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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Kevin Barry–“No. 13 Baby” (Harper’s, November 2019)

Posted in Coronavirus, Drugs, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Harper's, Irish Writer, Kevin Barry, NPR/PRI/PBS, Quarantine, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on April 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RODRIGO Y GABRIELA-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #15 (April 28, 2020).

The only thing better than seeing Rodrigo y Gabriela live (which is amazing) is getting to see them up close just to be even more amazed by what they can do.

The Mexican duo known as Rodrigo y Gabriela travel the globe playing to crowds who are captivated by their almost telepathic acoustic guitar interplay. But they make their home in Mexico in a sunny Pacific beach town called Zihuatanejo (remember The Shawshank Redemption?). For this performance we get a peek at their home studio, where they surround themselves with guitars and dress down in sneakers and casual clothes. They run through tunes from throughout their recorded history, including a song they played at the Tiny Desk back in 2009. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s picking and strumming feel more relaxed than usual but maintains their intense focus.

“Tamacun” and “Diablo Rojo” come from their album Rodrigo y Gabriela (2006).  Rodrigo plays the amazing and catchy leads and it’s terrific to watch him.  But I think that Gabriela with her unconventional and at times mind-blowing rhythm section that is even better to watch.  I never quite know what she’s doing with her right hand.  Is she specifically hitting different strings with different fingers, or is it just an elaborate strum?

The percussive sound they both get on “Diablo Rojo” is fantastic.  That they can keep the song interesting while just hitting their guitars is so cool.

“Hanuman” is from the album 11:11.  Each song on that album is a tribute to an artist who has inspired them.  This is a tribute to Carlos Santana (whom they met after this song was released).

“Mettavolution” is the title track from their newest album.  I love that they are album to write so many instrumentals with just two acoustic guitars and have them all sound so different.  Near the end of this one Rodrigo says that normally they ask people to sing along (woah oh ohs), but since there’s no crowd, maybe you’ll sing along at home.

It’s hard not to.

[READ: April 25, 2020] “No. 13 Baby”

This is an excerpt from Barry’s novel Night Boat to Tangier.

I have mixed reactions to Barry’s stories.  I usually like the details, but sometimes the the overall story is too intense (I don’t especially like stories about drug dealers) .

Set in the Plaza de la Constitución in Spain, Maurice Hearne is waiting for someone. The man arrives and says Maurice needs to pay half of the money first before he can meet Karima.  Then the man tells him that he should have his head examined: Just forget these people, go back to Ireland and have some kiddies.

He called home to Cynthia to assure her that everything was going to be okay.  Then he went to meet Karima. (more…)

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Sarah Shun-Lein Bynum–“Bedtime Story” (New Yorker, April 27, 2020)

Posted in CCR, Coronavirus, Credence Clearwater Revivial, John Fogerty, Liars, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Parenting, Quarantine, Sarah Shun-lein Bynum, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on April 27, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FOGERTY’S FACTORY – JOHN FOGERTY + FAMILY-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #14 (April 24, 2020).

I’ve never given much thought to John Fogerty.  I like some CCR songs; dislike others.  He’s a legend for sure, but I never thought about him.  I certainly never thought about whether he had children (much less grown children).

Watching this Tiny Desk where Fogerty and his three grown kids are playing along to some utterly classic songs is pretty weird.  Imagine if your dad wrote “Centerfield”?  It’s not my favorite song.  I don’t even especially like it, but I’ve heard it a million times.

And there you on video playing guitar and bass with your dad who wrote the song.  Is that surreal and wild or is it just what dad does?

When John Fogerty breaks out his baseball bat guitar and swings into that famous guitar lick from “Centerfield” to open his Tiny Desk (home) concert, I can almost taste the Cracker Jacks. Welcome to Fogerty’s Factory, the tricked-out basement where the Fogerty Family (John, his sons Tyler (mustache) and Shane (no mustache), and his daughter Kelsy) make music in these quarantined times.

Fogerty jokes about his own tiny desk.

His desk is the road case his band Creedence Clearwater Revival used when they played Woodstock, and John shows off a guitar he played at the festival as well.

After “Centerfield” he plays

three of his CCR classics from 50 years ago (still singing in the same key), surrounded by family and sending out words of encouragement to all of us.

I have a hard time believing he wrote “Down on the Corner” if only because it seems like a song that’s been around forever (which it has).

It’s amusing hoe much he acts like a grandpa (which he just might be), when talking to us and to his daughter (who has wise words to say about missing her graduation).

I don’t really know “Long As I Can See the Light.”  Maybe I do, it sounds vaguely familiar, but all CCR songs sound vaguely the same (his voice is unmistakable–and he still sounds pretty good).  he plays organ on this song, which is a slight change of sound.

“Proud Mary” is another song that I just can’t believe he wrote. Can you imagine being the guy who wrote that song?  Again, not a song I especially like, but everyone has sung it.  Everyone knows it.  It seems like it was a blues standard or something.  But this guy wrote it.

That’s pretty wild.

[READ: April 26, 2020] “Bedtime Story”

Ezra Washington’s wife walked in on him telling a story to their younger child.  It was about the time he was rollerblading and Julia Roberts crashed into him.

At first she doesn’t realize that he is talking about Julia Roberts, she thinks he is talking about her (“That laugh you’d know anywhere”).  But none of the details sound familiar.  It’s when the child says, “She’s the one that plays the mom…with the big teeth and the long brown hair?” that she realizes it’s the Julia Roberts story.

The dad confirms and the child reiterates, “Julia Roberts went right between your legs?”

“Yes, but don’t repeat that.”

She was the biggest movie star in the world.  Back then. (more…)

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Peter Kuper–“Little Donald’s Sneeze” (After Winsor McCay’s “Little Sammy Sneeze”) (New Yorker, April 27, 2019)

Posted in Comic Strips, Coronavirus, Dinosaurs, donald tRUMP, Idiots, Liars, Little Sammy Sneeze, Mary Anderson, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Parades, Peter Kuper, Political Humor, Quarantine, The Pop Ups, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Winsor McCay, Wow in the World on April 26, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE POP UPS-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #13 (April 23, 2020).

When my kids were little I tried pretty hard to introduce them to interesting children’s music.  I often wonder if I ruined them by not just letting them enjoy Raffi.  Because they don’t like much of what I listen to these days.

I’m not sure how long The Pop Ups have been making music, but this is sure a fun (and informative) children’s band.

The Pop Ups (Jason Rabinowitz (on the keytar) and Jacob Stein) sing the theme song to the wonderful NPR podcast Wow In The World and perform at Wow in the World live shows. In their Tiny Desk (home) concert, they save the earth from an asteroid, explain sound waves through a sing-a-long and a keytar, and encourage us all to invent and create.

Before the first song Jason introduces the greatest instrument in the world.  The guitarino?  No, the keytar.  Then he talks about the kind of sound waves a synthesizer can produce: a square wave, a sine wave and sawtooth wave.  “Synthesizer” is a song about making these sound waves–and you are encouraged to dance around and make those waves yourself.

Then Jacob wants to see if we can stump Jason with sounds the keytar can’t make: saxophone, whistle, marimba, organ?  Nope, it can do them all.

The next song, “Meteor” introduces a puppet, Doctor Bronc the Brontosaurus.  Dr. Bronc saw a meteor in the sky so he created a laser to shoot at the meteor.  If everyone turned off their lights for one day, it would save enough energy to power the laser.  The moral: “You can save the world when everybody tries!”

The final song “Inventors” introduces us to a woman I have never heard of.  Mary Anderson in Alabama saw that snow was piling up on the street cars.  She figured there was something that could clean off the snow and so she spent much of her time coming up with windshield wipers.  Which we still use today!

Young inventors will help solve the problems that our generation made for you.

It’s sure inspirational, and a useful piece of history.

[READ: April 26, 2020] “Little Donald’s Sneeze”

I love any cartoon that is going to mock trump.  It’s especially excellent if you can use his own words against him (which isn’t hard because he never stops saying stupid things.

I particularly enjoyed this cartoon because of its old-fashioned look.  Since I can’t find the original cartoon this is based on (or maybe it’s just based on the general style of Winsor McCay’s strip), I can’t tell if Kuper did all of the art himself or if he judiciously used the original panels.

I also don’t know what’s at the header originally, but this one pretty succinctly describes the man who is killing people with his deceit.

The header of this cartoon lays it out clearly: He just simply couldn’t stop lying / He never told the truth!

Why is it that cartoonist knows this but news reporters can’t seem to catch on and actually believe him when he says things? (more…)

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Okilly Dokilly / P-Funk North (Blackthorn Restaurant and Irish Pub, New Brunswick, NJ, April 25, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Blackthorn Restaurant and Irish Pub, Coronavirus, George Clinton, Mac Sabbath, New Brunswick, NJ, P-Funk North, Postponed, Quarantine on April 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 25, 2020] Okilly Dokilly / P-Funk North

indexI saw Okilly Dokilly open for Mac Sabbath last summer.  The show was bizarre for sure.

Okilly Dokilly are a goof to be sure.  All five guys dress like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons and all of the lyrics are things that Ned has said. Except that the band plays pretty extreme metal (death growls and whatnot).  They call it Nedal music.

It’s very funny and quite surreal.  And the band puts on a pretty darn good show.

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever need to see them again, but when I saw that they were playing a at a pub in New Brunswick (not far from me at all), I thought it would be a fun place to see them again.

I hope they do come back there.

P-Funk North is “a musical cocktail with a reggae rock core. PFN, which means North Plainfield, is in reference to our hometown in NJ and being George Clinton’s neighbor to the north.”  I listened to one or two of their songs and thought they were okay–not really my thing.  But they have five records out so I guess they are in it for the long haul.

Maybe they’re awesome live.

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Nell Zink–Nicotine (2016)

Posted in Anarchy, Cigarettes, Coronavirus, Nell Zink, Nick Hakim, Nicotine, NPR/PRI/PBS, Nudism, Prison, Quarantine, Religion, Romance, Runaways, Set in New Jersey!, Sex, Sexual Assault, Squatters, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), Wall Street, Yuck! on April 25, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NICK HAKIM-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #12 (April 22, 2020).

I had a mixed reaction to Nick Hakim”s Tony Desk, although the blurb writer says he loved it.

Whenever I’m asked to name my favorite Tiny Desk concerts, Nick Hakim’s 2018 performance sits near the very top. He and his four bandmates reset the bar for intimacy at the Desk with their hushed groove.

Hakim plays three songs from his upcoming album WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD

from the corner of his dark bedroom with a keyboard, guitar and stacks of audio components.

His vocals on all three tracks are quiet and echoing, as if he is whispering down a long hall.  In fact all of the music sounds muted and soft, with a feeling of hazy smoke floating around,.

“QADIR,” is a haunting dedication to a fallen friend.  He plays guitar–mostly slow muted echoing guitar chords.  When the song ends, he activates a mini applause effect box which is pretty funny.

He takes a few loud slurps from his drink and gives a big “ahhh,” before starting the next song. For “GODS DIRTY WORK” he switches to the keys.  His singing style is exactly the same, although the song may be a little slower.

He adds a little more fake applause and then a somewhat creepy echoing laughter as he switches the drum beat for “CRUMPY.”

Honestly, all three songs sound a lot alike and seems really slow and hazy. It’s weird how upbeat and smiling he is, in contrast to the music.  I wonder how he makes everything seem so quiet.

[READ: April 15, 2020] Nicotine

I really enjoyed Nell Zink’s two other novels, but somehow I missed this one entirely when it came out.  I couldn’t imagine what it was about with that title and boy I never expected it to go where it did.

I actually had a slightly hard time getting into the book. That may have been because it was Quarantine and it was hard to ficus or it was because the opening of the book was so puzzling.  And yet by the end I was totally hooked.  But the beginning:

A thirteen year old girl stands in a landscape made almost entirely of garbage, screaming at a common domestic sow.

Then a white man comes and takes the girl away.  Her name is Amalia. (more…)

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Tigers Jaw / Gladie / Kayleigh Goldsworthy (Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, April 24, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Cayetana, Coronavirus, Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, Gladie, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Tigers Jaw on April 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 24, 2020] Tigers Jaw / Gladie / Kayleigh Goldsworthy [moved to July 18]

indexTigers Jaw is a band I know from a Tiny Desk Concert.  They played poppy gentle rock.  I had seen a poster for one of their shows up in a local sub shop recently.  At the time, the band was Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins and they traded off lead vocals and harmonies wonderfully.  Their new pictures show four members, so perhaps they have fleshed out their sound.

Gladie is a band that has formed out of the ashes of Cayetana, a Philadelphia band that I’ve heard of for years but don’t know anything about.  Shame they broke up I guess, but Gladie has resulted. Gladie plays gentle alt pop sung by Augusta Koch.

Kayleigh Goldsworthy is also from Philadelphia. She has a great 90s alt rock sound.  Her album has a full band, but I imagine she’d be playing solo.

I have never been to Garwood, but it’s not too far.  It seems like a good club to check out.  It turns out that late April was a very busy concert time for me so I wasn’t going to go to this show. But maybe the postponed date will work out.

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Kevin Devine / Petal / Jaded Hart / Pearla [Asbury Park Music + Film Festival] (House of Independents, Asbury Park NJ, March 17, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Asbury Park Music + Film Festival, Asbury Park, NJ, Coronavirus, House of Independents, Jaded Hart, Jaded Heart, Kenny O'Brien & The O'Douls, Kevin Devine, Pearla, Petal, Postponed, Quarantine on April 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: March 17, 2020] Kevin Devine / Petal / Jaded Hart / Pearla

indexThe Asbury Park Music + Film Festival was scheduled for April 23-26.

There was going to be a lot of Music and movies at various locations throughout Asbury Park.

I actually wasn’t interested in the festival, but I was quite interested in seeing Kevin Devine (especially after his Kenny O’Brien St. Patrick’s Day show was cancelled).

Unsurprisingly, the entire Festival has been postponed, with the intention of rescheduling this summer.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band was one of my favorite recent shows.  Having seen him with the full band, I was interested to see him solo again (I’ve seen him solo twice).

I have also seen Petal twice before.  The first time she was solo, the second time with a full band.  While I didn’t really need to see her again, she puts on an emotionally charged show and since she and Kevin are mates, I’m sure they would have done something together.

I hadn’t heard of Jaded Hart and when I looked them up, I misspelled the name as Jaded Heart which brought up a German metal band which seemed–incongruous.  Looking up Jaded Hart, though, I can’t find much of anything about them. There’s a musician named Christopher Wilkerson who comes up in the search, but his Jaded Hart is a cover band from the 1990s.  But I’m thinking it’s not that Jaded Hart.

Pearla is a 23 year old singer-songwriter from Brooklyn.  She sings a kind of mildly psychedelic folk pop.

I’m quite curious what the lineup will look like come summer time.

 

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Craig Thompson–Carnet de Voyage: a travel diary by the author of Blankets (2004) [expanded edition 2018]

Posted in Airplanes, Autobiographies, Babies, Barcelona, Spain, Bilbao, Spain, Books about writers, Bookstores, Camels, Cats, Coronavirus, Craig Thompson, Drawn & Quarterly, Erlangen, Germany, France, Frankfurt, Germany, Frédéric Chopin, Geneva, Switzerland, Graphic Novel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lang Lang, Lewis Trondheim, London England, Lyon, France, Marrakesh, Morocco, Memoirs, Mike Allred, Montpelier, France, NPR/PRI/PBS, Paris, France, Quarantine, Relationships, Sex, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Yuck! on April 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LANG LANG-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #11 (April 17, 2020).

Lang Lang is a superstar pianist whom I have never heard of.  But I agree with the blurb that it’s neat to see a fantastic pianist playing at home.  He seems relaxed and loose.  And the camera angle allows us to see his fingers (and his whole swaying body) pretty clearly.

Here’s something unique: a chance to eavesdrop on the superstar pianist Lang Lang at home.

The 37-year-old pianist, who typically plays sold-out shows to thousands, says he’s taking his recent solitary time to learn new repertoire at home in Shanghai, China. And home is where he thinks we should all be.

He opens with Chopin’s calming “Nocturne No. 20 in C-sharp minor.”  I loved watching him slowly and deliberately play that last note.  It seems like he holds his finger above it for minutes, but it fits in perfectly.

Lang Lang’s latest passion is Bach – specifically the Goldberg Variations, a 75-minute-long cycle of immense complexity grounded in the composer’s durable beauty. Lang Lang offers the “18th and 19th variations,” pieces that in turn represent the strength of logic and the joy of the dance. It’s music, Lang Lang says, that “always brings me to play in another level of artistic thinking.”

These pieces are just magical.  Even if I don;t know them well, I can tell pretty immediately that they are Bach.  Lang Lang’s fluidity is wonderful, as is the way his whole body seems to be absorbing the music as he plays.

[READ: April 11, 2020]: Carnet de Voyage

From March 5 thru May 14, 2004 Craig Thompson was on an international book tour celebrating the success of his (fantastic) book Blankets.

This journal was his visual diary (no cameras were used, only his memory) of his trip.  His editors thought it would be interesting for him to document his trip (and it is).

He flies into Paris then a 2 hour plane trip to Lyon.  He draws pictures of where he has been and the people he has met (and some of their fascinating stories).  There’s some wonderful sketches of rooftops from hotel windows.

He does interviews for radio and magazines. He laughs that one of the photos shoots was in the streets of Paris, where he is all dressed up.  But really he’s a county bumpkin from Wisconsin. The drawing of himself as a glamorous guy and his bumpkin alter ego together is pretty hilarious.

On March 15 he left for Marrakesh, Morocco and this exotic location rally sets the stage for most of his artwork and what is sort of the only “plot” in the book.

He had also just broken up with his girlfriend which weighs on his mind quite a lot on the tour. (more…)

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Kurt Vile / Cate Le Bon / Stella Mozgawa (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, April 23, 2020) [POSTPONED/CANCELLED]

Posted in Cate Le Bon, Coronavirus, Courtney Barnett, Jersey City, NJ, Kurt Vile, Postponed, Quarantine, Stella Mozgawa, Warpaint, White Eagle Hall on April 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: April 23, 2020] Kurt Vile / Cate Le Bon / Stella Mozgawa [moved to September 4 which was CANCELLED on June 8].

indexI saw Kurt Vile at White Eagle Hall two years ago and his show was really great–more complex and interesting than I thought it would be (I imagined a lengthy chill out jam, which it was, but it was much more).

S and I also saw him tour with Courtney Barnett which was a totally cool show.

S. has been enjoying Kurt a lot this past year so I decided to get us both tickets to this reasonably close show.

I was actually quite excited that Cate le Bon was opening or playing with him or however that was going to work.  I have wanted to see the quirky Welsh singer for some time.  I was supposed to see her last summer but my plans changed and I couldn’t go.  I assumed that Cate would play first and then Kurt and they’d probably play some together.

Stella Mozgawa is the drummer for the band Warpaint.  She has also played drums for Kurt Vile and Cate Le Bon’s last couple of albums.

I’m not sure what she was going to do, but I sure how she is going to play with them in September.

UPDATE: On June 8, the show was formally cancelled.

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Mac Barnett–Mac B. Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime (2019)

Posted in Children's Books, Coronavirus, Funny (ha ha), Laura Marling, Mac Barnett, Mike Lowery, Miniature Golf, Mysteries, NPR/PRI/PBS, Quarantine, Thieves, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on April 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LAURA MARLING-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #10 (April 16, 2010).

I have become a huge fan of Laura Marling over the last few years.  I was so looking forward to her solo performance this past March. It was one of my bigger coronavirus disappointments that the intimate show is not going to be rescheduled.

Marling has been doing regular guitar lessons about her own songs (her tunings and playing style is unique and wonderful to see demonstrated).  You can see the past (and future) ones here.

(While many artists have postponed the release of their new music in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Laura Marling rushed to change the release date of her album from late summer to April.

As of right now her album is only available digitally. The physical release is slated for summer.

On this Tiny Desk (home) concert, we find her in her living room, with an intimate performance of songs from her just-released record Song For Our Daughter. The album is an homage to a future generation of women and to Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter, a collection of essays addressed to a fictional daughter. The warm, home setting makes room for Laura Marling’s extraordinary voice to shine.

“Held Down” has a lot of backing vocals and arrangements on the record and this stripped down version sounds amazing without it all.

“Strange Girl” demonstrates her deeper singing style in a fast and bouncy song.

“Song For Our Daughter” is a slower song, beautiful and thoughtful.

I just cannot get over how beautiful her voice is.  These personal performances almost make up for not seeing her live.

[READ: April 20, 2020] Mac B. Kid Spy: The Impossible Crime

This is the second book in a new series illustrated by Mike Lowery.  It begins

My name is Mac Barnett.  I am an author.  But before I was an author, I was a kid.  And when I was a kid, I was a spy.  An author’s job is to make up stories.  But the story you are about to read is true.

This actually happened to me.

It’s 1989 and Mac is at the mini golf course.  But he is there not for the mini golf but for the video games. He is playing Spy Master 2–the arcade update to the home game.  Mac was just about to beat the big boss–something no one else had ever done before.  People were cheering him on. Except for Derek Lafoy (who did not invite Mac to his birthday party in the previous book). Derek called him Mac Barn Head and chanted “Choke!”

But this book isn’t about video games, its about the Queen of England who called Mac at the golf course to tell him that she thought the Crown Jewels were going to be stolen again.  (In the previous book Mac helped rescue the Crown jewels for the Queen). (more…)

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