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Archive for the ‘Prison’ Category

Jaime Joyce–“Picnic in the Yard” (New Yorker, November 3, 2014)

Posted in Essays, Food, Jaime Joyce, Les Claypool, New Yorker, Oysterhead, Phish, Primus, Prison, Set at School, Stewart Copeland, Trey Anastasio on January 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

nov3SOUNDTRACK: OYSTERHEAD-The Grand Pecking Order (2001).

oysterheadThis is a really fun album.  Despite the three big personalities here–Trey Anastasio, Steward Copeland, Les Claypool, they work so well together.  Some songs feel like Phish songs (Trey has a song or two that is just him), some feel like Les songs (ditto for Claypool), but you never feel like they are trying to outdo each other.  And of course Stewart Copeland plays his great drums all the way through.

Les and Trey share vocals on “Little Face” which features Phish sound effects and some great Les wild bass.  “Oz is Ever Floating” has jam feel–lots of soloing.  Unlike some of Les’ projects though, on many of the songs, like this one, his bass fits right in.  And the vocal harmonies from all three sound great in the chorus.

“Mr. Oysterhead” is a fun song with Les’ wild bass sounds.  This one feels kind of Primus like but with very different guitar sounds coming along.  This even has a big ol’ bass solo.  “Shadow of a Man is very Primus sounding–it was written entirely by Claypool and is primarily bass with some smattering of (wicked) guitars).  While “Radon Balloon” is a pretty acoustic number from Trey.  He sings gently (and if Les’ bass is there, it’s very subtle).

“Army’s on Ecstasy” has Les’ more cartoony voices, but some interesting jazz guitars and drums.  “Rubberneck Lions” is a fantastic song, one of the most Phish like songs on the disc (even if Les sings the first verse–it’s the chorus that screams Phish).  It’s got a rocking ending with great drums.  “Polka Dot Rose” has some fun group vocals at the end of the song.

“Birthday Boys” is another very Phish seeming song–very Trey influenced–some great guitar picking and subtle work from the other two guys.  It has a great chorus.  “Wield the Spade” seems like a goofy song that might be short (Trey repeating a few words as the song opens), but it proves to be one of the longer songs on the disc.  I gather it is about Ceausescu, and has Stewart Copeland doing all the lead vocal talking/shouting).

“Pseudo Suicide” has a big wild Primusy bass riff.  There’s a great jamming section in the middle, when Trey takes over vocals.  “Grand Pecking Order” is kind of a goofy Primus stomp while “Owner of the World” is a kind of catchy sing along to end this disc.

 There’s some really good songs on this disc and it works for fans of Phish and Primus.

[READ: January 20, 2014] “Picnic in the Yard”

This week’s issue of the New Yorker was its semi-annual food issue.  As such there were four food-related essays by writers who I’ve written about before.  The section was called “Rations.”

The final was by Jaime Joyce (there’s a name with literary aspirations, eh?).  The three essays so far have talked about food in medical school, the army and college. This one is about food in prison. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #44 (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Andrei Codrescu, Andrew Palmer, Baseball, Baynard Woods, Ben Katchor, Bill McKibben, Bill Morrison, Books about writers, Dance, David Hockney, Death, Depression, Dogs, Drugs, Errol Morris, Essays, Geoff Dyer, James Stephen George Boggs, Jenny Shank, Jessica Hopper, Jim Shepard, Joe Meno, Jonathan Lethem, Lauren Redniss, Lawrence Weschler, McSweeney's, Mike Sacks, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Peter Vermeersch, Prison, Rachel Cohen, Rebecca Curtis, Revenge, Ricky Jay, Riva Lehrer, Rob Curran, Ryan Mrozowski, Sex, Short Story, Simon Rich, Stuart Dybek, Stuart Glover, Tom Barbash, Violence, Walter Murch, Wells Tower, Wendy Lesser, Wesley Allsbrook, WNYC--93.9 New York on May 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

44SOUNDTRACK: WNYC SOUNDCHECK GIG ALERTS (2009-).

soundcheck There are so many places to listen to free music.  But i prefer places where you can (legally) download free music.  So here’s a place I’ve just discovered: WNYC Radio’s website which features a section called “Gig Alerts.”  The feature talks about a different interesting band playing that night (in New York).  After a small blurb, there is (almost always) a free downloadable track.   There’s twenty listings per page and 86 pages.  Do the math and that’s a lot of songs.

The feature covers virtually every genre, although there is a preponderance of alt- and indie- rock (mostly lesser known bands).  If you are interested in new (to you) music and in exploring different artists, this is a great resource for a ton of free music.  So, check out Gig Alerts here.

[READ: May 20, 2014] McSweeney’s #44

I was pretty pleased with myself when I got caught up on the McSweeney’s issues.  But I remember wanting to take a break when this one came in.  I now see it has been almost a year since I read the last issue.  So the break was too long and now I have three issues to catch up on again.  Sigh.  But this one proved to be a great issue to return on.

This is a pretty quintessential issue of McSweeney’s.  It’s got letters, some fiction, a special section dedicated to Lawrence Weschler (which includes a lot of art), and a cool, interesting section of plates with full color art.  It’s also got an interestingly designed hardcover with a kind of raw cardboard in the back, a slightly raised colorful section for the spine and then a further raised section for the giant 44 on the front cover.

LETTERS (more…)

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Joy Williams–“The Mission” (Harper’s, February 2014)

Posted in Beck, Drinking, Harper's, INXS, Joy Williams, Liars, Os Mutantes, Prison, Record Club, Short Story, St. Vincent on March 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

harperSOUNDTRACK: BECK/RECORD CLUB-INXS: Kick (2010).

inxsOf the four Record Club releases, this is actually the album I like least.  And that is mostly because of my college roommate.  He believed that rock music was the devil’s music (or so he told me).  And so he only had a couple of albums.  Most of the Beatles records (amusingly enough) and, totally randomly–INXS’ Kick.  So I got sick of this really fast.  It’s nearly 25 years later, so I’m okay with the album, and I do like some of the songs again, but boy can I pick out flaws.

This recording seems a lot more causal than the other Record Club releases—the original recording bleeds in front of some of the tracks and I believe they play around with the lyrics on a few.  They also really rearrange some of the songs, making them quite different from the original.

Form the Beck/Record Club site:

Record Club No. 4 is here…! Joining in this time we had three of my favorite bands— Liars, Annie Clark and Daniel Hart from St. Vincent, Sergio Dias from the legendary Brazilian band Os Mutantes, as well as RC veteran Brian Lebarton, just back from the Charlotte Gainsbourg tour. The record covered this time was 1987 blockbuster ‘Kick’ by INXS. The record was chosen by fellow Aussie, Angus from the Liars. It was recorded in a little over 12 hours on March 3rd, 2010. It was an intense, hilarious, daunting and completely fun undertaking. Thanks to everybody for being there and putting so much into it. Many classic moments, inspired performances and occasional anarchy.

Overall, I enjoyed this release quite a bit and found St. Vincent’s contributions to be quite excellent.  I didn’t know Liars before this, but I really like his voice.

Guns In The Sky (2:21). Loud drums open the song and the synth is buzzy and noisy. Angus’ vocals are very similar to Michael Hutchence’s.
New Sensation (3:40) Begins with a poppy synth rendition (and people rapping over it), but that’s like a teaser version. The real version is quite mellow and interesting—a very slow song sung by St Vincent and Angus from Liars.
Devil Inside (5:16) This sounds very different–it’s slow and menacing with a sax section.
Need You Tonight (3:06) St Vincent on vocals—a rather sexy version.
Mediate (2:32) The intro has them talking about the words they’ll use, like “shake and bake and wake and bake.” With much giggling.  Done as a simple rap over a handclap drum
The Loved One (3:37) This sounds like a sixties song–acoustic but kind of psychedelic.
Wild Life (3:10) Slow and a little creepy.
Never Tear Us Apart (3:06) This one has strings and synths–St Vincent sings this in a very beautiful way.
Mystify (3:18) Sung well by Angus with a slow picked guitar.
Kick (3:14) This is a buzzy punky version with an aggressive feel.
Calling All Nations (3:04) Acoustic guitar played and sung by St Vincent–it sounds very much like a St Vincent song.
Tiny Daggers (3:30) This is a silly electronic ranting song that ends up lasting 12 minutes (which is about 9 minutes too long).

Overall this has a raw feel that I like better than INXS’ more polished version. And anything with Annie Clark participating is a plus.

[READ: March 14, 2014] “The Mission”

This story started out as an interesting personal drama, with a very memorable scene.  A woman is sent to prison.  She will only be there for nine days (which the other inmates hear about and which causes them to grumble).  The drama comes when the try to remove her wedding ring but cannot (they have to cut it off).

The memorable scene is the reason why she was sent to prison in the first place.  She was drunk driving and drove into a cemetary. She crashed through the fence and into several gravestones.  The arresting offer’s opening remark was “You’re lucky you didn’t kill somebody.”  After a few days, she believes she is going to be released, but her lawyer informs her that things are going to be really rough for her out there–the people whose graves she broke are super mad.  So she should just hold tight and be happy to have some freedoms in here. (more…)

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Rebecca Solnit–“Insomnia” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Corporate skewering, Harper's, Insomnia, Prison, Rebecca Solnit, Reggie Watts, Sleep, Van Halen on September 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: REGGIE WATTS-“Panama” (A.V, Undercover, January 22, 2013).

reggiepanama This is from the A.V. Club’s third series of covers called A.V. Undercover.  In this series, the bands select what they are going to cover from a list (which gets shorter after each go).  I’ve been really enjoying Reggie Watts lately.  And I really enjoy this “cover” of Van Halen’s “Panama.”

In the pre-song interview he explains how he knows the guys in the band and that this version is a cover of an earlier demo version of the song.  Who knew the original content was so different

Check it out (and groove on the sweater).  “Oh woah, shipping canals!”

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Insomnia”

Solnit posits a wonderful idea–if only sleep could be hoarded and then accumulated or traded.  She has suffered from sleep deprivation off and on for decades–her mind just can’t turn off–like hamster on a wheel.  And like a hamster on a wheel, she is annoyed that all of the churning is so unproductive.

She talks about the two kinds of insomniacs–those who can’t fall asleep and those who wake up in the middle of the night (that’s me).  She quotes F Scott Fitzgerald who said “in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning.”  Because as anyone who has woken up at that time knows, everything is overwhelming, arduous and against you.  “At that hour you could probably contemplate pancake recipes with terror.” (more…)

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Deb Olin Unferth–“Neighbors” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Deb Olin Unferth, Essays, Fears, Green Day, Harper's, Heidi Julavits, Insomnia, Prison, Sleep on September 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: GREEN DAY-¡Tre! (2012).

treThe third and final album of the trilogy is called ¡Tre! (and yes I enjoyed that they named this one ¡Tre! as opposed to ¡Tre! and put Tre Cool on the cover—not exactly the most clever thing around, but it made me smile and makes me think that they only did three albums so they could have this title/cover combo).  And, yes, this is my least favorite of the three discs.  It feels like a bonus disc—songs that don’t really belong anywhere else. It’s kind of an album full of ballads (but that would suck) so they made it mostly ballads with other things too.

Like “Brutal Love”  a slow ballad (complete with horns) that builds into a standard rocker (it’s got a very “rock and roll” vibe).  Many punk songs are really just rock and roll played fast and this is certainly one of those songs.  (I don’t care for that kind of punk so much).  “Missing You” is a another mid-tempo rocker–the kind they do very well.

“8th Avenue Serenade” has another cool sound (as in different from the rest of the album).  “Drama Queen” is an acoustic guitar ballad with creepy creepy lyrics. It’s probably my least favorite Green Day song ever.  “X-Kid”seems even more simple than other Green Day songs (does Billie Joe throw anything away?)  It sounds like a classic rock song form the mid 80s.  “Sex, Drugs & Violence” brings the disc back some with a fun poppy rocker.  “A Little Boy Named Train” sounds a lot like “Carpe Diem” from ¡UnoI (same chords, just played slower—although the verses do change it a bit.

“Amanda” a mid tempo rocker and “Walk Away” is another slow song that sounds like classic rock.  “Dirty Rotten Bastards” clocks in at over 6 minutes!  It’s got several short sections in it though (which makes it more fun). The first part is the melody of The Marines Song.  “99 Revolutions” is so catchy it even has a chorus with only drums (that lowest common denominator of songs that is guaranteed to get the crowd to sing along).

So yes, there are a few good songs in this collection, but they could have easily scraped out the good ones and dumped them on the first two discs and just put Tre’s picture on the back of both of them.

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Neighbors”

Unferth, like Julavits, writes a kind of narrative piece about sleeplessness.  It’s hard to imagine her living the way she does, but if you’ve read her memoir, she has certainly slept in worse places than a Chicago slum.  It turns out that her downstairs neighbor, Maximilian, would turn on his TV late at night and leave it on all night. The odd thing was that he had no electricity in his apartment—he ran an extension cord to the light in the foyer.  When Unferth would get fed up with the noise, she would go downstairs and unplug the cord.

But then Maximilian’s girlfriend Dorothy moved back in.  The two of them fought nightly—loud screaming fights that were worse than the TV noise (when Unferth unplugged the TV, Dorothy found an electricity source elsewhere, although Unferth couldn’t figure out where).

She makes a very interesting distinction about the type of noise that might wake you up as compared to visceral fighting of your neighbors.  From things like jets and trains (or a fire engine, like at my house): “You may lose sleep over them, but you won’t lose sleep over them.”  Whereas hearing your neighbors screaming at each other is far more disturbing. (more…)

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Daniel Alarcón–“The Idiot President” (New Yorker, October 6, 2008)

Posted in Acting, All Songs Considered, Daniel Alarcón, New Yorker, Political Humor, Prison, Screaming Trees, Short Story, Swervedriver, Weed on August 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

TNY 10.6.08 palin cvr.inddSOUNDTRACK: WEED-“Silent Partner” (2013).

weed-deserve-0f8161c881e522aba0f28701cda87e9a558f9727-s1This song started off a recent All Songs Considered podcast and it starts with a bang–a big wall of fuzzy guitars and the vocals mixed way back in the song.  It has a very early 90s vibe–a slow song despite the loud buzzy guitars.

It reminds me of a lot of bands from that 90s era–Swervedriver, Screaming Trees–although it has a few moments (bridges maybe) in which the guitars plays faster, almost a heavy metal riff.  And yet the chorus is expansive (if still distorted)–bringing together a lot of interesting elements.  And I love the way the song ends with nearly 30 seconds of feedback.

I definitely want to hear more from these guys.

[READ: August 9, 2013] “The Idiot President”

This story seems to be referenced in Alarcón’s recent short story “Collectors.”  In “Collectors” we meet Henry, the author of the play “The Idiot President” and we hear how he was jailed for performing the political piece.

In this story, apparently written five years before “Collectors,” we meet an actor who has worked with Henry and who has acted in “The Idiot President” (which was well received by audiences, especially the big reveal at the end).  They were in an acting troupe called Diciembre and for this “tour” three of them–Henry, the narrator and Paralarga–went to small villages to perform the play.

While Henry and Patalarga were in Diciembre for real, the narrator knew he was going to be leaving the country soon.  His brother lived in California and promised him a visa…soon.  So the narrator just assumed that nothing he did had any real consequence.  And while traveling around and acting seemed like a good idea, doing it in the winter with very little in the way of provisions was not the best idea.  He lost weight and was always chilled and sickly.

There are a number of brief episodes in this story (which I assume is actually an excerpt). The first involves Tania.  Tania is Patalarga’s second cousin and Henry’s ex-wife (from many years ago). After their performance in Tania’s city, she sings for them during the after party (with a beautiful voice that the narrator falls in love with).  It is clear that the narrator is bewitched by her–while the other two just seem bemused by everything.  She takes pity on him and walks him back to his bed.  And just when he thinks she is “interested,” she makes it clear that she was just walking him to his bed. (more…)

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Daniel Alarcón–“Collectors” (New Yorker, July 29, 2013)

Posted in Acting, All Songs Considered, Daniel Alarcón, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, New Yorker, Political Humor, Prison, Rodelius Schneider, Short Story, Stefan Schneider on August 8, 2013| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: ROEDELIUS SCHNEIDER-“Umstuden” (2013).

Irs picked this song because I thought he had the same name as the character in this story, but he doesn’t.  Rats.

So this collaboration between electronic music pioneer (whom I’ve never heard of) Hans-Joachim Roedelius (who is 78!) and Stefan Schneider (who is much younger).  This piece is a largely a simple piano motif played over a pretty bassline.  (I assume this part if Roedelius).  Then after a few minutes come the effects and drums.  They are quiet and they add more texture than anything else.  But they also modernize this ambient track in a really interesting way–keeping it from getting too soporific (although the melody itself isn’t really soporific at all).  It keeps it lively and a little unexpected.

Although I’m not a huge fan of ambient music, I could see listening to more of this album.

[READ: August 5, 2013] “Collectors”

This story is constructed in a fascinating way.  Set in Peru, it opens with the story of Rogelio, a skinny boy who fails at school (later he is unofficially diagnosed with dyslexia).  He is unhappy at home, especially when his older brother Jaime moves to San Jacinto.  At age 13 Rogelio quit school and moved to San Jacinto to be with his brother.  They worked together making delivers and fixing up vehicles (and making a profit).  It slowly dawns on Rogelio that not everything they do is entirely legitimate, (especially since Jaime seems to have so much cash).  But he;s okay with that and asks no questions.

Then the story informs us in the middle of the second paragraph that Rogelio will wind up in Collectors prison (which I assume is infamous although I’m not actually sure if it’s real).   And sure enough about midway through the story we find out how it happened–Rogelio was carrying something (he didn’t know what) and he was searched by the police (who were looking for weapons).  We’re also told about Rogelio’s cellmate, Henry, who is nice to him.

Then we learn about Henry and how he wound up in prison.  He was a playwright.  And he wrote a (not very good) play called “The Idiot President” which the President (or someone) found offensive.  And soon Henry was regarded as a terrorist.  He considered it an absurd joke at first until the weeks turned into months and he was eventually shunted of to Collectors.

We learn about Collector’s prison, how Rogelio initially didn’t even have a cell–he slept under the stairs–until he was able to buy a cell (with money from Jaime).  Henry, because he had some money, was able to afford a cell and was very lucky to get a kindred soul like Rogelio.  The two actually become friends–talking and reading–and eventually become, dare they say it, lovers.

And they manage to survive in the prison by never upsetting the status quo and being able to read the feeling of the place (Rogelio grew especially good at that when he had nowhere to hide). (more…)

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McSweeney’s #20 (2006)

Posted in Aaron Gwyn, Amy Cutler, Andrew Schoultz, Angelina Gualdoni, Anna Conway, Anthony Schneider, Art, Ashley Macomber, Ben Jahn, Bob Mould, Chris Duncan, Clare Rojas, Corinna Valliantos, Culture Shock, Death, Drinking, Drugs, Echo Eggebrecht, Ernst Haeckel, Fears, Franz Ackermann, Fred Tomaselli, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Håvard Homstvedt, Henri Rousseau, Holly Coulis, Huh?, Humiliation, J. Erin Sweeney, Jack Pendarvis, Jacob Magraw-Mickelson, Jason Holley, Jeff Gauntt, Jodie Mohr, Jules de Balincourt, Keith Andrew Shore, Kevin Christy, Kevin Moffett, Kuniyoshi Utagawa, Laura Owens, Law, Mamma Andersson, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Nazis, Niklas Eneblom, Prison, Rachel Salomon, Rachell Sumpter, Roderick White, Roy Kesey, Sam Miller, Sarah Raymont, Short Story, Sugar, Surreal, Susan Logoreci, Susan Steinberg, The Believer, Tony D'Souza, Universities, Unlikable main character, Violence, Wendy Heldmann, Yuck! on May 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

#20SOUNDTRACK: SUGAR-File Under: Easy Listening (1994).

fuelI  always thought File Under: Easy Listening was a very funny title.  But it’s possible that people took it too literally as it didn’t sell all that well. And in Mould’s autobiography he says he didn’t have much time to write songs for this disc and he thinks it suffered.  Of the three Sugar discs, this is definitely the weakest, although there are some great moments on it.

The disc opens with “Gift” which has some ragged distorted guitars. It’s got some noises and grungy sounding solos showing that FU:EL was a joke.  Although, the overall sound is kind of a cleaner version of the angry songs on Beaster.  “Company Book” is kind of a pounder, until the voice comes in and you realize…it’s not Mould!  It’s got a catchy chorus, but after the kind of underwhelming opener, it’s a strange place for a song that’s also not so dynamic.  Especially when it’s followed by “Your Favorite Thing” another great pop song from Mould—not top tier but a really strong second tier (although that bright, simple guitar solo is a real winner).  “What You Want It To Be” is a another decent song (the addition of that extra guitar playing the melody line really makes the song shine.  “Gee Angel” is also a high point.  A catchy song, but which never quite reaches the heights of the previous albums.

“Panama City Hotel” has the same feel as the opening of Beaster: bright acoustic guitars and a similar riff.  But it never really goes anywhere, and the 4 minutes seem.  The “do do do do’s” that open “Can’t Help You Anymore” are certainly the brightest spot on the album, and a big pop song as well.  “Granny Cool” has a nicely abrasive riff although it seems kind of mean spirited.  It’s funny that he tucked “Believe What You’re Saying” at the end of the album.  It’s a minor song but it sounds so bright on this album after the other songs. It’s really quite pretty.

And the closer, “Explode and Make Up” is one of Mould’s great angry songs.  Unlike Beaster, this one has a happy acoustic field—bnright guitars with that raging distorted guitar underneath.  It’s a great slow burner of a song and at five minutes it ends a somewhat lackluster album in a great way.

[READ: March 31, 2013] McSweeney’s #20

McSweeney’s #20 is an issue that I have read before.  At least I think I have.  My recollection is that it was the last one I read before I started writing about them on this blog.  I was hesitant to read it soon again, which is why I waited until now.  And while I remember the issue itself (with all of the art), I didn’t remember the stories.  So who knows if I actually read it six years ago.

Anyhow, this issue comes jam-packed with art.  Every fourth page has full-color artwork on it–many of them are quite famous.  It makes for a very beautiful book.

In between these artworks are a number of stories–ranging in size from 2 pages to 30-some pages.  There are no letters, and the explanatory and copyright information is on the cover of the book–which would be fine, except that it is covered up by a kind of 3-D artwork.  I wonder if the whole text is available anywhere?

The book also comes with a separate pamphlet–an excerpt from Chris Adrian’s Children’s Hospital.  I intend to read the novel eventually so I didn’t read the excerpt–although maybe if I put off the novel for six years I should just read the excerpt now. (more…)

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Charles Dickens–Great Expectations (1861)

Posted in 19th Century, Charles Dickens, Death, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Figgy Pudding, Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, Phineas and Ferb, Prison, Violence on December 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

greatSOUNDTRACK: PHINEAS AND FERB-“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” (2010).

pfholidayThis song takes the music of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and modifies it to fit the show.  Several characters get a verse, with my favorite coming from Isabella:

Oh, come tell me what’cha doin’ / All my relatives just flew in /From Mexico and Jerusalem / For the holidays
Both Christmas trees and menorahs / It can be confusing for us  / When we break into a chorus / Of “olé” (¡Olé!) and “oy vey” (¡Oy vey!)

Although I usually find Doofensmirtz’ lines to be the best, I don’t care for his verse–it is forced and not terribly funny.  But that is more than made up for with the end as it revisited the beloved figgy pudding:

All: We wish your every endeavor
Makes this the best Christmas ever
And we’re all so glad that we will never
Mention figgy pudding…

Dr. Doofenshmirtz: Oh, great. Well now we’ve mentioned it.
Major Monogram: You know, no one would have noticed if you’d have just kept your mouth shut.

We recently added the entire Phineas and Ferb Holiday Favorites album to our Christmas music collection.  Thanks, Swampy.

[READ: end of 2011-beginning of 2012] Great Expectations

I started this book over a year ago–Christmastime 2011 and I finished it in January of this year.  And I imagined writing a grand, eloquent post about the book, so I bided my time, and have now delayed for almost a year and have basically forgotten everything significant I thought about saying about it.  Never put anything off in the hopes that genius will strike.

So I read this book because my former coworker Stephanie talked about how much she liked it.  I had never read any Dickens before (possibly Tale of Two Cities but that would have been in High School and doesn’t count).  And Nick Hornby raves about Dickens in the pages of The Believer, so it seemed like a time to try him out.  Back when I was in college I joined a book club and received The Oxford Illustrated Dickens–30-some volumes of all of Dickens’ work in beautiful hardcover editions.  And I have lugged them with me to all my homes.  And now I have finally read one.

I was as surprised by how surprised I was by the story.  I knew the very basic outline and character names (thanks South Park), and from what I knew of Dickens, I thought I had the whole story figured out pretty early on.  But no, there was more afoot than I would have ever guessed.

So, the story: Phillip ‘Pip’ Pirrip is a blaksmith’s apprentice.  He was orphaned as a young babe and is currently living with his (terribly mean) older sister and her husband, a kindly blacksmith named Joe Gargery.  One dark and spooky night (as only existed in 19th century England), Pip is out in the swampy foggy graveyard visiting his parents’ graves when he hears a fight.  Two convicts have escaped from a prison ship and are fighting amidst the marshes.  The “winner,” spies Pip and threatens him–unless he brings a nail file and food, he will kill the young boy.  Pip is freaked and runs home to steal one of Joe’s files and a piece of pie that his sister has baked.  The next day the police capture the criminals, and the one whom Pip helped gives Pip a long look and says that he stole the pie, which lets Pip off the hook from his sister’s wrath.

Meanwhile, up the road a piece, there’s an old dilapidated house with an old dilapidated woman living in it.  She is Miss Havisham.  The delightful thing about Dickens is that Miss Havisham is crazily over the top and yet, because of the time it was written, she is totally believable.  (She may indeed have been based on someone Dickens knew).  No one like Miss Havisham could exist now–she would be institutionalized in a heartbeat, but back then, this woman could be head of a household and have servants and simply be spoken of as a bit odd.  For odd she is. (more…)

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Peter Orner–“Denny Coughlin” (Grantland Quarterly, Number 4, 2012)

Posted in Bad Religion, Boston, MA, Grantland, Hockey, McSweeney's, Peter Orner, Prison, Short Story, Sports, Violence on December 26, 2012| 2 Comments »

grantladn4SOUNDTRACK: BAD RELIGION-“Fuck You” (2012).

badrelIt’s hard to believe that Bad Religion has been around for thirty years and has never written a song called “Fuck You” before.  Typically they write songs with more profound lyrics.  So I guess this is kind of lazy.  But it’s still fun.

Bad Religion write (mostly) blistering punk songs in under three minutes   They have of course written longer songs, but mostly they do these quick tracks.  Despite the blister, Bad Religion also love harmonies and backing vocals–and for a punk band, they are quite melodious.

After all these years, the band still sounds good.  It’s true that it’s kind of hard to tell when certain songs were recorded as a lot of their music sounds similar.  However, on this track I think the middle slower part sounds like it might be a newer, fuller sound.  But still, when you get to the chorus, it’s hard not to recognize that old time Bad Religion.

[READ: December 26, 2012] “Denny Coughlin”

I have come not to expect too much from the fiction in Grantland.  It’s usually a fine story but not much more.  And that’s okay–I don’t think sports stories can be all that original–you either win or lose, right?

This story did things a little differently   It’s about prisoners playing hockey.  I didn’t even catch on that they were prisoners right away–I liked that the story doesn’t spoon feed the details, it just got right to the action.  Anyhow, in a prison in Walpole, MA, the prisoners from Southie would face the guys from Charlestown twice a week in the yard.

There were only two rules.  1) No injuries–if you get hurt, tend to yourself.  The guards are sick of people in the infirmary.  And 2) the ball is in play wherever it goes, even under the bench that the guards sit on.  The guards know to get up if the ball goes there. (more…)

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