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Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

William Gaddis–[Week 9] JR [#OccupyGaddis pages 610-668] (1975)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Big Books, Books about music, Death, Frank Black, Huh?, Ice Cream, Marriage Trouble, Native Americans, Pixies, Radio, Religion, Sex on August 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FRANK BLACK-“Headache” (1994).

Frank Black is Black Francis from the Pixies.  When the Pixies disbanded, Black set out on  a solo career.  He’s got some great songs under the Frank Black moniker and this is one of them.

This is an acoustic guitar rocker, that sounds perfectly nineties.  It builds over a series of verses, getting louder and faster with backing vocals added as the song goes along.  What’s interesting is that there’s no real chorus to the song.  The verses are more or less the choruses, although that doesn’t quite seem right either.  But after the verses, there are these quieter interlude pieces that are kind of bridges but not really.

But regardless of all of that, the song is catchy as anything (especially for a song that includes the word cranium–incorrectly used–“My heart’s crammed in my cranium”).

Wow, i thought that Black Francis has been quiet all these years, and yet I see that he has been releasing an album a year for a decade.  Talk about under the radar.

[READ: Week of August 20, 2012] JR Week 9

Holy cow, this week starts off with a lot of fun chaos in the Grynzspan apartment.  And there’s a return of lots of characters, too!  The long story arc seems to return to whence it started–the “Bast apartment,” although there are many changes afoot there.  And, for those keeping score at home, we finally get to return to the original Bast House–where kids have sex and shit in pianos.

But first the poor delivery man is back with his gross flowers.  [Simon’s comments from last week have some great ideas about the plastic flowers, too, by the way].  But before that goes anywhere, Eigen shows up to the apartment–the first time he’s been here in a while.  And as he’s coming in the door, he is given a summons for Mr Grynzspan (whom the police assume he is).  Eigen tries to control the crowd and his temper, but he’s fighting with everyone.  In particular, he’s fighting with Rhoda, who has some great lines here.  When asked if she is Mr Bast: “Man look at these I mean do I look like Mister anybody?”  When Eigen says her name “was Rhoda right,” she says “What do you mean was,” and every time Eigen puts his hands near or on her, “I said I can dry there myself.”  Things settle down and Rhoda regales Tom with the story of the shipwreck they had last night, and she’s glad that Chairman Meow isn’t drownded (610).

Then Amy calls looking for jack.  She’s back from Geneva but needs a few days to straighten out things before seeing him.  Rhoda says that Emily is someone Jack doesn’t want to see   Eigen says she’s the only think holding him together.  They repeat the same statements about Gibbs’ book.  Rhoda says that Tom is this “big important novelist” but he can’t see that Gibbs hates his own book and feels pressure from Emily/Amy. (more…)

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William Gaddis–[Week 8] JR [#OccupyGaddis pages 535-610] (1975)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Anton Bruckner, Aristotle, Big Books, Books about music, Books about writers, Death, Edmund Spencer, Environmentalism, Huh?, Jack London, Mark Twain, Marriage Trouble, Native Americans, Politicians, Radio, Religion, Research, Scholarship, Sex, Talking Heads, The Beautiful South, Ween on August 13, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH-“Dumb” (1988).

About five years ago I mentioned all of The Beautiful South records in one post.  But I didn’t really talk about them all that much.

This comes from one of my favorite Beautiful South records–I like all the songs equally, but I often have this song in my head.  And the reason I picked it right now is because Paul Heaton sings about a bunch of things each one ending with “either you are simply beautiful or I am simply dumb.”

And these are: “It doesn’t take a mathematician to add a simple sum”; “It doesn’t take a labrador to show a blind man sun”; and this one: “It doesn’t take Robert The Bruce to see the web you’ve spun.”

I had no idea who Robert the Bruce was and I never bothered to look it up.  And yet, as you will see below in the post, Robert the Bruce is mentioned in JR!  I was flabbergasted.  And this song immediately popped into my head.

And that’s not a bad thing.  It’s a pretty piano ballad with a seemingly negative chorus (dumb, dumb, dumb) despite its positive message.  There’s also a beautiful ending: “The sun, the sky, the moon, the stars/Jupiter, Neptune and Mars/All these things I clearly see/It don’t take a telescope for you to love me.”  The songs ends with Jacqui Abbot’s lovely echo of this stanza.

The Beautiful South were a great band, they broke up a few years ago.  Paul Heaton has a number of solo albums out but they’re not available in the states, so…

[READ: Week of August 6, 2012] JR Week 8

This week’s read finds us primarily in the apartment.  We see bast return home and fool around with Rhoda before he goes off on his trip to the funeral.  We see Gibbs come in and try (in vain) to get work done.  We actually get to see Gibbs’ magnum opus (or parts of it), and we see him fall off the high that he felt with Emily.

There’s a lot of funny stuff in this week’s read.  It seems like the darker the story gets, the more childish jokes Gaddis throws in there.  Seeing Gibbs unable to work on his manuscript because of all of the (real and fake) distractions is simultaneously hilarious and spot on.  And also, the plotlines are really revving up now.  JR Corp is starting to see some pushback on their deals, and a number of outsiders are starting to get angry.  There’s bound to be a collapse of some sort soon.  I’m also starting to think that with all of the ellipses in the book that it will end with a dot dot dot.

As we resume, Davidoff and Bast are still talking.  Davidoff tells Bast “Don’t worry about” something [Thanks to Simon for pointing out this expression–I recognized that Davidoff always says “brush fires,” but not the don’t worry about it].  He is concerned that Bast’s hearing aid isn’t turned up (ha), but that the Boss [JR] wants Bast’s signature on any expenditures over $2,000 (It was originally $200, but Davidoff said Bast would get writer’s cramp).  He explains the title change in the magazine from Her to She–passive to active readership–will cost $14,000.  There’s also $27,000 for a new logo.  And the logos are awesomely cheesy–hard to believe they paid $27,000 for them.  They revolve around the dollar sign, with the least offensive one making a J and R out of the top and bottom of the S–the others have a snake, or breasts or thumbing your nose or even someone behind bars.  They pick the least offensive one that says Just Rite in a dollar sign (“something patriotic about the dollar sign”).  They’re going to put them on half a million matchbooks. (more…)

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Hanna Pylväinen–“Jonas Chan” (Harper’s, August 2012)

Posted in Boredom, Cars, Decadence, Hanna Pylväinen, Harper's, Kiss, Religion, Sex, Shoplifting, Short Story on August 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Creatures of the Night (1982).

In true fair-weather fashion, Music from The Elder ended my Kiss love–and I was a HUGE Kiss fan!  Which is a shame because their follow up album–Creatures of the Night, which I wouldn’t get for many many years is one of their heaviest and strongest albums.  Although there may be just as much fun/controversy about the cover than there is talk about the music.  Ace Frehley was contractually obligated to appear on their album covers, so his face is on the (original) cover even though he didn’t play a note on the record.

The album was re-issued in 1985 in a non-makeup version.  And this album features Bruce Kulick’s photo on the cover because he was then the guitarist in the band.  However, it was actually Vinnie Vincent who played all the guitar on the record and while he is credited, he doesn’t appear on the cover of either version.

This album also features Eric Carr on drums and he pounds the hell out of them.  Carr was on The Elder, but, well, we won’t talk about that.  Peter Criss had a kind of jazzy impact on the drums, but Carr was a heavy metal drummer and it really changes the sound of the album.

“Creatures of the Night” opens with a really heavy title track sung by Paul–he’s got his aggressive vocals down very well here (a song that might normally gone to Gene but which works better with Paul).  The only problem is the little poppy section just before the guitar solo–it’s almost dancey and doesn’t really fit.  “Saint and Sinner” starts off kind of unpromising–an almost poppy song by Gene, but the chorus redeems it.  “Keep Me Comin'” has a pretty typical-by-now Kiss chorus and a fast riff.  “Rock and Roll Hell” opens with almost all bass notes (and Gene’s voice).  It’s a pretty standard rocker for the time, but it still sounded fresh coming from Kiss (and it’s about Ace Frehley who wanted out of the band so badly).

“Danger” has some unexpected chord changes and features some of Paul’s excellent vocals.  It’s also got some genuinely fast guitar work (something that most Kiss song don’t have aside from the solos).  “I Love It Loud” is the anthem that should have been huge.  Slow, ponderous and catchy, this song should be played at every sports event.  It’s followed by the impressive 6-minute sorta ballad “I Still Love You,” the kind of song that Paul shines in–he gets a place to show off his impressive range and his ability to hold long notes (especially live).  Between this and “I Want You” Paul could keep an audience entertained for 20 minutes.  What’s best about the song is that although it opens as a ballad, it gets really heavy with some great drum fills from Carr.

“Killer” opens with a guitar sound like “Makin’ Love” of old.  Simmons’ songs about women are usually pretty uninspired and lyrically this is poor, but the music more than makes up for it.  An album this good can’t possibly end strong though, can it?  Why yes, it can.  “War Machine” is another awesome heavy track.  A great riff and a fantastic chorus.  It’s a shame that this record was lost in the shuffle, it really stands tall as a great heavy metal album.

[READ: August 8, 2012] “Jonas Chan”

I loved looking at the author name and the title of this story and having literally no idea what to expect.  I couldn’t even imagine what nationality the name Pylväinen was.  The first character introduced was named Uppu Rovaniemi (nor could I fathom what nationality that was).  And then the main character is Chinese and is named Jonas.  Woah.

Well, it turns out the story is about Finnish people.  I assume that means that Pylväinen is Finnish, although her website only says she is from suburban Detroit.

I have never read anything about Finnish people, I don’t believe.  So this was a wonderfully unique story for me.  And then to narrow the focus even more, Uppu and her family practice Laestadianism, a kind of Lutheranism that I had never heard of (Wikipedia is pretty informative about its convoluted history).  Her family is pretty lax about her (they have nine kids and she gets lost in the shuffle), but they are very strict about her religious upbringing (her father is a preacher).  And Uppu hates that.

Uppu is the ninth child of the fabled Rovaniems, the well-known family in the community, full of intelligent people, all of whom Uppu intended to show up.  She was confident and smart and seemed immune to everyone.  She flies through her exams.  She even recognizes that Jonas was a violin player who switched to viola (she could tell by the amount of weight he put on his bow).  Cool.

Jonas Chan was new to the school, but of course he knew who Uppu was as well.  He couldn’t imagine ever talking to her.  I love this description of him: “He wasn’t nerdy enough for the nerds, no one cared that he came from California, and there were exactly enough Asians for him to be different without being interesting.”  And yet one day Uppu linked arms with him and said “Let’s be friends.”  And so it was. (more…)

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F. Scott Fitzgerald–“Thank You for the Light” (New Yorker, August 6, 2012)

Posted in Canadian Music, Cigarettes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Religion, Short Story, The Pursuit of Happiness on August 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS-“Cigarette Dangles” (1993).

TPOH’s “I’m an Adult Now,” (especially the first version) was a favorite song of mine back in the late 1980s.  It was raw and funny and fun to listen to.  TPOH has had a hard time of it over the years, getting bumped from labels and whatnot, but they’ve consistently released decent hits.

By 1993, Moe Berg’s voice is remarkably conventional.  Indeed, there’s not all much that’s alternative about this song at all.  It’s not that it’s a bad song, it’s just kind of blah, the roughness has been smoothed off and despite words like: “Cigarette dangles, makes me hard,” the backing vocals and such make it sound like a poppy B-52s.

Huh, given what I just wrote, why wasn’t this song massive?  Cool guitar sound too.

[READ: August 2, 2012] “Thank You for the Light”

I always like when the New Yorker throws in a “classic” story, although I do wonder if contemporary artists are pissed by their famous elders coming back. In all fairness though I would think this story was chosen for its length (it’s only one page).

This is a straightforward and simple story.  Mrs Hanson is a pretty, forty-year-old divorcee.  She’s a saleswoman and has been given a new contract closer to her home state of Ohio.  When she gets to her new territories, she learns that people frown on smoking: “It’s not that I mind, but it has a bad influence on the employees.”   But man, she really wants a smoke, especially after a long day: “Smoking meant a lot to her sometimes.”  And so, she tries to find a place to light up without anyone seeing her.  And that’s pretty much it.  (more…)

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William Gaddis–[Week 7] JR [#OccupyGaddis pages 461-535] (1975)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Big Books, Books about music, Death, Georges Bizet, Huh?, Marriage Trouble, Ms., New Yorker, Religion, Seinfeld, Sex on August 6, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: GEORGES BIZET-Overture/Habanera (1874), Nocturne in D major (1867).

Bizet is best known (to me anyway) as the creator of Carmen.  And the Overture is utterly recognizable while “Habanera” is probably one of  the more recognizable vocal operas (you know it).  But Bast and co. seem to known Bizet from his piano work, which I didn’t know at all.

I chose “Nocturne in D major” at random.  It’s very pretty, but nowhere near as memorable as say “Habanera.”

I don’t play piano and I’m not a huge classical music fan (although I do know many composers).  Listening to this piece anyhow, I find it hard to understand how people could recognize Bizet in Bast’s work.  Obviously there are dozens of other pieces that may be more representative of a signature sound, but this just sounds like a beautiful (and not overly challenging like Chopin) piano piece to me.  It’s also true that this piano piece was written ten years before Carmen, and maybe they are thinking of the music of Carmen as recognizably Bizet (can you even play Carmen on the piano?).

I forgot how much I enjoy this opera though, (or at least the highlights).

[READ: Week of July 30, 2012] JR Week 7

I enjoyed this week’s read very much.  It had some real emotional scenes–and a scene that stayed with just the same two people for a long time.  It was also interesting to see Gaddis handle sex–in his own detached mechanical way.  And I liked starting to see the pieces (Davidoff, the Waldorf) start falling into place (as they may also be falling apart).

But before we get to that we must look at a doctored photo.  The photo from Mrs Joubert’s class’ interaction with the folks at Diamond Cable has come back and they have added black to the class.  Mr Hyde notices immediately  that his son (“tell by his haircut” (461)) has been darkened, “Blackface in every one of them.”  “Looks like he’s about ready to get down on one knee and sing Mammy” (461).  While Hyde is outraged, the rest of the room is complementing Whiteback and the company for promoting racial diversity.  It’s even suggested that this will help the Major’s image on the other side of town.   Of course underneath all of this is some festering racism: (more…)

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W.A. Swanberg–The Rector and the Rogue: Being the true and incredible account of a dastardly hoax against an upright (if rather stuffy) divine. It turned New York upside down. (1968) [THE COLLINS LIBRARY No. 7 (2011)]

Posted in 19th Century, All Songs Considered, Anarchy, Biography, Decadence, Django Django, Funny (ha ha), Hoax, Humiliation, McSweeney's, Newspapers, Paul Collins, Post Office, Pranks, Religion, Short Books, The Collins Library on August 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DJANGO DJANGO-“Default” (2012).

This song was featured in a post on NPR’s All Songs Considered site on July 31.  Django Django are a Scottish duo and they sound very retro.  The two guys sing in close harmony that is more of an echo than a harmony.  The music is mostly very old-sounding guitars–big and unprocessed–and yet the rest of the track is quite processed and electronic.

It’s a simple, straightforward song (with some cool effects).  The NPR write up about them says that they are more of an electronic band, although this song doesn’t really suggest that (except in the middle section where the sounds are manipulated in a cool way).  I’m not sure if I’m all that interested in the rest of the album  In fact, after a few listens, I’m not as excited by this song as I initially was.  But it’s still fun.

[READ: July 31, 2012] The Rector and the Rogue

The Collins Library is back!  And since this seems to be the summer of non fiction, I decided to read it now.  I have loved every Paul Collins book so far in the Collins Library (old, out of print and forgotten titles that Collins resurrects) and this one–which I admit seemed questionable–was just as wonderful as the others.  The Rector and the Rogue details a much-forgotten episode of a grand-scale prank–the systematic public abuse of Dr Morgan Dix, Rector of Trinity Church by a trickster known as “Gentleman Joe” in 1880.  Yes, 1880.

Swanberg told the story, eighty years later, as a rather gripping tale.  The afterward explains that he just happened upon some information about the story and needed to know more.  So, he did the research and compiled first an essay and then this (reasonably short) book.

And so he begins his tale without letting the audience know what they are in store for (just like Dix had no idea what he was in store for).  One morning in February 1880, Rev Dix opened the door to see a safe salesman from Acme Safe in downtown Manhattan.  The salesman says that Dix inquired about safes.  Dix had done no such thing and sent the man on his way.  Then a man from a local girls’ school rang the bell and said that Dix’ charge was more than welcome to attend.  Dix had no daughter or interest in the school. The schoolmaster showed him a postcard from Dix which asked for information.  The postcard was not his own (obviously) and was not in his handwriting (obviously).  Then came a man selling two horses, replying to his postcard….  This went on all afternoon.

The afternoon mail was full also of responses to similar inquiries–about wigs, dance lessons, kitchenware, etc.

And so began the botheration of Dr Dix. (more…)

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Gore Vidal (October 3, 1925-July 31, 2012)

Posted in Consumerism, Death, Essays, Eulogy, Funny (ha ha), Gattaca, Gore Vidal, History, Igby Goes Down, LGBTQ, Military, Noam Chomsky, Play (Drama), Political Humor, Politicians, Religion, Sex, The Simpsons on August 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Gore Vidal [1925-2012]

Gore Vidal died last night at age 86 because of complications from pneumonia.

When I was younger, back in college, I loved Gore Vidal.  I read almost all of his essays and I tried to read most of his novels (I didn’t succeed–he has published some 50 books).  His book United States: Essays 1952–1992 is one of the best collection of political essays I have read.

People who know Vidal at all know him for different reasons.  Some know him as a writer of historical novels known as the Narratives of Empire: Burr (covering 1775-1805 and 1833-1836), Lincoln (1861-1865) 1876 (1875-1877), Empire (1898-1907), Hollywood (1917-1923), Washington D.C. (1937-1952) and The Golden Age (1939-1954).

Others know him for his outspoken pro-homosexuality stance.  His third novel 1948’s The City and the Pillar caused quite the controversy for presenting sympathetic gay characters.  He also wrote Myra Breckenridge about a transsexual character.  His published quote from about sexuality (from 1969) is:

We are all bisexual to begin with. That is a fact of our condition. And we are all responsive to sexual stimuli from our own as well as from the opposite sex. Certain societies at certain times, usually in the interest of maintaining the baby supply, have discouraged homosexuality. Other societies, particularly militaristic ones, have exalted it. But regardless of tribal taboos, homosexuality is a constant fact of the human condition and it is not a sickness, not a sin, not a crime … despite the best efforts of our puritan tribe to make it all three. Homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality. Notice I use the word ‘natural,’ not normal.” (more…)

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William Gaddis–[Week 6] JR [#OccupyGaddis pages 383-460] (1975)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Big Books, Books about music, Death, Huh?, John Keats, Marriage Trouble, Religion, Sex, Talking Heads, Ween on July 30, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: TALKING HEADS-“Life During Wartime” (1979).

I ain’t got time for that now.

Talking heads were many things, a weird band, a noisy band, a new wave band with poppy hits, and underneath it all, a punk band that rocked.  If you know Talking Heads from their great later songs, it might be hard to imagine how raw this song is. Byrnes’ voice is intense, the melody is staggered and frantic and the whole enterprise just feels like it could fall apart at any moment.

It’s a great rocking song, and if you haven’t heard it for a while it’s worth checking out again.

Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?

[READ: Week of July 23, 2012] JR Week 6

This week’s read was the first time so far that I found a section tedious.  True, it could have been the time of night that I read it, but the whole section with Gibbs and Tom (which I call the “God damn” section) while providing some recap–and some very useful stuff at one point), was also rather redundant, both internally and in the story as a whole.  It was also quite a downer.  (Infinite Zombies has a post about this book being a comedy or a drama, so I won’t get into that here–I will get into it there though).  Although as with most Gaddis, it was a very accurate portrait of two men wallowing (and would probably be funny to hear out loud), I was happy when Tom finally left the scene.

When we left off last week, Gibbs was coming into Bast’s room holding a bottle.  Bast was just finishing up his videophone conversation with JR (Bast says he was just talking to himself).  Gibbs says he is meeting a man named Beamish here in a little bit. But he interrupts himself “Listen!”  Bast explains that the tub is running non-stop as well.  And Gibbs launches into a poem:

Through caverns measureless to, where the hell…   Bosom where the bright waters meet, like living in Pittsburgh Bast  –confluence of the Mongahela [sic–should be Monongahela] and the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet to form the mighty Ohio (383).

I’m not entire surely where all of this comes from although As the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet comes from a Thomas Moore song. (more…)

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Alessandro Baricco–Emmaus (2009) [translated 2012]

Posted in Alessandro Baricco, Ann Goldstein, Gilligan's Island, Guster, Jeffrey Eugenides, McSweeney's, Morality, Nada Surf, R.E.M., Religion, Sex, Short Books, Suicide, Translation on July 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NADA SURF-The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy (2012).

Nada Surf continues to put out poppy guitar rock.  I tend to link them with Guster, in that they write really catchy pop songs about unexpected things.  The songs are usually fast, but they also writes some slower songs too.  They would make a good double bill.

This album with the wonderful title is 38 minutes long, a perfect light summer album.  If you don’t get “Waiting for Something” (which I agree is repeated waaay too often in the chorus) stuck in your head, then you haven’t been listening to this record.

All ten songs feature bouncy guitars (except “When I Was Young” which opens as a slow ballad), although even this song, after about 2 minutes, calls forth loud electric guitars.  There are some elements that show the band “maturing”–strings on “When I Was Young” horns on “Let the Fight Do the Fighting.”  But one of the songs references Gilligan’s Island, so they’re not maturing too much.

And some of the songs sound like throwbacks to other eras too, the 60s guitar intro of “Jules and Jim,” the R.E.M. ish intro of “Waiting for Something.”  It’s a great album, fun, catchy and perfect for driving.

[READ: July 24, 2012] Emmaus

I had no idea who Alessandro Baricco was when I got this book as part of my Book of the Month deal with McSweeney’s.  But I’ve never been disappointed by one of their new books before, so it was worth checking out.

The book is short–134 pages–and is novella length, which is the perfect length for this story.  [I had just read about Jim Harrison and his novellas, and I believe that there needs to be more novellas published].  This book was originally written in Italian and was translated by Ann Goldstein.

There is a prologue which is completely exciting and absolutely wonderful.  It’s only a page and a half, but it is intriguing, funny, deep and, most of all, really surprising.

The opening of the book doesn’t quite match the excitement of the prologue, but that’s because this novella has two aspects–deep, thoughtful introspection and base, animal instinct.  And Baricco/Goldstein does an excellent job keeping the flow and continuity going between these two very different writing extremes.

The book reminds me of Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides for two reasons.  One: it is written about a group of boys and is written in the second person plural (at least the beginning is) and two: they are all watching a girl who is beyond their ken–someone of their world but not, someone who is en route to hurt herself.  And there’s nothing they can do about it.

But this book is entirely its own.  There are four boys who make up the initial “we” (and when it diverges from plural to singular, you really feel the loss of the other boys).  And so the book starts: “We’re all sixteen or seventeen years old, but we aren’t really aware of it.”  The four boys are good boys–Catholic (and believers, at that), who play in the church band, who volunteer removing catheters at the poor person’s hospital and who plan to not have sex before marriage (heavy petting is okay but it never goes too far).  The four boys are: the narrator, whose name is never given I don’t think; Luca, whose father is rumored to be suicidal; Bobby, the most outgoing of the bunch and The Saint, a very pious young man who has designed for the priesthood and who is not afraid to be seen as more pious than you. (more…)

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William Gaddis–[Week 5] JR [#OccupyGaddis pages 301-382] (1975)

Posted in #OccupyGaddis, Big Books, Books about music, Death, Huh?, Marriage Trouble, Religion, Sex, Ween on July 23, 2012| 5 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: WEEN-Push th’ Little Daisies (1992).

So Ween broke up back in May (this is the year of seemingly one-hit-wonder bands breaking up after decades of playing).  I have a bunch of Ween’s earlier stuff, but stopped listening after their hits.  I’m told some of their later records are quite good.  This song from the album Pure Guava was my introduction to them, and it is weird and kind of irritating and strangely catchy and perfectly encapsulates Ween.

The melody is simple and poppy, but the vocals are, if not sped up, then crazily falsettoed.  And the repeated refrain of “push the little daisies and make em come up” is, if not annoying, certainly infectious (in many senses of the word).

The other fun thing about Ween is that in addition to pretty much none of their albums sounding alike, pretty much none of their songs sound alike.  So you can’t tell if you’ll like any other Ween songs based on this one.  A nice trick, that.

And if, like me, you haven’t see the video in twenty years, check it out

And there is a tangential tie in to JR with this post, by the way.

[READ: Week of July 16, 2012] JR Week 5

I realized that, unlike in previously long weekly posts, I haven’t been including tangentially related photos (I rather liked putting them in the Gravity’s Rainbow posts).  I blame it all on my time constraints.  There also aren’t quite as many picture-worthy things in this book.  GR had lots of locations and historical photo-op type things.  JR is more about money and sex, and the internet doesn’t have many pictures of either, right.   So instead, it’s all block text.

When we left off, JR was trying to persuade Bast to help him out some more.  And, holy, he needs Bast to meet Mister Piscator out by the Egyptian stuff in the museum (JR can’t do it himself obviously–I love that he is using a handkerchief on the phone and everyone asks if there’s connection troubles).  Bast barely says anything but JR is on a roll: he got him the briefcase and that alarm clock (which runs backwards) and the business cards (which Simon pointed out I’ve been missing the typo on) and “I’ll call up that Virginia and fix it up where you get her to take telephone calls at the cafet…” (302).  JR is also going on about the kind of massive tax breaks he (and Bast) will be able to declare.  I can’t decide if he’s right or not (or if it simply won’t be relevant for what he has–indeed, a lot of this financial stuff, it seems like JR is more knowledgeable than anyone else because he has actually read the material–something nobody does.  And Bast is a musician, what does he know about money, right?).  Although his ultimate plan (potentially ingenious, but practically preposterous) is that they buy one share of all the big stocks, get their prospectuses and read them all.  And if anyone is doing anything illegal they can file a class action suit like they did with Diamond Cable. (more…)

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