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Archive for the ‘Newspapers’ Category

Rivka Galchen–“My Mother, Myself” (The New York Times, July 28, 2007)

Posted in East River Pipe, Essays, Research, Rivka Galchen, The New York Times on May 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: OKKERVIL RIVER-“All You Little Suckers” from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

 This is another cover of an East River Pipe song.  (I get the feeling that Merge has signed maybe six bands in total).  I didn’t mind this cover so much when I listened to it the first few times—it’s weirdly high-pitched towards the end and kind of melodramatic all through, but I didn’t find it awful.

But once I heard the original, I decided that I didn’t like the cover much.  The original is simple and understated, highlighting the melody.  Plus it’s nearly half as long as the cover.  Why the cover is as ponderous as it is, I don’t know.  Score one for the original.

[READ: April 29, 2012] “My Mother, Myself”

Another article from The New York Times and another article that changes what we think of Rivka Galchen.  In this one, we meet Rivka’s mother, the driving force behind her life choices.  In other words, she insisted that Rivka would keep being a doctor.

As we know from other articles, Rivka no longer wanted to be a doctor (again, I still haven’t read if she finished school or not).  And she was hoping to use the experiment that comprises this article as a test.  She would be going to Guatemala for three weeks of immersion learning of Spanish.  She would also be participating in a trial study for a vaccine for traveler’s diarrhea (for the cost of room and board and study). (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–“Borges on Pleasure Island” (The New York Times, June 25, 2010)

Posted in Edgardo Krebs, Essays, Harper's, Jens Lekman, Jorge Luis Borges, Magnetic Fields, Rivka Galchen, Robert Louis Stevenson, Roberto Bolaño, The New York Times, Tracy Thorn, Translation on May 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TRACY THORN & JENS LEKMAN-“Yeah! Oh Yeah! from Score! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers (2009).

This cover makes me think that I like The Magnetic Fields for their songs, but not really for their singing or arrangements.  This song is pretty hilarious (every yeah oh yeah is in response to something awful (Do you want to break my heart?  Yeah, yeah, Oh yeah!).  The cover by the wonderful Tracy Thorn & Jens Lekman is much more understated than the original, with simple instrumentation.

The original is a chiming, kind of noisy track.  While the cover has Thorns beautiful voice languorously singing the lines while Lekman chimes in.  The backing music is delicate and almost sweet (a nice contrast to the lyrics).  I think the song is fantastic, but once again, I like the cover more than the original.  This is especially surprising as the cover is actually slower than the original.  But, really, it’s hard  to pass on Jens Lekman.

[READ: April 30, 2012] “Borges on Pleasure Island”

When I browsed for Rivka Galchen articles the other day, I found a few published works that were not in Harper’s or The New Yorker.  So, yes, I’m going to write about them here.  And since I’m caught up with the end of Gravity’s Rainbow, these short non-fictions were a nice balm.

I have been encountering a lot about Borges lately.  Roberto Bolaño loves him, there was a recent article in Harper’s about him (a review of some new translations called “The purloined Borges: Translation and traduction” by Edgardo Krebs) and now I get this article.  This article is a strange one–and I’m not entirely sure where it would have appeared in the Times.  It’s strange because it’s kind of a review of a new collection of Borges’ work (this one called On Writing, the first of three Borges’ related works published that month).  Although really she only talks about one essay, “Literary Pleasure.” (more…)

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Colson Whitehead–“The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found”

Posted in Alec Baldwin, Colson Whitehead, Essays, History, The Future, The New York Times on February 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ALEC BALDWIN reading “Lost and Found” (Selected Shorts September 10, 2011) (2011).

Alec Baldwin’s reading of Whitehead’s “Lost and Found” is really great.  His delivery is perfect and he strikes the ideal balance of humor and pathos, even if his inner-Boston peeks through this New York tale once in a while.  You can hear it for free at soundcloud.

[READ: February 12, 2012] “The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found”

I didn’t know who Colson Whitehead was in 2001 (at the time of this piece, he had written two novels, neither of which have I read even now).  I read a lot of things about 9/11 after the attacks; however, I didn’t read everything (and really I didn’t want to try).

Strangely, the only way I found out about this is because my brother-in-law’s wife linked to the soundcloud page on Facebook the other day.   (I’m not sure what made her link to it now, either).

The amazing thing about this essay is that it was written less than a month after the attacks and yet it is it is humorous and wise (but not silly or light-hearted).  It strikes a perfect balance.  And in fact, doesn’t even mention the attacks by name.

The piece is more of an ode to New York City and how “No matter how long you have been here, you are a New Yorker the first time you say, ”That used to be Munsey’s’ or ‘That used to be the Tic Toc Lounge.'”  Your first memory of the City is how you will always think of the City.  Whether you were dragged there at Christmas time as child or to help a friend move. (more…)

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Margaret Atwood–“Underbrush Man” (The Guardian, November 7, 2011)

Posted in Canadian Content, Dinosaur Jr., Dogs, Funny (ha ha), Margaret Atwood, Marriage Trouble, My Bloody Valentine, Mystery, Nirvana, Short Story, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub, The Guardian, The Smiths, Yuck on February 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: YUCK-Yuck (2011).

If you’re like me, you love alt-rock from the 90s, however that may be described.  Typically, we’re talking loud guitars, but we’re also talking shoegazer music and alt folk and basically anything that might have appeared at Lollapalooza.

Yuck is like comfort food for anyone starved for new music from that ear.  There’s hardly anything new or original in it, but it sounds great.  It’s fun to play spot the influences (Dinosaur Jr. Nirvana, melodic Sonic Youth), but it’s more fun to just sit back and listen.

When the first song, “Get Away” opens up with that phased, distorted guitar I’m instantly transported back to the 90s.  And then when the solo begins (before the verse) it’s like adding screaming punk to shoegaze.  Blissful.

“The Wall” sounds like yet another style of 90s alt rock, with some more screaming guitars.  Then comes “Shook Down” in which the band slows down with acoustic guitars (think Teenage Fanclub).  It’s a little slow, but there’s a surprise third part which adds some wonderful distorted guitars to the song.

“Holing Out” brings a more punk edged guitar sound to the album (still distorted just edgier).  “Suicide Policeman” is a pretty straightforward folk rock song: acoustic guitars and whatnot and it never really rocks out.  The nice part is when the second, electric guitar plays slow wobbly chords over the top (think The Smiths).

“Georgia” rips right into a My Bloody Valentine song (female harmonies over washes of guitars).  This is the first song that I don’t love.  It’s got something to do with the chrous.  The verses are great, but the chorus is just a little too…blah.  But I love the sound of the song.

“Suck” is probably my least favorite song on the disc.  It’s really really slow and drags a bit.  Although, amusingly this song stays in my head the longest, especially the line “did you see the fire briagde.”  Maybe I secretly like it best

“Stutter” continues this slow mood–I think I like these songs individually, but they drag down this section of the album when played together like this.

Because when “Operation” bursts back, the album picks up (more great use of little guitar solos-think Smashing Pumpkins).  “Sunday” does the My Bloody Valentine thing much better–great chorus on this one.  Amusingly the verses are not very MBV-sounding at all, but it’s a nice blend.

“Rose Gives a Lilly” is an instrumental and, although it’s nothing amazing, it’s still nice.  The disc ends with “Rubber” a 7 minute retro blast.  It’s a slow builder, with big distorted guitars (the vocals are almost inaudible).  Just add more and more layers of guitar over the melody and you’ve got a great album ender.

It’s nice to see a band absorb influences rather than just aping them.

[READ: January 27, 2012] “Underbrush Man”

Once I saw Mohsid’s story in The Guardian, it was just a quick look to see that Margaret Atwood had a story there too!

I really enjoy Atwood’s stories, and this one is no exception.  But this one was rather unexpected for me because it begins with the point of view of a dog.  There are actually four points of view in this story.  I was delighted that the first two were more or less the same, that the third one was unexpectedly unrelated to the action and then the final one cleared everything up.

But we start with a dog. (more…)

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Mohsin Hamid–“Terminator: Attack of the Drone” (The Guardian, 6 November 2011)

Posted in Death, End of the World, Mohsin Hamid, Pink Floyd, Short Story, Technology, The Future, The Guardian, Violence, War, Wikipedia on January 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PINK FLOYD-“Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict” (1969).

I‘ve mentioned this song a few times here so I figured I’d talk about it itself.  This bizarre song comes from PinkFloyd’s bizarre album Ummagumma.  Back in high school we ranked albums by a very specific content rating and this one received the highest: SDI-seriously drug induced.

Disc One is a live album but disc two contains compositions by each of the band members.  They each received about thirteen minutes of time to do what they wanted.  And they really seemed to go to town.

Roger Waters created this track, and it is very, very weird.  I’ve always loved it, probably because it is so audacious.  Wikipedia gives us this:

The track consists of several minutes of noises resembling rodents and birds simulated by Waters’ voice and other techniques, such as tapping the microphone played at different speeds, followed by Waters providing a few stanzas of spoken word in an exaggerated Scottish burr.

The Picts were the indigenous people of what is now Scotland who merged with the Scots.

You can hear it in all its glory (and then marvel that the guy who made it later when on to make some of the most famous music ever released) in this video.

I also love that someone liked this bizarre thing enough to put it on a Pink Floyd compilation (Works) as well.

And the wind cried Mary.

[READ: January 25, 2012] “Terminator: Attack of the Drone”

I found a link to this story somewhere, I can’t recall where, now.  It was mentioned with excited breath that Moshin Hamid, who I don’t know, had written this exclusive short story for The Guardian.  Hamid has been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize and has written two novels: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) and Moth Smoke (2000).

This story was not quite what I expected from the brief biography I’d read.  Because of the ominous title, I assumed it might have something to do with Iraq (I realize that this came out before the recent downing of the U.S. drone in Iraq, but it still seemed plausible).  Rather, what we get is a bit of sci-fi about smart machine that are on a murderous rampage.

The story is not really as sci-fi as all that, except that what I wrote is true. But it’s more about two boys as they try to deal with this new world of death, machines and heroism.

It begins with the note that “the machines are huntin’ tonight.”  (There’s an interesting dialect in the story, especially from someone who lives in Lahore, New York and London.  We get lines like “Sky’s light enough so’s we’d maybe see the machine but all’s quiet and it ain’t about,” which I register as Southern American.  And yet the characters are named Omar and Yousuf.  I can’t decide if that’s an attempt to show a future world of total integration or just a total disconnect.)

There aren’t many humans left–his Pa is dead, his ma got her leg blown off by a landmine.   But at least his sisters are still alive–that’s more than most people have.

The machines come thundering through, crushing everything in their sight.  They also fly–you can’t see them, but you can hear them.  No one has ever killed a machine. (more…)

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Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld–The Influencing Machine (2011)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Brooke Gladstone, Consumerism, Douglas Adams, Essays, Free Speech, Gore Vidal, Graphic Novel, Greed, Harvey Pekar, History, Josh Neufeld, Law, Newspapers, Noam Chomsky, On the Media, Research, Richard Nixon, Scholarship, Technology, Violence, War, Wild Flag on January 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WILD FLAG-Live at the Black Cat, October 20, 2011 (2011).

It’s interesting to compare this show by Wild Flag with their SXSW show.  This set is longer, but they retain the same raw energy and intensity.  It also sounds as though the tour has been rough on Carrie’s voice, which sounds a bit strained and hoarse (even when she talks!).

They play most of their debut album, but they also throw in a couple of new songs and even a few covers.  Perhaps the most fascinating part is the 15 minute (!) version of “Racehorse.”  There’s a lengthy noodling section as well as a cool part where Carrie goes a little crazy asking about money.

Janet Weiss is absolutely amazing here too.  And the keyboards, definitely complement everything well, but they are always the most notable flubs, and there’s the same one as in the SXSW show (not as bad, but noticeable).

Without a doubt the most interesting thing is the hearing that Mary Timony gives guitar lessons in Washington DC.  She lives there and evidently earns extra cash by doing guitar lessons.  Wow.  How cool would that be?

Check out the show here.

[READ: January 15, 2012] The Influencing Machine

Brooke Gladstone is one of two reporters who works on NPR’s On the Media.  On the Media is an awesome show which dissects things that happen in the world and examines the way the media portrays the events.  They work pretty hard to see who is reporting bias, who is exposing bias and how things are getting out to the average media consumer.  It’s worth anyone’s time to read (it doesn’t take very long).  And it’s also fun and enjoyable.  As anyone who has heard the ending of On the Media: “and edited [dramatic pause] by Brooke” knows, there’s always a smirking grin attached to the program.

When I heard that this book came out I was pretty excited to read it.  And then I promptly forgot all about it.  Lucky for me, my wife can take a hint, and she got it for me for Christmas.

The first surprise of the book is that it is written as a graphic novel–illustrations by Josh Neufeld (who has drawn for Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor).  The funny thing about the illustrations is that I have no idea what Brooke Gladstone looks like (which I rather prefer about my NPR announcers), but I really like the cartoony style of her avatar (which reminds me of Elaine from Seinfeld and which inspired me to draw a kind of similar version on my drawing site.

On to the book.

This book works as a primer for understanding media ownership, media consolidation and media power.  The opening few chapters are going to be nothing new for anyone who has read Chomsky or Vidal on the media.  But since most people haven’t, it’s a wonderful way into some of these thorny issues of who tells us what and why. (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 1 (2011)

Posted in Andy Greenwald, Anna Clark, Babe the Blue Ox, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Brian Phillips, Bryan Curtis, Carles, Charlie Pierce, Chris Jones, Chuck Klosterman, Colson Whitehead, Cricket, David Shoemaker, Death, Essays, Frank Deford, Friday Night Lights, Grantland, Harris Wittels, Hockey, Hoosiers, Hope Solo, Ichiro Suzuki, Jane Leavy, Jay Caspian Kang, Jess Walter, Jimmy Kimmel, Katie Baker, LeBron James, Lucky Peach, Malcolm Gladwell, McSweeney's, Megan Rapinoe, Michael Schur, Michael Weinreb, Mike Lupica, Molly Lambert, Moneyball, Nate Dimeo, Newspapers, Poker, Primus, Robert Mays, Roger Federer, Seinfeld, Short Story, Statis Pro Baseball, Suicide, The National, The New York Times, Track, Ty Cobb, Usain Bolt, Video Games, Wesley Allsbrook, Wesley Morris, William Faulkner, Wright Thompson on December 26, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BABE THE BLUE OX-“Basketball” (1998).

This was the first song I’d ever heard from Babe the Blue Ox, and I was hooked (sadly, The Way We Were, where this song is from was their last album).  This is also my favorite songs about sports (and it will never be played in an arena).

It opens with this great funky keyboard over a cool walking bass line.  And after a verse about playing basketball, we get the gorgeous bridge: “pass it to me, I am free, look there’s no one guarding me) sung by one of the women in the band (who sounds vaguely like Edie Brickell).  When the chorus kicks in “And when she gives it to me, I am as high as can be” both singers harmonize wonderfully.

There’s even a cool instrumental break.

Everything about this song is catchy and wonderful.  And it should have been huge.

[READ: December 21, 2011] Grantland

McSweeney’s seems to keep trying to push me away.  Or maybe they are just trying to push me out of my comfort zone.  First they publish Lucky Peach, a magazine about cooking (with recipes that contain ingredients that I couldn’t find anywhere).  I don’t read cooking magazines, but I loved this one.  Now they publish Grantland, a book about sports.  I don’t follow sports.  At all.  I used to play sports and I used to watch sports, and then when I got out of college, I did neither.  I have a very good knowledge of most sports (so I can still follow any game that’s on), but as for actual people playing the games right now–I’m ignorant.  So, why on earth would I want to read this book about sports?

I was pretty sure I would finally not be getting this book until I read the author list: Chuck Klosterman, Colson Whitehead (!), Malcolm Gladwell (?)  I knew this was going to be no ordinary sports book.

So it turns out (and I didn’t know this until just now) that the book is a collection of works from the website Grantland, which is created and run by Bill Simmons.  I haven’t explored the site but it sure looks interesting enough–longish articles about sports and culture and all kinds of interesting things.  And evidently this issue is a sort of best of the website.  The whole Grantland experience, including this book, are connected to ESPN, indeed, ESPN gets a copyright for the book, McSweeney’s is just the publisher.

And this volume was wonderful.  I couldn’t put it down.  I even wound up putting aside a book I was in the middle of to read it.  None of the articles are terribly long and, despite the basketball textured cover (which is very cool–no one can walk by and not touch it) the variety of sports covered is wonderful: from boxing to cricket!  And there are short stories and essays about the entertainment industry as well (articles on Shia LeBeouf and Amy Winehouse (!)).

If I had one complaint about the book it’s that many of the articles don’t give a time from when they were written.  I assume they are all fairly recent but since I don’t follow sports I can’t say for sure.  The other problem is that several of the stories end with a game/match unresolved.  Clearly they have been resolved since then, but even one line saying what happened would be comforting for those of us not glued to ESPN. (more…)

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Periodical–The Washington Spectator [UPDATE]

Posted in Book Reviews, Free Speech, History, LGBTQ, Military, Nature, Newspapers, Political Humor, Prison, Religion, The Future, The Washington Spectator, Threats, TSA, Violence, War on December 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I have been getting The Washington Spectator for years and years.  I was delighted with it in the beginning when the editor had the wonderful name of Ben Franklin.  I am delighted now that publisher’s name is Hamilton Fish.  But aside from these two fascinating details, I have always enjoyed the content.  It was thoroughly researched and detailed.  And the little 4 page leaflet always looked like a newspaper in design and style, and it gave it a kind of gravitas–no flashy colors or pictures.

Well, here it is, Vol 37, Issue No 21 and they have finally changed the format.  And not only that, they have created a website and have a Facebook presence!  Welcome to the 20th century!

I say that jokingly because despite these changes (which look great by the way), The Spectator has not abandoned its old school journalism practice.  21st century news is pretty much all flash and brash–style over substance–quick reporting with no concern for accuracy and very little attention brought to retractions (can anyone say “climategate” (I wish they wouldn’t call it that)).  But The Spectator is exactly the opposite, and I am delighted to say that although they are now a lot more accessible, they have not lost any of their tenacity or thoroughness.

The redesign is quite nice.  There’s an image on the front page and now there are pull quotes in red, which stand out nicely on the pale paper.  Although I always liked the pull quote box in the middle off the front page, this new format allows for a couple of different pull quotes as well as an opportunity to mix things up a bit.  (more…)

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Ricky Jay–Celebrations of Curious Characters (2011)

Posted in 18th Century, 19th Century, Arrested Development, Biography, Boxing, Deadwood, Essays, Freaks, Funky Web Sites, Funny (strange), Gilmore Girls, Greed, Illusion, KCRW 89.9 FM--Santa Monica, CA, McSweeney's, Mystery, Newspapers, Oddities, Pranks, Queensrÿche, Unreliable narrator on October 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: QUEENSRŸCHE-The Warning (1984).

Queensrÿche fulfilled the promise of their debut EP with this album.  It takes the blueprint of the EP and expands it wonderfully.  They introduce some cool low vocal chants to compliment Tate’s soaring alto (like on “En Force”), they also introduce some wonderful effects and riffs and scales (also on “En Force”).

There’s also some really great, odd “keyboard” bits thrown in as kind of sound effects or jarring moments (“Deliverance”).  “Deliverance” also has great backing vocals, and I love the way the “Deliver Us” part of the song is quite different from the soaring of the rest of the vocals.  The back and forth of “No Sanctuary” also showcases the bands skills very well.

The band even shows signs that they’re not sticking to standard heavy metal.  On “N.M. 156” there’s some sci-fi chanting and the really cool section of the song in which Tate sings “Forgotten…Lost…Memories” and the “Lost” part is a completely unexpected note.   They were taking chances from the beginning.

“The Lady Wore Black” is updated with the stunning “Take Hold of the Flame,” a slightly more progressive version of that first song.  “Before the Storm” was the first song I heard from this album and it has always been my favorite on the record (this is one of those few albums where the better songs aren’t front loaded).  “We watch the sun rise and hope it won’t be our last” (they were always happy guys).

“Child of Fire” opens with a wonderful riff and the compelling, “the souls that are damned by the pain that you bring send you higher.”  The song settles down into a slow part and Tate growls “Damn you and the pain they must feel” and you can tell he means it (whatever else the song is about).

All this time I don’t think I ever realized that “Roads to Madness” was nine minutes long.  It is definitely foreshadowing the kind of epic work they would do later.  And it closes out the album in a cathartic blast.  It’s wonderfully pure metal from the mid-80s.

[READ: October 20, 2011] Celebrations of Curious Characters

I had never heard of Ricky Jay before getting this book, but apparently he is a reasonably well know radio personality (on KCRW), he is also an actor on Deadwood, and he’s a magician.  This book is a collection of his KCRW radio show broadcasts along with accompanying pictures from his vast collection of obscure ephemera.

There are forty-five entries in the book–each one is a page long (it’s an oversized book and they are two columns each).  Each essay is Jay’s take on a particular subject or, as the title says, curious character.  Jay is a collector of esoteric information, especially that related to magic and, for lack of a better word, freakish behavior.   One of the most enjoyable parts of the book are the pictures that accompany each entry.  The pictures come from Jay’s collection and each picture’s provenance is given in the back of the book.  So we get pictures like “The little Count Boruwlaski, engraving by A. van Assed ([London]) Borowlaski [sic], 1788). or Lithograph of Chung Ling Soo (Birmingham: J. Upton, c. 1912) or Frontispiece portrait from George Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi (Cincinnati: Devol & Haines, 1887).  Some of these photos you can see on his website.  Or you can enjoy this picture of a chicken firing a gun that is not in the book (it comes from his site). (more…)

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The Best American Non Required Reading 2002

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Adventure, All Songs Considered, Basketball, Camden Joy, Dave Eggers, David Schickler, David Sedaris, Death, Dinosaur Jr., Drinking, Drugs, Elizabeth McKenzie, Eric Schlosser, Essays, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Gary Smith, Graphic Novel, Heidi Jon Schmidt, History, Jenny Bitner, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Keith Pille, McSweeney's, Meenakshi Ganguly, Michael Finkel, Michael Kamber, Military, Newspapers, Pranks, Racism, Religion, Rodney Rothman, Sam Lipsyte, Sara Corbett, Scientists, Seaton Smith, Sebadoh, Seth Mnookin, Short Story, Sports Illustrated, The Onion, Travel, Violence, War, Work, Zoe Trope on September 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DINOSAUR JR.-Live at the 9:30 Club, Washington D.C. October 8, 2009 (2009).

This was one of the first shows I downloaded from NPR.  I’ve been a fan of Dinosaur Jr. since my friend Al turned me on to Green Mind back in college.

This is an amazing show created by the original Dino Jr. members.  This tour is in support of their second album since reuniting, Farm. This set-list is an outstanding mix of old songs, new songs, Barlow-sung songs and even some songs from when Barlow and Murph weren’t in the band.  (Green Mind is still my favorite album by them).

When the band reunited there was much joy, and I’ve said in reviews of the newer albums, I’m not entirely sure why.  I mean, Dino Jr has always been about Mascis, and it’s not like Barlow is such an unusual bassist (although Murph’s drumming is always solid).  I’ve nothing against Barlow (I love Sebadoh and Folk Implosion) or Murph, it just seems odd to get excited about having them back in the band aside from nostalgic reasons.

Having said that, the band sounds amazing (and yes, Barlow does get to sing on “Imagination Blind”).  What never really came across to me until hearing all of these great songs live was that Mascis has always been a great pop song writer.  These songs are catchy as hell. But Mascis buries them under loud squalling guitars and a voice that is almost whiny, almost off-key, a total slacker voice.  (But you’ll notice it is never actually off-key.  He must work very hard at that.)

By the nd of the show Mascis chastises the audience for not moving (we obviously can’t see what they’re doing), saying he forgets that people don’t move in Washington, D.C.  But during the encore break, NPR host, Bob Boilen, points out that Mascis himself doesn’t move either–he just stands in front of that wall of Marshall stacks (Boilen wonders how he can hear anything anymore).  And looking at the pictures it’s comical the way he looks, surrounded by amps.  The picture above doesn’t fully do it justice, but check out the extra photos at the NPR page.  And while you’re there, listen to this show. It is amazing.  For a total slacker, Mascis can rock a guitar solo like nobody’s business.

[READ: July 20, 2011] The Best American Non Required Reading

I’d been meaning to read this series for years (yup, Eggers fan), But I have a hard time starting “collections” because I feel like I’d rather be reading a novel.  Nevertheless, I have most of these Nonrequired books, so it seemed like I should dive into one and see what it was like (I don’t think the year really matters all that much–some of the articles are topical but most are not exactly).  Then Sarah said this would be a great book to read on vacation because it’s all short essays, and she was right.  It was perfect for late nights when I wanted something to read but didn’t feel like getting involved in the novel I was reading.

DAVE EGGERS-Introduction
Eggers’ introduction is actually a partial short story about kids who go swimming in pools around town. It reminded me of the opening of Life After God by Douglas Coupland, but of course, lots of kids did that so I’m not saying it was “lifted” from DC.  The story “ends” (it doesn’t really end so much as stop) with an interesting scene between two unlikely kids who get caught.

After this story Eggers includes these three notes about the collection: It’s not scientific, It’s alphabetical, and We had a lot of help with this.  Of the three, it’s the middle one that’s most useful because Eggers says that you shouldn’t necessarily read them in order just because they are printed this way: “In the first half of this collection, you get a good deal of hard journalism, primarily about war and refugees, from Afghanistan to the Sudan, followed immediately by a number of less serious pieces, about malls and Marilyn Manson.  We didn’t group anything by theme , and won’t be offended if you skip around.”  This was good to know (not that we needed the permission of course), but yes, the beginning of the book is pretty heavy. (more…)

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