackerer (2010).

I’ve liked David Cross for years, both in Mr. Show and everywhere else he’s been (I love comparing his nebbish character in Arrested Development to his obnoxious hippie in Running Wilde). And his standup is just fantastic.

This new(ish) CD (which has the same name but different content as the DVD) is wonderfully obscene and profane and all around hilarious.  What’s particularly fun is the nonsensical “titles” he gives to his bits (although these are more accurate than on his previous disc): “REALLY Silly Religious Crazies, I mean, Double, Triple Crazy!!” and “Random Goofabouts”

The disc opens with a song(!), a swinging song ala Tom Jones which Cross sings (his voice isn’t very good, but he’s never off key, which is something) which actually features some cool time changes and a bit of pathos.  But the jokes are very funny.  He opens with an extended bit about drugs (mostly about drugs he has taken).  It’s a bit long, but the details are hilarious and the payoffs at the end are wonderful.  I also enjoyed that the drug bits are a cautionary tale, yet he never turns preachy, in fact, he inverts expectations throughout.

The race jokes are really great too, especially the MLK license plate bit.  But indeed, Cross really shines when it comes to religion.  I’ve never really heard a riff on Orthodox Jews before, and his dismissal of Catholicism is brutal and short, but it’s the Mormons who get the bulk of his abuse (mostly because of the awesome power they wield), especially since the religion is a sham.

He’s also not afraid to make observations that will offend some (although no one who listens to him) but are spot on.  There’s an excellent bit about Obama haters who bemoan the state of the country but who will immediately fight any “elitist” who bemoans other aspects of the country.  And it very funny, indeed.

Cross has spent some time in England (filming The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret) and his British accent is quite good now (it’s used to excellent effect in heaven).  He also has great rapport with the crowd, who are exuberantly noisy.

This CD is an excellent introduction to Cross’ standup.  The jokes aren’t really timely (although the health care yelling bit will date it somewhat, except that the debate itself will go one for years to come, so maybe it won’t), so even if it’s five years from now, the jokes will still be funny.

Cross is not a delicate comedian and his jokes are not for the faint of heart, but, man, is he funny.

[READ: November 9, 2010] It is Right to Draw Their Fur

Polymath Dave Eggers is back with another fascinating (and fascinatingly bound) title.  This time, the collection contains a series of drawings.  Most of the drawings are of animals and they all feature words on them.  (This sort of thing: Picture + words + humor (from many different artists) is presented in a book that I am currently enjoying called More Things Like This).  Similar items also appeared in McSweeney’s 27 (you can see my Post about that issue here)).

Eggers explains in the introduction that he went to art school.  He was an aspiring painter and then a cartoonist and illustrator.  And in his down time, he spent a lot of time drawing animals.  And they are quite good.  Eggers’ art has an odd quality to it that I can’t quite put my finger on.  All of his pictures seem off in a small way.  It doesn’t make them bad at all, in fact, it actually makes you want to look at them more to see what is off about them.  (I think some people call that “compelling”).

The project comes in a hugely oversized cardboard sleeve (14 inches x 19 inches).  There are 26 large sized posters (they are folded and their unfolded size reaches something like 27″ x 37″).  There’s also a booklet which features even more of these drawings.  The booklet has an appendix with some drawings that are not animals (well, they are humans, so yes, they are animals).  And, the most peculiar part, there’s a bibliography.  The bibliography goes on for four pages and includes all manner of things from Sartre’s Being and Nothingness to Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear to Gara’s The Presidency of Franklin Pierce to The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams to Saint-Saens’ Le carnaval des animaux.

You can see two examples here.  In my opinion these are not the best combination art/words in the book (although the drawings are very good).  There are some other ones where the juxtaposition appealed to me much more.

The package is quite expensive (and justified–it is a lot of stuff and beautifully put together), but I have a hard time believing someone would spend $42 on it.  (I received mine as part of the McSweeney’s book club, so that’s nice.)

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