SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Bait Vol 09 (2013).
I just recently realized that Live Bait 9 has been released. So I grabbed it just in time. Vol 9 is full of long jams. The shortest track here is 10 and a half minutes and there are three over 30 minutes (true, some of them are actually multiple songs melding into one track, but they still retain that long jam feel).
What I especially liked about this set was that it included a few songs that I feel like aren’t represented all that well in the Live Bait catalog. Like “Foam” from 1994—a solid rocking jam (at 10:47). And “A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” (from 2004—I like how they splice the cuts together, so in this case they jump a decade but it doesn’t sound it). I feel like this song is not played as much, so it’s nice to hear. And then there’s a lively “The Moma Dance” from 2000.
There are a number of quirky moments in many of the songs. Like “Split Open and Melt” which comes in at 31 minutes. Around 11 minutes, they morph into “Kung,” and what’s weird about this version (aside from the fact that the song itself is bizarre) is that instead of it just being them making noise and shouting, there’s actually music behind it—mostly drums—I’ve not heard it done like that before. During the jam, at around 15 minutes, Mike plays Collective Soul’s “Shine” riff on the bass, but the rest of the guys don’t join in.
“Mike’s Song” (from 1999) begins a 40 minute jam. The song seems slower than usual, which I find odd. But it works well for the very mellow jam that constitute the big instrumental section—they even use the echoey guitar the runs for a few minutes keeping the beat and setting a pace. At 17 minutes the song morphs into a rousing version of “Twist”. Then at 31 minutes they morph into “Weekapaug Groove” (with Gordon’s great bass opening. At 36 minutes Trey starts playing the Macarena, although not exactly right, which is pretty funny in and of itself.
“David Bowie” (from 1995) is a 25 minute jam that gets pretty dark in the middle. Then comes the most interesting juxtaposition of songs jam. From “AC/DC Bag” one of their earliest songs to “Ghost” one of their then newest ones. “Tube” a, to my mind, underplayed song is next. It has a funky jam and is appreciated.
This free set ends with “Undermind,” one of my favorite new songs (this one recorded n 2012). It opens with a staccato riff which gives it a kind of reggae feel. But it soon returns to its normal sound and proves to be a great ender to this “set.”
I can’t say enough good things about the Live Bait series. I’m not one to buy many concert sets, but having free samples is really cool.
[READ: July 28, 2013] A Questionable Shape
Karen read this book and not only raved about it, she personally recommended it to me. So imagine my surprise to find out that it’s a zombie novel! But it is a zombie novel like no other. If Colson Whitehead (in Zone One) made a zombie novel that was literary, Sims has gone one step further, making a zombie novel that is philosophical.
The story is set in Baton Rouge and takes place some time after a zombie epidemic has broken out. In the time since the zombies started appearing (worldwide, it is suggested), the police and emergency teams have managed to contain the worst of it (already that’s something new). Panic has subsided somewhat and the government has even released a pamphlet on how to deal with everything that’s been going on (called Fight the Bite–I never checked to see if there was a version online, it would make a great “online extra” (having now read Karen’s review, I’m glad to see she agrees)).
The book focuses on two primary characters: the narrator (Michael Vermaelen–referred to mostly as Vermaelen whose name is not given until very long into the story) and Matt Mazoch. There is a third important character–the narrator’s live-in girlfriend, Rachel, who plays as something of a foil.
The simple plot takes place over a week. Mazoch is searching for his father. Mr Mazoch died just before the epidemic and Matt believes that he is among the walking dead. And so Matt has asked Michael to go with him to try to find him. There’s a couple things to note right off the bat (the pun was not intended, although Matt carries a bat with him as his line of defense and who knows what else). Matt and Mr. Mazoch had a weird relationship, one which fell apart considerably over the last few years. Mr Mazoch let himself go completely and seems opposed to everything that Matt believed in–physical fitness and intellectual pursuits (or, as Michael points out, perhaps Matt pursued them to be the exact opposite of his father). The second is that while Michael is happy to go along with Matt, he has no idea and is even afraid to ask what Matt plans to do should he find his father. And this issue comes to a head later with Rachel.
Matt has given them exactly one week to find his father, with the explicit instructions that after a week thy give up pursuit so that it doesn’t drag on indefinitely.
Okay so far so good–they are going zombie hunting. But the thing is, the zombies have become a part of the landscape, but they have been tamed. It is illegal to kill them (what an interesting twist). Despite their zombie-ness (it’s actually considered an insult to call them zombies), and their desire for human flesh, rather than eradicating them, they are being rounded up and put in camps. Naturally there are still a number of stragglers (zombies get everywhere), but there is a hotline to call if you see one and within minutes the police come and quarantine them.
So, what’s one to do on a day long adventure hunting zombies–or more specifically, one zombie–if you aren’t actually hunting them? Well, mostly, you talk. Michael is a philosophy student (he intended to read all of the important philosophical works although the outbreak has taken him off his goal somewhat), Matt is a literature student (Rachel is an art history major), so the discussions get very philosophical. In addition to quoting Heidegger, Kant, Nietzsche and many other big names, they also talk video games and seek for metaphors for the zombie invasion. The video game discussion was quite fascinating–Matt imagines the grid of zombie takeovers to be like a video game–going into blank nothingness. But Michael imagines it more like a filmy haze.
Indeed, since this is all told from Michael’s first person point of view, we learn a lot about what is in his head. And it turns out that Michael is obsessed with the zombies (which is understandable, really). But his obsession is different. When the outbreak first happened he, like everyone else, refused to go outside. But soon, when the government gave the all clear, Rachel not only went outside, she volunteered at the facilities. But Michael refused–seeing potential contamination everywhere. Indeed, even though he goes out with Matt every day, he still imagines and worries what would happen if and when someone he knows is infected. When they go to a diner, Michael won’t even eat the food, imagining some kind of contamination.
He even tries demilitarization exercises with Rachel (which she is understandably freaked out by). But as the story moves on Michael’ footnotes (did I say there were footnotes? There are–almost one per page) spend more and more time wondering what the zombies are experiencing–he seems to be trying to pick the best one. And he goes over and over these ideas in great detail.
After a few days (each chapter is a day) Rachel needs to know what Matt is intending to do if (when) he finds Mr Mazoch, especially since Matt suddenly believes he has some “evidence.” Michael doesn’t want to know, which enrages Rachel. She assumes the worst (that he wants to kill his father). She assumes he would kill him out of malice towards zombies, but Michael suggests it would be to put him out of his misery).
Rachel has a personal stake in this issue. Her father died before the epidemic, but she was convinced that he would be turned (before they proved that the longer-dead weren’t rising, it was only the recently dead). So she waited at his graveyard, with the intent of digging him up if need be. She proves to be a real bleeding heart on the issue. To make her case, she gives the recent example of a scientist training a zombie to speak. She discusses the emotions of the woman whose father was the zombie. She says this shows that these creatures still have humanity in them and to kill them all would be genocide.
By the end of the book, Matt has taken a polar opposite position–hurricane season is coming and these things are a security risk for all the living. They should all just be killed. For the safety of everyone. Michael–always the intellectual–has a somewhat more nuanced position–he feels that perhaps they should be spared because we have so much to learn from them. And each case is made rather convincingly.
There are some wonderful passages–the discussion about leaves and greenery and the amazing description of Michael’s first encounter with a zombie (not at all frightening, just chilling) show what a great writer Sims is.
The strange thing about this book (aside from the whole “it’s about zombies, but not” premise) is that for such a short book (just over 200 pages), it’s a pretty slow read. Between the footnotes and the philosophy, the book doesn’t exactly flow quickly. It’s not light reading by any stretch. And at times it’s a little…dull? too in its own head? Something? But those moments seem few and far between, because ultimately the language is so interesting and fulfilling.
The end is one of those endings that’s not a real ending–it’s more of a “what would you, the reader, do?” kind of ending. That’s always unsatisfying. And yet at the same time, I have not stopped thinking about what I would do in his case. And so it almost becomes the perfect ending.
Bennett Sims was a student of David Foster Wallace and although this book does have footnotes, the author he resembles most is Nicholson Baker–where not much happens in the body of the work and all of the “action” (which is really thought) is in the notes.
Karen put Bennett Sims along with Seth Fried and Manuel Gonzales on her “magnificently weird” list, a list that I am intrigued enough by to hunt down these other two authors (and Sims’ story “House-Sitting” which i don’t seem to be able to find online. So thanks Karen, i wouldn’t have found this one on my own.
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SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Bait 04 (2011). 
This Live Bait free sampler is compiled of songs from some of their summer tours (all songs are from June-August). And it’s a fun collection of mostly long jams.
I Just Read About That... 