SOUNDTRACK: SEAN ROWE-Tiny Desk Concert #157 (September 16, 2011).
Rowe (rhymes with how) is a burly, bearded folk-singer-songwriter. When he’s not singing he is into wilderness survival and primitive living.
Before the third song he tells a lengthy story about going out into the woods with just a knife and surviving on whatever he could find. If you’re interested in his stories, you can read about them on his site.
Rowe plays three songs. For the first, “Night” he stands and plays a rather delicate guitar. I don’t love his voice though, especially during the ending “where is my lord?” part.
I was amused by him when he said that for $200 he would eat the toast that is on the shelves behind him. Robin asks if it’s really that hard out there.
He plays a different guitar (and sits on a stool) for “Bluegrass Baby.” He sings and plays louder on this song.
The final song, “Surprise,” is my favorite. I like the repeated riff that he plays, and his voice seems to work better with this louder song. I especially love the great strumming/picking thing he does at the end
For sure, Rowe is a fascinating character.
[READ: March 13, 2016] “Plexiglass”
This is an excerpt from DeLillo’s novel Zero K (I do like that Harper’s tells you that it is an excerpt right from the get go).
I found that I didn’t rally like DeLillo’s last excerpt that I read. His books are pretty complex and multifaceted and typically an excerpt doesn’t do it any kind of justice. And while I enjoyed this one more, it still felt very spare. And without context clues it’s kind of hard to get invested in the story.
Especially since in this case all of the characters seem to be rather unemotional themselves. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 