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Archive for the ‘Belle and Sebastian’ Category

V.S. Naipaul–“Bohemia” (New Yorker, October 22, 2001)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Franz Kafka, Josef K, Joy Division, London England, New Yorker, Newspapers, Sex, Short Story, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, Universities, V.S. Naipaul on January 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOSEF K-“Sorry for Laughing” (1985).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

Josef K were a Scottish band named after the main character in Franz Kafka’s The Trial.  I had never heard of them, but they are apparently hugely influential (despite releasing only one record).

Josef K are quite unlike anyone else on the mix tape thus far.  They are far darker (in a Joy Division sort of way).  I mean look what they based their name on.  And there are drums. But they are also very un-rock–playing sharp angular guitars and lead bass lines.

“Sorry for Laughing” opens with a  snapping drum and a rumbling, almost out of control bass line.  The guitars are quieter, playing sharp chords. It’s catchy in a dark sort of way.  The weirdest part comes at the end of the bridge when the bass seems to play a tiny riff that doesn’t quite work–it’s almost an anti-hook and it happens twice.

The middle of the song has a kind of bass solo while the vocals make a chk chk sound. This must have been an incredibly unique song at the time.  And you can definitely hear how a lot of bands were influenced by them.

[READ: January 20, 2021] “Bohemia”

This story, set in the 1950s, is about Willie, a young Indian man traveling to London for the first time.

He is going to London for school–an un-famous school it turns out–modeled after Oxford and Cambridge.

Willie didn’t know much about London–Buckingham Palace and Speaker’s Corner were the extent of it.  He was disappointed by both when he saw them.  He felt the Maharaja’s palace was far superior, and the people in Speakers Corner were mostly irritating.

His father had given him the names of people to get in touch with.  Willie didn’t want to do that–he wanted to succeed on his own.  But he found things very tough going.  So he looked up one of the men–a newspaper reporter.  The man was very proud of his work and very proud of his paper  But Willie knew nothing of the paper or even enough of London to know what the paper wrote about.  It was not an auspicious meeting. (more…)

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Hanif Kureishi–“Touched” (New Yorker, September 17, 2001)

Posted in Arthur Miller, Belle and Sebastian, Blindness, Cocteau Twins, Cricket, Hanif Kureishi, Huh?, Humiliation, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch on January 29, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: COCTEAU TWINS-“Oomingmak” (1986).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

Of all the bands on the list, Cocteau Twins were the one I know (and like) best.  I’ve been a fan since 1987, so just after this album came out.  I never remember which songs are which by them, because they have titles like “Oomingmak.”

Cocteau Twins are a magical band and at the time (and perhaps even now) no one sounded like them.  Their music is so ethereal, it practically floats away both because of the shimmering echoing guitars of Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Frasier’s high pitched vocals–often with non-intelligible words. [I honestly never knew she was actually singing words, but I see she was].

This song is the shortest song on Victorialand.  It has a fast repeating guitar line and Fraser singing softly.  Toward the end, she sings harmonies with herself in her slightly more harsh sounding vocal style.  It’s a lovely song, as all of their are.

[READ: January 20, 2021] “Touched”

Reading this right after reading the Arthur Miller story was really strange.  Because here was another thirteen year-old boy possibly having sex with an adult woman.

The story opens on Ali, the thirteen year-old.  His Bombay family has visited him in England and are now returning to India.  Ali was very sad to see them go,

Ali was most upset because his cousin Zahida was leaving. She was a year older than him.  She had pressed her lips to his and then they ran up into the attic together and then

he continued caressinuntil, making his way through intricate whirls of material, he reached her flesh and slid his hand into the top of the crack.

He was suddenly concerned about being discovered they quickly separated.

Wow. (more…)

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Arthur Miller–“Bulldog” (New Yorker, August 13, 2001)

Posted in Arthur Miller, Belle and Sebastian, Dogs, Huh?, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, The Weather Prophets on January 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE WEATHER PROPHETS-“Almost Prayed” (1987).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate

I’ve been listening to all of these songs on Spotify.  So far, most of the songs have been deep cuts, but this one was The Weather Prophets’ number one song.

I’d never heard of them.  They put out two albums on the Creation label (in fact, Creation head honcho Alan McGee played bass in the band for a short time), and so it’s probably no surprise that they sound a but like The Stone Roses.  This is, so far, the bounciest and most immediately catchy song on the mixtape.

The guitars jangle, although not as much as in some of the other songs.  Like in most of the other songs, the singer kind of sing-speaks, although less than the others.  The biggest difference with this is that it really moves along a clip–much faster than the other songs.  A good pick me up in a mix tape.

[READ: January 20, 2021] “Bulldog”

I know that fiction is not true.  I know that.  But realistic fiction tends to be based on something.  So if this is based on something, then either Arthur Miller lived a very different life than I could imagine or things were very different in the 1920s.  I also had no idea that Arthur Miller was still alive in 2001 (he died in 2005).

This is a fairly simple story: a thirteen year-old boy sees an ad for puppies for sale.  They are brindle bulldogs for sale for $3 each.  The boy has some money (although $3 is a large chunk of it).  He bought an apple tree and a pear tree last year (30 cents each), so he is accustomed to spending money.  But his family has never had a dog–his brother even makes fun of him for wanting one.  What are you going to feed it, soup?

He travels across the city to the apartment in Brooklyn.  The woman opens the door in a robe and seems annoyed.  When he says he’s there for the dog, she loosens up and invites him in.  She asks his age and when he says 13 she seems tickled by that.

The look at the puppies.  He had looked up what the puppies should look like in the World Book, but there were no pictures of brindle bulldogs.  He thought these puppies were just brown and didn’t look like a bulldog at all.

While he was holding the puppy, she sat next to him and her robe opened.  She was naked.  She kissed him and soon they were on the carpet together. (more…)

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Allie Brosh–Solutions and other Problems (2020)

Posted in Allie Brosh, Babies, Babysitters, Belle and Sebastian, Biography, Cats, Depression, Dogs, Drugs, Everything But the Girl, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Horses, Language, Poo, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, Tracy Thorn on January 27, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL-“Ballad of the Times” (1985).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

Of course I know of Everything But the Girl, they really took off a few years after this album came out.  Indeed, their sound changed quite a lot since this first album.

But I never really listened to them.  Of course, I knew their song “Missing” (“like the deserts miss the rain”) which was pretty ubiquitous in mid 1990s.  But in the mid 1980s, the band’s sound was very different–characterized by jangly guitars and a more upbeat feel.

Love Not Money was the band’ second album.  The first song on the album “When All’s Well” has a very distinctive feel like The Smiths–with the picked echoing guitars and louder grooving bass.  But “Ballad of the Time” is a bit more downbeat (as a ballad should be).  There’s some big overdubbed guitars on top of the pretty picked melody.  It’s catchy in a very “of its time” way.

Interestingly, this album apparently sounds unlike anything else in their collection, which makes me think Stuart wouldn’t have pit a later song on the mix.

[READ: December 29, 2020] Solutions and Other Problems

Seven years ago I read and loved Hyperbole and a Half, Allie Brosh’s first book.  So I was pretty excited that Allie Brosh had a new book out. Apparently she has gone through some stuff in the last seven years which I won’t go into.

Instead, I want to talk about how freaking funny this book is.

I hadn’t considered or realized that her art style had changed much since the last book.  Although comparing the covers, I see that her drawings do seem more sophisticated–which somehow makes her characters look even crazier.  I love that that yellow oval on her head is her hair.  And the massive eyes.  And that crazy smile.  It’s bonkers and hilarious.

This book starts out with a bang–a very funny story about a young Allie getting stuck in a bucket. But the best part is that she was in the bucket because she felt the need to get her whole body into the bucket.  She looked at the bucket and looked at her body and decided that one needed to be in the other.  The look on her face (and then later on her parents’ faces when they find her in the bucket) makes me laugh just thinking about it.

“Richard” is all about a person who lives next door.  Young Allie couldn’t quite grasp the idea that someone lived not in their house.  She never even thought about the next door house until Richard walked out of it one day.  So she snuck in through the cat door and started investigating the neighbor,  She would also steal trinkets on each trip.  And occasionally leave a “gift” (like a creepy drawing).  When her parents found some things, they asked her about it and she said she was “hanging out” with Richard.  This obviously made her parents…uneasy.  Poor Richard.  She went too far when she stole Richard’s cat. (more…)

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Saman Rushdie–“The Old Man in the Piazza” (New Yorker, November 16, 2020)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Felt, Language, Lou Reed, New Yorker, Salman Rushdie, Short Story, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch, The Velvet Underground on January 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FELT-“Hours of Darkness Have changed My Mind” (1985).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

Felt is another band I’ve never heard of.  This is especially surprising since they were together for over ten years.  Much like with The Blue Aeroplanes, this song has a kind of spoken vocal delivery–although it’s more akin to Lou Reed’s sing-speaking than say a spoken delivery.

The band emphasized jangly guitars and this song has a very old fashioned organ solo (which must have been especially jarring in the 1980s indie rock scene.

The mixture of organ and guitar and lead singer (the mononymed) Lawrence’s very British delivery really make this band stand out.  This song has a chorus melody that is quite subtle and you need to listen a few times before it grabs you.  In fact, the first song on the album Forever Breathes the Lonely Word, “Rain of Crystal Spires” is much more immediate and catchy and relishes that VU feel.

[READ: January 21, 2021] “The Old Man in the Piazza”

I enjoyed the way this story seemed to be about one thing but turned into something much bigger, much grander.

Every day at four o’clock an old man goes to the piazza.  He sits at the cafe and orders a coffee.  At 6PM he orders a beer and a sandwich.  At 8PM he shuffles home–no one knows where he lives.

During those four hours he watches the piazza as it gets busier and nouisier and people start to argue very intensely.

The arguments are varied and loud.  They range from the teleological, to the eschatological to the mundane.  Anything that there is to argue about, the people in the piazza will argue about it.  They will honk horns and rev engines just to prove their points.

The piazza has been like this–“ever since the end of the so called time of the ‘yes.'”

About forty years ago it was made illegal to argue.  Everyone was obliged to agree all the time–regardless of the proposition, one was to nod and agree.  The language itself was altered.  The word no was no longer permitted only “yes” or “for sure” or “absolutely.”

Then things get more abstract. (more…)

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Ann Beattie–“Find and Replace” (New Yorker, November 5, 2001)

Posted in Ann Beattie, Belle and Sebastian, Cars, Death, New Yorker, Old Age, Parenting, Short Story, Stuart David, Young Marble Giants on January 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS-“Salad Days” (1980).

In Stuart David’s book, In The All-Night Café, he lists the songs on a mixtape that Stuart Murdoch gave to him when they first met.

Although I’ve been a fan of Belle & Sebastian for a long time, I knew almost none of the songs on this mixtape.  So, much like Stuart David, I’m listening to them for the first time trying to see how they inspire Stuart Murdoch.

In the book, David writes how much he does not like “rock,” especially music based around bluesy rock.  Most of these songs, accordingly, do not do that.  In fact, most of these songs are (unsurprisingly) soft and delicate.

I’ve been aware of the Young Marble Giants forever, and yet I apparently knew nothing about them.  Like that they only put out one album (how are the so influential?) or that they were from Wales.

Young Marble Giants were a trio: Philip Moxham on bass, Stuart Moxham on guitar and organ, Alison Statton on vocals.  Yup no drums.

The songs on the record are short and seem to focus around the basslines primarily.  It’s really quite an unusual presentation–quite lo-fi and very engaging.

This song (the 12th of 15 on the album) is 2 minutes long.  It features a simple guitar riff, with a some extra detailed notes sprinkled at the end of the main riff.  Then comes a four note bass riff, with a little hammer on at the end of the riff.  After a minute, Alison quietly sings along with the melody:

Think of salad days
They were folly and fun
They were good, they were young

She sings for 15 seconds and then it’s all music until the end.  The bass drops out with 30 seconds left and the guitar plays that same melody with a few picked notes to the end.

It’s simple and delightful.  And as the start of a mix tape, it speaks volumes.

[READ: January 21, 2021] “Find and Replace” 

This story is written as a true story.  But there are plenty of little comments in the story that show how easy it is to change something in a story–maybe make it untrue?

The narrator, Ann, says her father died in hospice on Christmas Day–the day that she had left the country.  Her family was not the kind who communicated every day.

Her mother was not demanding.  She was a friendly person and had a million friends (she still wrote cards to a maid who cleaned their hotel room fifteen years ago).

Ann flew to Florida, rented a car and drove to her mother’s house.  Her mother showed her letters that she hoped Ann would help her make decisions about.  The last one was from a neighbor named Drake who asked her to move in with him.

Ann assumed it was a joke.  Then assumed her mother would laugh it off.  But indeed, she had said yes.  They might even move to Tucson. (more…)

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Stuart David–In the All-Night Café: A memoir of Belle and Sebastian’s formative year (2015)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Isobel Campbell, Memoirs, Music, Scotland, Stuart David, Stuart Murdoch on January 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BELLE AND SEBASTIAN-“Pocketbook Angel” (1994).

It’s not often that you get to hear a pretty complete story about how an early (unreleased) song was made.  “Pocket Book Angel” is a song that Stuart Murdoch wrote when he was signed on for a class about music production.  Stuart David was in the same class and so he was there when they recorded this song.

Stuart David describes the origins and recording process:

The song we recorded was called “Pocket Book Angels” something Stuart had written a few days earlier while he was busking on Ashton lane.  It was all about busking on Ashton Lane.  Almost everyone who was around that day [in the Beatbox recording studio where the classes were held] played something on it.  I played bass, Gerry Campbell, the songwriting tutor played drums, “London” a Pink Floyd addict played lead guitar, soloing wherever he could find the tiniest gap to fill.  It was a great pop song, probably all but beaten to death by having instrument after instrument overdubbed on it…  But Stuart just let the arrangement develop out of the loose parts everyone played.  [Unlike later songs when he was very particular], he didn’t have any overall vision for how he wanted the recording to turn out, and it was a haphazard collaboration.

One evening I let my dad hear the finished recording and he said, “You should stick with that band.  I like that. they’ll go places.”
“It’s not really a band,” I told him. “It was just a one-off thing.”
“They’ll go far,” he said.  “Stick with them them.”

It is pretty impressive that Stuart Murdoch made this song pretty quickly and had it fleshed out into a recordable idea.  Sure, this song sounds like it was recorded on a tape player, but the song is super catchy.

[READ: January 23, 2021] In the All-Night Café

Every time I read a non-fiction book about music, I feel compelled to say that I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books about music.  Given the number of bands that I like, the number of books I read about music is fairly low.  Indeed, most bands that I really like I don’t care that much about their history or what they have to say.

But I enjoyed Stuard David’s novel and I imagined that his take on the formation of Belle & Sebastian would be pretty interesting.  Because they are from Scotland and are a low-key band to begin with.  Plus Stuart David isn’t the “main” guy (and isn’t even in the band anymore), but he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would write a mean-spirited book either.

And their origin story is really fascinating.

But this book isn’t just about the band.  It’s about Stuart David’s life in his mid-twenties in Scotland.  It’s also about what it was like to be young in a country that didn’t have a lot if opportunity for youth.  It’s also about music and is even about love. (more…)

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Real Estate / Palm (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 22, 2020) [POSTPONED/CANCELLED]

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Palm, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Real Estate, Union Transfer on April 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: CANCELLED: April 22, 2020] Real Estate / Palm

indexI saw Real Estate open for Belle and Sebastian five years ago.  I enjoyed their mellow set and found them very pleasant.

Seeing as how they are from Ridgewood, NJ (about five minutes from where I grew up), I feel like I should like them so much more.

Mostly I like their sound in small doses–it’s a little too mellow for me.  But i do enjoy them.

Mostly, though, I was going to go to this show for openers Palm.  I have seen Palm twice, both times in small venues.  I would have liked to see them on a larger stage (although I can’t imagine a less comparable band for them to play with than Real Estate.

Whereas Real Estate plays pretty songs, Palm plays chaotic, untethered, truly original songs.  They are magnificent and I love watching them play their bizarre songs.

There aren’t too many bands where I’ve thought “I need to see them a lot more,” but Palm is one of those bands.

This show was postponed, although I am really not sure if Palm will be with then when it gets rescheduled.  We’ll see.

UPDATE: On May 19 the band formally cancelled the show/tour

With all of the uncertainty about when we’ll be able to play live shows again, we have no choice but to formally cancel all of our announced headline shows including the previously postponed dates.

Please know that this is devastating for us on every level, but we have no doubt that it is the right decision to make.

Stay strong everyone, we will be back!

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Jim Gavin–“The Copy Chief” [The 2017 Short Story Advent Calendar #8] (2014)

Posted in Aimee Mann, Alan Parsons, Belle and Sebastian, Big Boss Man, Calexico, Canadian Content, Christmas Album, Cigarettes, Death, Drinking, Drugstore, El Perro del Mar, Funny (ha ha), Giant Sand, Grandaddy, Low, Newspapers, Saint Etienne, Sebadoh, Sex, Short Story, Six By Seven, Snow Patrol, Teenage Fanclub, The Dandy Warhols, The Flaming Lips, The Short Story Advent Calendar, The Webb Brothers, Titán, Work on December 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: XFM-It’s a Cool Cool Christmas (2000).

This is a long Christmas collection (about 72 minutes).  So it’s a bit hit and miss.  But the hits are pretty great.  The problem really is that the disc gets a little bogged down and slow in the back half.  The first half is bright and fun.  Either re-sequnce or add in some peppier songs!  There are a couple that just don’t belong on a Christmas collection.  Remove them, and you’ve got a good one.

GRANDADDY-“Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland”
I’ve loved this version of this song ever since I heard it here.  By making the simple substitution of Alan Parsons for Parson Brown (which doesn’t make any sense, really), they are able to make all kinds of weirdo jokes and musical changes to an otherwise completely faithful version of the song.  It’s terrific.

THE DANDY WARHOLS-“Little Drummer Boy”
Generally I don’t like this song.  It’s a little too ponderous and repetitive, but The Dandy Warhols totally rock it out.  It’s not crazy or anything, it’s just super catchy with a cool synth riff and great backing vocals on the “bum bum bum bums.”

THE WEBB BROTHERS-“Every Day is Christmas”
I feel like this compilation is the first I’d heard of this song, but since then I see that others have done it as well.  This version anyway is slow although it’s catchy–particularly the chorus.  I’m not sure I get exactly what the chorus is saying though: “every day is Christmas, if only tonight,”  What does that mean>

EELS-“Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas”
This is a poppy punky track that’s upbeat and fun.  Just before the solo E (the singer) even mutters, “Baby Jesus, born to rock.”

El VEZ-“Feliz Navi-nada”
One of my favorite Christmas songs–rocking and silly but with the spirit still in tact.

MORGAN-“Christmas In Waikiki” [NSFC]
This track opens with a Merry Christmas to the soldiers, in what sounds like Marilyn Monroe’s voice.  It then turns into a keyboard-heavy, almost reggae march through a wah wah instrumental.  Then there’s a quote from, I assume Richard Pryor, who jokes about a 300 pound honky.  This f-bomb dropping joke makes this not safe for Christmas.

DRUGSTORE-“Maybe At Christmas Time”
This a slow song filled with hope for Christmas.

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN-“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
I have always been puzzled at the way they change the melody of the song–they sing the “and random captive” part without a pause, so the first line runs right through.  It feels rushed, but is anything but.  Once you get past that though the music sounds lovely with those gentle guitars and voices.”

GIANT SAND-“Thank You Dreaded Black Ice, Thank You” [NSFC]
This is kind of a dark song, spooky and whispered vocals.  Even if there is a happy message, it’s not really a very festive song.

THE FLAMING LIPS-“White Christmas” [NSFC]
Despite my love for The Lips, I never cared for this version.

SAINT ETIENNE-“My Christmas Prayer” [NSFC]
A pretty, moody piece of longing.  Not really anything I want to hear on Christmas.

DEPARTURE LOUNGE-“Christmas Downer” [NSFC]
This is surprisingly catchy for such a downer.  But it is indeed a downer.

SIX BY SEVEN-“I Believe In Father Christmas”
Things pick up with this version of the dark, but wonderful Greg Lake song.

SNOW PATROL-“When I Get Home For Christmas”
This seems like its kind of dark and mopey, bu the sentiment is actually quite nice.  Sounds a bit like Sebadoh.

TITÁN-“Spiritual Guidance” [NSFC]
Titán are a Mexican electronic band.  This instrumental samples a movie which has a guy telling a young woman to remove her panties.  It’s a shame it gets dark like that because the disco Jingle Bells in the middle is good fun.

BIG BOSS MAN-“Christmas Boogaloo”
This is a groovy, funky instrumental with random chants about Christmas.  Its good fun indeed.

TEENAGE FANCLUB-“Christmas Eve”
This is a beautiful guitar based mostly instrumental.  It’s a lovely piece and far too short at only 2 minutes.

CALEXICO-“Gift X-change”
Despite Calexico’s usually bright sound, this song is pretty sad, musically and lyrically.

GORKY’S ZYGOTIC MYNCI-“Hwiangerdd Mair”
This is a very pretty song which, if Google Translate is to be believed actually means Mary’s Halloween in Welsh.  But whatever.  Gorky’s always has a great way with a melody.

LOW-“Just Like Christmas”
I actually thought this was Aimee Mann singing. Despite Low’s penchant for slow, broody songs, this one is upbeat, even if it wasn’t just like Christmas at all.  But the big thumping drums keep it moving along nicely.

LAUREN LAVERNE-“In The Bleak Midwinter”
This sounds like a children’s choir very far away.  I’d never heard of her before and I have learned: Lauren Cecilia Fisher, known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author, singer and comedian.  Wow.  This is pretty neat but could use a bit more oomph.

[READ: December 15, 2017] “The Copy Chief”

Once again, I have ordered The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This year, there are brief interviews with each author posted on the date of their story.

Hello. Welcome. It’s finally here: Short Story Advent Calendar time.

If you’re reading along at home, now’s the time to start cracking those seals, one by one, and discover some truly brilliant writing inside. Then check back here each morning for an exclusive interview with the author of that day’s story.

(Want to join in? It’s not too late. Order your copy here.)

This year I’m pairing each story with a holiday disc from our personal collection.

I had to play catch up with these earlier stories because this collection arrived late (my fault, not theirs).  I put this one off because it was so long, and yet it turned out to be one of my favorite stories in the collection so far.

Not because of anything flashy or exciting, just because of good writing and compelling characters. (more…)

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Belle and Sebastian (The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, August 3, 2017)

Posted in Andrew Bird, Belle and Sebastian, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Porches, Thin Lizzy on August 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2017] Belle and Sebastian

Sarah and I saw Belle and Sebastian back in 2015 at Radio City Music Hall.  The show was great and we had a really fun time.  I knew we’d enjoy seeing them again, so I was surprised and pleased to see that they were playing the Mann Center (even if I said we wouldn’t go back and this was now show number three).

The venue was perfect for the band, and Stuart at least seemed to really appreciate the sound and warmth of the shell.  Astonishingly, the show was nowhere near sold out.  One of the guards told me they’d barely sold 3,000 tickets.  What the hell?   That explains how I was able to get row R or whatever we had.

So the band had no new album to promote (although they did recently release a new song).  I wondered what they’d be playing and if it would be basically the same show as last time. (more…)

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