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Archive for the ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ Category

Brad Watson–“Visitation” (New Yorker, April 6, 2009)

Posted in Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hotels, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Parenting, Short Story, Surreal, Tiny Desk Concert, WDIA 1010 AM--Memphis Tennessee on April 6, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER-Tiny Desk Concert #725 (April 2, 2018).

It’s fascinating to read about singers who have been around for a long time about whose names I have never heard before.

Dee Dee Bridgewtaer is such a singer.  Sadly, this blurb, while very informative, doesn’t say anything about her career.  So I don’t know how long she has been singing or what she actually sings.  Although it does say what her new record is about.

When she was just three years old, her family moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to Flint, Michigan. Years later, Bridgewater could still hear the soul sounds of Memphis on WDIA, the first radio station in America programmed entirely by African-Americans for African-Americans. She recalled, “I could catch it when I was in Flint as a teenager and I would listen to it after 11:00 at night, because that was the only time I could get it — when all the other stations were off the air. I know it was real, ’cause I went through it and these were all songs I heard on WDIA.”

Bridgewater, now 67, brought three of these songs to the Tiny Desk: First, is the celebrated blues hit, “Hound Dog,” first recorded by not by Elvis Presley but by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in 1952. What makes this presentation special is not only Bridgewater’s sultry and soulful interpretation, but her adorable Daisy, perhaps the cutest “Hound Dog” to ever bless this song.

Bridgewater’s version is great and really puts a different spin on the song if you’re used to the Elvis version.  It’s much more sassy and gives you a sense of what the song was really about a lot more than the standard version.  There’s a cool slide guitar solo too.

Before the next song, she says, “I’ve watched the Tiny Desk before but I’ve never seen this many people.”

Then she explains what this song is about:

The first lines of the next tune will quite actually send chills down your spine. Bridgewater and backup singers Sharisse Norman and Shontelle Norman-Beatty’s close harmonic voicings add a spiritual dimension to the already hallowed song. “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?” was written by Roebuck “Pops” Staples in response to the harassment of the Little Rock Nine, brave students who decided they had the right to attend an all-white Arkansas high school in 1957.

Their version is excellent and powerful.  The backing vocalists add so much to this song.  There’s also a cool keyboard solo that’s kind of under-documented.

Last here is “B.A.B.Y.” Bridgewater recorded this song and the entire album in Memphis’ historic Royal Studios and told NPR this story, “I stepped outside of the studio right after they started mixing ‘B.A.B.Y.’ and I said a prayer. I said, ‘God I need a sign, that I’m moving in the right direction because I am stepping completely away from jazz music.'” Before Bridgewater could get back into the studio to record the next track she got a surprise visit from Carla Thomas, the Memphis soul queen herself and daughter of Rufus Thomas, influential entertainer, singer-songwriter and former WDIA radio DJ. It was a true return to her Memphis roots, a memorable and beautiful moment for Bridgewater.

The song has a sweet soul sound with the addition of horns.  Bridgewater’s voice is perfect for this song and the other songs, too.  I don’t know what Bridgewater’s other songs sound like but she seems perfectly suited to these.

[READ: April 12, 2016] “Visitation”

This is the story of a man, Loomis, who has made many bad relationship choices and who is now stuck realizing that he is not only not a great father but also stuck in a horrible situation with regard to his son.

Loomis and his wife separated and she moved with their son to Southern California.  Since then, he’d flown out (it doesn’t say from where) every three weeks.  He would go for three to five days and stay in the same hotel each time.  He hated the crappy hotel but his son liked it, so he continued to go there, even as he noticed it got worse with each visit.

His wife and son lived in the basement of an ex-marine’s house.  The marine hated him even though they had never been introduced.  Whenever he would visit, his wife would be sure to not be around.

Their hotel stay is pretty bad.  The boy watches anime while Loomis fixes himself a drink. (more…)

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Diane Williams–“Chicken Winchell” (Harper’s, May 2011)

Posted in Aoife O'Donovan, Diane Williams, Flash Fiction, Harper's, Huh?, I'm With Her, Nickel Creek, Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Short Story, The Decemberists, Tiny Desk Concert, Watkins Family Hour, Yo-Yo Ma on April 5, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: I’M WITH HER-Tiny Desk Concert #722 (March 28, 2018).

I’m with Her is a kind of a folk supergroup comprised of Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins.  As the blurb notes:

The three singers who perform together as I’m With Her sound like sisters. It’s as if they’ve known each other all their lives and share common roots and musical memories… All three are brilliant players with an ever-shifting array of stringed instruments, guitars, ukulele, fiddle, mandolin and banjo. As I’m With Her, they know how to gather round a microphone and sing directly from their heart to yours. Purity is the brilliance behind I’m With Her.

They also share coming to the Tiny Desk:

Sara Watkins was here with Nickel Creek (2014), Watkins Family Hour (2015) and The Decemberists (2011). Sarah Jarosz was here in 2013 and Aoife O’Donovan came along with Yo Yo Ma and Chris Thile as part of the Goat Rodeo project back in 2011.

They play three songs from their debut album.

The first is “See You Around.” Sarah sings this first song.  Sarah and Aoife play guitar and Sara is playing an oversized ukulele.  At the end of each section their harmonies are wonderful.  It’s a really pretty song, with a great melody.  Then at around 2 minutes the song switches gears to the “shiny piece of my heart” section which changes the timbre and tone of the song.  Aoife takes over a bit and the song grows a bit darker and their voices sound more powerful.

For “Game to Lose” Sara switches to fiddle, Aoife plays Sarah’s guitar and Sarah is on mandolin.  I absolutely love the violin part and the way it plays off of the mandolin.  After a few measures, when they sing in three-part harmony from the get go….  Wow.  I love Aoife’s voice as she sings the end of the chorus, the mandolin is just fantastic and the fiddle trills are exquisite.

As they tune before the final song, Bob asks how many instruments they brought….  The answer is, a lot.  And they couldn’t leave without some banjo.  Then Aoife asks about the pink lemonade gummy bunny.  Bob says people leave random things.  You’re welcome to leave something too.  Aoife says, “I thought you were going to say I was welcome to eat it.”

Sarah says I feel like we’re just settling in, I wish we could play all day (and so do I!).

For the final song, “Overland” Sarah switches to banjo. Aoife has the same guitar and Sara is on guitar too.   Sara sniffs a few times and then deadpans, “Sorry I’ve got a coke problem, it keeps sneaking up on me.”  Everyone laughs and Sarah cracks up.  Bob says we’ll just have to loop that and Sara says, “we need some scandal.”

The song begins with Sara on lead vocals and Sarah’s banjo.  It is the most country sounding of the three (which surprises a bit since I don’t think of Sara’s voice as sounding like that).  But again, it’s the harmonies that are huge.

[READ: January 15, 2018] “Chicken Winchell”

This story was published in Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty, although as with most of William’s pieces I don’t remember it at all.

This story, which is half a page long, mentions three women characters and then uses “she” for the rest.  So I’m not sure which “she” is being spoken about.  There’s a waitress, a daughter and a mother.  The waitress wonders why the daughter never returned.  But apparently she did.

The mother confides in the waitress. (more…)

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William T. Vollmann– “I am Here Only for Working: Conversations with the petroleum brotherhood in the UAE” (Harper’s, March 2011)

Posted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Environmentalism, Essays, Harper's, Masta Ace, Racism, Tiny Desk Concert, United Arab Emirates, William T. Vollmann on April 4, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MASTA ACE-Tiny Desk Concert #723 (March 30, 2018).

Even though Masta Ace tells us that he had a huge hit on the radio a few years ago, I had never heard of him.  Turns out he was…

An early member of producer Marley Marl’s iconic Juice Crew.  The Brooklyn-bred Masta Ace emerged shoulder-to-shoulder in the late-’80s with a host of iconic emcees, including Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Craig G and more. When Ace showed up at the Tiny Desk, he brought with him stripped-down versions of the concrete-shaking classics that built his legacy, backed by the impressive Lee Hogans & Pursuance band.

I really enjoyed Masta Ace’s flow and his lyrics which were thoughtful.  I especially loved “Son of Yvonne,” which is about his mom and his childhood:

Son of Yvonne, better get the best grades
Couple of B’s, a C and the rest A’s
Not top of the class, but not nearly last
I beat your ass if you think you gon’ barely pass
But all my best friends, they be ditching school
Every week is like a Friday ritual
You got a mind of your own, so let it be known
Son of Yvonne, sharp as a kitchen tool

The live trumpets [Lee Hogans and Anja-Christin Nielsen] are a nice touch and “my man Dave” [David Stolarz] plays a pretty piano solo.

In the elevator, minutes after wrapping, one of his bandmates noticed that he’d gotten a little emotional during the performance. Ace relayed that the intimacy of the Tiny Desk set had allowed him to hear anew the personal nature of the lyrics he’d shared about his late mother; a bittersweet nostalgia that’s palpable during his performance of “Son of Yvonne.”

Introducing “Born To Roll/Jeep Ass Nig**” from the 1993 album SlaughtaHouse, he says, “I had one big record on the radio in my career and I think its only right that I bless you all with the one opportunity for me to be on commercial radio.  You know you hear Drake all the time well there was a time when I was on the radio that much too.”

The first verse has a specific almost sinister sound to it.  Weird little horn flourishes and creepy descending keyboards dominate the sound.  But after the first verse when everyone claps, he says, “hold It, we ain’t done yet.  That was only the first verse.”  He explains that what they played was the remix for radio.  But the original “version of that joint is this joint right here and we’re going to do the second and third verse like this.”  Its more funky (a cool funky bass solo from Rob [Rob Collazo] and a lot more interesting.

I really liked this verse:

Black boy, black boy turn that shit down
You know that America don’t wanna hear the sound
Of the bass drum jungle music go back to Africa
Nigga I’ll arrest you if you holding up trafffic
I’ll be damned if I listen, so cops save your breath and
Write another ticket if ya have any left and
I’m breaking ear drums while I’m breaking the law
I’m disturbing all the peace cause Sister Souljah said war
So catch me if ya can, if you can here’s a donut
Cause once you drive away, yo I’m gonna go nuts
And turn it up to where it was before nice try
But ya can’t stop the power of the bass in ya eye
I wonder if I blasted a little Elvis Presley
Would they pull me over and attempt to arrest me
I really doubt doubt it, they probably start dancing
Jumpin on my tip and pissing in they pants and
Wiggling and jiggling and grabbing on they pelvis
But you know my name so you never hear no Elvis

In the final song he looks back on a life lived in the public eye on “Story Of Me.”  This joint takes you through my entire journey in a three verses–a song from the time I got in to the time I got out.  There’s backing vocals from Pearle Gates who is apparently a little sick so Masta Ace [whose real name is Duvall Clear helps him out].

Once again, there’s some great lyrics

A product of the same and when I got into the game
Initially my moms was really shocked and ashamed
She was like: “Boy you got a Bachelor’s”
And I was like: “Why they call it a b.s?”
Bullshit walks as far is what I was taught
Yet I ain’t had one job interview and she stressed

There’s some very cool sounds on the guitar [Jameison Ledonio doing all kinds of interesting things].  The song slows down and it feels like it’s going to end.  But he introduces: “That’s Biscuit on the drums y’all.  He gets down.”  James “Biscuit” Rouse plays a mean drum and at that moment he is playing the snare drum with his hands.

The song starts up again with the third verse.

I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a song that detailed a person’s career before, but it’s a good primer if you wants some information about the guy.

[READ: January 10, 2018] “I am Here Only for Working”

William T. Vollmann goes on fantastic expeditions to get stories.  I have no idea who pays for these trips (he seems to always be on a tight budget) but he is always writing a (usually very long) book about his experiences.

He has lived with homeless people he has visited war zones.  He has written all kinds of investigative journalism.  But he never seems like a reporter or a journalist, exactly. He seems utterly human and he is always looking for the human angle on a story.  That’s what makes his essays about subjects that I don’t care about not only compelling but also really enjoyable.  Well, enjoyable may not be the right word exactly.

For this trip Vollmann went to Dubai. Ooh! luxury at last.  But not exactly as he is staying in a 1 star hotel.  It was so hot that his laptop malfunctioned.  Of course he slept in air conditioning, but he says he would turn it off when he left (like a good Californian), but the staff would always turn it back on.  He went to the famous indoor skating rink a prodigious show of energy consumption

But mostly Vollmann wanted to ask people: Is oil good? (more…)

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Diane Williams—“Five Stories” (Harper’s, February 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Diane Williams, Flash Fiction, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Harper's, Huh?, Jenny and the Mexicats, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Unreliable narrator on April 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: JENNY AND THE MEXICATS-Tiny Desk Concert #721 (March 26, 2018).

I had never heard of Jenny and the Mexicats.   Interestingly, the blurb below doesn’t say anything about where they are from.  One assumes Mexico, but Jenny herself has a rather posh British accent when she speaks.  It also turns out that the band is based in Spain…so all preconceived notions are dashed.

Jenny and the Mexicats’ … high energy shows are unforgettable … Mixing flamenco, originally from southern Spain, with Jenny Ball’s jazz trumpet background and a little bit of cumbia has created their one-of-a-kind musical identity.

The grooves these musicians create can be frenetic (as in the first performance here, “Frenético Ritmo”)…

This song is sung in a mix of Spanish and English–the verses are predominantly Spanish but the ends of each verse seem to be in English.  Jenny’s trumpet works perfectly with the music they are playing.  And the electric guitar plays some interesting sounds throughout.  The song slows down to a pretty ballad with the flamenco guitar playing a solo before the song ratchets up again, cumbia all the way.

or slow and luxurious (“The Song for the UV Mouse House”).

Jenny sings in English on this song with a fascinating accent.  She has a diva’s R&B wavering vocal style, and yet she also seems to have some cockney on some of the words. The song is a ballad and the plentiful drums–hand, box, snare and percussion–keep the roots in Mexican music.   The whispered spoken word middle is a nice touch.

In both cases, the group presents the perfect cushion for Ball’s impassioned singing and engaging stage presence. There are no weak points in the instrumentation, and with Ball out front, the songs come to life as the short stories they are — like that of the young lady who appreciates a beer before taking on life’s challenges in “Verde Más Allá.”

Before the song Jenny tells a story about their favorite show: “We did a concert based on airlines.  We came out like pilots, there was a plane crash in the middle of the show, we came back as angels and devils, it was a lot of fun.”  The guy behind her helps out: “it was a Halloween show.”

“Verde Más Allá” is a mellow song about a Caguama (pronounced kawama).  The guitarist asks, “What is a caguama?”  It’s a liter-sized beer, and the song is about a girl who doesn’t like to work and loves her caguama.  It’s a fun song, “no le gusta trabaja!”  After the first verse, right on cue, the percussionist plays the office’s train whistle which makes everyone crack up.  The end of the song features some sing along, and the flamenco guitarist doing one of those high-pitched flamenco laughs.  At the end, Jenny (whose dress is dangerously short), holds down the ends of her dress so she can jump for the conclusion of the song.

Much good fun is had.  Caguama!

[READ: January 31, 2018] “Five Stories”

Here’s five more short short stories from Diane Williams.  And once again, she amazes me with her sentences and aggravates me with her stories.

“Girl with a Pencil”
The first two paragraphs seem like a different story, as the rest of the story seems to flow from paragraph number 3 in which a girl draws a picture of her future: two shoes, a pair of legs and the hem of a skirt on top.  Her mother was mad that there was no head.  I like that this is a formative experience but the resulting brute seems oddly out-sized.

“A Gray Pottery Head”
I enjoyed this story because of the way it ended.  “That night…something exciting a foot.  She has a quarter hour more to live.”  Except that that wasn’t the end of the story (it was the end of the page).  The next several paragraphs are about her death. It’s the first of her stories where I felt it was way too long. (more…)

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Amos Oz–“Two Women” (Harper’s, September 2013)

Posted in Amos Oz, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Nyckelharpa, Short Story, Sondra Silverston, Swedish Music, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Väsen on March 31, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: VÄSEN-Tiny Desk Concert #720 (March 23, 2018).

Back in 2012 I had my first exposure to the nyckelharpa at Scanfest.  And now, nearly six years later Väsen (who did not play at Scanfest that year) have brought the nyckelharpa to Tiny Desk (and the blurb’s description is hilarious).

Väsen came to the Tiny Desk with just three instruments, but all together it was a 30-string sonic blast of 12-string guitar, viola and nyckelharpa (a fiddle with keys — think 15th century keytar).  Guitarist Roger Tallroth, violist Mikael Marin and nyckelharpist Olov Johansson have been a touring troupe for more than 25 years with 18 albums filled with adventure, amusement and virtuosity. They span the wide emotional range of Swedish folk music, equally haunting and celebratory. There are some similarities to Irish jigs, reels and waltzes that I’m more familiar with, but this music is more ear-bending, with more surprises than I’m used to in traditional string band folk music.

The band plays three instrumentals (all of their songs are instrumental) from their new album Brewed.

It’s fascinating how much these songs sound like Irish jigs and reels (fiddle and guitar after all).  There’s a looseness to them that makes them fun and enjoyable–perfect for drinking and dancing.  Especially a song called “IPA-Gubben” which means, “The old IPA man.”  On introducsing the song Olov points to Mikael and says “this is the old IPA man, he brought this tune as a birthday present when he turned 50.”

It’s possible that the nyckelharpa is quieter than the viol as it’s not always unique sounding amid the music.  But there are a few times when the nyckelharpa is playing a melody that stands out and you can really watch and hear Johansson shine–I had no idea the instrument could be played that quickly either.

Not to take anything away form the other two.  The viol plays some incredibly fast runs and melodies and the guitar while primarily used for chords, also adds in some fast runs.

“Väsenvalsen” was composed by Mikael.  It is the first ever Väsen waltz.  The song starts slowly and then dramatically takes off with some wonderfully fast (and very Irish-sounding lead lines on both viol and nyckelharpa.  I love in the middle when the nyckelharpa plays a harmony melody over the top of the viol so you can hear both instruments clearly.  It has a lovely ending with the nyckelharpa playing high notes to end the song.

“Sommarpolska” means “summer polka.”  It was written by Roger and has a  lovely melody that grows and subsides as the instruments ebb and flow.  It’s a joyful dance song and a wonderful concluding piece.

[READ: January 31, 2018] “Two Women”

In typical Amos Oz fashion, this was a rather short story.  It was translated by Sondra Silverston.

Osnat wakes before her alarm and passes the apartment occupied by Boaz and Ariella.  She thinks about what happened two months ago as if it had happened to strangers many years ago.

But it was only two months ago Boaz told Osnat he’d been having an affair with Ariella.  So he’s leaving her and moving in with Ariella (who lives in the same building).  Their affair began one day when Boaz came to fix a broken tap.  Boaz prepared for a huge confrontation, but as he started to ramp up his argument, she cut him off: “Go.  Just go.” (more…)

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Clarice Lispector—“Take Me” (Harper’s, January 2018)

Posted in Benjamin Moser, Big Country, Clarice Lispector, D.O.A., Electric Light Orchestra, ELO, Geddy Lee, Harper's, Hawksley Workman, John Tielli, Local Rabbits, Magdalena Edwards, Scribbled Out Man, Short Story, Stompin' Tom Connors, Tiny Desk Concert, Tom Cochrane, Translation, Unreliable narrator, Waiting, XTC, tagged on March 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON (March 29, 2007).

Visit this link for all kinds of information about this show (labelled Good)–interviews, blog posts, photos (and even links to myspace!)

So this is the final show before the band;s final show (before they reunited).  Martin’s voice is still out, but he tries valiantly.

The Horseshoe Tavern show opened with a lengthy intro of Dave mucking about on acoustic guitar.  He announces Tim Vesely on the bass and joining us tonight Mr Ford Pier on the keyboards.  That intro segues into “Easy to Be with You,” and this proves to be one of my favorite version of the song.  They are having such a lot of fun with it the “do dah do dah” is terrific and big and I love that the “…to Harmelodia” line is done entirely on the synth.  And while we’re at it that Martin Tielli on the guitar and hat.

Martin: “welcome to our penultimate show.”
Dave: “now I know what ‘penultimate’ means.
Mike: “Hot?”
Dave: “I always that it meant better than the best.”

Martin takes lead on “Aliens (1988).”  He doesn’t sound great but he valiantly tries his best–whispering when he needs to.  As has become customary, Tim plays the “Artenings Made of Gold” riff during the middle section of the song and then they sing it at the end.  When he whispers it sounds good–although not as good as his real voice.  Ford asks what an artening is “I’ve been wondering this for am awfully long time and I think I have a right to know.”  Martin whispers: “a simple precious object.”  Tim: “we’ve narrowed down that they’re made of gold.”  Ford: “as opposed to artenings made of dung I suppose.”  Dave: “No there are those.”

“This next song is from our Bahamian period… hanging with the Baja Boys … and Ozzy.”  Tim says, “This is the song about our cats at home.  They’re still around Alfalfa and Wolfman.”  A great version of “Introducing Happiness.”

Martin says “Christopher” is about growing up in Ontario. I wrote it when I was quite young.  There’s a cool jamming solo in the middle that Tim gets in on as well.

At the end of “King of the Past” Tim says, “nice song, Dave…  Martin: One of the many songs that Dave writes and others sing.  Tim: And finish for him–i wrote the third verse (try to make sense of it).  Dave: “That’s what a band is all about… a musical soccer team.”

“I’ve been cursed with a problem that a lot of people have been…”  Dave: “Being Italian?”  Tim: “Listening to too much Marianne Faithfull.”  Martin: “I never know what’s going to come out of my mouth.”  Tim continues: “This song pretty much sings itself.”  Dave: “We’ve got the Hitmaker 2000.”

Martin plays “P.I.N.” and says, “I’ll do the rock and roll thing and ask for help for you to sing along.”

“Mumbletypeg” opens with Dave saying, “have you heard the news, there’s going to be good rocking tonight.   We’re going to bring back all of the 80s catch phrases because we lived through it.  We suffered through … a few good moments in a sea of piano key ties.   Tim starts “calling out the chords” –give me a C minor.  Tim “That’s it.  That’s enough.  Two C minors are pretty good.”  Dave: “Whatever you want, Tim. G?  A7?  D?  I know all the chords.”  Tim: “How about some handclaps….  No I don’t like the handclaps.  I liked the C minor better… wait C minor with handclaps.  Mike: “I feel like Tyler Stewart back here–keep going Ty! Dave: “You don’t have enough splash cymbals to pull of the Tyler Stewart.”  The song sounds great.

“Pornography” is sent out to all our american friends.  And then as Martin plays “In This Town” he says, help me out i haven’t played this in a year.  What’s the verse everyone?”  Everyone happily sings along.

Dave: “So we’re breaking up and it feels alright.  We’re all going to be a mess tomorrow.  When are we going to have a big stage cry?”  Mike: “Are you going to play the note that makes everybody weep?”

He’s not, instead they play a lovely “Loving Arms.”

And then Paul Linklater “The Scribbled Out Man” will play with them.  Mike says, “You guys got a nice drummer (It’s Don Kerr).  Tim: “And so do we.”  Mike: “I’m not threatened.”

Ford asks how many people have been in the Rheostatics.  Dave: “define ‘in.'”  Does Seth the Magician count?  He wasn’t into us.”  Then some solid advice: approach with caution when playing with magicians.  Dave: “I gotta be careful that Mysterium doesn’t put a curse on me.  Then more words of wisdom from Geddy Lee: “always take your wallet on stage.”  Tim: “And I’ve not lost a dollar since I’ve been in this band.”

Martin tells a story about that one time the woman with the short skirt and the diaper was dancing at the Town Pump.  People were pointing at her and after the show she and a guy with a harmonica and a neck beard were going through our coats on my amp.  She was wise to the Geddy Lee advice.  Dave: “It actually was Geddy Lee.”  Martin: she was doing splits on stage really hard in her adult diapers–the diapers must have been for cushioning not pee pee. Luckily we never have any money so martin didn’t lose anything.”

Martin: I went to see Colin Hay… some people after they finish… they go on tour and sing their songs and they spend about half an hour talking about how I wrote a fucking song.  (Dave: I think you’re selling Colin Hay a little short”).  And the guy from The Kinks and they’re brilliant and I love them but get off the stage already.  Dave: “Colin Hay talked about being drunk at the US Festival  — he was wearing a brown suit and decided to shit his pants rather than using the porta porty.”

Dave: “That’s where I’m headed story and song isn’t it inevitable.”  Mike: “Live and incontinent.”

I wrote [“The Ballad Of Wendel Clark”] about being a skinny effeminate Etobiocokian kid, angry in my basement and I didn’t like the guys who liked hockey at the time (Tim: at the time?).  “Hey, I got into the playoffs last year.”  The song features the bridge from Stompin’ Tom Connors’ “Bridge Came Tumbling Down”).  There’s a wild picking solo from Paul Linklater (sounds nothing like Martin’s playing).  Paul’s first band was called Gig Vest from Justice, Manitoba, they totally blew us away and we’ve been fans of Paul’s ever since.  Tim: “but we mostly prefer the early funnier stuff.”

“Song of Flight” sounds gorgeous and segues nicely into a wonky and fun version of “Song of the Garden.”   They play a noisy weird jam. Dave: “take it up to A.  they start playing “Radios In Motion” by XTC (they keep chanting “new science” which leads to Ford singing “She Blinded With Science” and playing weird chords.
Dave starts off “Queer” by singing the chorus of “Big Leagues” by Tom Cochrane.

They send “Queer” out to Hawksley Workman.  After a few verses it segues to a slow “Saskatchewan” which eventually leads back to the conclusion of “Queer.”

Somebody yells and insanely long “yeah” it lasts about 8 seconds as Dave starts singing “The List.”  I assume it’s an early version.  It’s followed by another acoustic song “My First Rock Show”  When he gets to the Massey Hall line, he starts a “Massey Hall” chant.

Hey Ford, what was your first rock concert  Ford: D.O.A. (that’s too good) my first larger show at an arena the first one my parents knew I was gong to was Big Country in Munich in 1984.  Big Country were kind of the ELO of new wave.  For D.O.A., I had to sneak out because I was young.  Dave:  Do you have a D.O.A. song you can do for us?  It’s only fitting.  Tim Vesely was born to play D.O.A. drums.  Ford starts “The Enemy.”  Then says, they used to give me money to do that.  It’s a fun interlude: “Wonder if Martin has done his cigarette yet.”

For the first encore they play “We Went West” with some input from the other guys-backing vocals and Dave saying “I remember that.”  The songs seems to rock harder by the end.  “Joey 2” is solid and uneventful but his voice is pretty much gone for “Self Serve Gas Station.”  He whispers some of the moments but his voice is lost on “the morning time has come!”

“Michael Jackson” is pretty quiet (with Tim singing “abc,123”).  Finally Dave asks Tim: “Do you like the rock?”  Tim: “I don’t know I like the classical, I like the jazz.”  Dave: “Martin’s got the rock, Timmy’s got the roll.  Mikey’s got the funk.  Fordy’s got the roll”  Tim:  “I don’t feel it…. I’m starting to feel it…. I still don’t feel it.”  An extended ending started by Tim on bass with Martin adding solos.

Then a quick run through the “Green Sprouts Theme” with Tim calmly saying “from the ground” but then screaming, take it to the bridge!”

They came back out again for “Legal Age Life” w/ Peter Elkas and Ben Gunning from Local Rabbits (and no Martin who was having a beer and a chat at the back of the bar for this encore).  Four fans sings verses.   They all try to jump to the chorus too soon, but they sound good.  Then it’s time for a guitar solo or a bass solo we’ll have one of our guests–the shaggy guy or the clean cut guy (clean cut!)  The guy plays the solo.  Then the shaggy guy plays a solo.  And then the segue into “Record Body Count” which Ben or Peter sings.

Then they talk about the weirdest fans:

  • the girl Julia who brought a stuffed chicken to all our gigs
  • Kai the Ass Dancer guy with irreverence sweatband who did creative dance to our early days
  • the guy with a Riverdance headband who did creative dance to our early songs.
  • the gypsy from Dawson City

“Oh, there’s Martin.”  They call him up from the crowd, it’s pretty neat watching from the crowd.  Tim: “make sure you know the words.”  There’s talk of Padre Pio and bilocation.  They send “Stolen Car” out to John Tielli. Martin: “he’s my brother….I mean literally.”

They apparently ended the show with an acoustic “Northern Wish,” although there’s no recording of it.

[READ: January 6, 2018] “Take Me”

I have only read one other piece from Lispector and it was peculiar, but I liked it.

This one was peculiar but I did not like it at all.  I’m willing to accept that since it was an excerpt from the novel The Chandelier, it was less clear than it could have been.  But no, this was just an unpleasant read.

It begins with Virginia looking in the mirror . The entire story is in her head.  She knows she looks lovely and she wonders “who will buy me?  I want someone to buy me so much.  I want someone to buy me so much that…that…that…I’ll kill myself.”

Then she goes out on the town, kills a dog (seriously) and asks a disgusting man to take her. He gets all excited and then she stepped on his face and spat on him. (more…)

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Tommy Orange–“The State” (New Yorker, March 26, 2018)

Posted in Drinking, Excerpt, Native Americans, New Yorker, Raul Midón, Tiny Desk Concert, Tommy Orange on March 26, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RAUL MIDÓN-Tiny Desk Concert #718 (March 15, 2018).

I had never heard of Raul Midón before this Tiny Desk.  So I’ll use the blurb for an explanation of who he is.

Raul Midón lives in a world of sound — blind since birth, Midón’s interpretation of his surroundings is borderless. He sings with the passion of the best classic soul singers, and his instrumental chops stand along side the most accomplished jazz musicians.

Normally backed by a band that straddles styles just as well as he does, for his turn behind Bob Boilen’s desk Midón stripped it down to just voice and guitar, the musical equivalent of tightrope walking without a net.

You could choose any of the songs he performed, listen on repeat and continuously discover layers of musicality — the nuance of a bent note in his vocals, a burst of perfectly placed guitar notes.

Midón played five songs.

For “Gotta Gotta Give” he primarily uses a kind of slapping guitar style for his chords–he slaps all of the strings with his palm making a kind of gentle but loud sound.  But he also does some great picking on the descending chords.  I love the little harmonics he throws in a the end of the verses.  For this song he plays a trumpet solo with his mouth which is pretty cool.  Later he does a solo duet with his mouth-trumpet and the guitar.  His voice is powerful and soulful.  It’s a great song.

He says that he wondered how to address the fact that he was blind. He wanted people to talk about the issue but no one every would, so he called his new album Badass and Blind and people talk about it now.

“Sound Shadow” has a more abrasive picking style–almost like a slap bass but on all of the strings.  It’s a very different sound form the first song.  The solo is a mixture between very fast picked notes and some really fast pick-less strumming.  Vocally he really mixes things up as well, with some nice falsetto at the end.

“If Only” was inspired by Tin Pan Alley stylings which you can hear in the chords.  “Bad Ass and Blind” has a bluesy sound with some more cool harmonics and some dramatic minor chords.  I like the way the chorus is very different from the staggered melody of the verses.  The second verse is all rapped while he plays that guitar.  And his delivery is solid.  It’s got an even better sounding trumpet solo.

For “Mi Amigo Cubano” he switches to a nylon stringed guitar.  He says he wrote this song with Bill Withers, who wanted a song written sin Spanish–basically Raul translated what Bill wanted He asked how do you say “Hows your wife?” “Como esta tu esposa?”  “Well put that in there!”  This song has Spanish soul.

I really enjoyed this set a lot.

[READ: March 20, 2018] “The State”

I didn’t really enjoy this story.  It felt kind of slow and meandering and the ending was really bland.

But I have learned though, that if I don’t like a New Yorker ending because it doesn’t feel like an ending, it is probably an excerpt–which this was.  Knowing that now changes my opinion of the whole thing.  And reading a bit about the novel it sounds multifaceted and really quite interesting.  Now I feel badly for judging it harshly at first.

It begins “before you were born, you were a head and tail in a milky pool.”  Your history goes back further and further, but then returns to your birth when your heartbeat was arrhythmic.

Your dad said “maybe he as a drummer.”  And in the womb, you did begin to kick to any beat offered.  Your dad is 100 per cent Indian–a recovering alcoholic medicine man from Oklahoma.  Your mom is white but there is too much and not enough whiteness to know what to do with it.  You were raised Christian although you enjoyed your father’s powwows more–but your mother became more and more opposed to them as she got older. (more…)

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Chuck Klosterman–X: A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century (2017)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Advice, Basketball, Beverly Hills 90210, Books about music, Books about writers, Breaking Bad, Cee-Lo Green, Charles Schulz, Chuck Klosterman, Creed, Danger Mouse, Death, Decadence, Depression, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Football, Gnarls Barkley, Guns n' Roses, Harry Potter, History, Idiots, Jimmy Page, Jonathan Franzen, Kiss, LCD Soundsystem, Lou Reed, Mad Men, Metallica, Miley Cyrus, Music, Nickelback, Nostalgia, Pavement, Peanuts, Radiohead, Rolling Stone, Rush, Spin, Sports, Superstitions, Taylor Swift, Technology, The Future, The Sopranos, The Velvet Underground, The Wire, Tiny Desk Concert, Usain Bolt, Van Halen on March 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOHN PRINE-Tiny Desk Concert #717 (March 12, 2018).

For all of the legendary status of John Prine, I don’t really know that much about him.  I also think I don’t really know much of his music.  I didn’t know any of the four songs he played here.

I enjoyed all four songs.  The melodies were great, the lyrics were thoughtful and his voice, although wizened, convey the sentiments perfectly.

The blurb sums up things really well

An American treasure came to the Tiny Desk and even premiered a new song. John Prine is a truly legendary songwriter. For more than 45 years the 71-year-old artist has written some of the most powerful lyrics in the American music canon, including “Sam Stone,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Hello In There” and countless others.

John Prine’s new songs are equally powerful and he opens this Tiny Desk concert with “Caravan of Fools,” a track he wrote with Pat McLaughlin and Dan Auerbach. Prine adds a disclaimer to the song saying, “any likeness to the current administration is purely accidental.”

I thought the song was great (albeit short) with these pointed lyrics:

The dark and distant drumming
The pounding of the hooves
The silence of everything that moves
Late in night you see them
Decked out in shiny jewels
The coming of the caravan of fools

That song, and his second tune, the sweet tearjerker “Summer’s End,” are from John Prine’s first album of new songs in 13 years, The Tree of Forgiveness.

He introduces this song by saying that.  This one is a pretty song.  It might drive you to tears.  He wrote this with Pat McLaughlin.  We usually write on Tuesdays in Nashville because that’s the day they serve meatloaf.  I love meatloaf.  We try to write a song before they serve the meatloaf.  And then eat it and record it.

For this Tiny Desk Concert John Prine also reaches back to his great “kiss-off” song from 1991 [“an old song from the 90s (whoo)…  a song from the school of kiss off 101”] called “All the Best,” and then plays “Souvenirs,” a song intended for his debut full-length but released the following year on his 1972 album Diamonds in the Rough. It’s just one of the many sentimental ballads Prine has gifted us.

He says he wrote it in 1968…when he was about 3.

Over the years, his voice has become gruffer and deeper, due in part to his battle with squamous cell cancer on the right side of his neck, all of which makes this song about memories slipping by feel all the more powerful and sad.

“Broken hearts and dirty windows
Make life difficult to see
That’s why last night and this mornin’
Always look the same to me
I hate reading old love letters
For they always bring me tears
I can’t forgive the way they rob me
Of my sweetheart’s souvenirs”

The musicians include John Prine, Jason Wilber, David Jacques and Kenneth Blevins.

 

[READ: December 11, 2017] X

I really enjoyed Klosterman’s last essay book, although I found pretty much every section was a little too long.  So this book, which is a collection of essays is perfect because the pieces have already been edited for length.

I wasn’t even aware of this book when my brother-in-law Ben sent it to me with a comment about how much he enjoyed the Nickelback essay.

Because I had been reading Grantland and a few other sources, I have actually read a number of these pieces already, but most of them were far off enough that I enjoyed reading them again.

This book is primarily a look at popular culture.  But narrowly defined by sports and music (and some movies).  I have never read any of Klosterman’s fiction, but I love his entertainment essays. (more…)

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John Updike–“Endpoint” (New Yorker, March 16, 2009)

Posted in Cancer as plot device, Death, Hospitals, John Updike, Kuinka, Poetry, The Head and the Heart, Tiny Desk Concert on March 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KUINKA-Tiny Desk Concert #716 (March 9, 2018).

Kuinka are a happy band.  Smiles are on all four members’ faces as they play their three songs.

Miranda Zickler says that they spend all of their time in the van listening to NPR, so this is pretty exciting for them.

The blurb says:

Last year I came across Kuinka (coo-WINK-uh), a band from Seattle… Kuinka’s live performance knocked me out even more than the creative video they’d submitted for the contest.

Since then, Brothers Zach (guitar) and Nathan (mandolin) Hamer, along with Miranda Zickler (keys) and Jillian Walker (cello), have come to D.C. for an official performance at the Tiny Desk, bringing with them their great harmonies and unique blend of energetic, string-band music with a dose of synth.

I’m not sure what the band sounds like normally–if they typically play electronic drums or what, but as the blurb notes

The songs are performed here on relatively tiny instruments, including a ukulele, a drum pad, a small synth, a mandolin and a banjo, along with an electric guitar. But the performance is fleshed out beautifully with rousing vocal harmonies.

All three tracks performed here are from Kuinka’s 2017 EP Stay Up Late, and each one has its own charm.

“Curious Hands” has lead vocals by Miranda.  There’s a cello, keys and Nathan playing a small acoustic six string guitar (or ukulele?).  He gets a pretty big (largely percussive) sound out of that little thing.  But it’s the harmonies that are really spectacular.  I feel like the electronic drums are a little too electronic for this largely folk band but whatever.

For “Spaces,” Zach switches from electronic drums to electric guitar.  He also sings lead with an unexpected twang.  Nathan has switched to mandolin which gives the whole song a kind of Americana vibe.  The electronic drums sound they chose is awful, but there’s a really cool synth sound between verses that prevents this from being overtly in one genre.

Miranda “explains” the name of the band: Kuinka is like kuinka-dink but it doesn’t have anything to do with that, it’s just a coincidence [that’s our ‘bit’].

The blurb’s recommendation to stay until “Mistakenly Brave” is a good one as it is the most rousing song.  They revert back to previous instruments, although Miranda plays banjo.  The harmonies are terrific (much better than the solo vocals, honestly).  It’s got that whole The Head and the Heart vibe going on.  Big soaring vocals and a cool break that leads to a rollicking coda.  Mid way through, Zach switches back to electric guitar to add some oomph.

[READ: April 20, 2016] Endpoint

John Updike died in January 2009 after decades of writing for the New Yorker and elsewhere.  As the news settled in the magazine ran this tribute to him in the March 16 issue.

Rather than running a story, they published a ten-poem sequence called “Endpoint,” (I didn’t even know he wrote poetry).  Most of these poems were written in 2008, while presumably, he knew he was dying from lung cancer.

Endpoint (more…)

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Catherine Lacey–“Violations” (Harper’s, March 2018)

Posted in Alex Clare, Books about writers, Catherine Lacey, Ernest Hemingway, Harper's, Marriage Trouble, Religion, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert on March 13, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ALEX CLARE: Tiny Desk Concert #715 (March 7, 2018).

Alex Clare’s band is clearly having a beard-growing contest.  The drummer (Christopher Prendergasp) isn’t playing but everyone else suggests the stakes are high.  The bassist (Christopher Hargreaves) is winning.

Vocalist and songwriter Alex Clare is yet another soul disciple from the UK, and his visit to Bob Boilen’s desk is the perfect setting to bask in the power of his voice.

The first song, “Three Hearts,” is a love song dedicated to the moment he heard the heartbeat of his first child coming from his wife’s sonogram. Backed by a tight four-piece band, Clare’s tale of his family’s road to domestic tranquility captures the joy as well as the uncertainty of impending parenthood.

Lyrically it’s okay and sweet, it just sounds fairly typical.  Especially musically.  I thought we;d be getting 20 minutes of straight ahead soul with a little less charisma than The Commitments.

Next is “A song called ‘Love Can Heal.’  True story.”  The guitar (Jordan Peters) is far more interesting on this song.  In fact I found myself enjoying the guitar more than Clare’s voice.  I love the cool guitar licks at the end and the nifty harmonic note that ends the song.  Although, having said that, his voice is quite powerful.  And he shows it off even more on the next song.

In “Caroline,” he inhabits the words with passion and heartfelt pleading, bringing to mind some of the best soul shouters, completely lost in the sentiment of the lyric.

That is very true, he is completely swept up in this song (even he says it’s not about anyone in particular).

I really like the guitar on the final song “Open My Eyes.”   I like the whole vibe of this song–the way the song unfolds and the backing vocals as well.  Indeed I feel like each song has gotten a better as the show progressed.

While I found his music to be fine–nothing I’d go out of my way to listen to but I wouldn’t turn it off either. I found his backstory far more interesting:

The British singer-songwriter released his debut album, The Lateness of the Hour, on Island Records last summer. But the label soon discovered how serious Clare was about his faith [he is an Orthodox Jew, which I didn’t know when I made the beard contest joke] — especially when it came to the sabbath and high holy days, on which Orthodox Jews are forbidden to perform.

“When I signed to Island — you know, obviously a shomer Shabbos Jewish person — I don’t think they quite realized what that means,” Clare says. “I got offered a tour at Pesach, at Passover, and couldn’t perform.”

The offer Clare turned down was a slot opening for Adele. About four months later, he was dropped from Island’s roster, having failed to generate significant album sales or radio play. As Clare was figuring out his next move, he received a call from Microsoft, which was interested in using his song “Too Close” in a commercial. It was a deal that would make the song a hit and restart his career.

He doesn’t play that song here, which is too bad.  And the poor percussionist’s name is never given.

[READ: February 28, 2018] “Violations”

This is a story about writing stories and how autobiographical they are or are not.

It is written in close third person.  And the first sentence is really, really, really long.

It begins, “He had wanted to make sure she wouldn’t write about him…” and then it goes on in his mind about why he didn’t want to be written about and narcissism and all that kind of thing.  The short of it is that he never asked her not to write about him, but he never stopped craving assurance that she wouldn’t (and there’s a long entangled reason why not).

The “she” is his now ex-wife.  She moved out but he still gets her mail.  And she has not written about him.  He tries to get her mail to stop coming but he doesn’t cancel her magazines–especially the one that she always wanted to be published in but had never been. (more…)

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