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Archive for the ‘donald tRUMP’ Category

George Saunders–“Flooding the Zone” (New Yorker, December 6, 2004)

Posted in donald tRUMP, Funny (ha ha), George Saunders, Idiots, Liars, New Yorker, Political Humor, Politicians, Randy Newman, Tiny Desk Concert on October 22, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RANDY NEWMAN-Tiny Desk Concert #658 (October 10, 2017).

Randy Newman is a pretty amazing composer.  It’s really hard to believe that the guy who wrote “Short People” then went on to write at least three songs for Pixar that make me cry instantly upon hearing.

And yet I would never listen to him on purpose.

But Bob Boilen has some pretty wonderful things to say about the man:

I think Randy Newman is a national treasure. If he was just a funny guy making music, I’d be OK with that, but his wit is sardonic, satirical and politically on point. Mixing politics and humor with music is usually about the punchline, and his punchlines even make the singer smile.

Randy Newman paints lasting portraits of places and people, all the while poking fun and highlighting injustice, stupidity, power and humanity and he’s been doing it for half a century. Here are the opening lines to his recently released song “Putin”:

“Putin puttin’ his pants on / One leg at a time / You mean he’s just like a regular fella, huh? / He ain’t nothing like a regular fella.”

I happen to not like this song all that much, although there are some very funny lines.  And he is pretty funny in general.

Like when he says “Let me announce this [next song] a little bit: Here’s another one.”  “She Chose Me” is a wonderful tear-jerker (it will certainly be used in a film):

“I’m not much to talk to, and I know how I look / What I know ’bout life comes out of a book / But of all of the people there are in the world / She chose me.”

“It’s A Jungle Out There” is a more romping number although I once again can’t help but hear it as a soundtrack song.  It’s easy to picture a cartoon tiger singing: “I could be wrong now…don’t think I am though.”

He talks about the final song “Wandering Boy” and says: Every Labor Day people would get together at a family party that everybody went to.  He started going when he was 8 and was still going as an adult.  And you could see families change: So the lyric is: “First came here with my father then I brought my wife.”

It’s a sad song, possibly about his son dying?  I’m not willing to investigate further.

I love that Newman is so recognizable–his voice and style are all his own.  And I love that he is still making songs that will make me cry.

[READ: January 25, 2017] “Flooding the Zone”

George Saunders can be politically humorous from time to time (actually quite often).  But he also has solutions to political problems.  Like this one, which should very easily take care of all of the world’s problems.

There are approximately twenty-five million Iraqis in Iraq. There are approximately three hundred million Americans in America. This means that there are approximately twelve Americans for every Iraqi. This means that, if we all go, each American will be responsible for one-twelfth of an Iraqi. An Iraqi family of five will thus be attended by sixty Americans.

See how easy that is?  If we all go to Iraq, we can pamper all of the Iraqis.  We can cook for them while they relax.  We can clean up after them, bring them coffee or tea.  Even insurgents will be followed by friendly Americans asking questions and telling endless stories.  We can all bring a 30 day supply of provisions and that should take care of it. Well, and of course medicine and doctors and what not.

Iraqis swill become so happy and sated that there will be no more violence.

But that’s not all.  Wait till you hear Phase II. (more…)

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Eddie Izzard–Believe Me (2017) [audiobook 2017–Eddie Izzard]

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Acting, Adventure, Advice, Africa, Astronauts, Audiobooks, Autobiographies, Chickens, Christmas, donald tRUMP, Eddie Izzard, Eddie Izzard, Food, Funny (ha ha), Gender, Hippos, History, Hospitals, King Arthur, Kissing, Macaroni in Warm Milk, Marathon, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Memoirs, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Morality, NASA, Nazis, Nelson Mandela, Non-fiction, Politicians, Racism, Religion, Running, Science, Sex, Sexism, Soccer, Spike Milligan, Steve McQueen, Technology, The Bible, The Great Escape, Transgender, Translation, Travel on September 17, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: September 13, 2017] Believe Me

When I saw that Eddie Izzard had a book out I was pretty interested to read it.  I have loved his stand-up since 1997 or 1998 and I was lucky enough to see him on his Circle Tour (on the date they recorded it!).  I have been keeping up with his career and trying to see him in whatever he does (although I like my comedy more than drama and he has certainly made the shift towards drama in recent years).

I thought an autobiography or memoir by him would be pretty interesting (even if he claims to be boring).  But when I saw that he read the audiobook, I knew I had to give it a listen (even if it was 12 discs)!

Amusingly, there was a long delay at the library.  The lady at the counter (who is not the librarian–we librarians know the difference) said if I knew his voice, I could just read the book to myself in his voice.  It was an amusing thought, and I possibly could do that, ….yes, but Eddie’s voice is just so fantastic that it never would have worked properly.  Plus, he throws in easily an extra hours worth of footnotes and rambles that aren’t in the print book!  That’s right, an extra hour’s worth of nonsense if you do the audio.   True you don;t get to see the pictures, but it’s a fair trade-off.

Well the book finally came in and I had plenty of driving time to make short work of this 12 hours behemoth.  And I laughed and laughed.  And cried and cried.

Because while Eddie Izzard is an action transvestite (transgender, now) and one of the best stand-ups around, he is also an extremely warm and thoughtful person. He worked very hard to become the success he is.  And he has used his fame to do some absolutely wonderful things for humanity–including raising millions of dollars.  Not bad for an atheist who is sometimes in girl mode and sometimes in boy mode. (more…)

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Nell Zink–“Bonebreaker” (Harper’s, June 2017)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, donald tRUMP, Greed, Harper's, Huh?, Idiots, Nell Zink, Newspapers, Rare Essence, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, TSA, Violence, Waiting, Yuck! on July 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RARE ESSENCE-Tiny Desk Concert #637 (July 19, 2017).

I have learned of go-go music exclusively from Tiny Desk Concerts:

Dominated by drive and momentum, heavy on percussion and bass, go-go music is all about the beat. Live, “songs” can continue on for half an hour, as the percussion continues to simmer and punctuate between and across different pieces. “That’s why we call it go-go, because it goes on and goes on and goes on,” as guitarist Andre Johnson put it in a documentary film.

This visit by Rare Essence perfectly encapsulated the genre’s incomparable meld of soul, R&B and, most importantly, funk (with a dash of Afro-Cuban influence).

So that’s go-go.  What about this band?

Rare Essence emerged not long after go-go itself did, beginning as a group in 1976 in Washington D.C. Ever since the group has kept a steady schedule playing around town and around the world.

The band plays seven–SEVEN–songs in sixteen minutes.  Many of them are just riffs that go on for a minute or so like “Down for My Niggas.”  Whereas “Rock This Party” is a bit more of a call and response piece–with some good congas.  “Freaky Deak” is pretty much a riff or two before they start talking to the audience.

They thank Suraya for arranging the show and there’s a lot of shouts outs and hand waving.  And then they start with one of their favorites, “One on One.”

All of the songs more or less flow into each other as one long jam.  There are multiple lead singers and everyone participates in the responses.

After a spell of their name (R-A-R, Double E, S-S-E-N, C-E) the lead guitarist sings lead on “Bad Bad” (he’s the oldest looking guy but he still has the power in his voice).

As they segue into “Lock It,” We apologize we could play this song for ever but I know everyone got to go back to work.  We’re gonna play the short version  We could play this for at least an hour.  They keys plays a nice Cuban sounding melody–almost like xylophones.

“After three minutes, he says this ant even the first part of the song–we still got about fifty more minutes.” Then they segue into “Overnight Scenario” which everyone sings along t o.

Anthony Andre “Whiteboy” Johnson (guitar, vocals); James “Funk” Thomas (vocals); Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris (vocals); Leroy “RB” Battle, Jr. (keyboards); Calvin “Killer Cal” Henry (vocals); Michael Baker (bass); Kenneth “Quick” Gross (drums); Samuel “Smoke” Dews (congas); Kym Clarke (trumpet); Derryle Valentine (sax, flute)

[READ: July 23, 2017] “Bonebreaker”

I find Nell Zink’s stories to be weird but compelling.  She writes about strange things in unusual ways.  The people are often peculiar but compelling.

But this story was especially odd to me because the two characters seem really stupid

Both Jed and Laurie are fleeing the States.  As the story begins they go to the airport with a lot of cash.  But they knew that the TSA would be suspicious of that.  So when they see the “money sniffing” dogs, they know the TSA is on to them.  They leave their stuff at the airport and return home–which puts them on the no-fly list.

After a few more aborted attempts, they decide to take a barge–a real refugee situation. Not only do they not get where they are going, they lose a lot of money and are mostly miserable.

Why are they fleeing? (more…)

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Camille Bordas–“Most Die Young” (New Yorker, January 2, 2017)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Advice, Camille Bordas, Death, Dogs, donald tRUMP, End of the World, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Futility, Maren Morris, New Yorker, Short Story, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert on June 3, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MAREN MORRIS-Tiny Desk Concert #603 (March 6, 2017).

Maren Morris is hugely successful, but I had never heard of her.  It turns out that

Four days before the 26-year-old strolled into NPR’s offices, she’d pulled off a mighty duet with Alicia Keys during the 59th annual Grammys ceremony and taken home the evening’s award for Best Country Solo Performance.

Despite the “big, crossover-friendly gestures on her major-label debut,” she’s out of my musical area.  But I can see why people like her–she has major pop leanings in her delivery and its sprinkled with pop country that everyone seems to like.

And that first song is really fun.  Of course, the music sounds so much like Steve Miller’s “The Joker” that that may be why it feels so catchy.  There’s a weird almost hip hop delivery to the song despite its obvious country bass.  I mean check out the words:

Boy I’d be rich, head to toe Prada
Benz in the driveway, yacht in the water
Vegas at the Mandarin, high roller gambling
Me and Diddy drippin’ diamonds like Marilyn
No I wouldn’t be covered in all your IOU’s
Every promise you made me would have some real value
‘Cause all the little lies rolling on your lips
Is money falling from the sky (ka-ching, ka-ching) shit I’d be rich

The blurb continues:

She’s cultivated a soulful, irreverent pop-country aesthetic that trades in trucks, bros and beer for a vintage Mercedes, female friendships and boxed wine — and which owes much of its charm to details that shine in a stripped-down setting. Take, for instance, the cash-register ka-ching that punctuates the chorus of the oh-so-sick burn “Rich,” or the intimate, after-hours raggedness in her voice as she sings of jaded heartache in “I Could Use A Love Song.”

So I can respect that.

“I Could Use A Love Song” feels country but her delivery has a massive pop song styling (that’s the crossover appeal, I guess).

She jokes that this is the quickest show she’s ever done.  She sounds genuinely shocked that she won a Grammy the other night.

The final song “My Church,”  is very country sounding (that bass) and singing that she “cussed on a Sunday.”

It’s my least favorite of the three.  I particularly dislike the R&B inflections at the end which puts my two least favorite musical genres together.

But overall she is adorable and charming and she looks to be about 12 years old up there with those two larger musicians supporting her.  And even if I won’t listen to her, I wish her success because she seems really sweet.

[READ: January 11, 2017] “Most Die Young”

I enjoyed this story quite a lot.  I loved how it was structured and the surprising twists it had.

The title comes from a statement by Professor Cruze: “young” means under the age of 38.  Cruze was referring to a Malaysian tribe known as the Pawong.  The Pawong, she explained, have no defenses or weapons.  They are an easy target.  It doesn’t even occur to them that they could respond to attackers.

The narrator first heard about this tribe from her ex-boyfriend Glauber (Glauber is a name, in case you’re wondering).  He mentioned the Pawong tribe as an insult to her saying that she was ruled by fear and could be made a God of the Pawong tribe.

Professor Cruze explained that shyness, fear and timidity are highly valued among the Powang.  To be angry is not to be human; but to be fearful is. (more…)

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Lynn Crosbie–“It Is I Who Styles Donald Trump; or, Cherie (de Melania Knauss-Trump)” (The Walrus, April 2017)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Buffalo Clover, Canadian Content, donald tRUMP, Fashion, Hoax, Idiots, Lynn Crosbie, Margo Price, Short Story, The Walrus, The White Stripes, Tiny Desk Concert, Toilets, Unfunny, Unlikable main character, Yuck! on April 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MARGO PRICE-Tiny Desk Concert #582 (November 28, 2016).

It is my fervent hope that I will wake up this morning and the world will say April Fools, and that these last few months will all have been a prank.  Or that this day marks the first day in formal steps to get the buffoon out of the White House before more people get killed.

Barring that, I can post these Trump-based pieces.

Margo Price is beloved by NPR.  I find her a wee bit too country for my tastes.  And yet, once again, a Tiny Desk Concert changed my opinion of her.

Price came to NPR on the day after the election.  I was in a fog of disbelief that day.  I can’t imagine how she managed to play and sing.  Here’s the intro:

When I greeted Margo Price in the NPR garage before her Tiny Desk performance, tears were streaming down her face. It was Wednesday morning, Nov. 9, the day after the 2016 election. For her — as for many Americans — it was a stunning and bewildering moment in time, a day when life and the everyday took on new meaning. And so when she and her band began to play “All American Made,” a song she’s sung many times before, those words about America’s changes and failures in the 21st century seemed even more powerful.

As this Tiny Desk progresses, even “Four Years Of Chances,” her song of a love gone wrong, feels less about a lousy husband and more about presidential politics. She dedicates her third and final song, “About To Find Out,” to Donald Trump; she says it was originally written about a “musician acquaintance of mine who’s a complete sociopath.” When the song ends, she rips open her red cowboy shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words “Icky Trump”— a play on the title of The White Stripes’ song “Icky Thump,” which criticizes the U.S.’s immigration policies. She smiles, wipes a tear away: It seems cathartic, but temporary.

The music includes piano, guitar (of course), some slide guitar and harmonica.

“All American Made” plays down the twang in her voice and the lyrics are great.  It was written for her previous band Buffalo Clover.

1987, and I didn’t know I then
Reagan was selling weapons to the leaders of Iran
well it won’t be the first time and it wont be the end
They were all American made.

I was just a child
Unaware of the effects
Raised on sports and Jesus
and all the usual suspects

It’s a slow folk song with harmonica and a nice guitar solo.

“Four Years Of Chances” is actually about a failed relationship.  And we can all only hope that we don’t have to wait as long as she did in this song before ending this relationship.  It’s a faster song with good slide guitar work.  There’s a guitar solo, a piano solo and I like the way it goes up two steps after the solo.

I gave you four years of chances
But you threw em all away
I gave you one thousand, four hundred sixty-one days

“About To Find Out” seems so uncannily about Trump it is hard to believe it was written about someone else (as it says, it was originally written about a “musician acquaintance of mine who’s a complete sociopath”).

Well I’ve had about enough of your two-cent words
And the way you’re running your mouth
No you haven’t got a clue or another thing to do
Except to take another picture of yourself
You’re living high on the hog looking down at us all
You may have come so easy and happened so fast
But the harder they come, they fall

You have many people fooled about your motivation
But I don’t believe your lies
You blow so much smoke it’s bound to make you choke
I see the snakes in both of your eyes
But you wouldn’t know class if it bit you in the ass
And you’re standing much too tall
You may have come so easy and happened so fast
But the harder they come, they fall

Tell me what does your pride taste like honey
Or haven’t you tried it out?
It’s better than the taste of a boot in your face
Without any shadow of a doubt
You better learn where the line is
You missed a lot you’ve gotta learn about
How’s it gonna feel to be put in your place
Well I guess you’re about to find out

Some folks today have got nothing to say
Except to talk about their wealth
But the poor’s still poor and the war’s still war
And everybody wants more for themselves
Like a rich man’s child you never walked a mile
One day you won’t have nothing to sell
You may have come so easy and happened so fast
But the way I see it you fell

Uncanny.

So yes, this Tiny Desk Concert has totally won me over to Price.  Although I really need to never hear “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” again–it is just waaay to twangy for my sensitive ears.  But more importantly, I hope she hasn’t given up the fight.

[READ: March 12, 2017] “It Is I Who Styles Donald Trump…”

My only other exposure to Crosbie was in the April 2012 issue of The Walrus, in which she wrote a couple of short pieces.

Obviously, I am all for hating on Trump, for ridiculing him and making him look as pathetic as he actually is.  And this entire issue was more or less devoted to the horror that is Trump.  So having a story that mocks him is something I can appreciate.

But, as with the comedians who mock Trump’s hair or skin rather than his racism, bigotry, lack of knowledge of the world, lying and everything else, this story is strangely superficial, and overall, just kind of strange.

It begins amusingly enough: “Last night I dreamt I went to Mar-a-Lago again.  I stood shuddering at the gates–was I to be the mistress of an estate named in colloquial Spanish?”

It even seems like it might go for an interesting angle: “as he sleeps his lips purse, and his hands fly our, defensively.”

But, as the title states (so I guess I was expecting too much), this is mostly about Trump’s hair: she “quickly took over this industry.” (more…)

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Lewis Trondheim & Fabrice Parme–Tiny Tyrant (2001-2004) [translated 2007]

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Alexis Siegel, Anarchy, Children's Books, donald tRUMP, End of the World, Fabrice Parme, Fears, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Greed, Humiliation, Idiots, Lewis Trondheim, Political Humor, Series, Short Story, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Video Games, Yuck! on March 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

tyrantSOUNDTRACK: CHRISTINE SALEM-Tiny Desk Concert #326 (December 14, 2013).

As with many artists behind the Tiny Desk, I had never heard of Christine Salem.  So who is she?

Christine Salem sings songs that are old: They’re work songs and chants from the maloya tradition on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. I first heard her in New York City as she shook a flat board called a kayamb, made of cane reeds, with two percussionists flanking her to provide rhythm.

Salem makes powerful, strongly focused music in which all the elements are essential, with nothing superfluous. She says it feels like the spirits move through her when she plays, and though you may doubt her if you’re a nonbeliever, you’d be hard-pressed to deny her your attention once you hear her.

And that’s pretty spot on.  She sings like a woman possessed–but in a good way–serious catharsis for these intense pieces which are amazingly musical for songs with no instruments except percussion.

“Listwar” showcases her strong, powerful voice when she sings by herself but the whole thing grows amazing when the other voices come in.  But even that doesn’t even prepare you for the wonders of the percussion that come next—that kayamb is mesmerizing, the big drum is so deep and the percussive sticks (which seems like he’s hitting what might be a lectern) all work perfectly.  All of the melody comes from their voices.  The backing guys also seem possessed by the music and the drummer is even laughing he’s so filled with joy.

“Alouwe” begins with claps and rhythmic chanting, which is pretty cool, but again, when the drums come in its even better. Halfway through the tempo picks up and she grabs that kayamb again and the intensity ratchets up.  There’s chanting from the men with lots of laughing and clapping at the end.  The final song is “Komor Blues.”  For this one, she is just by herself playing the drum.  While not as big as the other songs, it is just as intense, especially when the pace speeds up about halfway through.

I have no idea what she’s singing about, but I was mesmerized by the whole thing.

[READ: May 15, 2016] Tiny Tyrant

I read this book last year, never even imagining that it could somehow be comparable to our then highly unlikely leader.  Reading back on it now, I can’t get over the similarities between this fictional character and our television-inspired president.  I mean, look at how King Ethelbert is described: “Selfish, short-tempered, unscrupulous, stubborn, and willing to do anything to get what he wants.”

This book collects all of the Tiny Tyrant stories into one volume (Volume One: The Ethelbertosaurus & Volume Two: The Lucky Winner) were published by First Second with six stories each).  They were originally collected into four books in French (and translated into English by Alexis Siegel).

First Second had a lot of books by Lewis Trondheim in their earlier publication days but that seems to have gone by the wayside somewhat this decade.

Perhaps it is because his books are hard to classify.  They are basically kids books but they are pretty dark kids books–there’s usually death and blowing up and horrible things happening to people.

Tiny Tyrant is one of the sweeter Trondheim books that I’ve read.  Because even though the Tyrant is a tyrant, he is mostly unsuccessful  in his demands and nobody blows up [let’s hope we are so lucky with our country’s current wanna-be-dictator]. (more…)

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RESIST! IMPEACH!! IMPRISON!!! Don’t normalize hate.

Posted in #RESIST, Daily News, Der Spiegel, donald tRUMP, Harper's, La Santa Cecilia, Libération, New York, The Economist, The New York Times Magazine, Tiny Desk Concert, Village on March 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LA SANTA CECILIA-Tiny Desk Concert #327 (December 16, 2013).

santaAs this disastrous presidency continues to dismantle all the goodness in our country, and as the liar who current resides in the White House continues to claim that those who disagree with him are enemies of the people (I mean COME ON), I wanted to share magazine covers that show that a majority of people (both inside and outside of our country) think that Trump is the real enemy.

Originally I planned to just run these covers with no comment.  Then I heard this band La Santa Cecilia and decided that they needed to be put with these images.

La Santa Cecilia are from Los Angeles, California.  “Some of us were born here some of us were brought here and we have a passion for traditional Latin American music; but we also love to rock n roll.  We love blues and jazz.  And we love to celebrate that diversity.  And we love to celebrate where we come from and where we are.”

And unlike the hatred that we are inundated with: “La Santa Cecilia spreads joy every time its members plug in to do a show. They do it one dance step at a time, with cumbias, corridos, elegant mambos and plain old rock ‘n’ roll.”

La Santa Cecilia plays a traditional Latin American sounding music, although there is definitely a twist–lots of rock leanings.   “Falling” is sung in English and it is beautiful and heartfelt.  It’s also got a great guitar solo (and a cool little bass solo).

Introducing the next song, she says: “We’re proud to be from immigrant parents, to have been able to come to this country and to travel the world and share what this music is all about and that it is from the United States.  And we just need immigration reform so we can all be able to travel.  This is for all of the people who are out working in the kitchens in the beautiful strawberry fields.”

The song, “El Hielo (ICE)” is sung in Spanish.  But in the middle she recites a passage in English that has become more relevant now.  “Ice like snowmen in the wintertime; like ice cream under the summertime sun.  Happiness.  ICE: immigrations customs enforcement… and we never know when it will get… us.”

The final song returns to the joy.  “Monedita” is happy song.  “It’s Friday, lets dance.”  It’s got a wonderfully upbeat melody from the button accordion.

This push to ban immigrants is short-sighted and ignorant.  We are all from immigrants and immigrants have so much to offer.  Even if it is music and happiness.

So RESIST.

3068356-inline-i-1-nyt-one-side-effect-of-trump-seriously-great-cover-art

RESIST!

RESIST!

and more importantly

IMPEACH (and preferably IMPRISON) the racist hate mongerer.  #ITMFA

It is not normal for our country’s president to be so despised, especially by our allies.  It is not normal for our country to be humiliated by a man who spends more time on Twitter and then has the temerity to say ‘Nobody Knew Health Care Could Be So Complicated.’  Idiot.

So Democrats, Clinton earned 3 million more popular votes–do not cave to this White Power endorsing man who cares nothing for the citizens of this country.

And Republicans, stop putting your personal gains ahead of what is good and just.  Supporting neo-Nazis, bigots, polluters, dismantlers of the foundations of our country will certainly come back to bite you on the ass. (more…)

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George Saunders–The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (2005)

Posted in Alternate Reality, Dementia, donald tRUMP, Dystopia, Fraud, George Saunders, Idiots, Liars, Lies, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Regrets, Short Books, Surreal, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert on February 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

pfilSOUNDTRACK: MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS-Tiny Desk Concert #254 (December 3, 3012).

mackI missed the whole Macklemore & Ryan Lewis thing when it happened in 2012.  I was vaguely aware of “Thrift Shop,” but really didn’t know much about him until the hype blew up all over the place.

And now four years later, I’m catching up on him and finding it all pretty great.

This Tiny Desk Concert is interesting for a number of reasons.  All of the backing females vocals are prerecorded, but the trumpet is live (I gather that’s Lewis on the mixing board).  And he and the audience really get into it–I’m not sure when he was in his rise at the time of this show.

I gather that all three of these songs were well-known at the time.  But I’d never heard “Same Love” at all before. It is a surprisingly powerful and moving song about gay rights and human rights.  It seems to start out with a different tone altogether—he is scared that he is gay.  But it quickly turns into something much sweeter and loving. It’s actually quite a tear-jerker.  Then he changes the mood entirely.

“Thrift Shop” has an amazingly catchy melody for the chorus.  The vocal line is a sample as well.  And while I have heard the song before I never noticed the “this is fucking awesome” final line, which has been stuck in my head for weeks now.  This song is really funny.  The R Kelly line is hilarious [Probably should’ve washed this, smells like R. Kelly sheets (Pissssss…) But shit, it was 99 cents! ] and the whole bit about paying $50 for a T-shirt is spot on.  He hops around and is full of infectious energy.  There’s a live trumpet solo at the end.  Lewis plays with a set of sleigh bells and then knocks them off to much laughter.

As the song ends he grabs the Emmy and says, “Thank you, we’re outta here.  Peace.”

The final song is “Can’t Hold Us.”   The chorus of that song sounds so familiar.  I’m sure I’ve heard it before but I can’t imagine where (maybe roller skating?).  But man, is it catchy.  For this version, Ray Dalton sings with them.  I guess maybe he’s the guy who sang the original?  It sounds like there’s also a recording going with it, though, so who knows, and who cares.  The live trumpet is a nice touch.

As Bob notes: “The live, sweet, soulful sounds of singer Ray Dalton belting, ‘Like the ceiling can’t hold us’ had Macklemore standing on my desk and shaking the dust off the ceiling tiles.”  It is fun an exhilarating.  And as the show fades, you can hear him ask, “You guys have a shower?”

[READ: February 8, 2016] The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

Saunders wrote this novella during the Bush administration. But it feels shockingly more relevant now.  This is the story of an unqualified buffoon who takes charge and attempts to force his will on a country.

But in typical Saunders fashion it is over the top and somewhat absurd, except that it is all quite real.

The story is about a small country called Inner Horner.  Inner Horner is so small that only one citizen can stand in it at a time.  The other five citizens must stand in The Short-Term Residency Zone.  Outer Horner is huge with lots of empty space.  The Outer Hornerites don’t really mind the Inner Hornerites being in the Zone, but they didn’t want to offer any of their own land to Inner Horner because, well, what if other countries wanted land too.

Then one day, a seismic shift makes Inner Horner even smaller.  Now only 1/4 of a citizen can fit in Inner Horner at a time.  Leon, an Outer Horner Border Guard noticed that this citizen (whose name was Elmer) was mostly in Outer Horn and he sounded the alarm that meant Invasion in Progress.

The Outer Horner Militia (Freeda, Melvin and Larry) came over and glared at Elmer.  They don’t believe in the shrinking–decent countries don’t shrink.  But the militia doesn’t know what to do.  And then Phil, a guy standing nearby, says why not tax them?

Phil was in love with Carol, a citizen of Inner Horner. But she had married Cal (another Inner Horner citizen) and they had a child, Little Andy.  This made Phil very bitter.  (more…)

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George Saunders–“My Gal” (New Yorker, September 22, 2008)

Posted in donald tRUMP, Funny (ha ha), George Saunders, Idiots, Liars, New Yorker, Sarah Palin, Saul Williams, Tiny Desk Concert on December 31, 2016| Leave a Comment »

922SOUNDTRACK: SAUL WILLIAMS-Tiny Desk Concert #565(September 16, 2016).

saulSaul Williams sings three songs in this Tiny Desk Concert.  He is accompanied by two guys on acoustic guitars.  But his songs are so much more than the few chords played guitars.

I was unfamiliar with Williams before this Concert.  He is a rapper, poet, activist, writer and much more.  All of his songs include impassioned spoken sections in which he (presumably) free verses eloquently.

He opens the set with a series of statements/accusations.  And when he announces the title of the song, “Burundi” he tells us that the song is called… an astonishing list of cities that have similar problems.  He explains that the chorus contains stanzas from the Sufi poet Rumi: I’m a candle, you can chop my neck a million times but I still burn bright and stand.  The middle of the song is a lengthy spoken section in which he talks about everything that is going on in the world.  And he ends with this excellent thought: “The voice and vision that counters power cannot be wiped out.”

For “Think Like They Book Say,” one of the guitarists plays out a rhythmic tapping on the body of the guitar while the other plays the melody.  It’s a menacing sort of melody and it is dedicated to Chelsea Manning.

Before the final song Saul grabs Bob Boilen’s James Brown doll.  He cradles the doll, kisses his forehead and then has his guitarist play a lullaby “Down For Some Ignorance.”  It begins as a very mellow song.  And then mid way through the song, he presses a button on his computer and the song turns into an electronic wildstorm of sounds and samples.

During the end of the song, he recites a phenomenal list of grievances.  And as the song ends, you can see that he has brought a tear to his own eye.

It’s a very powerful Tiny Desk.

[READ: March 10, 2016] “My Gal”

I’ve mentioned before that I really like George Saunders’ work, and I find his funny pieces to be especially funny.

What’s odd about this piece (which was in Shouts and Murmurs) is that it was topical.  Nothing odd about that exactly, except that reading it nearly 8 years later, in another election cycle, it seems almost quaint.  Especially since Trump has replaced Sarah Palin as the Republican’s (and now the country’s) biggest idiot and liar.

This essay is by a guy who loves Sarah Palin–she’s his gal. (more…)

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David Sedaris–“Undecided” (New Yorker, October 27, 2008)

Posted in Barack Obama, Constellation Records, David Sedaris, donald tRUMP, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Godspeed You Black Emperor, Hillary Clinton, Hiss Tracks, New Yorker, Political Humor, Politicians, Richard Nixon, Set Fire To Flames on September 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

c28SOUNDTRACK: HISS TRACKS-Shortwave Nights [CST104] (2014).

hissThe Hiss Tracks album begins with a rumbling roiling and yes a kind of hissing sound.  There was a moment of concern that this would be literally 40 minutes of static . But no, there are some interesting electronic blips and phrases amidst he roiling rumble.

Some context about this band from the Constellation site:

Hiss Tracts is an ongoing collaboration between “sound sculptors” David Bryant and Kevin Doria. Both players are known for their work within various strains of drone-inflected and experimental music: Bryant as a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Set Fire To Flames, Doria as a member of Growing and for his solo work as Total Life.

Hiss Tracts opens new collaborative, procedural and narrative pathways for these fine musicians to continue exploring soundscape-based composition and production. Both are guitar players, and the electric guitar figures as both recognizable and unrecognizable source instrument on Shortwave Nights, but the deployment of a wide range of additional analog sources and signals ensures that there is no confusing this for a guitar-based drone, noise or post-rock record.

So there you have it.  Once the rumble of that first song, ‘…shortwave nights,” dissipates there are some ringing guitar sounds quietly repeating amid a low static and other sounds.   The song ends with some dissonant guitar notes.  It’s eight minutes in total and has the feeling of an ambient soundtrack, but not a relaxing one or of background music.

“half-speed addict starts with broken wollensak” does indeed begin slowly, at about half-speed, with more rumbling sounds.  The song speeds up at the end, with muffled sounds keeping a very fast pace and a keyboard note rings out as the song finishes.  “slowed rugs” has a kind of one note drone while some vibrating drones continue over it—it’s a gentle electronic sound manipulation.   The oscillating notes fold in on themselves and mutate into some thing else.  As the song nears its end, a repeated series of unusual notes seems to rise from the din.

“drake motel / “9 gold cadillacs”” is a one minute interstitial that opens and closes with someone playing a harmonica.  The player offers it to someone else and then the rest is a series of statements from an unnamed person:

I would never put my mouth on something that you had put your mouth on.
The more you love people the worse they treat you I am so tired of it.
My daddy spent million of dollars trying to by a friend and he died without one.
You can give a sumbitch a million dollars cash tax-free and tomorrow they wouldn’t give you a cracker if you were starving to death.  That is a bible prophecy.

“windpipe gtrs.” sounds like a bunch of didgeridoos trying to overtake each other.  “halo getters” is an ominous piece, with more of that rumbling static and some portentous chords over the top.  The five-minute song doesn’t change much although about a minute in some guitars ring out sounding very outer spacey.  The song repeats and eventually warbles to and end which somehow feels warmer than the rest, like little explosions of quiet sound which almost sound like car horns.

“for the transient projectionist” opens with ringing bells/gongs.  After a few minutes of this peaceful sound, some music bubbles up—waves of warm keyboards and washes of mild static.  It seems to have a natural progression before ending.

“ahhh-weee dictaphone” is a 41 second interstitial of what sounds like vocal goofing around.  “test recording at trembling city” has mechanical ringing tones coming on in waves.  The song builds in intensity as it sounds almost like a high-speed-something about to crash, or a siren going off.  It is rather unsettling.  “beijing bullhorn / dopplered light” is mostly staticy radio and voices muttering under some gentle washes of chords.   It is a relatively pretty ending to a somewhat unsettling disc.

The instruments included on the disc include: guitar, tape machine, piano, mellotron, portasound, bowls, field recordings, oscillators, sampler, synthesizer

This is a pretty esoteric disc that many people won’t enjoy, but if you like experimental ambient textures, it’s worth a listen.

[READ: March 10, 2016]  “Undecided”

After last night’s debate, in which evidently there are some 36% of the population undecided about whom to vote for, here’s a political piece from the 2008 election.  What I especially loved about this one was just how relevant it all seemed 8 years later.  The “undecided” voters aren’t getting as much airtime yet, but one wonders how poll numbers can shift when the candidates are so radially different.  I recall in the 2008 election how people seemed genuinely undecided about the two candidates and Sedaris (and myself and many others) just ask: HUH?.

Sedaris notes how the undecideds get interviewed about being undecided and they all look “very happy to be on TV.” And oh dear, they just can’t make up their minds.

“I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist.  Are they professional actors? I wonder or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?”

And then he says to imagine their perspective as if you were on an airplane.  The attendant brings the food cart over and in what may have been the most apt analogy:

Can I interest you in the chicken? she asks.  Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?

To follow through he says that being undecided is to “pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.” (more…)

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