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Archive for the ‘NPR/PRI/PBS’ Category

Joshua Ferris–“Learning to Fly” Part 1 of 4 (Popular Mechanics, May 2015)

Posted in Airlines, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Popular Mechanics, Set in New Jersey!, The Mountain Goats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series on May 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Popular-MechanicsSOUNDTRACK: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS-Tiny Desk Concert #41 (January 3, 2010).

mgI have talked about Tiny Desk Concerts off an on (more than 100, if I’m counting right), but I never really made a concerted effort to do them all.  So now I’ve decided to make the effort.  My plan is to post two old concerts a week and also mention new ones when they pop up.  Since there are nearly 450 concerts, this will take ages and ages.  But I’ve been really enjoying the bands I like and it’s been fun listening to the bands I didn’t know.  And two a week seems reasonable enough.

I know the Mountain Goats, although I don’t know them all that well–I keep meaning to listen to them more.  So this is a good place to start.  It’s just John Darnielle and his guitar.

These four songs are simple enough and yet they have s much passion and inventiveness.  Darnielle is known primarily for his lyrics, but he throws a good melody over his songs too.

He plays two (then) new songs, the quiet “Hebrews 11:40” and the loud “Pslams 40:2.”  His voice is instantly recognizable in either song–it more or less just sounds like him singing louder, and yet there’s something slightly different in his rollicking singing voice–a bigger intensity, perhaps.

He also plays two old songs.  The slow “Color in Your Cheeks” and the rollicking “Going to Georgia” (which he starts and then interrupts and then starts again).

While his lyrics are serious, his between song banter is charming and funny (“I am permanently a young man, no matter how old I get”).  I just saw that the Mountain Goats were on Seth Meyers’s show, I’ll have to check that out too.

Watch the Tiny Desk Concert here.

[READ: April 21, 2015] “Learning to Fly Part 1”

I was going to let my Popular Mechanics subscription lapse.  I enjoy it a bit, but don’t really read it all that much.  But this issue has some good articles and the start of this four part essay by an author I really like.  Who knew that authors wrote for such unlikely places?

I suspect that Popular Mechanics readers probably aren’t used to long form essays, because this first part, called “Takeoff” is only four pages long–this is not a Harper’s essay we’re looking at, here.  But the writing is still really good.

Ferris talks about the two things that contributed to his decision to take flying lessons.  The first was the death of his father and the second was his absolute fear of flying. (more…)

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Liz Prince–Tomboy: a graphic memoir (2014)

Posted in Gender, Graphic Novel, Liz Prince, Rubblebucket, Sexism, Tiny Desk Concert, YA Books on May 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

tomboySOUNDTRACK: RUBBLEBUCKET-Tiny Desk Concert #416 (January 20, 2015).

rubbleRubblebucket plays horn-infused music that is fun but not too crazy.  With a name like that I thought they’d be a bit more wild, but although they are fun (they asked if they could bring a confetti cannon–Bob was a killjoy on that front) their music is fairly traditional.  The trombone (I can’t believe how many trombones I’ve written about in the last week) even has a mute on it.

Singer Kalmia Traver is fun and bouncy (with a bizarre sweater).  And she is an engaging front woman.

The band plays 3 songs.  “Carousel Ride” has a some great lead trumpet (by Alex Toth) and some rather complicated rhythms.  For the second song, “On the Ground,” Traver straps a tambourine to her foot and also plays flute

“The Sound of Erasing” is a song about skinny dipping your pain way (in which Toth plays flute and trumpet as well), while Traver plays keyboard).

Her voice sounds a little weak (I don’t know if she normally hits some of those notes) but that seems to be a common problem with singers coming in during the day to these Tiny Desk Concerts.

While they won’t be a favorite band of mine, this set was really enjoyable.

[READ: January 28, 2015] Tomboy

I saw this at the library.  Between the simple cover and the intriguing premise, I had to check it out.

This is Liz Prince’s memoir of growing up as a tomboy–not a lesbian, not a cross dresser (well, maybe), just a girl who enjoyed playing with boys.  And the heaps of abuse she received all through school for it.

The story starts out simply enough with Liz being old enough to say she doesn’t want to wear dresses.  And it’s cute and her parents are cool with her decision–because really it doesn’t matter all that much when you’re little.  She had a younger brother who had long hair, what was the problem?  This was during the 80s, I believe.

But then she started going to school where wearing boy’s clothes would certainly cause some comments–especially from the older boys.  God, kids suck.

Liz learned early on that she liked “boy’s” toys more than “girl’s” toys–action figures rather than dolls, bugs rather than princesses.  And also that most of her heroes were the male heroes of movies–why be rescued when you can do the rescuing?  (The part where she hops in  time machine to yell at a “model” who claims to be a tomboy in a magazine article is hilarious). (more…)

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Kelly Sue DeConnick & David Lopez–Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More (2014)

Posted in Bobby Bare Jr, Bobby Bare Sr, David Lopez, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Violence on April 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

capnSOUNDTRACK: BOBBY BARE, JR.-Tiny Desk Concert #417 (January 27, 2015).

Ibbjr don’t really know anything about Bobby Bare Jr.  I don’t know anything about Bobby Bare Sr.  I knew he was from Nashville and I assumed he was a country singer.

But in this Tiny Desk Concert it’s just him on his acoustic guitar and Matt Rowland on keyboards (often employing a Hammond organ/1970s sound).  This makes his songs fall more into the singer-songwriter category than the country superstar category. (I particularly enjoy the way the keyboards “build” for the instrumental section of the first song, “Don’t Wanna Know” when Rowland lays his arm on the keys.

Bare is very funny (and Rowland’s keyboard “comments” add to the humor).  He introduces the second song “The Big Time,” a rocking catchy number about moving to Nashville to become famous.  He seems to have a love/hate relationship with Nashville.  He introduces the song by talking about hanging out with his friends and telling them, “I can’t wait til I become famous because I’ll never hang out with any of you motherfuckers again.”

As an introduction to the final song “Visit Me in Music City” he describes Nashville as making the worst music ever recorded and the best music ever recorded.  He talks about a guy at a bluegrass festival who, upon realizing that Robert Plant was in the audience said he’d like to welcome Robert Plant from ZZ Top.  “And this sums up Nashville.”  This is a funny and actually sweet song that shows how charming Bare can be,

I enjoyed the whole set, and it totally changed what I thought I knew about Bobby Bare Jr.  Check it out.

[READ: January 15, 2015] Captain Marvel

I was pretty excited to see a female super hero cross my desk.  I don’t really know much about the history of Captain Marvel (who was a man at some point).  Nor do I know why she is a woman now (there is a previous book in this new series written by DeConnick but I couldn’t find it).

This book opens in the middle of the action with Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, walking with several aliens (a robot creature, a green figure in a hood, a woman with snakes for hair and a bull-looking guy) on the Maniaciano Outpost.  They are looking for something.  The plan, which is a simple one, goes awry and soon they are all trying to escape at top speed.  Captain Marvel has what they are looking for but they have lost the green woman.  (Whose name is Tic).

Flash back six weeks ago where Captain Marvel is speaking to Captain America and she has just encountered a pod with, of all things, an alien girl with green skin.  We see that Carol lives in the Statue of Liberty and is also friends with Iron Man.  And as the first book closes we learn that she is ready to go back out on another mission.  This one proves to be pretty dangerous and she is saved at the last minute with help from…The Guardians of the Galaxy (holy crossover Spiderman!–it looks like she will be getting her own movie in 2018, so just hold on to your tights for a few more years). (more…)

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Mike Maihack–Cleopatra in Space: Book One: Target Pratice (2014)

Posted in Becky Stark, C., Children's Books, Egyptology, Graphic Novel, John C. Reilly, Lavender Diamond, Mike Maihack, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Soul Coughing, Tiny Desk Concert, Tom Brousseau, Unfinished series on April 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

cleoSOUNDTRACK: JOHN REILLY & FRIENDS-Tiny Desk Concert #418 (February 3, 2015).

johnI started this show without observing who it was (it was just next on my queue) and I listened without watching first.  At first I thought, hmm, interesting old timey songs.  And then the guy spoke and I thought, wow, he sounds a lot like actor John C. Reilly, I wonder if he’s from the same place.  And then I clicked over and saw that it was John C. Reilly, in full beard and hat playing old timey, spiritual songs.

A lot of actors have vanity music projects, but there’s nothing vain about this. It’s all old music (they use an old timey microphone) and they’re clearly not looking to top any charts.  Rather, Reilly plays acoustic guitar and sings—he has a great, solid voice. And his backing group is full of great musicians who all have careers doing other things: Tom Brousseau on guitar and harmony vocals, Becky Stark from Lavender Diamond on harmony vocals, Andru Bemis on banjo and fiddle, as well as Soul Coughing’s Sebastian Steinberg.

I didn’t recognize any of the four songs they played–which is probably the point.  He explains that Tom is their archaeologist and he uncovered a number of these songs.

The second song references Jesus and after the song Reilly talks tells everyone that he’s a lapsed Catholic but it seemed a shame to ignore all these beautiful songs because of religion.  So when they say Jesus you can think Buddha or… Satan or… the ocean. Becky Stark comes across a bit more, um, something, with her comment “we are advocates for deathless bliss.” (Reilly deflates the silence by saying “deathless bliss” is their other band).

It’s a charming group of songs and would not sound out of place with some tracks from O Brother, Where Art Thou.

[READ: January 8, 2015] Cleopatra in Space Book One

I brought it home for C. but it looked really fun so I read it too.  I enjoyed this book so much that I can’t wait for the next part.

I love Maihack’s artistic style, it’s simple and very clean, and his drawings of the people and aliens are cool and expressive

The basic setup here is that Cleopatra, yes, that Cleopatra, is about to have her 15th birthday.  This means she is about ready to rule the country.  But in the meantime she is stuck going to school and taking Algebra, ugh.  She gets her friend Gozi out of class (by hitting him with a pebble and making him yell).  So they sneak out.  I loved the joke when he asks where she got the slingshot since her father confiscated them all–“It’s not like they’re hard to make, Gozi.”

While they are shooting rocks at things, they uncover a giant tomb door.  When it opens, they see all kinds of cool artifacts.  One of them is a panel of some sort.  And when Cleo (she prefers Cleo) reads it, she is sucked into a portal to a new planet generations into the future.  The great great great great grandson of her cat is there (and he can talk–in fact all the cats can talk).  And they inform her that she is the prophecy sent to defeat the Xerx.  The Xerx are a race of brutes who are ruled by Xaius Octavian, a power-hungry dictator.

He evidently sent out some kind of EMP to destroy all of the electronic records in the world but also managed to keep copies for himself.  So he has all the knowledge in t universe.  And it was written that Cleopatra would come and save them from this terrible scourge. (more…)

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Sarah Manguso–Ongoingness (2015)

Posted in Diary, Essays, Harper's, Mucca Pazza, Nostalgia, Sarah Manguso, Short Books, Tiny Desk Concert on April 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

onfgoingSOUNDTRACK: MUCCA PAZZA-Tiny Desk Concert #419 (February 10, 2015).

Evmucca2en though I said that the Dan Deacon Tiny Desk was the most fun to watch, it is a close tie with this one from Mucca Pazza.  Mucca Pazza are a 23 piece band comprised of a huge horn section, violins, guitars, percussion, an accordion and even cheerleaders.  The group dress like a marching band (but everyone with a different colored (often ill-fitting) outfit).  The cheerleaders use caution tape as pompoms and do prompts between songs.  They tip their hats when songs are done.

They have been around for ten years (and have four albums out).  For this cramped Tiny Desk, they play four instrumental tracks (23 people and no vocalist!): “Subtle Frenzy” “J’accuse” “Dirty Chompers” and “Holiday on Ice.”

The songs are fast and fun and while there is an obvious marching band feel, they aren’t really marching band songs.  The electric guitar and strings tends to undermine the machine band tendencies (even if the xylophone adds it back).   Indeed, the electric guitars add a cool and sometimes disconcerting sound, like the guitar solo on “J’accuse” which is done on a teeny tiny guitar with a slide.

I love the melody of “Dirty Chompers”–such a fun song.  And “Holiday on Ice” is chock of full of the mayhem you might expect from the description of this band. The middle section slows down somewhat and sounds a little demented (in a good way) It also really highlights the different components of the group–with different horns playing different scales and the trombones keeping the main somewhat menacing riff consistent.

mucca 1So there’s a kind of Balkan Brass band element underpinning all of this–but there’s also discord and rock and psychedelia.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many people having so much fun before.  Their full stage show must be a riot.

You can watch the Tiny Desk here and listen to a full show (with a video of one song) here.

[READ: April 10, 2015] Ongoingness.

This book was excepted in Harper’s in December. I read the excerpt just a few weeks ago.  And then when I saw someone request it at work I found our copy and, since the book was short, decided to read it at lunch before sending it off to the requester (such power I wield!).

In my post about the excerpt, I said that I couldn’t imagine how there could be much more than the excerpt and that I wouldn’t want to read a lot more of the book.  Well, it turns out that the book itself is a brief 96 pages and the bulk of those pages are only a few lines.  So a rough count would suggest about 36 pages altogether–an easy to read at lunch request.  And that’s good, because if this book were 400 pages it would be either obnoxious or really tedious.

But at this length, it’s an interesting and enjoyable look at memory and life and how much we should be concerned about remembering. (more…)

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Nicole Moeller–An Almost Perfect Thing (2014)

Posted in Nicole Moeller, Play (Drama), Tiny Desk Concert, Until the Ribbon Breaks on April 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

moellerSOUNDTRACK: UNTIL THE RIBBON BREAKS-Tiny Desk Concert #420 (February 17, 2015).

untilI’d never heard of Until the Ribbon breaks–a synth band from Wales–before this show.

It’s hard to imagine what their recorded songs sound like (this is evidently really stripped down).  The notes say that in order to achieve this sound, the solution involved a spaghetti strainer, a paint bucket and an acoustic guitar.  And as the show starts you can see the drummer putting a spaghetti strainer down and laying some paint buckets around.

They play four songs and they are all good.  They are fine.  “2025,” “Pressure” “Until the Ribbon Breaks,” and “Spark.”  In this stripped down form there’s really not that much too them, but they’re not bad at all. The lyrics are topical and current about relationships and the like.

I like that the drummer plays guitar instead of drums on the  third song (which is quite mellow).   The final song, “Speak” is my favorite–it is quite catchy with great backing vocals. You can watch the Tiny Desk here.

I just checked two of their recordings and they are very electronic–very dancey and moody.  I like the acoustic stripped down version of “Sparks” better, but the electronic aspects of “Pressure” make it a little more interesting than the stripped version.

[READ: January 5, 2015] An Almost Perfect Thing

This is a fascinating play told in a fascinating way.

There are three people in the play: Greg, Chloe and Mathew.

Six years earlier, Greg (who is a journalist) wrote a story about Chloe, a girl who went missing.  Now, six years later, Chloe is free from her captor but, rather than go to the police, she hunts down Greg and offers to give him an exclusive story about what happened to her.

Greg is excited about the prospect (even if he does think she should go to the police).  But she tells him that she won’t reveal her captor or give any details, she just wants to relate the experience to him.  He imagines that it could be a very successful book, but she says no, it must be installments in the paper. (more…)

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Warren Ellis & Declan Shalvey–Moon Knight: From the Dead (2014)

Posted in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Declan Shalvey, Graphic Novel, Supernatural, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Violence, Warren Ellis, Zola Jesus on April 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

moonknightSOUNDTRACK: ZOLA JESUS-Tiny Desk Concert #421 (February 23, 2015).

zolaI didn’t know Zola Jesus before this Tiny Desk show.  I’d heard the name but didn’t know that it was the “group” formed by Nika Roza Danilova.

This show is practically a capella.  It is just Nika and Daniel Walter Eaton on trombone.  Yes, trombone.  He works as a punctuation to her voice (which is powerful and really impressive).

She evidently normally plays with a much bigger band, and often with a lot of electronics.  So this really showcases the quality of her voice.

She sings three songs (in just 9 minutes): “Ego,” Hunger” and “Nail.”  “Nail” is probably the catchiest song of the three.

I can’t say much more about them, except that a trombone is certainly an unusual accompaniment and her voice is tremendous.  Check it out.

[READ: January 6, 2015] Moon Knight

This book collects the Moon Knight series issues 1-6.  I had never heard of Moon Knight before although apparently he is an old character resurrected by Ellis.

The story is a fairly simple (supernatural) one.  Marc Spector, a mercenary, was killed in Egypt under the statue of Khonshu, the moon god.  Spector was resurrected (or something) in the guise of the moon god.  According to the introduction of the book, “he wore [the god’s] aspect to fight crime for his own redemption. He went completely insane, and disappeared.”

This is what happened next. (more…)

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Simon Reade–An Elephant in the Garden [adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s 2010 novel] (2014)

Posted in Bad Boys II, Dan Deacon, Funny (strange), Jurassic Park, Michael Morpurgo, Nazis, Play (Drama), Simon Reade, Tiny Desk Concert on April 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

elephantSOUNDTRACK: DAN DEACON-Tiny Desk Concert #422 (February 25, 2015).

dandeacDan Deacon is a trip and a half.  I only know him from NPR (and they love him).  He is a weird dude, that’s for sure.  He plays some super weird electronic music.  But more importantly, he really really gets the crowd into his show.  Indeed, this is one of the few Tiny Desk Concerts where the audience features more than the performer.

His opening mantra is that you will close your eyes and enter the consciousness of Martin Lawrence’s character in Bad Boys II.  This is apropos of nothing of course.

“Feel the Lightning” is amazing.  He has his synth set up to control an acoustic piano (you can see the keys playing).  Deacon plays some really catchy music (an amazing amount of noise and layers) but with a beautiful piano melody over the top.  And he sings.  But his voice is utterly and utterly processed.  There are high harmonies added to it and frankly I have no idea what he’s singing most of the time.  It’s catchy and alienating at the same time.  It’s amazing to watch the piano playing by itself–wailing–at the end.

Deacon himself is a pretty weird dude as well, as I said. He starts talking about filing down solenoids and other technical details about what he did and then he shifts gears and tells them to form a circle for a dance contest.  He prattles on and on (and is quite funny).  The contest rules: be sassy, after 5 seconds, pick the next person to go in, imagine you’re a T-Rex in Jurassic Park.

“Sheathed Wings” opens with the wrong song and then when the song proper starts the dance contest begins.  And how fun to watch the NPR staff dancing along (and to see how big their office is).

The final song “Learning to Relax” is nearly 7 minutes and it also features a group interpretive dance (with captains).  As with the previous dance off, everyone is brought out one at a time (including Bob and Robin!) for a dance off.  Always maintain eye contact with your team otherwise you won’t know if your dance moves sucks.

And while all this is going on, he’s singing along, pressing all kinds of weird (homemade) gadgets.  I love watching him “conduct” the piano during the slow part.

As the show ends, you hear Bob say it’s heart-healthy NPR (and Dan asks if there’s a shower in the building).

I don’t even have all that much to say about the music–which is hyper and dancey, but man, I’d like to see him live sometime.  It’s a show one won’t soon forget.

This is a must see.

[READ: January 6, 2015] An Elephant in the Garden

I didn’t realize until after I read this that this play was an adaptation from a novel (I’m curious to read the novel now).  Or that the novel was actually a children’s novel ( I just saw on amazon).

This is a simple story of a girl, her mother and an elephant.

As the play opens, it is 1989 and Lizzie is visiting the recently torn down Berlin Wall.  Then it flashes back to her life in Dresden.  She as born in 1929.

Set in 1945 in Dresden, Germany (yes, you know what is going to happen), Lizzie and her family are a Christian family who do not approve of Hitler or his plans.  They have relatives who support Hitler (and who blame the Jews for their losing World War I) and who call Lizzie’s father a Jew-loving pacifist (!). (more…)

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Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan and Pascal Dizin–City of Spies (2010)

Posted in C., First Second :01, Graphic Novel, Laurence Klavan, Nazis, Pascal Dizin, Phox, Susan Kim, Tiny Desk Concert on April 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

cityspiesSOUNDTRACK: PHOX-Tiny Desk Concert #423 (March 2, 2015).

phoxtinyPhox play pretty, quiet music (quiet for a six piece anyhow). There’s a 12 string guitar, banjo, bass drums and piano al held together by the lead vocals of Monica Martin.  Her dusky voice is quite lovely (as are the high backing vocals of the piano player).

“Kingfisher” is bright and chipper and that little trill at the end of the verses (and the song) is really catchy.

It’s always fun when artists are nervous about being in a small room–closely scrutinized.  Monica notes, “It’s so bright in here.”

“1936” is chock full of great harmonies (both backing vocals and when the whole group sings together).  It has an olde quality, especially when they start doing the “bum bum bum” in lovely harmony.

The final song is also lovely—the harmonies again, and the delightful times when the music drops out and its’ just piano or glockenspiel are really dynamic.  There’s even whistling!  I wonder if this is what the band sounds like live or if they are usually more rollicking.

This was a very (to quote Monica) “dreamy” show.  Watch it here.

[READ: December 24, 2014] City of Spies

I have dozens of posts about books I’ve read over the last few months that have been pushed back because of other things that I wanted to write.  So I’m going to start publishing these older posts–most of which are about comic books!

I had also decided to read all of the First Second Graphic Novels. There are a lot, and I got a whole bunch from the library all at one time.  I kind of burnt out on them so I haven’t read too many lately.  But now its time to see what I’ve been reading.

I had literally no idea what it would be about (spies, obviously).  So imagine my surprise to find out that it was also about the Nazis infiltrating America in the 1940s.  C. had read it a few days before me, and he said he liked it but after reading it myself, I have to find out just how much he understood.

It’s a clever book in which two kids (who are drawn rather simply–like Sunday funnies kids, which I liked)  try to bring down a secret Nazi spy ring in Manhattan in 1942. (more…)

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Sarah Manguso–“Keeping Time” (Harper’s, December 2014)

Posted in Aurelio, Diary, Excerpt, Harper's, McSweeney's, Sarah Manguso, Tiny Desk Concert on April 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

dec2014SOUNDTRACK: AURELIO-Tiny Desk Concert #424 (March 7, 2015).

aurelioAurelio is from West Africa.  He plays a nylon stringed guitar (finger picking and chords) and is accompanied by traditional Garifuna musicians and an electric guitar.  The Tiny Desk blurb says he “weaves together intricate layers of acoustic guitar to capture the polyrhythms of West African and the Caribbean.”

He sings in what I assume is Garifuna.  He is not young and his voice sounds like it.  From his chat, I believe he may also have been mayor once.

They play three songs: “Lándini,” “Funa Tugudirugu,” and “Nari Golu”  The guitar solos are (surprisingly to me) provided by the electric guitar while the acoustic keeps the rhythms.  The maracas and drum (box) keep the beat.  This is my introduction Garifuna music, which doesn’t sound too different from any other music (except the vocals of course).

[READ: March 22, 2015] “Keeping Time”

I’ve read somethings from Manguso before, in particular her McSweeney’s book of flash fiction.

This is an excerpt from a book called Ongoingness: The End of a Diary.  At first I found the entry a little annoying.  “I started keeping a diary twenty-five years ago.  It’s 800,000 words long.”  Manguso basically got into a frame of mind where she felt like she had to record everything–the perpetual loop of recording things as they happen and then recording how you feel about when you are recording them.

She says “I couldn’t face the end of a day without a record of everything that had ever happened.”  The fact that this was 25 years ago certainly predates the live bloggers and the daily diarists who tape everything. And it is interesting to see that her rather unhealthy obsession has been around longer than the technology allowed for it.

Manguso says she didn’t want to miss anything and by writing it down it was proof that she hadn’t.  She says that “the trouble was that there was so much I failed to record.” (more…)

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